Pet pronunciation hates

[davieddy]

"Idyllic" should have an initial short "i" ,as in "if" (or more
to the point "Idyll"), and not with a long one as in "idea" or "ideal".

I appreciate that discussing this "across the pond" might produce
too many differences to be manageable (You say tomato,and
I say tomato etc)

David

[rogue]

Originally Posted by davieddy

"Idyllic" should have an initial short "i" ,as in "if" (or more
to the point "Idyll"), and not with a long one as in "idea" or "ideal".

I appreciate that discussing this "across the pond" might produce
too many differences to be manageable (You say tomato,and
I say tomato etc)

David

Both are valid according to this.

[davieddy]

Originally Posted by rogue

Both are valid according to this.

But I think the example "an idyllic spot for a picnic" merely
confirms my suspicion that the word is being mistakenly confused with
"ideal".

[petrw1]

Is "believe"
a. BEE-lieve
b. BULL-ieve

Not what Websters says but how people in general pronounce it.

[roger]

Is "believe"
a. BEE-lieve
b. BULL-ieve

Depends on the stress. If you are stressing the 'believe' part of the sentence, then 'a.' would be the usual pronunciation here (BC).
If you are not stressing the word, then 'b.' would be your best bet.

Note though that at least here, the stress falls on the last syllable (bee-LIEVE or bul-LIEVE). BEE-lieve or BUL-lieve sounds a bit wierd to me.

Interesting how Webster doesn't have a pronunciation guide...

roger

[Flatlander]

"Something" pronounced as "somethink" is quite irritating.

[rogue]

My big irritation is with "jaguar". Many people pronounce it "jaguire". American football fans have probably heard "Jacksonville Jaquires" more times than they can count.

[Carlos]

Idyllic" should have an initial short "i" ,as in "if" (or more
to the point "Idyll"), and not with a long one as in "idea" or "ideal".

I appreciate that discussing this "across the pond" might produce
too many differences to be manageable (You say tomato,and
I say tomato etc)

David

Ah, the old "great vowel shift" raises its mighty head again. In case anyone is interested there is a dissertation on the subject. It should be in most large universities. It makes for interesting reading.

It appears that we Americans apply this major change to the very nonstandard English language more often (another interesting pronunciation of a word- along with debt) than say the English? British? Welsh? Scottish? Irish? along with hundreds of other dialects in the British Isles.

We say tomato, you say tomato.
We say vase, you say vase.
By the way, how would you pronounce the English word vase and the German word vas?

How do you pronounce the vowels in English versus the vowels in most languages in western Europe?

A few examples of the great vowel shift, which is applied -sometimes- when a vowel is long.

pet peat peet.weet (I love the last example).

red reed read rede (yes it is a word).

right rite

rip ripe

sit site sight

A paradigm for paradigm!
dim dime paradigm

sin sine sign sigh

And thousands more (even syllables).

Charles

[davieddy]

Originally Posted by Flatlander

"Something" pronounced as "somethink" is quite irritating.

In a similar vein, Anne Robinson on "The Weakest Link"
constantly refers to a "thousant pounds".

Nucular instead of nuclear is another one popular
with American presidents (at least since Nixon) along
with "hostel missals".

[Flatlander]

"I should of been a bit more pacific."

[Orgasmic Troll]

Originally Posted by Flatlander

"I should of been a bit more pacific."

"should of" is phonetically equivalent to "should've"

it only bothers me when people write "should of"