[QUOTE=Gary T]
“Western Front” is a phrase like “Eastern Shore” (of the Chesapeake Bay) or “upper limit” - unless one is specifically comparing/contrasting the Western Whatever to the Eastern Whatever (or specifically contrasting the Front to the Back 
), or the upper limit to the lower limit, the phrase merely denotes a location and the two words have equal emphasis.
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I agree.
[QUOTE=G. Odoreida]
I heard that for a while in 1977, poeple in Britain read “Star Wars” and then pronounced it with slightly more emphasis on the 2nd word than on the 1st. Since then everyone’s pronounced it the American way.
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Well that’s just silly, what with the lyrics to the theme song:
Star Wars!
Nothing but Star Wars!
Nothing but Star Wars…
Actually, it comes from a military report from the front back to Berlin (IIRC). They’re just reporting that on this particular night, the Western Front is all quiet.
I pronounce it “ALL QUIET on the WESTern FRONT.”
[QUOTE=saoirse]
Actually, it comes from a military report from the front back to Berlin (IIRC). They’re just reporting that on this particular night, the Western Front is all quiet.
I pronounce it “ALL QUIET on the WESTern FRONT.”
[/QUOTE]
The English title is a rephrasing of the German title Im Westen nichts Neues (literally: Nothing new in the West.), which refers to a line from the Heeresbericht (a short official bulletin by the army command on the day’s events). The phrase is used in the title to contrast that official bulletin to the human realities: the day is the one on which the protagonist (Paul Bäumer) is killed.
So, the “All Quiet”/“nichts Neues” part is the important part of the title, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it should be stressed (FWIW, the German title is commonly pronounced with no particular stress on any of the four words).
I pronounce it “Ride of the Panzer Monkeys.” However, there’s something wrong with me.
No emphasis on any particular word, here.
No emphasis here either.
I’ll agree with ALL QUIet on the WESTern FRONT - and add that I wouldn’t feel the urge to correct anyone pronouncing it differently.
[QUOTE=Valgard]
I believe it’s pronounced “ThroatWARbler MANgrove”
Honestly, I pronounce it with no emphasis on any word or part thereof.
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DITto.
[QUOTE=CairoCarol]
Absent a shared good knowledge of what terms like iambic pentameter and similar terms mean, it might be nice if we could write this out as if this were music. Since we can’t assume the former or do the latter, let me say that to me, this comes out like 5 beats; the first four are a measure in 4/4, and the last beat is a “whole note” in the second measure. Like this (one line per beat):
All (quarter note, first beat in the first measure)
Quiet (two eighth notes)
On the (two eighth notes)
Western (two eight notes)
Front (whole note).
Probably makes hash out of this rather than being helpful, but there you are.
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Do you actually hold onto the word “front” for that long? If I were to write it out like that, I’d make it one bar in 4/4 with “All” as a crotchet on beat one, each syllable in “Qui-et on the” as semiquavers, each syllable of “Wes-tern” as quavers, and “Front” as a crotchet on beat four. And while that’s interesting, it tells us the rhythm of the phrase, but not the accents. I would place accents on the beginnings of the four beats, so it would come out as “ALL QUIetonthe WES-tern FRONT,” as others have said.
To all of those who say you put equal emphasis on every word.. I don’t believe you! Unless you are a robot, it is not likely that you would put as much emphasis on common, lower-class words such as “on” and “the” as you would on more significant, capitalised words such as “Western” and “Front.”
And another thing: You’re right, this is incredibly stupid.
I also don’t emphasize any word more than the other in the title.
So it looks like we have about half and half, with a large contigent of “no emphasis at all”. I put more on “Western”, and he says I sound like an ignorant yokel, and says “Front” on the grounds that it’s a unified phrase, not specifically pointing out that it’s the western instead of eastern front. Since in the book the phrase means “It’s time to put the book down and hang yourself to make the hurting stop,” I don’t see why it matters so much to him, but it stopped being about the phrase and started being about “why are you so stubborn?” “I’m not stubborn, why are we arguing about this, this is stupid and you’re a douchebag,” etc. So thank you for your input.
[QUOTE=Zsofia]
So it looks like we have about half and half, with a large contigent of “no emphasis at all”.
[/QUOTE]
Looking over at the results, I’d just say you’re both wrong, so kiss and make up, guys. I only see one vote for emphasis on “Western”, and one and a half for “Front.” Everybody else agrees it’s equal emphasis on both.
[QUOTE=Valgard]
Honestly, I pronounce it with no emphasis on any word or part thereof.
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Same here. It’s kind of a statement of fact to me.
Consider the intent of the phrase. Is it pointing out that it’s all quiet? Or that it’s at the western front, and not the southern side or eastern back?
Decide, and emphasise appropriately.
[QUOTE=Malacandra]
Emphasis on “All Quiet”. The book is set on the Western Front; what may be going on meanwhile on the Eastern Front is irrelevant, even by comparison or contrast. If you were describing the war situation in global terms then you might say “In August 1917 it was all quiet on the Western Front” (example ex ano and probably untrue), conveying by implication that it was busier than a barrel of kittens on the Eastern, but that’s another story.
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Actually, given the timeline of the book, there was no Eastern Front to speak of when the titular report is made. There may have been action on other fronts, however (Italy,Balkans).
/takes nitpick out back and shoots it.