Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think chorit-zo, pit-za, cras-ong and various other pronunciations are just a bit old school?

206 replies

lessonsintightropes · 01/10/2013 00:59

My DM uses all of the above (seriously, pit-za used to be acceptable for pizza some years past) including broccol-I, Keen-yah, rest-au-rong, choc-lit, turq-oissse, etc etc etc.

My DNep and D Niece take the piss out of her tonnes and to be fair it sounds very funny to their London ears. I just think for an old woman who grew up saying things a certain way it would be a bit mean to try and r-educate her.

What do you think? Do we need to try and get DM to say brocco-lee, Ken-yah, rest-oh-ron, choco-lat etc or should we just let it live, and giggle to ourselves? PS totally outing myself to any family members here :)

OP posts:
noddyholder · 02/10/2013 17:39

That sounds like stuff to waterproof the roof

lottiegarbanzo · 02/10/2013 18:17

Croissant is much mangled and adapted. I try to sound French 'kwah-so(nt)' but have heard 'kwah-sont', 'cross-ont' and croz-nt'. I suppose we could just be English and say crescent.

FastWindow · 02/10/2013 18:18

Kwuss - ont.

Fozzleyplum · 02/10/2013 18:41

I was the one who raised the "buck" pronunciation point. To clarify, all of the examples of this type in pronunciation that I have noticed have been young women (I'd guess late teens to early thirties), speaking with a rather forced RP accent. Instead of, "I'm going to look for my cook book", they would say, "I'm going to luck for my cuck buck". They give the impression that they are trying desperately hard to sound upper class by over-softening vowel sounds.

Another version of this is "plarstic" and "lasargna."

I've never heard radio presenters speak like this - it is generally interviewees and people who don't regularly appear in broadcast media. A particular offender was interviewed on a Radio 4 book ("buck")programme a few weeks ago!

Floggingmolly · 02/10/2013 19:30

I get that there are different regional pronunciations of "book", but is buck not RP, then? (I don't have an English accent, btw).

Fozzleyplum · 02/10/2013 21:24

No, RP is to rhyme with "hook". Regional variations (eg Lancashire) can have a vary long "oo" sound, to rhyme with "Luke", but that's very specific to that part of the country.

MangoTiramisu · 03/10/2013 00:22

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

curlew · 03/10/2013 07:00

I get irrationally cross with Frank Skinner because a) he called his child Buzz, which is a daft thing to do, but b) because he has a Black Country accent, so says "Bozz". Aghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

valiumredhead · 03/10/2013 07:54

RP? Really posh?Grin

LyraSilvertongue · 03/10/2013 08:04

Moku, no that's wrong. My Swedish friend says it's Ik-KEY-ya.

MokuMoku · 03/10/2013 08:36

Lyra, the middle bit is more like kay than key.

They say it the Swedish way in Japan where I live so if I say I-key-ya no one knows what I mean.

m.youtube.com/watch?v=JBhkD4Lb4yE&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DJBhkD4Lb4yE

LyraSilvertongue · 03/10/2013 11:48

No, Moku. Kee, not kay. This is from my friend who is Swedish and lives in Sweden so he should know.

LyraSilvertongue · 03/10/2013 11:50

Now your video has confused me. Maybe it's a regional accent thing but my Swedish friend says Ik-kee-ya.

TobyLerone · 03/10/2013 11:51

OOoohh, contentious.

Well, I say Eye-key-a, and I'm British and I've lived in the UK all my life, so I should know.

curlew · 03/10/2013 12:01

I have a Jewish friend who insists that it's called Ikey's and started out as a barrow in the East End of London.............

valiumredhead · 03/10/2013 12:16

Did you explain? Grin

FastWindow · 03/10/2013 12:26

If I'm speaking in English, I say eye key a. If in Norwegian, it's ik key a. Grin hth

Fozzleyplum · 03/10/2013 13:03

RP is received pronunciation - ie the Queen's English way of speaking (although what does she know - pronounces "house" to rhyme with "mice").

DameFellatioNelson · 03/10/2013 13:08

When IKEA first came to the UK we had a friend who claimed some sort of Swedish connection and he insisted it was i-KAY-a with the i said softly like in in.

valiumredhead · 03/10/2013 13:11

Oh thanks, I thought that was SE, as in standard English i.e. news reader speak.

boschy · 03/10/2013 13:48
Kaida · 03/10/2013 20:19

It is, Valium, the Queen's speech is more upper class than RP. RP is BBC English, neutral and more understandable.

CrohnicallyLurking · 03/10/2013 20:29

Where I'm from, there is no difference in pronunciation with buck/book and luck/look. It's not affected, it's the accent here.

Orangeanddemons · 03/10/2013 20:43

Re the tenterhooks message higher up. There is such a thing as a tenterhook. They are the hooks on a stentering frame which is used for stretching fabric under tension. These are what give the little holes on the selvedge of fabric for those who know about fabrics. Over time the phrase changed from 'being on stenterhooks' ie tense and to ' being on tenterhooks'

Sorry for hijack Smile

badtime · 03/10/2013 23:11

I think the other post said that there is no such thing as 'tenderhooks', which is a common misspelling/mispronunciation of 'tenterhooks'.