This tag is for questions about the sounds, intonation, and stress of how words are uttered or produced.
119
votes
7answers
9k views
91
votes
2answers
5k views
Why is “bicycle” pronounced differently from other obviously related words?
The word bicycle is pronounced /'baɪsɪkəl/ (bahy-si-kuhl), like sickle. However, the words unicycle and motorcycle both have the -cycle pronounced as /-'saɪkəl/ (sahy-kuhl). Is there some sort of ...
69
votes
25answers
5k views
How to read “E = (mc)²” so as not to mistake for “E = mc²”
According to one of the questions already asked on EL&U, “E = mc²” is read as
E equals M C squared.
How do we read “E = (mc)²” so that it is not mistaken for “E = mc²”?
44
votes
8answers
9k views
When should I use “a” versus “an” in front of a word beginning with the letter h?
A basic grammar rule is to use an instead of a before a vowel sound. Given that historic is not pronounced with a silent h, I use “a historic”. Is this correct? What about heroic? Should be “It was a ...
33
votes
4answers
2k views
How to pronounce “720p” and “1080p”
How do you pronounce 720p and 1080p?
Because I don't live in a country that uses English, I haven't heard it yet.
I guess it doesn't have a rule.
seven hundred twenty p
seven twenty p
seventy two ...
26
votes
6answers
1k views
Pronunciation of the English alphabet
Why are there inconsistencies in the pronunciation of the consonants of the alphabet? For example: 'b' is pronounced like 'bee' but 'm' is pronounced as 'em' rather than 'me'. The pronunciation of 'h' ...
26
votes
5answers
5k views
Should the number “0” be pronounced “zero” or “oh”?
I have often heard people say 101, as one-zero-one, and also as one-oh-one. Which is correct, and why? Does the difference between British English and American English have to do something with it?
25
votes
7answers
2k views
How are 'marry', 'merry', and 'Mary' pronounced differently?
The way I pronounce these words is the same. Similarly for other words like these: I pronounce ferry and fairy the same, carrot and caret. Yet, dictionaries show different pronunciations for these ...
25
votes
7answers
14k views
What is the correct way to pronounce 'router'?
Merriam-Webster lists both ˈrüt and ˈrau̇t as possible pronunciations for route but only
ˈrau̇-tər for router.
Is it really wrong to pronounce router as 'rüter ?
23
votes
1answer
1k views
Explain this pickup line: “If Bangkok invaded Djibouti, would Greece help?”
I was at an Model UN conference and often notes like the following get passed. As I'm not a native speaker, I assume that this has to do with some pronunciational issue. Can you please explain what's ...
22
votes
5answers
6k views
Why are Greek letters pronounced incorrectly in scientific English?
In Greek, for example, the letter β is pronounced "veeta", but in science, people use "beta". Some other offenders are η "eeta", ι "yiota", μ "mee", ν "nee", π "pee", τ "taf", χ "chee", ψ "psee".
I ...
22
votes
8answers
2k views
Are “traitor” and “trader” pronounced the same?
Are "traitor" and "trader" distinguishable when spoken with any English accent? My English-speaking friends seem to pronounce them exactly the same way.
22
votes
3answers
721 views
Words with a leading silent w
My eldest is a beginning reader. Yesterday we read one of my favorite books, The Wreck of the Zephyr. He pointed at wreck and asked me why that one looked like it said "wuh-reck." I explained that ...
21
votes
6answers
3k views
“Tortoise” and “taught us”
I’m reading Alice in Wonderland, and found the following dialogue:
“The master was an old Turtle — we used to call him Tortoise—”
“Why did you call him Tortoise, if he wasn’t one?” Alice ...
21
votes
7answers
7k views
Is “forte” pronounced “fort” or “for-tay”?
I've always heard people say something like
"Pronunciation is not my [for-tay]"
... but I feel that I've heard that the correct pronunciation is
"Confusing people is my [fort]"
What is the ...
21
votes
4answers
5k views
Why does “bass” sound like “base”?
Why is bass pronounced like base? If bass sounds like base, why isn't ass pronounced as (nearly) ace instead?
21
votes
4answers
3k views
Why are “sugar” and “sure” pronounced with an SH?
