5 ms·
I have met Americans who believe the UK spelling of words with -our instead of -or actually represents a difference in pronunciation. That is, they have the mis
by Mediterraneo10 5y ago
I have met Americans who believe the UK spelling of words with -our instead of -or actually represents a difference in pronunciation. That is, they have the mistaken impression that Brits say /kəlur/ instead of /kələr/.
- JackFr 5y ago'gaol' always throws me for a loop when I'm reading something British. I need to remind myself it's pronounced 'jail'. (A quick google tells me that all the major British newspapers switched over to 'jail' by the 1990's - score one for the good guys!) I remember reading 'Mutiny on the Bounty' as a child and talking about it with my father and I said something about the 'boatswain', and he (a former naval officer) looked at me like I had two heads. "You mean the [BOSUN]?" "Well, no it says 'boatswain'" "Yes, it's spelled like that, but it's pronounced BOSUN. It's like 'colonel'. Don't think about the letters."
- alickz 5y agoI've known the word boatswain for decades at this point and never knew it was pronounced like that! Speaking of military terms, lieutenant as "leftenant" always threw me. I had just assumed they were different words.
- sandworm101 5y agoEven worse: Try being at unit with brit/canadian/american exchange officers. Same spelling, different pronunciations depending on who you are talking about. And they really do care.
- twic 5y agoAnd it's only "leftenent" in the army; in the navy it's "latenant". (or at least, was - it is possible navy use has shifted)
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- cafard 5y agoOne of my father's college classmates was in Navy ROTC, and deliberately pronounce "boatswain" and "gunwale" as spelled, in order to bug the regular petty officer.
- JackFr 5y agoAlso forcastle -> foc's'le