Pronunciation watch

[french frank]

... never encountered veterRINary.

Haha: listen to the Brit pronunciation here.

[vinteuil]

Haha: listen to the Brit pronunciation here.

... then I'm a 'professor or the like'. [ manqué, sadly... ]

Hurrah!

[Serial_Apologist]

Well, thanks for the offer, but I'll pass.

That reminds me of a workmate, who always used to say, "He should be severely castigated. And told off"!

[Serial_Apologist]

Haha: listen to the Brit pronunciation here.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Sounds like an alternative name for an old people's home!

[ahinton]

Sounds like an alternative name for an old people's home!

Indeed - and I for (more than) one have never heard the alleged UK pronunciation before visiting that link!

[french frank]

That was the Cambridge pronunciation.

This is the Oxford one.

A win for the Dark Blues, I think.

[ahinton]

That was the Cambridge pronunciation.

This is the Oxford one.

A win for the Dark Blues, I think.

So the correct pronunciation - or what is supposed to be regarded as such - varies annually in accordance with which team won the most recent Boatface? It's a good thing that this applies only to "veterinary", methinks (assuming that it does)!

[french frank]

the most recent Boatface?

Is that Boaty Mc?

[ahinton]

Is that Boaty Mc?

No, it's Boat Race, of course; I just fancied corrupting it somewhat for the fun of it (such as it is) - oar something...

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

NEWcassel
NEWcahssel
NewCASSel
NOOcassel

I've heard all four, though the 3rd one isn't used in Staffordshire.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Ny'CASSle (very short first syllable) for the Northern version when I did teacher training in co Durham.

[gurnemanz]

I was a student at Durham. The caretaker at our college had a rather shapeless black dog which lollopped around accompanying him and which he always addressed as "ybuggah" (a term of affection, I think). Everyone referred to him/her by that name.

[kernelbogey]

Ny'CASSle (very short first syllable) for the Northern version when I did teacher training in co Durham.

Since becoming aware of what I believed to be the 'authentic' local pronunciation, I've endeavoured to speak somethiing like Ferney's example above, rather than the natural (common) southern pronunciation NEWcahssel. Just wondering now whether that matters. The comparison is with another European language, where I would consider it my obligation to pronounce (say) a French word in an English sentence as a Frenchman would - in other words 'correctiness', or perhaps 'respect'.

Does it matter?

(Should I just get out more?)

[french frank]

The comparison is with another European language, where I would consider it my obligation to pronounce (say) a French word in an English sentence as a Frenchman would

It's interesting, particularly regarding the debate here and elsewhere about R3 presenters' pronunciation, that I was "taught" (scil. "told") as an undergraduate that one shouldn't mix phonetic systems. It doesn't mean pronouncing a French word in a completely English way, but with a light adjustment.

When certains/certaines come out with what is regarded as an 'exaggerated' Italian pronunciation, they are criticised for that too. My view would be (I think) that it's the clash of systems that grates. If it is an entire sentence, or a title of some length, there isn't the same clash as inserting the odd 'foreign' word/name into an English sentence (remember Angela Rippon and her 'guerrilla' which attracted comment?).

If English has adopted/accepted a distinctly English pronunciation, I would use that pronunciation when speaking English (Antal DoRAHti, Kwiksot).

[My baker makes an excellent French-style artisan loaf which he calls 'pain tradition', pronounced pan tradishun. I do feel self conscious about pronouncing it that way and usually feel obliged to follow up with the French pronunciation, sotto voce or with undisguised embarrassment … ]