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

There are some -ham towns, particularly in New England,wher there are other nearly adjacent towns, one of which will be -m, and the other -ham. Unless you get someone who lives within a few miles of it, it's often haaard to tell what the natives use, versus what cosmopolite Bostonians (who've never been there) will call it. "Chatham" as far as I know is always "Chatum", in MA or NJ, but some say "Eastham" and some say "Eastum", some say "Stoneham" and some say "Stoneum, some say "Tomahto" and some "Tuhmaytoe". Birmingham is always "ham", in Michigan or Alabama.

And that English versus American "r" video, definitely does NOT fit the accents of a lot of native speakers in Massachusetts, VT, ME, and up into the Canadian mMaritimes.

Being a bi-lingual household, we say "sandwich" or "sarnie" or (if feeling frisky) "butty." T'icker 'n a docker's jam-butty."

We use "tuh-MAY-toe" and "ta-MAH-toe" interchangeably.

But one of us always has a problem at the grocery (or the grocer's) when she's asking for herbs. "Who's Herb?"

Especially not in Bah Hahbah.

What about termarter?

Different still in places like Bummin-ham, Alabama, Alanna, Jawja, and Durm, Nawth Kay'lina.

Not so frequent as termahter, or termayter.

(BTW, I was just outback checking. Our "pink ladies" are coming along. Still green but of a goodly size. Late ripening this year.)

i really tasty sangwich is a sammitch, because its yummmmmy...

guy i work with calls 'em "sangies"...

Being as how I'm now living in the Sandwich Islands, I think you lot should show some respect and pronounce the word properly, i.e. 'sanch.'

I never heard or read anyone call a sandwich a 'sammich' until I started at a2k. Now I've done it myself once or twice.

When not using the terms sarnie, or butty, (I only use butty for bacon,) I say sanwidge or sandwidge depending on how enunciative I'm feeling.

Some people in my family, of irish american catholic forebears, say Cunningham.

No hot chip butties?

Yeah, I suppose you've got me there. Bread's got to be right though.

There's a town in New Mexico named Madrid, said as Mahh'drid -
where I've alway heard, here, the city in Spain called MaDrid'.
Now I'm wondering about the name of the city in Spanish..


Which reminds me that I think it was the english who showed up in Italy who called the city, Livorno, Leghorn, which always left me thinking, huh?

In Spanish, ortographic rules tell you how to pronounce.

The word "Madrid" has no tilde, no visible accent.
It does not end with "n" or "s".
So it is an acute word --> it's pronounced MaDRID.

Your post about Madrid made me think of something quite unrelated, osso -- where and why we put the stress in certain words. The INsurance issue has already come up. In English , the initial syllable is more apt to be stressed (not so in many other languages). But, now, consider this: if I say CONsole, it has an entirely different meaning from my saying conSOLE. I'm sure there must be other examples as well of words that change meaning when you put the emphasis on a different part of the word.

osso, in Madrid, Spain, they say ma-Dreeth. "D" as the final letter of a word is often pronounced "th." It's Castillan Spanish.

Likewise "Z" is pronounced as "th"; as is "C" before "e" and "i". Hence, circa is pronounced "thirca" and cinco (five) is "thinco." The city of Zaragoza is pronounced "Tharagotha."

"V" is generally pronounced as "b" so that noventa (ninety) is pronounced "nobenta." Noventa y cinco (nobenta y thinco) = ninety-five, although they tend to slur it to say "nobenty-thinco." Perhaps that's where we came up with the "ty" at the end of 20, 30, 40, etc.?

I don't recall ever hearing a Madrileño say Cadillac Seville, but I should think to an American ear it would sound something like 'Cadee-yak SeBeeYa.'

The well-known New Madrid fault (and town) in SE Missouri is pronounced the same as the town in NM you mentioned.

You may simply play a record or choose to record it.

Ai yi yi, language is wonderful.

And Andy, that is interesting, the process of how that happens.


One of the spelling errors I often see in english usage is people, usually american english speakers, using 'loose' for 'lose'. I have seen it so much now that 'lose' can look wrong to me for minimilliseconds before I regain my sureness.

I understand making spelling errors, we all have different brains. Even spelling errors are interesting. And so are typos, brains in action. I'm particularly prone to messing up homophones, my brain to fingers faster than my registering that that's wrong in this context.