Seriously strange pronounciations (?)

[Lady Blue]

I've heard the word buoy pronounced both ways (boo-ee and boi) here in America. And I really never hear anyone use the word quay. Tha word wharf is usually used instead.

On Dictionary.com there's a button you can click for the pronunciation of the word you look up. For buoy, it's pronounced both ways. For quay, it's pronounced kee.

Just as dreams said, the pronunciation of words varies greatly within the United States. In the Northeast, especially the Boston area, words ending in "R" sound very strange. You hardly hear the "R" pronounced at all. Car becomes cah with hardly, if any "R" sound. In the New York area, especially Brooklyn, The Bronx and Newark (NJ) the pronunciation of words seems totally butchered to me, as is often well portrayed in American movies depicting these areas.

I think that we, in general, have totally abandoned proper diction in the American (English) language. It doesn't seem to be stressed in the school system at all anymore. I remember that in California a few years back they were seriously considering implementing the acceptance and use of "ebonics" in the public schools. I'm sure that many of the students still use it, but at least it's not required that the teachers use it as originally proposed.

Also, MANY American athletes for instance, slur their words so badly that they all sound like Ozzy Osborn or worse when you hear them interviewed. Many of them just allow the end of each word to hang out there in space as if not a single word is completed. They hardly move their lips, and speech escapes as if it were one continuous monotonous mumble (which it often is.) I'm usually left thinking "What the heck did he just say?" 'cause I couldn't understand a single word. On the other hand, many other athletes enunciate quite well. (I just picked out athletes because they're so plentiful and interviewed constantly.)

As an aside, I just love listening to someone with what we call an "English Accent." Even street thugs sound refined.

[Peverel]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

isn't worcestershire pronounced something like "wooster" ? (and people complain about all the extra letters you don't actually pronounce in french words ! )

Worcester is certainly pronouced Wooster or I always have.

[lilac_jive]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

isn't worcestershire pronounced something like "wooster" ? (and people complain about all the extra letters you don't actually pronounce in french words ! )

I always thought it was "worshishter"

[DixieGal]

Hey y'all, I just noticed something. Wooster and Narritch and Glosster and so on are Old England place names. Did we corrupt the pronounciation on purpose back in the colonial days?

[slayda]

Originally Posted by Bilbo1967

Don't forget that it's not just pronunciation diiferences, there are also differences in spelling between American and British English, e.g. color/colour, favor/favour (which have no pronunciation differences) and aluminum/aluminium (which does also change the pronunciation).

I think that there are some very real differences. I remember reading somewhere that one day British and American English would be so different that people from the two countries would no longer be able to converse comfortably. However, I think that that prediction was made in a time prior to the communication age we live in nowadays - I doubt it could happen now.

Do not doubt. Some years ago in the Boston area, I called for room service at the hotel. After 15 minutes of non-communication with a local person I decided to walk across the street to a Burger king.

We were both, supossedly, speaking American English.

[Xenophon]

Originally Posted by HarryT

In an American audiobook I'm currently listening to, I've come across two VERY odd (odd to me, at least) pronounciations:

1. The word "buoy" - ie a floating marker at sea - which the reader pronounced "boo-ee". In British English the word is pronounced the same as the word "boy".

2. The word "quay", which the reader pronounced "kway". Again, in British English it's pronounced "key".

Are these really the "normal" American English ways of saying these words? I've never come across this before.

Not that I've ever known. They've always been 'boy' and 'key' to me.

Xenophon

[Dave Berk]

Can't really help on the issue at hand, since I'm neither an American nor English. But I have to join DixieGal in asking Ricky what's the story behind shopping for skulls .
Do you, like, go to the store to order a skull and they tell you that, no sorry, we don't have any today but tomorrow we are getting a new shipment....

[goodellboy]

Pronunciation.

[GeoffC]

Originally Posted by DixieGal

Hey y'all, I just noticed something. Wooster and Narritch and Glosster and so on are Old England place names. Did we corrupt the pronounciation on purpose back in the colonial days?

You did lots of things in those days .....



It's always been boy & kee to me....



It's an interesting subject Harry, and is likely to play havoc with careful crafting of rhyming poetry ...

It is also not just a Brit/US curse, but also a north/south England one -
knowing how to say cup and butter correctly, for instance, in our household is an occasional source of mirth..... (I'm always right - of course)

[DixieGal]

Originally Posted by Dave Berk

Can't really help on the issue at hand, since I'm neither an American nor English. But I have to join DixieGal in asking Ricky what's the story behind shopping for skulls .
Do you, like, go to the store to order a skull and they tell you that, no sorry, we don't have any today but tomorrow we are getting a new shipment....

And do you order them by weight or gross?
And has the store gone green and only sells shrunken heads now? (Less Packaging!)

[GeoffC]

Originally Posted by DixieGal

And do you order them by weight or gross?
And has the store gone green and only sells shrunken heads now? (Less Packaging!)

do they come in pairs ?

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by DixieGal

And do you order them by weight or gross?
And has the store gone green and only sells shrunken heads now? (Less Packaging!)

"ultra concentrated" ?

[GeoffC]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

"ultra concentrated" ?

'dessicated'?

[DixieGal]

Originally Posted by goodellboy

Pronunciation.

Thanks! I put that the first time, but it looked funny, so I changed it. Along with all the other things my mind is losing, spelling seems to be something that went first.

[GeoffC]

sorry, back on topic now ....