To be getting fed up with "boarders"

[joystir59]

...which are not children sleeping in school dorms rather than going home at the end of the school day; but the boundaries between countries, the correct word for which is borders. Borders!!!! Anyone else sick of boarders?

Strangely enough it always seems to be the people with an authoritarian obsession about borders, and "taking back control" of them who tend to be the least able to spell the word correctly.

(Far be it from me to suggest that their understanding of geopolitics and macroeconomics is as poor as their spelling )

Geamrhadh As opposed to?

ˈbɔː(r)də(r)= boarder
ˈbɔː(r)də(r)= border

Are you telling me that that theres no difference between the pronunciation of the word "border", as in a border between countries, and "boarder" as in surf boarder?

Wow. No wonder so many native English speakers struggle with learning a foreign language.

@GreenlandTheMovie

Geamrhadh As opposed to?

ˈbɔː(r)də(r)= boarder
ˈbɔː(r)də(r)= border

Are you telling me that that theres no difference between the pronunciation of the word "border", as in a border between countries, and "boarder" as in surf boarder?

Wow. No wonder so many native English speakers struggle with learning a foreign language.

I can't be bothered to look back for this argument to see if you're being facetious, which seems likely. But the answer is "no", no difference in pronunciation!

@ErrolTheDragon

That looks like txt spk, similar to using r for 'are'. The trouble will come if idiots then start mixing up 'our' and 'are' I suppose.

My ex (actually his DW texting pretending to be him) uses 'r' for I'll The first time I got a message saying "R pick the boys up at 10" I spent ages trying to work out who the fuck R was and why they were picking my DC up instead of their DF.

I can't be bothered to look back for this argument to see if you're being facetious, which seems likely. But the answer is "no", no difference in pronunciation!*

I'm not being in the least bit facetious "FelicityMillington". I certainly pronounce "border" and "boarder" differently, based on the spelling. They are two different words, spelled differently, with different meanings.

How on earth would you pronounce "got" as opposed to "boat"?

I'm Scottish, if that makes any difference, without a strong accent but also a fluent Dutch speaker. I have honestly never come across this in English before.

In the last month a loan on our local seeling sight these have all been their.
Selling a lavely silver fin ball £5
Anyone looking for a handy man no job to big or to small just massage me
Would anyone like these bootes? They are laydes size. Bran new £50 (this came complete with a picture of the sole of a boot.....)

I have all these to hand as my friend and I snap them and sent them to each other.

WhatWouldPhyllis My ex (actually his DW texting pretending to be him) uses 'r' for I'll confused
The first time I got a message saying "R pick the boys up at 10" I spent ages trying to work out who the fuck R was and why they were picking my DC up instead of their DF.

Thank goodness theres an explanation for this too. I have no idea why they use "R". This is one of the more baffling ones.

Any again, I'm not being facetious, however if you haven't spent your entire life in Croydon or Cleveland or somewhere in between, this is not how you pronounce English!

Darn forgot the Whinie the poo furniture and the swede boots!

Hi Greenland,

In all variations of English I've ever heard the syllables "or" and "oar" are pronounced the same. "Ot" and "oat" are not. However, I live in a sheltered backwater, I don't know how it's done in Scotland. My version of English is littered with homophones, and ease of learning was certainly not a factor in its evolution

I saw a headline last week on BBC News which said ' New Guideance' about something. I was 'flapperghasted'!

just massage me ooh!

@GreenlandTheMovie

I can't be bothered to look back for this argument to see if you're being facetious, which seems likely. But the answer is "no", no difference in pronunciation!*

I'm not being in the least bit facetious "FelicityMillington". I certainly pronounce "border" and "boarder" differently, based on the spelling. They are two different words, spelled differently, with different meanings.

How on earth would you pronounce "got" as opposed to "boat"?

I'm Scottish, if that makes any difference, without a strong accent but also a fluent Dutch speaker. I have honestly never come across this in English before.

