Phrases/words that set your teeth on edge.

[Serial_Apologist]

Would you be sounding the second "e" as if it were an "a" or would it be silent? :whistle

Yes, if I was Italian.

[subcontrabass]

Originally Posted by Serial_Apologist View Post
Emoticonfidencetrickery?

Would you be sounding the second "e" as if it were an "a" or would it be silent?

Did you mean the THIRD "e" ?

[Serial_Apologist]

Did you mean the THIRD "e" ?

I had assumed the third, ahem.

[Lat-Literal]

Did you mean the THIRD "e" ?

To be frank, I did mean the second. If it isn't sounded, it is essentially two words or it would sound like it is two words. But what are the precedents here - soupcon, ferrosilicon, Catholicon? Soupsson, Ferrowsillikon, Cathollikon..........see what I mean? Also, Andrew Motion is an ocean/oweshean. He isn't a Motty On. The "c" in the "ion" muddies the water. "Icon", yes, and I suppose we take that as the cue but it's clumsy. There is no obvious sound for the "oti" and the "c" is questionable. Also, we are not pronouncing the i as "eye" in "icon" or are we? The word is nonsense. This is a modern trend. "Spotify" as in "ratify". No. What happened to "notify"? It should be "Spottify" unless they want to be "Spoatify"!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

But emoticons can be so helpful when it comes to saying what one wants to say succinctly.

[P. G. Tipps]

But emoticons can be so helpful when it comes to saying what one wants to say succintly.

And, not least, they are huge fun to use ...

[Pabmusic]

And, not least, they are huge fun to use ...

[ahinton]

And, not least, they are huge fun to use ...

If that's what floats your boat, no doubt. As long as they're not made compulsory, all should be well...

[jean]

To be frank, I did mean the second. If it isn't sounded, it is essentially two words or it would sound like it is two words!...

A portmanteau word - originally three!

How much you want to stress that depends on how much you want your hearers to spot what you've done.

Reminds me of the tendency to pronouce bio-pic as biOpic, obscuring its origins.

(I don't see how you can avoid pronouncing the second e at all, though.)

[french frank]

Also, Andrew Motion is an ocean/oweshean. He isn't a Motty On. The "c" in the "ion" muddies the water. "Icon", yes, and I suppose we take that as the cue but it's clumsy. There is no obvious sound for the "oti" and the "c" is questionable. Also, we are not pronouncing the i as "eye" in "icon" or are we? The word is nonsense. This is a modern trend. "Spotify" as in "ratify". No. What happened to "notify"? It should be "Spottify" unless they want to be "Spoatify"!

Many of these are settled by how many syllables a word has, where the stress falls, derivations (as in jean's biopic rhyming with myopic) and the surrounding vowels/consonants.

Motion isn't 'o+t+i': it's 't+i+o' which affects pronunciation (like ration, deletion, inanition, potion, substitution). Icon isn't a native English (or Latin) word: it's the late arrival εἰκών from Greek and therefore takes on (roughly) the Greek pronunciation.

Similary, Spotify and notify have totally different origins. On the basis of biOpic, one of them may change - who knows?

[Lat-Literal]

A portmanteau word - originally three!

How much you want to stress that depends on how much you want your hearers to spot what you've done.

Reminds me of the tendency to pronouce bio-pic as biOpic, obscuring its origins.

(I don't see how you can avoid pronouncing the second e at all, though.)

I hadn't thought of that 'word', Jean, and see what you are saying. But isn't it the hyphen that changes the 'o' sound?

Many of these are settled by how many syllables a word has, where the stress falls, derivations (as in jean's biopic rhyming with myopic) and the surrounding vowels/consonants.

Motion isn't 'o+t+i': it's 't+i+o' which affects pronunciation (like ration, deletion, inanition, potion, substitution). Icon isn't a native English (or Latin) word: it's the late arrival εἰκών from Greek and therefore takes on (roughly) the Greek pronunciation.

Similary, Spotify and notify have totally different origins. On the basis of biOpic, one of them may change - who knows?

I completely take the 'tio' rather than 'oti' point and it was one that I missed yesterday. Consequently, I think we can rule out 'emoweshikon' and my apologies for not writing the sounds in the standard dictionary forms but I don't know how to do so. The 'icon' point is more difficult because there is a computer-linked meaning for 'icon' and it is very close to an 'emoticon' so I think the 'icon' in the latter is Greek, yet I'm willing to bet hardly anyone pronounces it 'emoteyekon'. If it is from the Greek 'icon', then it will be a hard 'c' rather than the soft French (sedilla?) c of 'soupcon'. I think it must be a hard 'c'. But what of the 'o'? The first part of the word is about 'emotion', 'emoting' etc and I am not aware of any variation on those words in which the 'o' is the 'o' as in 'spot'. Are folk pronouncing 'emoticon', though, as anything other than the 'o' in 'spot'? I think not! In fact, what do they say?

'Spotify' is less of a problem because it is a trade name. There is something about that word which instinctively implies that it is a "spot" as in "access on the spot". Also, the alternative would just sound bizarre. I have probably heard people in the media using it. I still don't think it hangs together in terms of any derivation. In contrast, 'emoticon' claims to be a word that is not a name. It isn't wonderful when one looks at it and asks which of four or five pronunciations it should have. There is an irony. 'Emoticons' are all about conveying clear meaning without the use of sound. Perhaps it's the first word in history that is designed never to be spoken so as to maximise the use of what it is describing?

[ahinton]

Hasn't this latest byway of the thread earned the right to be moved to the Pedantry thread?

[P. G. Tipps]

Hasn't this latest byway of the thread earned the right to be moved to the Pedantry thread?

Don't be so damned pedantic, ahinton ...

[Lat-Literal]

Hasn't this latest byway of the thread earned the right to be moved to the Pedantry thread?

It should have been really.

I made a genuine mistake in posting it here.

('Genuinely I made a mistake' might be better)

Don't be so damned pedantic, ahinton ...

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I've always read and pronounced it like "emotive" and "icon", with the short "i" (the same stress and rhythm as "a motor car").