What do you call your mom's sister? (or your dad's)

My Dad's from Yorkshire. He doesn't have the accent though. His dad used to beat him if he came home speaking like the neighbour kids. He also got beat when he came home with any touch of an Irish accent when they moved there.
He's got a generic english accent, I think. If that's possible?? but he does say things like Pizzer or Leezer for Pizza or Piza and Lisa.
I said garridge for years and I could figure out why people thought it was funny. Now, even my dad says garage (rhymes with manage et trois) Wink

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@chai2,

Quote:

You wouldn't say pig pin, would you?

i might say peg pin...

R(you know why)P

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@Ceili,

Ceili wrote:

Now, even my dad says garage (rhymes with manage et trois)

I believe you meant to say menage a trois.

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@Lustig Andrei,

I did, thank you. It appears I was in a rush to getting the ending right, that I jumped the gun, as it were...

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@Region Philbis,

Pin th' close on th' close lahn.

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@Debacle,

I got th' close hampa rat cheer.

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@Lustig Andrei,

Just realized sumpthin.

I only say INshurance when it's a stand alone word.

I'll say "Do you have car inSURance?" but say "Do you have INsurance for your car?"

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@chai2,

Interesting. I wonder why the dichotomy.

With me, it largely depends on where I am and to whom I'm speaking. Generally, I'll say inSUREance. But not if I'm visiting in Texas or one of the Deep South states or if the person I'm speaking to has a clear Southern accent. Then I'll say INsurance just to make sure I'm understood and not looked at as some sort of pretentious show-off, speaking 'posh' as they say in the UK.

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@Lustig Andrei,

Re posh - I never get Spendius going on about that.

I keep relearning that there is this big class stuff going on in the UK. Not that we in the u.s. don't have that going on at all, but even here, I take it as an eastern u.s. concern. My boston relatives do seem to care about all that.

I guess I take it as what happens with many people in smaller or more concentrated places.
At the same time, I'll acknowledge, all manner of views can take place in the wide open spaces.

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When I was growing up, I pronounced vase as vahz. I had no knowledge of any other pronunciation--until I was much older. Some people think that this pronunciation is kinda snooty. It might be if you make a conscious choice and decide to say vahz. However, if it's the only way you know, it's not snootiness; it's ignorance.

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@Roberta,

Strangely enough, 'boita, you hear vahz much more often in NY than elsewhere. I say 'strangely' because otherwise there is nothing 'posh' (there's that word again) about the standard NYC accent. You hear somebody in Boston pronounce it that way, you know they're either from Beacon Hill and went to some fancy prep school or they're trying very hard to pretend that they're of the Brahmin caste.

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@Roberta,

Ignorance? Posh?

<Splutters into tea.....>

Everyone, from the lowest roadsweeper to the Queen, pronounces it vahs in the Uk.
From the (French?) word vās, meaning vessel.

If the new territories wish to pronounce it differently, then so be it. But ignorant? Moi?

<Stops spluttering>

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@Lordyaswas,

Americans and Ham is one that makes me smile.

I'm sure, somewhere in the darkest recesses of my memory I can hear people on "Happy Days" pronouncing Cunningham in the British style, ie Cunning'm.
Am I right?

If this is so, why is it that every other word ending in ham gets the full treatment from Americans?

Birming'm becomes Birming-ham.
Bucking'm becomes Bucking-ham.

I bet there are other ham words that US speakers shorten to 'm at the end...as it should be.

<twiddles moustache>

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@Lordyaswas,

"You sound like Chatles Dickens"
"Who's that? Is he, like, an author?"

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@Lordyaswas,

huh....shore and sure are pronounced the same.

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Why does just about everyone here prounounce "sangwich" as "sammich?"

"Sangwich" sounds much more natural.

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@chai2,

If she actually analysed the two words closely when she spoke (she's pretty well spoken), she would see that sure was more of a yure sound than shore. Not much, but definitely there.

Naughty and knotty?

Au usually creates an ore sound here.
Taut - tort
Fraught - frort
Oh, but I forget that you close the r a lot more than we do, so you might not get what I mean. Shape your mouth to say oar, but forget to round off the r at the end. Make sense?

Closing off r's.

1 Reply

@Lordyaswas,

Lordyaswas wrote:

Shape your mouth to say oar, but forget to round off the r at the end. Make sense?

I think she has problems getting her tongue round her Rs.

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yunk. "sangwich sounds natural"? No, no, "sand-witch" sounds natural.

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@MontereyJack,

We usually say sarnie or buttie here. Saves confusion.

Salmon sarnie.
Bacon buttie. (with brown sauce, of course)

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What do you call your mom's sister? (or your dad's)

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