Pronunciation watch

[marthe]

Caliban, those Breton galletttes look quite delicious!

Vinteuil, thank you for the information about LU. Petit Ecolier was my father's favorite. We often brought these when we went to visit him during his last year because they reminded him of childhood "gouter," a French/Belgian late-afternoon snack for children.

[scottycelt]

Back slightly more on-topic!

On the UK version of Bloomberg Noos it regularly displays the current temps in various parts of the world with a named local picture background.

Today we are treated to a shot of the Sacre-Cur Basilica, Paris, France ...

[Flosshilde]

a shot of the Sacre-Cur Basilica, Paris, France ...

As I'm sure you know, Scotty, there is very little difference between dog & god

[Bryn]

As I'm sure you know, Scotty, there is very little difference between dog & god

Let's not get bogged down in that one.

[kernelbogey]

In her new trailer for her Sunday morning show, Suzy Klein talks about "the hear' of the programme". For some reason I can't get this glottal stop in 'heart' out of my head. Sad I know. I just have never heard it pronounced thus.

[Mary Chambers]

Japanese composer Jo Kondo has composed a piece called 'Three Songs Tennyson Sung'. Sung? Shouldn't it be sang? Of course, he is Japanese, and in any case perhaps the title has some trendy meaning I've missed, but I have frequently noticed recently people saying things like 'I swum', 'the ship sunk', 'he sung a song'.

[french frank]

Japanese composer Jo Kondo has composed a piece called 'Three Songs Tennyson Sung'.

Not sure I'd have understood what it meant - perhaps Tennyson Sung, a British-Chinese composer?

[PatrickOD]

According to Fowler 'sung' was formerly the usual past tense - maybe Tennyson was familiar with it. It's still familiar in places nearer than Japan, but it 'sounds' wrong.

[marthe]

Japanese composer Jo Kondo has composed a piece called 'Three Songs Tennyson Sung'. Sung? Shouldn't it be sang? Of course, he is Japanese, and in any case perhaps the title has some trendy meaning I've missed, but I have frequently noticed recently people saying things like 'I swum', 'the ship sunk', 'he sung a song'.

Mary I have also noticed this. In school we learned "swim, swam, swum, sing, sang, sung, etc." One would say, "I sang that song yesterday" or "I have sung that song many times".

[Mary Chambers]

.I was taught it was wrong, but there was the Noel Coward song 'Where are the songs we sung?'. I always assumed he'd made a mistake.

[Anna]

Is it to to with plurals? I sang a song. He sang a song. We sung a song?

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Is it to to with plurals? I sang a song. He sang a song. We sung a song?

I don't think so. "We sung" is simply incorrect grammar.

[mangerton]

I don't think so. "We sung" is simply incorrect grammar.

Indeed. It's the difference between the past tense (sang) and the perfect tense (have sung).

I have noticed two other errors which are now becoming more common:

The past tense of "to lead" being spelled "lead"
People being "hung" rather than "hanged".

[vinteuil]

I don't think so. "We sung" is simply incorrect grammar.

Eine Alpensinfonie's certainty here is not shared by the OED. They give both sang and sung as acceptable forms of the past tense, commenting:
" Sung was the usual form of the past tense in the 17th and 18th centuries, and is given by Smart in 1836 with the remark "Sang ... is less in use." Recent usage, however, has mainly been in favour of sang."

[vinteuil]

... and I find that Tennyson himself used sung -

from "The Two Voices" [1833/34] :

"When, wide in soul, and bold of tongue,
Among the tents I paused and sung,
The distant battle flash'd and rung.

"I sung the joyful Paean clear,
And, sitting, burnish'd without fear
The brand, the buckler, and the spear"

and in "Mariana" [1830]

"Upon the middle of the night,
Waking she heard the night-fowl crow:
The cock sung out an hour ere light..."
...

"All day within the dreamy house,
The doors upon their hinges creaked;
The blue fly sung in the pane; the mouse
Behind the mouldering wainscot shrieked..."