As far as I know, those are the only two. They should be pronounced Soogher and Soor, shouldn't they? I looked them up on Dictionary.com, and their etymologies reveal no trace of an SH, except where ...
21
votes
3answers
1k views
Do Americans understand Donald Duck?
I had always assumed that although I understood only about half of what Donald Duck says in his cartoons, Americans understood everything despite his comical pronunciation.
However friends have just ...
20
votes
7answers
4k views
Why is “primer” pronounced with a short “i” sound?
This word—used to mean an elementary textbook, not a painting material—annoys me to no end. Does anyone know why, exactly, "primer" is pronounced with a short "i" sound? I don't know why, call it ...
20
votes
2answers
4k views
Use of “f ” instead of “s” in historic, printed English documents
I was at a museum in London yesterday, and one of the items on exhibit is a document from the eighteenth century. It uses the letter f a lot where s should be used—for example, in Majefty.
Did the ...
20
votes
6answers
6k views
Why is the “ph” pronounced like a “v” in “Stephen”? Is this the only word like that?
While I know how my name is pronounced, I've run into many non-native english speakers who have stumbled over this unique exception to English. Even in the female name, "Stephanie", the ph is ...
20
votes
3answers
4k views
How to pronounce the programmer's abbreviation “char”
In many programming languages, char is a type name for character values. The word character is pronounced with a [k] sound, but what about char?
While trying to find the answer elsewhere, I learnt ...
20
votes
4answers
976 views
Pronunciation of “have” in “I don't have to” [do something]
Normally when I say "I don't have to do that" (meaning I'm not obliged to), I find that as well as putting heavy stress on the word "have", I pronounce if haff.
Is this common? If so, why does the ...
20
votes
4answers
3k views
Why are there two pronunciations for “either”?
A few weeks ago, I had a conversation with an individual who told me that pronouncing the word "either" is wrong when pronounced like \ˈī-thər\ instead of \ˈē-thər\ , but I didn't argue the point ...
20
votes
2answers
457 views
Send, sent; end, *ent?
The past tense of a number of verbs changes from -end to -ent:
bend → bent
lend → lent
rend → rent
send → sent
spend → spent
wend → went
However, most do not, notably end. Granted, I say “I ent ...
19
votes
3answers
6k views
Why are there 3 different ways to pronounce “oo”?
My German colleagues were laughing at the way I pronounce google, and it led to a discussion.
With words like google, yahoo, poodle and loose, the oo has a sound similar to the German ü sound.
With ...
19
votes
2answers
2k views
What's the deal with “colonel”?
Why does the word colonel (as in military rank) have such a strange spelling compared to how it's pronounced (or vice versa, although I don't know how you would pronounce that)?
18
votes
5answers
1k views
What is the pronunciation of “the”?
I read that the definite article is pronounced differently depending on the word that follows it.
Which is the exact pronunciation of the?
18
votes
2answers
495 views
Is there a rule for pronouncing “th” at the beginning of a word?
Consider the th in thistle versus the th in this: the former is unvoiced, while the latter is voiced.
Is there a rule or reason for the differences?
18
votes
10answers
11k views
What is the correct pronunciation of the word “ma’am”?
Back in the day, the word ma’am (when addressing the Queen) was always pronounced “marm”. British TV shows from before the 80s confirm this.
In the movie The Queen, we are told that the correct ...
17
votes
3answers
7k views
What is the correct pronunciation and spelling of “asterisk”?
Every now and then I get caught out by a spellchecker around the word asterisk.
I can accept that this is the correct spelling, however I hear a lot of people pronouncing it as asterix also.
Is it ...
17
votes
2answers
2k views
Is the “-b” to be pronounced in the word “limb”? What about “thumb”? “Crumb”?
I'm confused about the differing pronunciations of words that end in "-b". For example, I remember being told by some of earliest teachers that the "-b" in limb was meant to be silent, and one ...
17
votes
4answers
1k views
How to explain accent variations to students
I am an ESL teacher working in China. During lessons, I am occasional interrupted by students or parents who point out that my pronunciation of some words is incorrect. They then produce a dictionary ...
16
votes
4answers
1k views
Reason for different pronunciations of “lieutenant”
While Americans (and possibly others) pronounce this as "loo-tenant", folks from the UK pronounce it as "lef-tenant".
