Pronunciation watch

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I see my Pocket OED gives both pronunciations.

[Pulcinella]

I see my Pocket OED gives both pronunciations.

But surely that is no surprise, as both pronunciations are used!

PS: My surprise is that the OED fits in your pocket!

[ahinton]

I say mee-grain and you say my-grain,
I say chilblyne and you say chilblain
Mee-grain, my-grain, chilblyne, chilblain;
Let's Carl the whole thing Orff.

(© Irate Gershowitz, nd)

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

PS: My surprise is that the OED fits in your pocket!

It doesn't.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I was listening to Radio 5 Live yesterday on the way home from a choir rehearsal. The football match between Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid was over, and there was a long discussion about "Athletico" Madrid.

[mercia]

tonight's announcer reckons its noblimente but I'm fairly sure its nobilmente (mind you googling noblimente produces plenty of results)

[Bryn]

tonight's announcer reckons its noblimente but I'm fairly sure its nobilmente (mind you googling noblimente produces plenty of results)

The presenter must have not consulted the new clear pronunciation guide.

[french frank]

googling noblimente produces plenty of results

Google asked me if I meant nobilmente

[P. G. Tipps]

Slightly off-topic is the common sight of sometimes hilariously bad spelling of place-names on TV.

Last week on Sky News we were treated to the sight of someone reporting from a little village called Dryman, Sterling. Apparently it is in Scotland a few miles from Greater Glasgow and looked so beautiful I'm surprised I'd never even heard of either place name.

Then yesterday, BBC News showed a clip of some former PM making a speech in his Kircaldy constituency (no doubt pronounced KirCAHLdy.

Presumably no one is employed any longer by these companies to check spelling before words go out on screen?

Even worse, maybe someone is ...

[Jasmine Bassett]

I'm surprised no-one picked up on the pronunciation of Jiří Bělohlávek's name on the live concert from Nottingham on Tuesday evening. It's not as if it should be an unknown name to BBCR3 presenters.

I couldn't possibly represent the different version that were tried during the introduction and the first half of the concert. I think someone must have given him a bit of tuition during the interval because it was much better in the second half- almost to the point of repeating the name at every possible opportunity as if to say "see - I do know how to pronounce it now".

[french frank]

It's not as if it should be an unknown name to BBCR3 presenters.

Don't be too unkind: it seems to have been the Radio York breakfast presenter again - he seems to do Radio 3 programmes when they come from north of London.

[Jasmine Bassett]

I thought it might have been the same person.

I would certainly give him 110% for enthusiasm.

[french frank]

Bit mean, but I couldn't resist checking up on how Petroc managed with Grzegorz Gorczycki.

Pretty well, as it happened

[Nick Armstrong]

Bit mean, but I couldn't resist checking up on how Petroc managed with Grzegorz Gorczycki.

Pretty well, as it happened

I see that PT himself waded into the debates this morning about "Elgar" and "Norrköpings" () on this consistently-amusing Facebook group:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/205141019615233/?fref=nf

(scroll down a few posts for the relevant ones this morning by "Philip Salmon").

A highlight of the group is Mahan Esfahani's regular input, often delightfully unguarded - see 21 May when he put an exasperated virtual boot into SM-P



PS: The exchange of comments (including several by Mahan E) following "William Relton" on 30 May at 09:54 upbraiding Harriet Smith ("it's trankweello, not trankweeyo. Instructions in notation are almost always in Italian, not Spanish" - which I also flinched at when listening to BaL) is amusing too...

.

[vinteuil]

I see that PT himself waded into the debates this morning about "Elgar" and "Norrköpings" () on this consistently-amusing Facebook group:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/2051...15233/?fref=nf

... not all of us are on facebook. We have to seek our consistent amusements elsewhere. Are you able to share the pith of the delight to be obtained in this pertickler instance?

I noted that Petroc chose a robustly English pronunciation this morning for the group Lezz Ambassadeurzz...