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Pronunciation differences - scone, castle etc

95 replies

BearSoFair · 09/10/2020 09:53

Are there any more that are common?

Talking to a friend in another country last night and got onto words like 'bath' and 'castle' and how she's never sure whether it should be a long or short A. She wasn't aware of the great scon/scone debate! Are there any other words with well known/debated pronunciation variations? I feel like there must be but none are coming to mind!

OP posts:
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Changethetoner · 09/10/2020 09:56

Often - can be pronounced OFFEN, but also OFTEN in some places they do articulate the T sound. yes really.

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Bubblebox · 09/10/2020 10:03

Vaze/ Varse -Vase
Brekfast/ brakefast- breakfast

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BearSoFair · 09/10/2020 10:06

Ooh yes vase! Have also just realised I use both 'often' and 'offen' depending on the kind of sentence Confused

OP posts:
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Smallsteps88 · 09/10/2020 10:09

So so many! Grin

MN hashes this out regularly. There’s bound to be at least one thread for each disputed word on it.

(Don’t mention the rhotic and non rhotic accents!)

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Montmartre · 09/10/2020 10:09

Vaze is the American pronunciation, rather than UK isn't it? I didn't think there was regional variation on that one?

Either/either
Neither/neither
Envelope

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midgebabe · 09/10/2020 10:10

Eaten can sound like eeet...n or e..tn

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ellieboulou33 · 09/10/2020 10:11

Mask being called Maask really irritates me

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JaJaDingDong · 09/10/2020 10:11

Poor.

In Wales it's pooer. In England it seems to be pore.

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Hokeywokey · 09/10/2020 10:13

The long and short A is to do with accent surely. Neither is right or wrong.

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JaJaDingDong · 09/10/2020 10:14

Also tooth.

In Wales it's tuth. In England it's toooth.

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TheSeedsOfADream · 09/10/2020 10:16

@ellieboulou33

Mask being called Maask really irritates me

Anybody in the south of England irritates you because of their accent?
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CatRamsey · 09/10/2020 10:17

In some parts of Wales ear is pronounced like year

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Bb90 · 09/10/2020 10:18

We have funny discussions in our house about these, hes geordie, im southern.
Sure shore/shuer
Pure pyore/puyer
Film film/filum
Bath barth/bath
Grass grarss/grass
Almond al-mond/armond
Latte lartay/lattay
I could go on haha

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Smallsteps88 · 09/10/2020 10:18

Oh FYI Op, these threads never end well Grin

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JaJaDingDong · 09/10/2020 10:22

In some parts of Wales ear is pronounced like year

And in at least one house in England Smile

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Anoisagusaris · 09/10/2020 10:26

I heard ‘sixth‘ pronounced as ‘sikth’ by an English TV presenter recently - is that normal in English accents?

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NameChange84 · 09/10/2020 10:31

@Anoisagusaris

I heard ‘sixth‘ pronounced as ‘sikth’ by an English TV presenter recently - is that normal in English accents?

How do YOU pronounce sixth?

I can’t think of any other way that Sikth? Confused


One that drives me mad is ahxed for asked Angry
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gretagreengrapes · 09/10/2020 10:34

Necklace: Neck-lace vs neck-lus
Tongue: Tong vs tung

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User27aw · 09/10/2020 10:37

Im confused why you friend isnt sure whether its prounounced bath or barth. Surely it depends on where she grew up there is no right or wrong way.

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FreezerBird · 09/10/2020 10:41

It was on a recent MN thread that I discovered some people don't pronounce the l in words like almond.

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Dairyfine · 09/10/2020 10:42

i pronounce sixth as sicksth.

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InTheLongGrass · 09/10/2020 10:43

Garage is the only one I can think of that I havnt seen mentioned.

User27aw if you speak English as a second language, and hear both it's hard to know which is "correct" - and in these cases, both are valid pronunciations.

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TheSeedsOfADream · 09/10/2020 10:44

Hardly anybody pronounces "sixth" "correctly" because of the consonant cluster. Technically speaking, it should be /siksth/ but it's usual either to lose the /k/ or the /s/ sound (together corresponding to the letter "X")
Make it plural and you've got real mouth gymnastics going on!

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Iamagree · 09/10/2020 10:48

Scottish "Wh" is pronounced differently from "w" - for example Where and wear are not the same sound. The "wh" is aspirated (?) so with a little puff/blow of air. I only realised this recently when (not "wen" Grin) someone took the piss...
I don't know if this is only Scotland though.

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Mellan · 09/10/2020 10:50

aksed/axed is the older pronunciation of asked - it's in Chaucer even

It has been retained in some dialects and it also flips around and returns from time to time

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