I have heard two pronunciations of the word “because.” One is be-CAUZ; the other is be-CAUSS. The first seems to be more common. Variations like this are generally geographic (but there could be other factors as well - say, parental influence). In what geographic areas is the second more common?
I’ve heard be-cauz, and I’ve heard be-cuz, but never be-causs. I don’t know where people speak like that.
The “ss” for “z” is famously a Chicago-region trait (parodied in comedy sketches like “Da Bearsss”). Could this be related to what you heard?
Montreal (Canada) area - I’ve always pronounced it “bee-cuz”.
I have heard only one person pronounce it be-CAUSS in my 57 years: the newest pastor at my church. He is about my age, and I believe is from central New Jersey. I’ve lived in the Philadelphia area my entire life, lived in Virginia for college, visited all up and down the East Coast, and I have NEVER heard this pronunciation from anybody else.
I’ve never heard a native english speaker in the US use the latter pronunciation. If you were to isolate that word and that’s all I heard I would probably assume they weren’t from the US or didn’t speak English as their first language.
Bee-cows is how the Brazilian people on the show 90 Day Fiance would pronounce it.
Funny I never noticed that. Is it among native Francophones? And I don’t think I ever heard becauss. From central NJ, you think. You mean around Trenton?
I’ve heard the be-CAUSS pronunciation from my former pastor and on the July 28, 2020, Diane Rehm podcast. The guest was Lawrence Douglas, an Amherst professor.
Oops, I was wrong about central NJ. I looked him up on WhitePages, and all the towns listed there were in Bergen County and Morris County, so really it’s northeastern New Jersey. But still! I’ve never heard that pronunciation from anyone else, and he doesn’t pronounce any other words in an odd way.