7 British vs. American Pronunciations You Didn't Know About
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In today's video, I look at some British and American pronunciation differences you might not know about.
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I already have it 😂😂😂
As a Australian, I pronounce 11 of these words like the British and 6 of them like the Americans. The ones I pronounce like the Americans are sloths, hibiscus, privacy, trimester, vitamin and catacomb.
Also an Aussie, I pronounce sloth, oestrogen, midwifery, scallop, apricot, class, dance etc. the UK way, but cicada, wrath, privacy, migraine, and vitamin the US way. It may have to do with words I learnt in my childhood home, versus from school or tv
I only ever heard midwifery in a US TV show pronounced in Brit-speak. I was surprised to hear a character on a BBC show say "privacy" as in the US. I yelled at the TV: "That's privacy !!" in Brit-speak. I also hear some say "lawyer," instead of "solicitor?" Is that catching on like "truck," or do they do a separate dialog for us colonials?
@@elultimo102It’s interesting how you spelled it dialog because that was discussed in the last video. I’m American and spell it dialogue.
Do you say intestine or intestine?
@ToyInsanity In Australia we say "intestine" with a long "y" sound.
Growing up with a speech impediment and in rural southern US while being originally from the northern Midwest, I just patterned my manner of speech and pronunciations after the national newscasters.
😂😂and they're always correct in their pronunciations
I can imagine
“Mom I did not clean my room. But why? More at 8!” lol
@@celesteredding1550 They're usually wrong in their fictional tales.
I have a background in broadcasting. IMO a lot of people think they sound like the majority of news broadcasters more than they actually do. For example, I pronounce the t in words like mountain, center, and sentence. Also I have noticed a lot of people pronounce you as ya. How are ya? See ya later. I heard ya.
One cant talk like this AND sound like a newscaster. A sportscaster maybe.
I have also noticed a change over the years in how anchors tend to pronounce the names of countries like Iran, Pakistan, and Iraq.
Good choice... I can't imagine the mess that would result from a speech impediment combined with the sing-songyness of a northern midwest accent and then a southern drawl thrown into the mix. 👍🤣
I'm sure you've covered this many, many times but one of my favorites is "advertisements." There's so many differences! The way we shorten it, what we stress, the vowel sounds- it's a word that just keeps on giving to the cultural differences :)
ADvertisements
adVERTisements
adverTISEments
ADverTISEments
Let me know if you've heard any more...
There’s this dialogue exchange in the 1932 Marx Brothers movie “Horse Feathers”:
[receptionist opens door to Wagstaff's office where he is conferring with two professors]
Wagstaff's Receptionist: Oh, Professor, the Dean of Science wants to know how soon you can see him. He says he's tired of cooling his heels out here.
Professor Wagstaff: Tell him I'm cooling a couple of heels in here.
[receptionist leaves and re-enters fifteen seconds later]
Wagstaff's Receptionist: The Dean is furious! He's waxing wroth!
Professor Wagstaff: Is Roth out there, too? Tell Roth to wax the Dean for awhile.
My father (born and raised in Philadelphia), who saw the movie as a 12 year old when it first came out, loved the phrase “waxing wroth” so much, he managed to work it into an occasional conversation for the rest of his life. My siblings and I certainly heard it a lot when we were kids.
The Anglo-Saxon (Old English) 'wif' meant 'female' (wifman meant 'female human'; wereman meant 'male human - think werewolf). A midwif was a person who stayed 'with' ('mid' = modern German 'mit') the person who gave birth, to help her. Wif was pronounced weef.
so Midwife = mit wif = stay with female.... makes sense
Simon Roper, is that you?
@@TestUser-cf4wj 'Fraid not, though I take it as a compliment.
Which is why you shouldn't call a woman a werewolf!
They're very clearly wifwolves.
@@DanielMWJ Completely nerdy point. 'Wifman' morphs into 'woman' over time.
You made realize I still say quite a few things way said in UK due to my education S. Korea, even though I've been living in US for years now already. Really fun when I first moved to US, being Korean speaking English like a Brit, with hint of Korean accent to go along with it.
I was well into my teens before I realized other languages had accents.
@@richardspears5384 and yours too, right? 😄
everyone has an accent
Wow, I bet you're really fun to talk with at parties, where alcohol is involved ❤!
