The word liseuse being used outside of MobileRead?

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by omk3

Some extra pronunciation info, feel free to ignore if it looks boring

In the phonetic alphabet, liseuse is transcribed as [lizØ:z]
I think everything must be obvious except Ø and maybe :
: is used to lengthen the preceding sound, in this case Ø
Now Ø is the tricky part. Wikipedia gives several examples of its uses, but it doesn't seem to come up in english. I'd say it's something like a lengthened uh sound.

thanks, very interesting stuff ! "a lengthened uh sound" is actually a pretty good way to explain it. it's the same vowel sound as in "her" or "fur", but without the r after, so i think in british english (where you don't pronounce the r much / at all) "hers" might be very close to the pronunciation of the second syllable.

technically that word-ending (-euse, or -eur in the masculine form) would be pronounced always the same, and you see the same one on "masseuse", "coiffeuse", etc. it means "someone / thing who performs the action described by the root of the word, like in english -er (footballer for instance ).

[GeoffC]

Originally Posted by Moejoe

Okay, so I have definitely been pronoucing it wrong...lezzers is what I've been using

no, not quite right,

lees-sure

[TGS]

Originally Posted by Moejoe

lezzers is what I've been using

But what about when you were talking about ebook readers?

[Moejoe]

Originally Posted by TGS

But what about when you were talking about ebook readers?

Oh then I'm fine with pronunciation.

[kennyc]

What is WRONG with you people?

[omk3]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

thanks, very interesting stuff ! "a lengthened uh sound" is actually a pretty good way to explain it. it's the same vowel sound as in "her" or "fur", but without the r after, so i think in british english (where you don't pronounce the r much / at all) "hers" might be very close to the pronunciation of the second syllable.

technically that word-ending (-euse, or -eur in the masculine form) would be pronounced always the same, and you see the same one on "masseuse", "coiffeuse", etc. it means "someone / thing who performs the action described by the root of the word, like in english -er (footballer for instance ).

I find languages and pronunciations fascinating, though I understand why others wouldn't.
My relatively untrained ear cannot distinguish between related sounds very well, but her, fur, nurse, etc seem to all have the ɜː sound instead of the Ø, in both british and american english. (see here for example: http://www.oxfordadvancedlearnersdic...dictionary/fur).
There is a difference, but it is very slight, and anyway pronunciation mistakes are usually much less subtle than that!

[poohbear_nc]

We need to switch the name from liseuse to zombie!!!

This thread lives on & on & on & on -- you can't kill it with logic! you can't kill it with reason! you can't kill it with personal vituperation! you can't kill it with humor! you can't kill it by changing the subject! you can't kill it by changing your avatar! you can't kill it by hitting it with a dead mod! It won't die!!

[please alert me when the personal attacks resume! ]

It's worse than the NBA play-offs!

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by omk3

I find languages and pronunciations fascinating, though I understand why others wouldn't.

i find them fascinating as well ! i've luckily got several friends who share my fascination and we sometimes can go on for hours about some random point of etymology or similar.

My relatively untrained ear cannot distinguish between related sounds very well, but her, fur, nurse, etc seem to all have the ɜː sound instead of the Ø, in both british and american english. (see here for example: http://www.oxfordadvancedlearnersdic...dictionary/fur).
There is a difference, but it is very slight, and anyway pronunciation mistakes are usually much less subtle than that!

ha yes, i think you are right about that. testing the two sounds myself, the Ø seems to be pronounced higher on the tongue and with the lips slightly in a different shape than the ɜː. but, i agree, it's a very slight difference and i think those words can still be a useful way to explain to people who might not have an obvious native example of Ø available.

Originally Posted by poohbear_nc

We need to switch the name from liseuse to zombie!!!

This thread lives on & on & on & on -- you can't kill it with logic! you can't kill it with reason! you can't kill it with personal vituperation! you can't kill it with humor! you can't kill it by changing the subject! you can't kill it by changing your avatar! you can't kill it by hitting it with a dead mod! It won't die!!

[please alert me when the personal attacks resume! ]

It's worse than the NBA play-offs!

you might kill it by going away and not posting in it... just a thought. as for personal attacks, i'll be keeping an eye for them with my moderator stick handy.

[poohbear_nc]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

you might kill it by going away and not posting in it... just a thought. as for personal attacks, i'll be keeping an eye for them with my moderator stick handy.

Oh my - I was just joshing you - no need to pull out the green emoticons - I'll behave! I was just marveling at the metamorphoses this thread has had - from linguistic to international bickering to comedy back to linguistics! Almost an ouroboros! That's another fun word to try & pronounce!

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by poohbear_nc

Oh my - I was just joshing you - no need to pull out the green emoticons - I'll behave!

perfect. that's settled then.

I was just marveling at the metamorphoses this thread has had - from linguistic to international bickering to comedy back to linguistics! Almost an ouroboros! That's another fun word to try & pronounce!

yes it is. and you're right that it is a pretty good description of this thread !

[omk3]

Ouroboros? It's the simplest word ever!
Just paste this: ουροβόρος into the site I provided above (http://www.acapela-group.com/text-to...tive-demo.html), select the voice of Dimitris, and listen!

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by omk3

Ouroboros? It's the simplest word ever!
Just paste this: ουροβόρος into the site I provided above (http://www.acapela-group.com/text-to...tive-demo.html), select the voice of Dimitris, and listen!

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by GeoffC

Everyone who drops into the Llounge does ..... whether everyone on MR does, is another question that needs answering.

I keep wondering if this ought to be put up as a poll in the General Discussion forum (rather than the lounge).

Knowing doesn't, necessarily, equate with "using" .....

It was a poll already and it lost big time. Most of the people who voted don't like the word and the usage to which some want to mistakenly put it to.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I really have to ask why anyone cares. The fact that a small group of people in this forum have essentially said "wouldn't it be fun if we started using this word" isn't going to get it adopted by anyone else, and it just annoys people to try. You can guarantee that any thread that uses the word outside this forum is going to instantly get derailed into arguments about the use of the word, and that the actual subject matter of the post will be completely ignored.

We've already had that happen on one thread when the OP used that word in place of the original word in some news item. I don't remember what the news item was about, but it did derail big time.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by TGS

I have just returned from an exam for my MA - the exam was in cognitive aesthetics. One of the pictures that I had to analyze was this:



And I managed to get liseuse into the conversation, both as the title of a number of paintings depicting women reading and, by metaphorical extension, as the name for an electronic device used for reading upon. Neither of the examiners batted an eyelid and by the end of the exam all three of us were using the word freely - oh, and one of the examiners lives in Paris.

I think the tide is turning.

She's turning blue in the face due to your incorrect usage of that silly word.