The different ways that words are pronounced - Page 11

novamc1 · ‎07-02-2015

My mention of "rah" as part of the stadium cheerIt was just meant as another angle on the thread's commentary about how some words ring funny in our ears, including the way some people pronounce the names of states. Some people leave the R out of Virginia. Some people say they're from Merland, forget the A and Y.

In my freshman year of college, where I was known as one of the resident Yankees, I had to get accustomed to some of the pronunciations and sayings. Asked one girl where she was from........she said "Chervil". I asked again, got the same puzzling response. When I later passed by her dorm door, where her name and hometown were posted, I saw she was from a town called Cherryville. There began my education and language orientation. Then I had a roommate who did not consider inserting an ignition key to be starting her car. To her, it called was "cranking the car". I had a LOT to learn.

chickenbutt · ‎03-09-2010

Sheesh - Thanks for your commentary and information. I just now got a chance to read it (I'm back and forth between here and doing stuff around the house).

I do appreciate regional sayings and find them fascinating. I think - well, ok I'm CERTAIN - that what gets in my craw about the 'it don't make me no never mind' one is the profoundly poor grammar.

When and where I grew up grammar was pounded into you in school and I suppose the home life didn't help where, if something was said incorrectly, one would get knocked into next week. You learned to learn fast or get knocked around more I suppose. I guess as a consequence of my particular conditioning I have almost a visceral response to really poor grammar.

Lila Belle · ‎01-24-2013

I love our regional differences, dialects and accents.

What I don't like are those who ridicule, judge or think that those differences make the speakers ignorant.

sallybusky · ‎01-06-2013

This is for anyone, of course, but I'm especially interested in what Chickenbutt, SulGeneris (?) and sfnative think about this question re: correct articles: She ate an apple today, but will eat a banana tomorrow. The eggs came from a hen. Here's where I hear conflicting usage: It was an historic event. Shouldn't it be 'a historic event' as the beginning sound in hen is the same as in historic? I hear both from newscasters.

Puzzle Piece · ‎06-29-2010

People today are just being lazy. Telvision reporters, journalists, and the hosts of the Q.

Pronouncing the word 'today' as 'tahday'. Saying 'anda' instead of a more grammatically correct way to speak. Saying the word 'tonight' as 'tahnight'. Lazy and just plain lazy with no class.

Never Forget the Native American Indian Holocaust

mstyrion 1 · ‎09-18-2014

@Puzzle Piece wrote:
People today are just being lazy. Telvision reporters, journalists, and the hosts of the Q.
Pronouncing the word 'today' as 'tahday'. Saying 'anda' instead of a more grammatically correct way to speak. Saying the word 'tonight' as 'tahnight'. Lazy and just plain lazy with no class.

__________________________________________________________________________

Wow. That's a little extreme, isn't it?

much of what you reference is regional speech.

So, I guess the next time you make a grammatical error or pronounce something with a regional accent, you are lazy and classless too?

~Enough is enough~

biancardi · ‎03-10-2010

well, I figure if I can understand 3 out of 5 words when talking to someone who has an accent (cause I don't - hahahaha), I am ahead in the whole language thing.

If you can't fix what's broken, you'll go insane ~ Max
Look, I don’t like the taste of broccoli, but it doesn’t get tastier if you call it “Broccoli!”!
You mustn't be afraid to dream a little bigger, darling. ~ Eames

novamc1 · ‎07-02-2015

re: use of "a historic vs. an historic"

From what I remember being told in journalism school, both can sometimes be considered correct usage, but it's more comfortable when the "a" or "an" sound good with the particular word they precede. "An history book" doesn't sound good, but "an historic event" sounds just fine, doesn't it? Oh, well......

SuiGeneris · ‎03-10-2010

@sallybusky wrote:
This is for anyone, of course, but I'm especially interested in what Chickenbutt, SulGeneris (?) and sfnative think about this question re: correct articles: She ate an apple today, but will eat a banana tomorrow. The eggs came from a hen. Here's where I hear conflicting usage: It was an historic event. Shouldn't it be 'a historic event' as the beginning sound in hen is the same as in historic? I hear both from newscasters.

sally,

That's an interesting question.

During my lifetime, the use of "an historic" has diminished over time, with "a historic" becoming more commonplace.

Here's something from a site called "Better Writing Skills" that explains it better than I can:

A well known grammar rule says that we should use an before vowel sounds; for example, an accident, an item, an hour. We use a otherwise: a book, a hotel, a university.

Notice that we say an hour, not a hour. The choice of a or an is based upon the sound of the word, not the spelling. Hour sounds as if it starts with a vowel sound (ow); hence, we use an.

Following this rule, we would say a historic, not an historic because (for most speakers) historic doesn't start with a vowel sound.

Words of three or more syllables that start with h are treated differently by some speakers, though. (This may be because of the tendency of some regional accents to drop initial Hs.)

Summary -- A historic is more common in both American and British English, but both usages are sufficiently common to be considered correct.

Chart showing change in usage over time:

'a historic' versus 'an historic'

♥ Be yourself; everyone else is already taken. -- Oscar Wilde ♥

chickenbutt · ‎03-09-2010

novamc wrote:
re: use of "a historic vs. an historic"

From what I remember being told in journalism school, both can sometimes be considered correct usage, but it's more comfortable when the "a" or "an" sound good with the particular word they precede. "An history book" doesn't sound good, but "an historic event" sounds just fine, doesn't it? Oh, well......

That's a really good point on the difference between 'an historic...' and 'a history book...'.

Funny how I was thinking about this exact thing (article before word that starts with an 'h') just the other day.

To me, the way I would say it, 'an historic moment' sounds right. But, with that word I wouldn't be pronouncing the 'h' as distinctly as if I were using the word 'history'.

When the 'h' is not pronounced as hard with some words, the article that apples to a word beginning with a vowel sounds 100% right to me. That's not to say that it IS 100% right. But I feel like both ways would probably be right because if you pronounce the word with a hard 'h', then the article would be 'a'.

My vote is that BOTH are right, depending on pronunciation.

Fun stuff!