Commonly mispronounced words

[Kingswood]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

btw.... squirrel ....one syllable.

Only for in the US (and maybe Canada). Proper pronuniation elsewhere is SKWI-r*l. (First part sounds like "squid" without the d, and second sounds like "Errol" without the E.) This pronuniation is also used by some speakers in the USA. Both pronunciations are considered correct.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by Kingswood

Only for in the US (and maybe Canada). Proper pronuniation elsewhere is SKWI-r*l. (First part sounds like "squid" without the d, and second sounds like "Errol" without the E.) This pronuniation is also used by some speakers in the USA. Both pronunciations are considered correct.

Nay, nay....common pronunciation maybe, but proper pronunciation is one syllable.

BTW, it's pronunciation not pronuniation. :p

[Kingswood]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

Nay, nay....common pronunciation maybe, but proper pronunciation [of "squirrel"] is one syllable.

Only in the USA (and maybe Canada) as I said before. If you tried saying "squurl" in other anglophone countries, some people may give you funny looks, some may not understand you at all, and a few may try to correct you. "Squurl" is not considered a correct pronunciation in most other anglophone countries.

Your particular pronciation arises because the "irr" has been reinterpreted as a different vowel (the same vowel in bird, world, earth etc) and the schwa before the final "l" has been elided. These processes often occur in natural languages, and it is also natural that more conservative pronunciations are preserved in other places. This does not mean either pronunciation is incorrect. It just means that different pronunciations are recommended as correct in different countries.

Through these processes and by other means, a few words do have unpredictably different pronunciations in US English and Commonwealth English (the two major strains). Squirrel is one of those words. A few other words with such differences are aluminium/aluminum (this one is also spelt differently), lieutenant, stirrup, thorough, toward. Aluminium/aluminum is a relatively recent neologism, recommended US pronunciation is more conservative in lieutenant and thorough and recommended Commonwealth pronunciation is more conservative in squirrel, stirrup and toward.

Such differences in pronunciation in different countries are simply something that one must live with. After all, a few of your own treasured correct pronunciations may be considered incorrect by others, just as others' correct pronunciations may be considered incorrect by you.

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

BTW, it's pronunciation not pronuniation. :p

Now, now. Surely you can tell a typo when you see one?

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by Kingswood

Now, now. Surely you can tell a typo when you see one?

Once is a typo. Multiples in the same paragraph is misspelling.

[Kingswood]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

Once is a typo. Multiples in the same paragraph is misspelling.

I hope you're not indulging in spelling flames.

Despite your assertions, they were typos. I make repeatable typos fairly often because I type words using muscle memory and my typing is not the best. Some frequent typos of mine include "because" as "becuase" and "to the" as "tot he". "Pronunciation" is another word where I sometimes make the same typo, in this case omitting a "c". I usually catch my typos before I post but on this occasion these ones escaped into the ether.

I knew the correct pronunciations of "squirrel" because I had recently looked them up in a pronunciation dictionary (Longman's) as a part of a recent discussion on the pronunciation of "squirrel" and "stirrup" on a linguistics forum. These words were of interest because these are the only two words in English (or at least the only two words we could find at the time) where the vowel in "bit" with a following "r" in British English is replaced by the vowel in "earth" in American English. It is more usual for the vowel in "but" with a following "r" in British English to be merged with the vowel in "earth" in American English. (This is why "hurry" and "furry" rhyme for many Americans but not for British speakers.)

For the record, one syllable or two are both acceptable for "squirrel" according to Longman.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by Kingswood

I hope you're not indulging in spelling flames.

~snip

Nope, just yanking your chain because you're being dour. There's nothing wrong with being helpful or with being accurate, both are commendable.
That said, I got the impression you were working awfully hard and wanted to make sure you were having fun.... not forced into a stance where you had to work hard.

If I was right, lighten up, have fun, carry on.
If I was wrong, then my apologies and as you were.

[Cloud]

[quote=xoxoxoBruce;323876]Nope, just yanking your chain because you're being dour. /QUOTE]

ooh, that's a good mispronounced word! "dour"-- like "do-er" not like flour.

[wolf]

Originally Posted by Kingswood

I knew the correct pronunciations of "squirrel" because I had recently looked them up in a pronunciation dictionary (Longman's) as a part of a recent discussion on the pronunciation of "squirrel" and "stirrup" on a linguistics forum.

Am I following this correctly?

AE: Stur-rup
BE: Steer-up

(This is why "hurry" and "furry" rhyme for many Americans but not for British speakers.)

I'm not getting how these two words would be spoken differently by a British speaker.

[Kingswood]

Originally Posted by wolf

Am I following this correctly?

AE: Stur-rup
BE: Steer-up

It's reasonably close but IIRC the vowel is closer to the short vowel in "hit":
BE: Sti-rup
Note that the r is doubled in the spelling; doubled consonants often follow a short vowel. So BrE pronounces "stirrup" more or less as it is spelt, whereas AmE has a somewhat different pronunciation that appears to be based on the pronunciation of "stir". (Based on that, I guess one could also argue that the AmE pronunciation follows the spelling.)

Originally Posted by wolf

I'm not getting how ["hurry" and "furry"] would be spoken differently by a British speaker.

"hurry" - just say "hut" without the "t" and then add a "ry" on the end ("hu-ry"). It's actually fairly easy to say.

I find the hurry-furry merger to be quite interesting from a linguistic point of view because it is one of the few vowel mergers that seems to create no homophones.

[monster]

Originally Posted by Kingswood

Only for in the US (and maybe Canada). Proper pronuniation elsewhere is SKWI-r*l. (First part sounds like "squid" without the d, and second sounds like "Errol" without the E.) This pronuniation is also used by some speakers in the USA. Both pronunciations are considered correct.

Didn't we already do this on page 12 -which is why SG was reminded of this thread?

But hey, let's do this American TV style and call it "another chance to discusss..."

/Damn now I'm annoyed, I know there's an upbeat euphemism for repeat -often used when showing the last episode in the previous series before they start a new one (or -all too often- the whole bloomin' previous series...), but I can't remember it. Aaargh. I knew I should watch more TV!