To think it's Ter -meric and not Too-meric?

[MereDintofPandiculation]

Listening to the Food Programme this morning about adulteration of herbs and spices, and nearly every one was pronouncing Turmeric as if it didn't have the first "r". Is that right? Have I been saying it wrong for years?

@TwigletsAndRadishes , and when I go on holiday I go to Chewkey

Re Wasp
I say "W-oss-p"
My wife says "W-ass-p"!

I don't correct her because it makes me smile!! 😉☺️

You're conflating spelling and pronunciation. Just because one word with a specific combination of letters pronounces that combination in a certain way, doesn't mean all words with that combination are. English isn't a phonetically regular language.

People on the telly say brushetta, it doesn't mean that's how it should be said.

<bangs head off wall>

I am never going to risk saying it again

Would need a Hindu speaker or Urdu speaker to be sure. Turmeric is a transcription.

Why? The poster is correct.

In most non rhotic English speaking accents the first syllable of "mermaid", of "turnip" and of "turmeric" would be the same.

In rhotic accents, they'd also be identical but the R would also be pronounced.

That "turmeric" also has an alternative pronunciation doesn't change that.

Not where I come from

<bangs head harder>

This is the correct answer. It may be that those who invented the word can make sounds that we don’t use in English, so we have got as close as possible. And that could mean that both pronunciations discussed here are valid approximations of the original word.

Language is so interesting and I think everyone should continue to pronounce the word as they see fit seeing as everyone will know what they mean. Yes, I find it a bit annoying when my FIL says tyoomeric because it makes me think of tumours, but I am not about to correct his pronunciation given that a) I don’t know how the original word would be pronounced by native speakers and b) my FIL is always being snooty and close-minded about Americans pronouncing things ‘wrong’, and I hate it when he does that so I’m not going to start doing it too.

It's 'haldi' in Urdu and Hindi

Several BBC journalists are pretty sloppy regarding words; 'nuculear' instead of 'nuclear' has me chewing the carpets.

tur·meric
[ˈtəːmərɪk]

mer·maid
[ˈməːmeɪd]

Not to this Aussie it ain’t!

I say Tew (like pew) meric
Dh say Tur (like turret) meric.

We are now getting a divorce.

No! Turr-murr-ic.

~twirls~

Chew metic here

That was a bit of a curveball!

😂😂

It's Hal-dhee

Oh! How have we ended up with turmeric I wonder?

I agree with you but the dictionary does actually allow both pronunciations. My husband and MIL both say chew-merick and it winds me up so much but I can't tell them they are wrong.

On the other hand, ahmond sounds so annoying and pretentious to me.

You could save your head an awful lot of pain by just explaining.

How do you say almond?