Why?
16
votes
2answers
322 views
Why is 'worthy' pronounced with a /ði/ unlike 'healthy', 'wealthy' and 'stealthy'?
I don't know how 'worthy' came to be pronounced with a /ði/ whereas 'healthy', 'wealthy', 'stealthy' etc., are pronounced with a /θi/. I am aware that theories of pronunciation in English are far too ...
15
votes
3answers
3k views
Pronunciation of “Blessed”
Is there any difference in meaning or usage when pronouncing "blessed" with two syllables rather than one syllable?
Two: bles-id [blɛsəd]
One: blest [blɛst]
15
votes
4answers
26k views
What is the correct pronunciation of “Caribbean”?
Sometimes I hear the emphasis placed on the second syllable, and other times on the second to last syllable. I myself use both pronunciations depending on context, and it makes me wonder if there is ...
15
votes
4answers
1k views
Pronunciation of “er” in “farmer” vs. “earth”
I'm confused about the difference in pronouncing "er" in words such as "farmer" and "earth". I hear them the same, but they have different phonetic symbols. Is there any difference in pronouncing "er" ...
15
votes
1answer
4k views
Why is “ask” sometimes pronounced “aks”?
We've recently moved from New Zealand to New York City, and have noticed that many people (most of whom have good English) pronounce "ask" as "aks". For example:
Could you please go aks her ...
15
votes
4answers
2k views
How to pronounce “favicon”?
Yesterday my boss called our design person on the phone and asked her about designing a /fave-eye-con/. She asked him to repeat it a couple of times, and then finally (after a convoluted explanation ...
15
votes
3answers
626 views
Are there sounds where the tongue is not symmetrical?
Are there sounds in English languages and accents where the tongue does not move symmetrically in the mouth, i.e. the right side of the tongue is not moving like the left side?
15
votes
4answers
1k views
New Zealand pronunciation of “women” vs “woman”
I have read in a number of places that the NZ pronunciation of "women" must be rather peculiar. Quoting from just one such place:
For some years I've noted the tendency of Kiwis to pronounce ...
15
votes
3answers
1k views
Why is “margarine” pronounced with a soft “g”?
As far as I know, margarine is the only word in which a 'g' is pronounced as 'j' though it is not followed by 'e', 'i', or 'y'. What causes the unorthodox pronunciation?
14
votes
4answers
4k views
What is the correct pronunciation of “AJAX”?
I have wondered for a while about how I should pronounce "AJAX" (asynchronous JavaScript and XML). I usually say "I-acs", as in the Amsterdam football club, but should I say "a-jacs" (as it looks in ...
14
votes
3answers
3k views
What does “Do you haz teh codez?” mean?
There is a banner in StackOverflow pointing to the careers website (programmers):
Do you haz teh codez?
My questions about the sentence/question are:
What's the question in plain English?
Why ...
14
votes
3answers
604 views
What's the history of the pronunciation of Delphi?
There appear to be two ways to pronounce the last syllable based on deeply held beliefs and cultural divides and assumptions:
Phi fi fo fum
Fee phi fo fum?
I've heard that (2) is the American ...
14
votes
2answers
776 views
Why is “str” sometimes pronounced as “shtr”? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Pronunciation of voiceless alveolar fricative /s/ as ʃ (/sh/) in slang?
My understanding was that the cluster "str", for example in "stress", is usually pronounced ...
14
votes
3answers
549 views
Why is “Chop Gate” pronounced so strangely?
I was passing through the hamlet of Chop Gate (in North Yorkshire) the other day, and heard it referred to as "chop yat" (tʃɒp yæt). This source here concurs with that pronunciation.
Does anyone know ...
14
votes
3answers
1k views
Dialects where days of the week end with “dee”?
Someone recently posted a question about the pronunciation of Wednesday, which reminded me of a different question about pronouncing the days of the week I've had floating around in my head for a ...
14
votes
1answer
374 views
Is the pronunciation of the letters “Y” and “I” supposed to be identical?
My son and I were reciting the Spanish alphabet recently. "Y" is i griega, which means "Greek i." This got me thinking about the English letter Y and its function in our alphabet.
All of the words ...