It's nothing to do with the spelling, it's the sounds. They are homophone words. The "a" letter in "boarder" isn't pronounced. The "o" in both "boarder" and "border" is the same long vowel sound. The /r/ is in brackets to show it's a variant pronunciation depending on whether you have a rhotic (pronouncing the letter "r" after a vowel sound or not. I think most, if not all, Scottish (and Irish, and American) accents are rhotic.

Am I the only one now repeating the words Border and Boarder to discover if I pronounce them differently?

Any idea why 'nuclear' becomes 'nucular' not dependent on education?

Yes I have seen this loads of times in estate agents listings..”this house is on the boarders of the village etc” grrrr!!

We live in a codi-sack

Codi-sack!😁

@WestendVBroadway

Am I the only one now repeating the words Border and Boarder to discover if I pronounce them differently?

Not just you! They're pronounced exactly the same in my NE England accent.

@FelicityMingington

Hi Greenland,

In all variations of English I've ever heard the syllables "or" and "oar" are pronounced the same. "Ot" and "oat" are not. However, I live in a sheltered backwater, I don't know how it's done in Scotland. My version of English is littered with homophones, and ease of learning was certainly not a factor in its evolution

Thanks, and to "Geamrhadh* (which I have no idea how to pronounce).

I was honestly unaware of this. In Scots English, pronouncing "border" as "boarder" with a flat rather than a rounded "o" would actually be slang. The two sounds are very distinct. So "o" in "border" would be pronounced like the initial O" in "Othello". Although now I'm thinking you would pronounce it as "Oathello"!

Same as in Dutch. In Dutch, the "o" is very round, like an "aw", and "oo" is the sound in "boarder". You would always distinguish between the two sounds.

Its also I believe much the same in Scandinavian languages, where there is quite a difference between "o", "oh" and "ooh" sounds. So Å, Ä, Ö are different vowels, with subtly different sounds.

Tbd though some people may have genuine difficulties.

My husband has terrible problems with both handwriting and spelling. He's nearly 60. I'm convinced if he was younger, his school would have diagnosed him with dyslexia, but less was known back then. He's really not in anyway stupid-its only this area he struggles with, but over a pint could discuss any topic with you and has a keen interest in current events. He just couldn't write an essay on it.

His FB posts are riddled with spelling errors, so much I sometimes offer to correct them for him.

@GreenlandTheMovie

That's interesting, thank you! Language and accent fascinate me and I spend more time than is probably healthy pondering things.

Dutch amazes me, or should I say, Dutch speakers of English amaze me, native like pronunciation! It's on my list of languages to have a go at but at the moment I'm battling with Danish which to my beginner's ear sounds like Norwegian but the speaker has eaten half the letters

I don't know how to pronounce my name either I saw it in a Gaelic poem and liked the look of it.

Supposably.

Assumably.

Just stop. Please.

[quote Geamhradh]@GreenlandTheMovie

That's interesting, thank you! Language and accent fascinate me and I spend more time than is probably healthy pondering things.

Dutch amazes me, or should I say, Dutch speakers of English amaze me, native like pronunciation! It's on my list of languages to have a go at but at the moment I'm battling with Danish which to my beginner's ear sounds like Norwegian but the speaker has eaten half the letters

I don't know how to pronounce my name either I saw it in a Gaelic poem and liked the look of it.[/quote]
I honestly am flabbergasted to find out that there is no distinction in English between "oa" and "o"! Its just one of those things you don't even think about. So I suppose the confusion in spelling isn't entirely surprising.

I like the sound of Danish, though I can't cope with the non-rhotic pronunciation of "R" (and I'm aware that the Jysk accent is Rhotic). It would be so much easier if English just had more vowels and you could write "border" for "border" and "bårder" for "boarder"!

Greenland I know the difference you mean, but in most (all?) English accents they're pronounced exactly the same.

My Scottish flatmate found it weird that fork/pork/walk/talk/torque all rhyme for me, and I found it equally bizarre that they didn't for her.

@GameofPhones

Any idea why 'nuclear' becomes 'nucular' not dependent on education?

Is that not dependent on education? I don't believe I've ever heard a chemist or physicist mispronounce nuclear. Perhaps if you also occasionally use the word 'nucleus' you're much less likely to mangle it to 'newkiller'.