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I realise this maybe a touchy subject for some of the members on here but i have found that a lot of people in Britain have taken to Americanising the pronunciation of words.

I was wondering if this is the case in the USA? Take Schedule, Laboratory and lever for example, we all know the differences, does anyone find people in america pronouncing words in the same way Brits do? Is there some sort of linguistic divide? or is it just us!?

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    I haven't encountered too many Americans adopting British pronunciations of words. The more common thing is for Americans to adopt Britishisms, incorporating words like "cheers" and "wanker" into their vocabulary. To the extent that there's a spread of American pronunciation, I'd probably chalk it up to the influence of television.
    – user13141
    Commented Apr 8, 2013 at 20:01
  • I must note that I do pronouce some words the British way. However, I don't think this is very common at all. As Onomatomaniak mentioned, while British pronunciation of words isn't very common in America, Britishisms are becoming more and more frequently used. For some words, such as "economics", both pronunciations are considered correct in America. Even still, the British pronunciation of such words is not usually used.
    – 4rkain3
    Commented Apr 8, 2013 at 20:09
  • Down to media then? I thought so. Interesting how some words/pronunciations are taken on and some aren't.
    – Edward
    Commented Apr 8, 2013 at 20:37
  • My wife and I visited the wonderful Southwest last year, after a day in Yellowstone NP. I found myself saying ' Castle Gyser is one of the smaller geezers' - I didn't want to swap pronunciation, but realised that I couldn't reasonably change proper names from their accepted forms.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Apr 8, 2013 at 22:58
  • Edward, you're right. A lot of British people seem to be doing this, in the last few years. It seems that it's mainly from the media, with its high numbers of American programmes and films. Television and radio presenters do that a lot. They seem to do it most of all. Where they lead, others follow.
    – Tristan
    Commented Apr 10, 2013 at 15:43

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I have not encountered much in the way of British pronunciations on this side of the pond. If I had to guess, I would say that many, if not most, examples of variant pronunciation reflect our American tendency to prefer a somewhat simpler or speedier way of saying a word. For example, the British "shedzhoowul" (the way it sounds to my oafish American ears) seems tricky and a bit slow, whereas "skedjul" is easier to say, and comes out faster, suited to our too-impatient tempo of life over here. Similarly, "labore-atory" takes a microsecond longer than "labritory," our American quick and dirty way of saying it.

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  • This happens in London also, we shorten the pronunciation of words because we are too busy to stop and have a good 'chin-wag', it could be seen as a more efficient way of communicating, contrary to less intellect. According to legend, this is why the cockney accent originated, I am sure it is the same throughout the world.
    – Edward
    Commented Apr 10, 2013 at 14:08
  • +1 Have accepted your answer as you stuck to the question you were impartial and answered in detail.
    – Edward
    Commented Apr 10, 2013 at 14:24
  • Glad I could help.
    – John M. Landsberg
    Commented Apr 11, 2013 at 0:09

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