Trying to correctly pronounce words here is an exercise in futility for my American brain. I do okay when I hear a British person pronounce it first because I can mimic the word fairly well, but when I'm just trying to sound it out? Good grief!
Take a look at some of these examples:
Gloucester is pronounced "Glah-ster"
Leicester is pronounced "Lester"
Tomato is pronounced "to-mah-to"
While potato is still "po-tay-to"
But my all time new favorite is erm. On Saturday I saw a sign and read it twice and still had no idea what one of the words was; finally I asked my (American) friends what the word "erm" meant. They all looked at me quizzically. So I showed them the sign and finally one of them said, "I think they mean 'ummm'." Seriously? There is no r in that noise we make when filling a pause with sound!!!
There you have it . . . why I will never be able to speak true British. I just take my phonetics too seriously.
Monday, October 25, 2010
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