All of those dialects looking to take center stage. Then taking in your appearance & suddenly someone's wondering if it would be rude to ask about your heritage 😮! (Keep in mind the alcohol😂)!
I knew a Scottish man who moved to the southern parts of the US (Tennessee). Hearing an originally Scottish accented guy with a thick southern American accent mixed in was …interesting.
I guess growing up with a Boston accent and living in many places has made me doubt how I actually should pronounce things. The American pronunciations are familiar, but the English ones seem comfortable as well. I can only imagine how difficult it can be for non-English speakers.
Fellow Bostonian here, and definitely agreed. I pronounce words mentioned here like Gala and Scallop the British way, but ones like Cicada and Sloth the American way
I lived in Massachusetts before age 6. And those two words came to mind too , possibly through my parents.
@@mollyroughan1154 fellow Masshole here - and I completely agree with you!
@@mollyroughan1154 Likewise! Calf and bath have always been ahh sounds for me too.
@@dj-kq4fz In northern England we say bath different to the south. Up here it has a short "a" like bat or cat.
For a split second, I thought you were going to say that 'final thoughts' was pronounced differently by the British.
the americans wont tell you this but we pronouce it like final thots, shhhh
Yep, it's pronounced "Foinal thofts" in the UK, since we all know GH sounds like F, as in draughts
You forgot to silence the second t completely ❤
@@onehalfspinghoti moment
Lifelong American here. The first time I heard anyone say apricot the way you say it was John Cleese in the How to Defend Yourself Against Fruit sketch. Since then I've become familiar with lots of differences in pronunciation across the pond, but in this video "estrogen" and "midwifery" were new to me.
I’m American (all ancestors here going back to early 1700s) and have always pronounced apricot starting with a long A like Laurence does.
@@anndeecosita3586
Me too.
@@anndeecosita3586 Same
Mine was in James Acaster’s ready to eat apricots bit
First time I heard the British pronunciation was in "The Wizard of Oz." The Cowardly Lion asked, "Who put the 'ape' in apricot?"
As one member of your sample pool, it feels good to be represented!
I've been using both "Ay"-pricot and "Ah"-pricot my whole life. My father grew up in California, where the "Ay" pronunciation seems to be more common, while my mother grew up in Minnesota, where the "Ah" pronunciation seems to dominate. I tend to use them at various times with either parent just to avoid the inevitable "fights" about the correct pronunciation. However, living as I do in the mid-west, I generally favor the "Ah" version.
I spent most of my childhood in California but now live in the Midwest. I say long A but I guess I haven’t heard anyone use the word here to know there is a difference. From now on when in Rome. 😂
I use both. My mother lived in California as a child, in addition to Canada. I've no real recollection how she said it but I think it was the long a. But I prefer the short a.
I pronounce it halfway between the 2, so the long A sound is said very quickly so it could be heard as either APE- ruhcot or Aph- wreecot but I never say APE-wreecoot or App-wruhcaught. I also just learned today that there are Plumcots AND aprium, having already known and love Pluots.
What amuses me is that I knew almost all of these _just_ by watching "Blackadder".
Also, a little surprised you didn't mention the word 'wroth' alongside 'wrath', since it's pronounced baaaaasically the same as the British pronunciation of 'wrath'.
I can't help thinking of an old Marx Brothers line:
*"The Dean is outside, and he's waxing wroth!"*
*"Is Roth out there too? Why don't you tell Roth to wax the Dean for a while?"*
I too thought that quicksand would play a much larger role in my life
I had a fear of quicksand from all the movies.
In Britain, the 'o' in words ending 'ory' and the 'a' in 'ary' is elided.Territory is 'territry', military is 'militry', secondary is 'secondry' etc.
I'm from Cleveland, we would definitely say "gah-luh", "gay-luh" sounds very southern to me.
I say neither. I say "gal-luh."
I was surprised when he said "gay-la" was American. I've heard gal-la way more.
From NJ, would say "gal-uh"!
If you say /galə/, I may think you got it from a cow, although that word I'd pronounce /ɣala/.
As a southerner, I say it gay-luh. I definitely hear gal-uh a lot too though.
So the British often use the "ahh" sound to pronounce the letter "A," but not when saying Italian or Spanish words like "pasta" and "taco," in languages where the letter "A" is ALWAYS pronounced like "ahh." Interesting.
