…I can’t pronounce the word “sieve”. :o :o :o
Is it “seev”? Is it “siv”? What is it?!?!? hyperventilates
Calm down. I pronounce it “siv,” now, after hearing it pronounced by other people several times. When I was a kid, though, I always assumed it was pronounced “seev.”
Hope that helps. If not, here’s a brown paper bag to help you with that breathing problem. 
That seems about right. Thanks, Rufus! 
breathes into brown paper bag Hey… what have you got in there? :dubious: peeks
:eek:
“Stra-TEE-ger-ee”
Ha ha, Kythereia, hah h—er, uh, harrumph!
I thought “seev” might be an acceptable secondary pronunciation, but my dictionary lists only “siv.”
Haw-haw!
<ahem>
Yeah, I say “siv” too.
It’s easy to remember. Use this little rhyme:
My mama talk a-too me try to tell me how to live
But I don’t listen to her 'cause my head is like a sieve
My daddy he disowned my 'cause I wear my sister’s clothes
He caught me in the bathroom with a pair of pantyhose
Alternately, it can be pronounced ‘Whah’.
As in Patty…
I say siv. My mother used to say (not quite) seeve, but on that side of siv.
Apparently it’s pronounced that way because its root is the ME sive from OE sife akin to OHG sib according to Merriam-Webster.
Other words with that vowel combination, “siege” for example, have roots in words with just an “e” in them. The electrical unit of conductance, “siemens,” is from the German name Siemens and the second vowel in the “ie” combination is pronounced. Likewise with the “Siegfried Line.”
If, for instance, I were to be in prison with you, and you pissed me off, I would stick you so many times with my shiv that the blood would drain from your gut like from a sieve.
–Cliffy