Cava - cavver or carver?

[StillCoughingandLaughing]

Just been on the phone to my mother, who was waxing lyrical about the lovely ‘cavver’ (Cava) she’s bought to go with Christmas lunch. I’ve always pronounced it ‘carver’, with a soft A, and that’s what I hear more often than not, but she’s not alone in her pronunciation, so I have a nagging doubt I could be wrong. Can I get the views of the MN jury?

YABU = Cavver with a hard A
YANBU = Carver with a soft A

Anyone who has studied other languages would know that the r's that people are inserting into the spelling of words are not pronounced - they are attempts to phonetically represent that speaker's dialect, in which 'Ka' and 'car', 'tar' and 'ta', 'sore' and 'saw,' 'roar' and 'raw' etc etc etc are pronounced exactly the same way. Indeed, in most phonics teaching systems in English, 'ar' is assumed to be pronounced with no audible 'r' sound.

As a linguist myself, I'm constantly fascinated by how little people listen to other accents - they just assume the word has been pronounced the way they pronounce it. Anyone with a TV or a radio in this country hears people pronounce 'carver' the same way as 'cava' or 'lore' the same way as 'law' all the time, but they don't notice it.

@StillCoughingandLaughing

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

They really wouldn't - not where I live either Arger sounds like a mini argument.

It may be common where you live OP but as this thread may have proven to you, most people don't speak like you do.......I am guessing this thread hasn't gone the way you expected which is why you are now throwing out random insults.

But they are pronounced!!!!

English people do add R's in where there is no R! And pronounce them!!!

I am guessing this thread hasn't gone the way you expected which is why you are now throwing out random insults.

But it wasn’t random. It was specifically aimed at you. That’s the opposite of random.

Think the Scottish accent is more similar to the Spanish, I say Cava ( the v is a b in Spanish) so it should be CABA

Instead of learning A, B, C's, I guess English kids learn their Ar, B, C's.

None of the above. It's cava.

Aimed at me? Why me? I think you are confusing your posters as well as your phonics now OP. Your offensive post to the other poster was deleted by MN anyway.

@StillCoughingandLaughing

I am guessing this thread hasn't gone the way you expected which is why you are now throwing out random insults.

But it wasn’t random. It was specifically aimed at you. That’s the opposite of random.

Yes and specifically directed insults are not permitted I believe.

That’s a laugh, coming from someone who’s been rude and condescending throughout the entire thread.

I haven't been either rude nor condescending.

Did you have your carver in the end?

Who would have thought a thread about cava could descend into such chaos? Has your Christmas been a bit shit OP? I hope it improves.

It's CHRISTMAAAAASSSSSS!!!!! (with a silent T from Brummy Noddy of course)

@RudolphToldRedNoseNotSymptom

I've studied 5 languages other than English, so find language interesting.

The English in general will have only studied English and French at primary.

How condescending, and wrong. My kids go to bog standard comprehensive and one is currently studying Spanish and French, the other is doing GCSE German. I also studied 3 languages including A level in one of them. Don't make rude assumptions about people.

I haven't been either rude nor condescending.

Well, we’ll have to disagree on that. I can’t find any posts where you haven’t.

Mine has been a bit shit. I think the highlight was the OP lecturing us on phonetics.

www.happyhourspanish.com/spanish-vowels/

How condescending, and wrong.
My kids go to bog standard comprehensive and one is currently studying Spanish and French, the other is doing GCSE German. I also studied 3 languages including A level in one of them. Don't make rude assumptions about people.

You sound like Dell-Boy boasting about Rodney having 3 GCE's lol

I am confused by your posts Rudolph. There are a variety of different English accents, some of which include an extra r in words and some of which do not. That is what is being compared on this thread, as well as comparison to some Scottish and Irish ones.

To the OP, it isn’t that you are wrong to say carver. It is just one way of saying the word. Other ways of saying it are equally correct.

Well this thread has descended into nonsense.

To answer the original question it’s Kah-vah. We speak properly in Scotland 😉

@Stripesnomore

I am confused by your posts Rudolph. There are a variety of different English accents, some of which include an extra r in words and some of which do not. That is what is being compared on this thread, as well as comparison to some Scottish and Irish ones.

To the OP, it isn’t that you are wrong to say carver. It is just one way of saying the word. Other ways of saying it are equally correct.

But it's not correct lol. That's what some of us are getting frustrated about.

It is correct in the OP’s accent.

OP - did you ever study a language other than English?
What part of England do you hail from?

I think the highlight was the OP lecturing us on phonetics.

You sound like Dell-Boy boasting about Rodney having 3 GCE's lol

But you haven’t been at all rude or condescending. Oh, no.

Plurals don’t require apostrophes, by the way. I’m surprised you don’t know that.

@Stripesnomore

It is correct in the OP’s accent.

On what planet?