Pronunciation watch

[Serial_Apologist]

As you describe it, there seems to be a sort of rule with "banger", "clanger" etc as derivatives from verbs and "anger", "hunger" as underived words in their own right. Strangely, derivatives from adjectives, as with the comparative of long, strong, young, seem to prefer the hard "g". Perversely, "wronger" goes the the other way.

Does it??

[Padraig]

Does it??

'fraid so, S_A.

Hard GGGGG.

[french frank]

'fraid so, S_A.

Hard GGGGG.

Nope. ˈrɒŋər - no g. But the word is infrequently used, whether as a noun or a comparative adjective. I thought what gurnemanz was saying was that 'wronger' (comparative adjective) was different from longer, stronger, younger, which do have the 'g' sound. Ergo, it doesn't. I agree with that.

Strangely, derivatives from adjectives, as with the comparative of long, strong, young, seem to prefer the hard "g". Perversely, "wronger" goes the the other way.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I say sin-Ging

I assume you were born in Lancashire or thereabouts?

[MrGongGong]

I assume you were born in Lancashire or thereabouts?

Nope

Merseyside

[jean]

That was Lancashire, once upon a time.

[MrGongGong]

That was Lancashire, once upon a time.

Not the bit i'm from
It was Cheshire

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Today in Afternoon on 3, Verity Sharp in her wisdom, informed us we had heard music by Dyaw-rer-flay. However, this feeble attempt to show knowledge of the French language was almost forgotten, when we were subjected to YET ANOTHER In Tune trailer.

[visualnickmos]

The other day the presenter on France Musique, kept referring to Richard Bon-inj

[jean]

Stop calling it LODGE! PLEASE!!!

(Radio 4 just now)

[vinteuil]

Stop calling it LODGE! PLEASE!!!

(Radio 4 just now)

... I assume you're referring to Woodge?

Łódź

[jean]

I am.

[Sir Velo]

Q: How many R3 announcers does it take to pronounce Göteburg correctly?

[Radio64]

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

When I first went away to a boarding school at the age of 11, I had a Mancunian sort of accent, but it was modified somewhat by some of the posher speakers whom I met in the first term. When I returned home at Christmas, my old friends were amused by my vocal transformation, so I became something of a conversational chameleon. It was hard work in my first teaching job on the Isle of Wight - not for me, though to them I must have sounded like the yet-to-be-born Steph McGovern - but because the young people just could not pronounce the name Gluck; they thought it rhymed with "muck" rather than "book". Having lived in one both sides of the Pennines, the deep English South, North Wales, the Potteries and the East Midlands, I've always had an interest in regional accents, but it was a visit to a manor house that taught me the way to "talk posh" without difficulty.
The lord-of-the-manor, his wife and very young child spoke with accents that suggested very fine breeding, but after a few days, I realised how they did it: LAZINESS!

When speaking, they never opened their mouths wide enough to move their teeth more than 2 mm. apart.
Try saying the following words, keeping your lips as still as possible, and hardly moving your teeth:
bath
goat
fun
sad

The chances are, you will say barth, gioat, fern and sed.

Now say the same words in a northern accent, and it will be much more difficult to do so without moving your lips and teeth to a greater extent.

Now I understand why CB-H and others cannot say "you" and "book" without sounding affected.