Proper Pronunciation (British, song, sentence, speech)

[in_newengland]

Originally Posted by Rubi3

I often (silent t) hear liberry from the people who say conversate.

Does that person ever conversate with you about how they never go to the liberry?

Conversate???

[Mightyqueen801]

I was talking with someone once who told me he had high blood pressure from worriation.

[P47P47]

Originally Posted by Mightyqueen801

I was talking with someone once who told me he had high blood pressure from worriation.

"worriation"

That one's pretty cool. Reminds me of Chuck Berry's "botheration" and "motorvating".

[figmalt]

Originally Posted by Rubi3

Some people think it is laziness or ignorance, but you say it isn't, which only proves you have a different opinion and doesn't mean any more than the other opinion, in my opinion.

Or it proves I have a rather useless degree in Linguistics.

[Rubi3]

Back in the olden days, I noticed heinous is one of those words regularly mispronounced. Those who subscribe to the daily Wordsmith are aware it's today's word: HAY-nuhs.

[Rubi3]

Originally Posted by in_newengland

Does that person ever conversate with you about how they never go to the liberry?

Conversate???

People appearing before Judge Judy are the ones I might hear saying it. Nicely enough, the judge quickly tells them it isn't a word.

[coolgato]

Originally Posted by Rubi3

Having never come across beauchamp before, I looked it up and discovered it's a surname. Apparently, I've not met anyone by that name, but would expect pronunciation to be "bo-shont," which allows my 13 credits of French to come in handy. lol

You got the French pronunciation beautifully, but the English pronounce it as "beechum," and it is a surname.

[Dirt Grinder]

Okay, here's one I hear locally - "Y'ortn't" as in "Y'ortn't tease 'at snake."

[in_newengland]

Originally Posted by Dirt Grinder

Okay, here's one I hear locally - "Y'ortn't" as in "Y'ortn't tease 'at snake."

Seems that the locals have their own language?

[jtur88]

Pronunciation is not like weights and measures, where any piece can be compared with a recognized standard. There is no standard. Pronouncing dictionaries tell us that 'fissure' is pronounced the same as 'fisher', but have no way to tell us how either of them is correctly pronounced. A highly educated and articulate president of the United States pronounced them 'fisha', and who is to say he was wrong?

When you get an Indian on the toll-free number and you can't understand him does that mean that your pronunciation is right and his is wrong? By what criteria? He has a diploma and has spoken only English all his life, and pronounces all words in such a way that everyone else in his habitat recognizes and deems to be correct, and his grammar and syntax are impeccable. Who are you to say he is wrong? More people speak English in India than in the USA, so by any of the majority-rules standards that we so loudly proclaim and inflict upon the world, American pronunciation is wrong.