Pronunciation watch

[Ein Heldenleben]

I think though I am no expert we just had two accurate Tárrega(s) from Georgia which makes up for a Messyann from one of her colleagues yesterday

[french frank]

I think though I am no expert we just had two accurate Tárrega(s) from Georgia which makes up for a Messyann from one of her colleagues yesterday

I had an email from the absent Richard Tarleton this very morn - he confirms from beyond what you say!

[Ein Heldenleben]

I had an email from the absent Richard Tarleton this very morn - he confirms from beyond what you say!

The Tárrega is not a problem but getting the dentive in Francisco that’s a different matter

[gurnemanz]

In a TV ad the other day I heard "marathon" pronounced as "marathon" with a full o sound. American version, I think, but the speaker was British. I might be overreacting in objecting but isn't the standard British way "marathn"? The same sort of thing is creeping in with "hurricane" for normal British "hurricn. (As in nickname of snooker player, Higgins.)

[kernelbogey]

Cicadas

Martin putting the stress on the first syllable this morning on Breakfast: I've always thought it went on the second.

(So do several listeners.)

[Ein Heldenleben]

Cicadas

Martin putting the stress on the first syllable this morning on Breakfast: I've always thought it went on the second.

(So do several listeners.)

It’s a Latin word so no one can say with much authority how it should be pronounced . For what it’s worth There is a school of thought that the c’s in Latin should be sounded like K’s as in Kikero rather than Sisero for Cicero.

[oddoneout]

Cicadas

Martin putting the stress on the first syllable this morning on Breakfast: I've always thought it went on the second.

(So do several listeners.)

I wondered about that and noticed that he changed it later so perhaps there had been a quick check.

[kernelbogey]

It’s a Latin word so no one can say with much authority how it should be pronounced . For what it’s worth There is a school of thought that the c’s in Latin should be sounded like K’s as in Kikero rather than Sisero for Cicero.

'Kikadas' would be rather onomatopoeic!

Edit: I then wonder where the Italian pronuciation of Latin c as ch comes from: perhaps something to do with Tuscan/Florentine dialect?

[LMcD]

I wondered about that and noticed that he changed it later so perhaps there had been a quick check.

I think a listener - possibly based on a Greek island? - got in touch to put him right.
I was much more bothered by the appallingly twee 'murder' - the artistes' word - of Tom Lehrer's pigeon control classic.

[vinteuil]

.

... I see my early [1933] OED only has one pronunciation -

si 'kay da

I think I have more usually thought of it as

si 'kaa da

But the OED supplement also has the word cicad , explained as an anglicized form of cicada.

and cicad is pronounced 'si kad

So perhaps that explains some doubts as to pronunciation?

.

.

.

[Ein Heldenleben]

'Kikadas' would be rather onomatopoeic!

Edit: I then wonder where the Italian pronuciation of Latin c as ch comes from: perhaps something to do with Tuscan/Florentine dialect?

I don’t know but that sounds eminently likely - particular the onomatopoeic theory.You are onto something there - time for a campaign . It’s like the debate over Veni, Vidi , Vici . Somehow whenny,weedy,weechee, doesn’t sound right . But then if we spoke Shakespeare as he did rather than John Gielgud did - which was probably a mix of Yorkshire, Brum , and US Virginian mountain folk that would sound a bit weird as well.

[Ein Heldenleben]

I think a listener - possibly based on a Greek island? - got in touch to put him right.
I was much more bothered by the appallingly twee 'murder' - the artistes' word - of Tom Lehrer's pigeon control classic.

Yes I hated that . Contrast with the magnificent ( and all so true) Flanders and Swann ‘Reproduction’ on R3 yesterday afternoon . That is comic genius ….

[kernelbogey]

Yes I hated that . .

Me too!

Contrast with the magnificent ( and all so true) Flanders and Swann ‘Reproduction’ on R3 yesterday afternoon . That is comic genius ….

'The ear can't hear as high as that: still, it should please some passing bat!'

[LMcD]

Yes I hated that . Contrast with the magnificent ( and all so true) Flanders and Swann ‘Reproduction’ on R3 yesterday afternoon . That is comic genius ….

Thanks to that particular Flanders and Swann song, I've never suffered from 'flutter on my bottom'.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Me too!



'The ear can't hear as high as that: still, it should please some passing bat!'

The bit with the patronising hifi expert explaining why their current system is patently inadequate and can only be solved by increasing the size of the room is almost an uncanny parody of some of my more techyy friends .