www.GrammarInfo.ca

by

Carolanne Reynolds

Pronunciation

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Tell me about others you hear mispronounced by writing to pronunciation@grammarinfo.ca

The proper pronunciation of words often mispronounced -- the stressed syllable is in capitals; if spelling different, it will be in note, and vv:

AFF-lu-ent
        the first syllable, not the second!

ad-VER-tise-ment
        the third syllable is not stressed and is pronounced tiz as in biz

APP-li-ca-ble
        think of applicant

coup de grace - COO de grass
        the coup as in blow, blows to the head, and grace is grace as in English; that e on the end means you pronounce the c, but as an s; it's amusing to hear someone say coo de gra, wch wd be gras, wch stands for 'fat'.

BEEN
        rhymes with seen and bean, not bin; this last is gaining currency in the US for some reason
Pussycat, Pussycat, where have you been?
I've been to London to visit the Queen.

>Cholmondeley  
        that English family name pronounced CHUM-lee

>COMP-rable
        is what comparable sounds like, I didn't leave out the first a -- it is in the word, not the pronunciation; note the second syllable many stress is not pronounced

>dun-DARE-uv
        Well, it's spelled Dundarave (a village area in West Vancouver), from Scottish Gaelic pronounced dun-DARE-uv but it' sort of been Canadianized to dun-der-AHV.

>Etobicoke
        you'll never guess -- it's one of the places in Ontario hard to anticipate: ee-TOH-bee-koh
       
EX-qui-site
        stress the first, not the second syllable!

>Featherstonehaugh
        the famous English family name, pronounced FAN-shaw

forte
        a difficult one, means strong/strength
        it ought to be pronounced the same as fort in English but that word already exists; the e on the end in French just means the t is pronounced b/c without the e it's pronounced 'for', also confusing.  As a practical solution, so that the word is not taken as for or fort, it is now pronounced as for-tay or for-teh.  I'm all for disambiguation.

leisure
        rhymes with pleasure, as it should!

Li-AIS-on
        lee-AYZ-un, also liaise (lee-AYZE)

MA-cho, ma-CHIS-mo
        the ch is as in church, ma-CHEEZ-mo

mall
        rhymes with small and fall in Canada

mauve
        in Canada rhymes with hove, stove

>Meagher Hot Springs near Pemberton
        you guessed it: rhymes with Marr  -- isn't it easy to tell who the tourists/visitors are?

>Newfoundland
        you've heard of Newfies?  well, that area is NEWF-und-lund.

Nunavut
        heading north.....jocularly none-of-it, as opposed to the rest of it.

>PAH-yar-ee
        spelled Pajari, unusual Finnish family name, anglicized in Canada to pa-JAR-ee.

SCHE-dule
        as in shed and kirsch and schist

scone
        my trusty Chambers (dictionary) has scone (as in gone) as Scottish, and scone (as in lone) as English.  Both fine in Canada as we have large populations of both, see also shone

shone
        aha.  In Canada shone rhymes with gone (and one of my poems brought it to my attention b/c it rhymed -- until I heard an American read it!)

SKOO-kum-chuck
        exactly.  Skookumchuck.  Our local lingo Chinook-cum-Squamish from skookum (strong) and chuck (water); also, skookum chaps abound in this area.

>St John
        a British 'upper class' name, pronounced SIN-jin.

>[Mount] Strachan on the North Shore
        Strachan is Scottish so it rhymes with straw and add an n.

toque/tuque
        whichever; it rhymes with Luke

Z
        is definitely zed; the Bay even has a program for zed-points.......