ALWAYS bring up "taco"!! Never let it rest!
@@LindaC616 you mean tacko? lol (drives me nuts)
@@user-calm_salty me too! And paella!
@@LindaC616
Ha, yes! All the Brits that i see on tv are super invested in (their version of) The Catalan Lisp, but not sp much the Spanish double-L…
I was trying to work, and my wife was on her lunch break, watching Bake Off’s “Taco Week” in the next room.
Suddenly i was snapped out of my concentration by my own involuntary shout, “WTF did Paul Hollywood just say???!?”
😆
"You say to-may-toe,
I say to-mah-toe,
You say poe-tay-toe,
I say spud."
You say oyster
I say erster
You say i-yell
I say öël
Tater
@@keymaster8176 Taters, maters, and nanners.
Taters or tayties 😂
You say tornado
I say
𝒯ℴ𝓇-𝓃𝒶𝒽-𝒹ℴ
I read the comments on your question about APRICOT, and answered it too. I, and many others, don't use the "schwa" sound "UH" in the middle, we use a short I as in RICH, or SWITCH, so, it's short A as in APPLE, short I as in RICH, and short O as in COT (the little bed), AP-RI-COT.
I also use a short I sound in the middle not the short U sound. I’m glad I found your post. Except I say AY PRIH COT. Long A Short I.
Same here! Are you an East Coaster too?
I prefer to describe it as "app-rick-ott". Grew up outside Chicago, far enough that I don't speak heavy Chicagoese, but close enough that probably some people could guess.
In Oregon we say _ape-rih-cawt,_ like the Brits.
The way he wrote it was likely influenced by the Weak Vowel Merger, which is fairly common in American and Australian English, where the short 'i' in unstressed syllables is said the same as the schwa, So for example "Abbot" and "Rabbit" might rhyme, or "Roses" and "Rosa's" might sound the same (Although it's common for that last one to keep a different vowel, I suppose because of the base word "Rosa" being said differently.). I pronounce the two vowels differently too, But I use the short 'i' in many words that historically had a Schwa, such as Abbot, Parent, Aaron, Parody, Et cetera, most times in occurs between two consonants basically. (The Schwa for me, meanwhile, has moved downwards, so it's pronounced the same as the vowel in words like "Strut" or "Mother")
The one that most surprised me was chassis. When I heard a British person pronounce it "shassy" I fell out of my share laughing.
French
What's funny is back before the 1950s, nearly all the cars in South Africa were American cars, but they used British automotive terms like dynamo, accumulator, high-tension lead, release bearing, trunnion pin, cardan shaft, windscreen, wing, bonnet, bootlid, scuttle and bulkhead. And it's carburettor with two "t's"!
That's just typical American Chovanism.
@@colinmacdonald5732 Well, Nicolas Chauvin was an ... Oh, never mind.
;-)
I've never heard it with a "sh" sound in the US. Always has a hard "ch" like in change.
I have a mixed bag of pronunciations. I use both versions of several of those words- apricot, sloth, cicada. I use the British pronunciation of midwifery. The rest I pronounce like an American. My spelling is an equal mess but I at least know why-I managed to pick up a lot of vocabulary from Canadian and British authors when I was a child.
But I didn’t even realize there was a British vs American pronunciation of most of these words- or at least I couldn’t confidently tell you which belonged to whom.
Schedule. I learned that one from Jean-Luc Picard.
but like bro is french with a british accent so wtaf
Shed Juul, because my family doesn't want me vaping and out behind the shed is nice and secluded.
@@charlottehammond8975 He's from Yorkshire.
As an American , love to throw this British word pronunciation into a conversation , along w/ a few other " Briticisms " ( both words & expressions ) just for fun . Not to be pretentious , just the result of a lifetime binging Brit. lit. , tv , & movies .
Mirina Sirtis Said that the english won the culture war.
Two British pronunciations that I found startling when I heard them on BBC News are "glacier" and "Islamist."
I'm American and I got turned on to the Hitchhiker's Guide radio program while I was in elementary school, and hearing Slartibartfast say _glass-ier_ instead of _glay-shur_ made my head spin a little. I was positively angry when I learned that the French word for ice is _glass_ and I realized that the word glacier just meant "ice-ish".
