If Americans want to say Twat they should say it properly.

[bigmouthstrikesagain]

There is a very irritating trend in US TV where an actor will use "twat" as an insult, but pronounce it "twot" ... it is painful and I need it to stop.

( I shouldn't find this amusing BUT found a clip on you tube about "rhotic speakers" and it sounded like he was asking, "would you like to be an erotic speaker!" Snigger.)

John Oliver does it on his US talk show. Yow-gurt and instead of "fruit and veg" it's prow-doos.

It's confusing. The show is great, though

And laugh can sound more like laff if you have an accent which does a short A.

MitzyLeFrouf "cloth = claw-th moth = y'know.......moth"

Isn't "claw-th" for "cloth" how the Queen used to speak in the 1940's? Even she doesn't speak like that any more! Just how posh are you? Also, if you say "claw-th" why don't you say "maw-th"?

I'm now imagining Mitzy having a fabulous old school RP accent. Really don't hear them often!

It could reasonably be said that "twot" is right, due to the fact that "a" after "w" is rarely pronounced with a flat a sound (as in cat). Think about wasp, wander, waddle, for instance.

What irritates me is "Eye-ran" and "Eye-rak" for Iran and Iraq. That's just totally illogical.

"Laugh" can be pronounced as "Larf" (which rhymes with "scarf") or "Laff" (Y' havin' a laff?). I think talking about rhotic Rs is a minor issue.

What irritates me is "Eye-ran" and "Eye-rak" for Iran and Iraq. That's just totally illogical

Do you listen to music on an ippod?

But laugh/larf only rhymes with 'scarf' if you have a non rhotic accent and scoot over the Rs.

'Isn't "claw-th" for "cloth" how the Queen used to speak in the 1940's? Even she doesn't speak like that any more! Just how posh are you?'

Not very!

Love the idea that I'm channeling one of the Mitford sisters circa 1935 though

I always wondered in buffy the vampire slayer why the character Tara was always called Terra?Is this another American pronunciation difference?

The Terra thing is a mid-western pronunciation. That's not the way it's pronounced in the South. Next time you happen to watch Gone With the Wind, note the line "Yankees? Yankees in Tara?" That's the way we say it.

The New Orleans accent is a hard one to replicate. It's one of the few American accents that have non-rhotic elements, and it's hard even for other Southerners to do authentically.

Has risotto been mentioned yet? The first time I heard an American say riz-oh-doe I couldn't believe it was for real.
Nothing against Americans whatsoever. That just tickled me.

Lucas Black who plays Christopher Lasalle in NCIS NO is from Alabama and his accent is authentic; his character in the show is from Alabama.

I do like the show a lot, even though some of the accents are not quite right.

It's just accents. I'm Irish and would never say twat but always thought twot when reading it! It's normal for certain things to grate though I suppose- when Oasis were big hearing the Gallagher brothers name pronounced Gal-agg-uh on English TV hurt my ears. I'm always confused by the random adding of "r" to phonetic spellings of names on mumsnet too.

Watching a tennis match a few years ago and the american commentator said "he's now taking a brief Respit" I mean res-pit?!?

when Oasis were big hearing the Gallagher brothers name pronounced Gal-agg-uh on English TV hurt my ears. How else could you pronounce it? I can't come up with an alternative pronunciation at all

More like how Kirsty Gallagher pronounces it. Helpfully I can't quite remember how that is but I think it's more like

Gallach-her?

So no g sounds in the middle.

"I think the oregano pronunciation must be related to how Oregon (the state) is pronouced? In America I mean, nowhere else."
Do Americans not pronounce the way Canadians do, o-reg-uh-no? Isn't Oregon, or-u-ghin? (Trying to mix bold and italics to represent the stressed syllable. Ack.)

it could just be me hearing things oddly, Andy.

It makes complete sense to me though

Respite definitely pronounced res-pit here. Tara is Tare-uh or -ah.

How do you pronounce risotto?!

It's funny, the name thing. I remember the name Asa being discussed and someone saying "the spelling Acer". I was like WTAF?! They're so different to my ears. I like Asa but not Acer. Same with people who have only seen the Hunger Games but not read it thinking the male lead is called Peter. I was so confused at first!

I can't actually imagine anyone saying Twat with an American accent - just can't hear it in my head.

Have we done nitch for niche yet?

I assume that the American pronunciation of oregano comes from the Italian pronunciation of origano. Stress on second syllable in both.

Fantastic-as Alis said there is no "g" sound in the middle. In the Irish language -agh pronounced more like -ah or -ach depending on dialect.

We did niche. So far all Americans on this thread who have reported say "neesh."

House full of Americans here.
Oregon is pronounced O-reh-gon, O as in Octopus emphasis on the reh. The Herb is O-ray-ga-no -Dh drops the h in herb I don't--
hell it's hard to spell out how we speak
Water it turns out has a D in it and sounds like Wadder. Same with Peter, becomes Peeder.
Craig is creg. Greg sounds more like Grig. Graham is Gram. Anna/Onna or Arna.
Niche is Neech
Twat is never uttered by anyone I knew in the US.
Dude is anyone male or female, or if feeling silly it's Dudettes for girls.
Many of words ending in "to" end up as "do" Lotto=Loddo
Hmmm no wonder we have trouble understanding each other!