Presenters - Again

[Bryn]

I used to know someone who always pronounced the 'T' in 'Christmas' - "what are you doing for ChrisTmas?"
I'm not sure if it is incorrect, but she used to drive me crazy when she did it!

While I would be unlikely to emphasise it, I do include the "t" when pronouncing "Christmas". As with the "o" of history, to omit them, I regard as just plain lazy. Though an atheist, I recognise that Christmas is about celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, not Chris, (though well out of the season of that birth).

[Pulcinella]

While I would be unlikely to emphasise it, I do include the "t" when pronouncing "Christmas". As with the "o" of history, to omit them, I regard as just plain lazy. Though an atheist, I recognise that Christmas is about celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, not Chris, (though well out of the season of that birth).

And the first R in FebRuary, to say nothing of the DN (in that order) in WeDNesday!

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

And the first R in FebRuary, to say nothing of the DN (in that order) in WeDNesday!

[french frank]

'Bate Heauven' and 'Chay Cheeleya Bartoli'.

One of the R3 presenters once showed me the Pronunciation Unit's transliterations of the foreign names he had to pronounce (a sort of 'Close Enough Style' for the benefit of those not used to the IPA). 'Chay Cheeleya Bartoli' looks pretty much like what they would have written. Or perhaps Chay-CHEEL-ya BAH-to-lee.

[Ein Heldenleben]

One of the R3 presenters once showed me the Pronunciation Unit's transliterations of the foreign names he had to pronounce (a sort of 'Close Enough Style' for the benefit of those not used to the IPA). 'Chay Cheeleya Bartoli' looks pretty much like what they would have written. Or perhaps Chay-CHEEL-ya BAH-to-lee.

Last week we had one presenter saying Messyan and one MessyOn (as in enfant and therefore correct ) . Why can they learn to pronounce Messiaen correctly?

[gurnemanz]

I used to know someone who always pronounced the 'T' in 'Christmas' - "what are you doing for ChrisTmas?"
I'm not sure if it is incorrect, but she used to drive me crazy when she did it!

I taught English in Germany for several years and remember a German colleague telling me about the three consonant rule in English pronunciation, which as a native speaker I had never heard of, whereby the middle consonant of three tends not to be enunciated in informal usage. "Christmas" is a good example. Also "postman", "listen", "waistcoat", "mustn't", "Campbell" "last night" "kindness" and many, many more. There is no wrong or right. Some English speakers might prefer precise enunciation in this case, but most don't.

Germans tend to pronounce everything that's there and the point was that if they do it while speaking English it sounds over-precise and unidiomatic

"waltz" is an interesting case, being an English version of the German "Walzer". The German "z" is a two consonant "ts" sound, so it is pronounced "valtser". In English (and French "valse"), the "t", which is always enunciated in the original German completely disappears.

Article herehttps://english.stackexchange.com/qu...the-t-in-postm

[Serial_Apologist]

And the first R in FebRuary, to say nothing of the DN (in that order) in WeDNesday!

Weddunsday, I say! And unlike Bryn i have to admit to having always said "Chrischun" - obviously not one of the mispronunciations corrected during my elocution lessons to qualify for singing Persil and 'Andel in the school choir! And "histry", I'm afraid. I think I'm more irritated by the various neo-posh pronunciations found among evident fans of Made in Chelsea than old working class accents - such as "Ye" for "you" - which in my prime toffs would have prouncedly pronounced as "yoooo", as Yorkshire and Welsh folk tend to.

We had - to me- an odd one just now on the local TV news when a presenter introduced the artist newly exhibiting at Tate Modern as ChiLAYan - I would just have said Chilly 'un! Remarkable looking exhibition, btw.

[Bryn]

And the first R in FebRuary, to say nothing of the DN (in that order) in WeDNesday!

Indeed, though the "d" of Wednesday I would pretty much only hint at. Closer to two and a half syllables, rather than either two or three.

[french frank]

to say nothing of the DN (in that order) in WeDNesday!

What about the g in gnat? the k in knife? the p in psychology? the n in hymn? the w in wrap? and more controverially, the l in almond or salmon? The r in February seems no problem, but it's impossible to pronounce a consonantal group dn as two distinct sounds without inserting some sort of vocalic sound between the d and the n. The d reduces to some sort of stop. Rong thread?

[smittims]

I remember Cliff Michelmore saying 'the fith of Febyuary ' (sic).

I rank it with 'eksetra' and 'nucular'.

[Pulcinella]

What about the g in gnat? the k in knife? the p in psychology? the n in hymn? the w in wrap? and more controverially, the l in almond or salmon? The r in February seems no problem, but it's impossible to pronounce a consonantal group dn as two distinct sounds without inserting some sort of vocalic sound between the d and the n. The d reduces to some sort of stop. Rong thread?

Well, it's Wodin's Day, so it seems to me to be easy enough to say Wedunsday rather than Wensday.

[french frank]

Well, it's Wodin's Day, so it seems to me to be easy enough to say Wedunsday rather than Wensday.

Inserting the additional vowel, yes. Or as my mother used to say to her children: "You can call it tractor if you like." According to the OED, standard British English is wɛnzdeɪ. But why not just say Wodin's Day? And Thor's Day &c.

[Pulcinella]

Inserting the additional vowel, yes. Or as my mother used to say to her children: "You can call it tractor if you like." According to the OED, standard British English is wɛnzdeɪ. But why not just say Wodin's Day? And Thor's Day &c.

Well, JR-M would have us use monikers such as St Crispin's Day so why not indeed?

[Bryn]

Well, it's Wodin's Day, so it seems to me to be easy enough to say Wedunsday rather than Wensday.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StXseekmxsw

[Pulcinella]

Inserting the additional vowel, yes. Or as my mother used to say to her children: "You can call it tractor if you like." According to the OED, standard British English is wɛnzdeɪ. But why not just say Wodin's Day? And Thor's Day &c.

I can't quite reproduce the symbols, but Chambers gives wenz' or wed'nz, and Merriam-Webster's has wenz or (British also) we-d*nz, where the * is actually a superscript upside down e, so perhaps rather like the Weduns sound I give the word.