Pronunciation watch

[ahinton]

Talking about the NOW's tour of S. America this afternoon Katie D bizarrely decided to pronounce Santiago to rhyme with Diego. Difficult to know how on earth she arrived at that choice.

Saintly ego might have been more appropriate from her, methinks...

[jean]

...bizarrely decided to pronounce Santiago to rhyme with Diego...

But they're just alternative names for this guy, aren't they?

[Serial_Apologist]

Talking about the NOW's tour of S. America this afternoon Katie D bizarrely decided to pronounce Santiago to rhyme with Diego. Difficult to know how on earth she arrived at that choice.

Rhymes with sago could be a reason.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Rhymes with sago could be a reason.

W.S. Gilbert thought that "brasses" rhymed with "masses". As a northerner I would agree with him, but in D'Oyly Carte-speak they are pronounced as "brahsses" and "messes".

[Serial_Apologist]

W.S. Gilbert thought that "brasses" rhymed with "masses". As a northerner I would agree with him, but in D'Oyly Carte-speak they are pronounced as "brahsses" and "messes".

jean knows all about messes.

[Pabmusic]

Rhymes with sago could be a reason.

I certainly recall rhyming Santiago with "say go" at school in the 1960s.

[subcontrabass]

W.S. Gilbert thought that "brasses" rhymed with "masses". As a northerner I would agree with him, but in D'Oyly Carte-speak they are pronounced as "brahsses" and "messes".

Upper-class Catholics rhyme "mahss" with "brahss".

[jean]

Quite strange really, as most of them are in Lancashire.

[subcontrabass]

Quite strange really, as most of them are in Lancashire.

Probably the result of southern public-school education - the one I know who uses this pronuciation went to Downside a long time ago.

[teamsaint]

Upper-class Catholics rhyme "mahss" with "brahss".

and quite a number of non upper- class Catholics too.

[Radio64]

"Weekend". Accent on "week" or "end"?

[rauschwerk]

Upper-class Catholics rhyme "mahss" with "brahss".

So does Sean Rafferty.

[Pabmusic]

"Weekend". Accent on "week" or "end"?

I suspect it depends on comfort. If I say "I'll see you next weekend" it will certainly have an accent on the first syllable, because that (for me) is easier to say in combination with the preceding sounds. However, "She does this every weekend" [sigh...] seems to demand an accent on the second syllable.

Perhaps the deciding factor is the importance of "weekend" in the sentence.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

So does Sean Rafferty.

I suppose it depends on context - rather like "thirteen".

[jean]

Both weekend and thirteen are accented on both syllables pretty much equally in most contexts, surely?

(And what has SR got to do with it?)