Seriously strange pronounciations (?)

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by BenG

Just try to pronounce "brother" as one syllable. You have to slide over the middle part.

hm, yes, but if i try to do that it sounds more like "bror". it just seems like a strange word to me ! maybe it's a question of accent also, maybe i don't pronounce "brother" the same way as that writer / character / texans.

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

hm, yes, but if i try to do that it sounds more like "bror". it just seems like a strange word to me ! maybe it's a question of accent also, maybe i don't pronounce "brother" the same way as that writer / character / texans.

Of course you pronounce it differently. Though I'd really like to know how you got from "frère" to "bror".

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by Nate the great

Of course you pronounce it differently. Though I'd really like to know how you got from "frère" to "bror".

he told me to slide over the middle... maybe i slid too far.

[BenG]

And how did "Mistress"(Mrs.) become "Mizzez" or "Miz"?

[BenG]

Wikipedia has an article on Br'er Rabbit:

The word "Br'er" in his name (and in those of other characters in the stories) reflects the habit of addressing another man as "brother" in many African cultures. While modern Americans generally pronounce the second 'r' in Br'er, the original pronunciation was "Bruh" or "Buh." When Joel Chandler Harris spelled "Br'er" with an 'er' at the end of the word, he was indicating the Southern pronunciation of the final 'er' as in "brothuh" (brother), sistuh (sister), or faa'muh (farmer).

Disney probably had a big influence on how people today pronounce it.

[slayda]

And then there's the way that the English pronounce Lieutenant as Lef te nant where we in the US say Loo ten ant. I wonder if when they would say "in lieu of" it sounds more like "in lef of".

Or when we have a schedule in school, they have a shedule in shool?

And I have it on good authority from a famous Brit (HarryT) that they use a "battry" to start their car but when a thug hits them it's "Assault and Battery."

So many ways to say & spell words, it's no wonder that a poor ole country boy can't spell diddly.

[BenG]

A Plan for the Improvement of English Spelling
by Mark Twain

For example, in Year 1 that useless letter "c" would be dropped to be replased either by "k" or "s", and likewise "x" would no longer be part of the alphabet. The only kase in which "c" would be retained would be the "ch" formation, which will be dealt with later.

Year 2 might reform "w" spelling, so that "which" and "one" would take the same konsonant, wile Year 3 might well abolish "y" replasing it with "i" and Iear 4 might fiks the "g/j" anomali wonse and for all.

Jenerally, then, the improvement would kontinue iear bai iear with Iear 5 doing awai with useless double konsonants, and Iears 6-12 or so modifaiing vowlz and the rimeining voist and unvoist konsonants.

Bai Iear 15 or sou, it wud fainali bi posibl tu meik ius ov thi ridandant letez "c", "y" and "x" -- bai now jast a memori in the maindz ov ould doderez -- tu riplais "ch", "sh", and "th" rispektivli.

Fainali, xen, aafte sam 20 iers ov orxogrefkl riform, wi wud hev a lojikl, kohirnt speling in ius xrewawt xe Ingliy-spiking werld.

[montsnmags]

Originally Posted by slayda

I challenge anyone (who didn't grow up hearing it) to read the Tales of Uncle Remus aloud at all, let alone correctly. I grew up hearing it and still have trouble wrapping my tongue around it. It takes a page or two to get my mind in the groove.

For those that don't know it is written somewhat phonetically.

Roddy Doyle's Barrytown Trilogy employs this type of thing, though only in the dialogue, and reading it aloud soon gets you into the groove of it. For what it's worth, it's a great trilogy that gets better with each book. I've heard that Irvine Welsh's Trainspotting does similar, or moreso.

(I've not read anything else by Roddy Doyle so, off-forum, if anyone has a "You've gotta read this!", I welcome the PM/VM)

Cheers,
Marc

[yvanleterrible]

Originally Posted by RickyMaveety

In both the Cajun and Creole areas (the difference being more ethnic than anything else -- Cajuns are ethnically White, while Creoles are a mixture of White, Black and American Indian -- mostly Choctaw, Chicasaw and Seminole) there are lots of words that are mangled French/English/and who knows what...

Quebec and Texas are cousins from a looong time ago. Galveston was built on land bought in 1836 by a French Canadian named Michel B. Menard. He's a distant relative on my mother's family tree. See, the French Canadian explorers loved Texas and stayed there to become the root of many a family tree. When I look at a phonebook or some name list from Texas, I'm amazed at the number of francophone names. It would also be natural that some words take up root too.

[Idoine]

Originally Posted by BenG

A Plan for the Improvement of English Spelling
by Mark Twain

For example, in Year 1 that useless letter "c" would be dropped to be replased either by "k" or "s", and likewise "x" would no longer be part of the alphabet. The only kase in which "c" would be retained would be the "ch" formation, which will be dealt with later.

Year 2 might reform "w" spelling, so that "which" and "one" would take the same konsonant, wile Year 3 might well abolish "y" replasing it with "i" and Iear 4 might fiks the "g/j" anomali wonse and for all.

Jenerally, then, the improvement would kontinue iear bai iear with Iear 5 doing awai with useless double konsonants, and Iears 6-12 or so modifaiing vowlz and the rimeining voist and unvoist konsonants.

Bai Iear 15 or sou, it wud fainali bi posibl tu meik ius ov thi ridandant letez "c", "y" and "x" -- bai now jast a memori in the maindz ov ould doderez -- tu riplais "ch", "sh", and "th" rispektivli.

Fainali, xen, aafte sam 20 iers ov orxogrefkl riform, wi wud hev a lojikl, kohirnt speling in ius xrewawt xe Ingliy-spiking werld.

Reminds me of a birthday card my brother sent me years ago, all in english, but phonetic one, with french words ! For exemple, "really" was written "riz au lit"

[yvanleterrible]

Originally Posted by Idoine

Reminds me of a birthday card my brother sent me years ago, all in english, but phonetic one, with french words ! For exemple, "really" was written "riz au lit"

Have you pondered on some words used by the "Chti"?

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by BenG

Wikipedia has an article on Br'er Rabbit:


Disney probably had a big influence on how people today pronounce it.

FINALLY !!! that i can understand. now it makes sense !

Originally Posted by slayda

So many ways to say & spell words, it's no wonder that a poor ole country boy can't spell diddly.

apparently it's spelled "D-I-D-D-L-Y".

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by Idoine

Reminds me of a birthday card my brother sent me years ago, all in english, but phonetic one, with french words ! For exemple, "really" was written "riz au lit"

i would love to see that text if you still have it !

[Idoine]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

i would love to see that text if you still have it !

Don't remember where it is now, but I'll try to find it !

[BenG]

Slightly off-topic but there was a guy in Atlanta that I met a couple of times. His name was Eugene Duda, but he had his first name legally changed to Zippity.