@@TestUser-cf4wj I'm British and say glay-shur
@@danstratyt Yeah, the actor who played Slartibartfast has a bit of posh in the mouth.
I’m English, always glassier, never glayshur, I’ve only heard glayshur on US documentaries
@@shamone10 In this internet age, the borders between languages are getting very fuzzy. I see younger TH-camrs from the UK area use what used to be US-specific pronunciations all the time.
I see much less of the reverse, though there's plenty of UK-specific word adoption.
I choked on my spit when he said it's "gayla" not "gahlah" in America. Boy, you would get absolutely ROASTED if you came to my area. Well, probably not you because we'd assume it's your accent, but if your wife said it too, it would be game over lmao. Similar, I've seen "promanade" is supposedly pronounced "prom-en-aid" but we say "prom-en-aud" around here.
For me the pronunciation depends on the context. I never say prah meh naud when square dancing. I would be run out of town. 😂
It´s promenade.
@@anndeecosita3586 Okay but I think we both know that's niche 😂 I don't personally find enjoyment in the dance, but we had to do square dancing in gym class for a couple of weeks every year from like 2nd-5th grade lol so I do remember now that you mention it. A trip down memory lane I don't miss; having to touch hands with gross, sticky classmates lmao
I have never heard "gay-la" ever in my life - "gal-la", yes, sometimes "gay-la", but "gay-la" is a whole new one for me.
I love your humorous look at linguistics. I took your poll and realized I do switch back and forth depending on to whom I’m speaking. When I’m in the south I use Ay-pricot and in Michigan a-pricot.
I say apricot both ways ...depending mood. Bougie or non-bougie
At least you get "bougie" right. Absolutely irks the living piss out of me when I see "boujee" 🤢
Candle or spark plug, and what does either have to do with an apricot?
I said Final Thoughts out loud like my life depended on it and then was dismayed to find there was no section on how people pronounce Final Thoughts.
I listen to a lot of British podcasts now, and there are a few words I found surprising:
Valet: In British English, you apparently pronounce the T.
Christian: In British English, I've heard it pronounced CRIST-i-an, where in American English, you'd pronounce it CHRIST-shun or CHRIIST-shen.
Process: Apparently it's PRO-cess in British English, but I've only ever heard it as PRAH-cess in American English.
As someone who pronounces it PRAH-cess, I can assure you that that is a minority pronunciation even in America. I know because I cringe every time I hear any word that begins with pro- in advertising.
I've recently heard encephalitis on British TV pronounced "enkephalitis."
As in "valet," the 't' is also pronounced in "filet"/"fillet" in the UK, if I'm not mistaken.
I generally use the PRAH-ses pronunciation for the noun, but "process" is also a verb (pro-SES), although it usually comes out closer to pruh-SES.
@@tmae33 That's in keeping with the original Greek pronunciation.
Wait until you hear process - or project - said in 'Ull. (aka Kingston-upon-Hull.)
I told my sister that my next family potluck submission would have apricots, and she got after me for my pronunciation. She hasn't let up in weeks. Glad to know I'm in the majority!
The way Brits, Americans, Aussies and 'others' say things has always fascinated me. And likely always will.
The French say "chapeau" for hat. They also say "mouchoir" for handkerchief. It's like they have a different word for practically everything!
I am retired USAF. But for eight years I lived in Japan. To pay our utility bills, rent, etc you would go to the bank, take a small pan off the stack, put your money and bills in it and set it down and then sit down and wait for your name to be called. You would then go up to the cashier and conduct your business. The Japanese ladies understood American English. However, one of the patrons ahead of me was a British lady. The Japanese woman could not understand what she was saying. I went over and 'translated'. It was funny then, it is funny for me today after 40 years.
@@Colorado_Native My father had a similar story. He was stationed in Glasgow for part of WW2. Every so often, they would get a phone call from a Scotsman whom nobody in my father's unit could understand--except for one guy. So when this guy called, whoever answered the phone would yell, "Hey Smitty! It's that Scottish gentleman again!" and Smitty would have to take the call and deal with him.
@@JRBWare1942 - They're a wild and crazy bunch, those French. 🤣
@@JRBWare1942 I have a hard time understanding the Scottish brogue, every time I hear it spoken, normal to them but fast to me, I think, huh? Reminds me when my kids were toddlers, my mom would listen to them intently, then look at me & say "What did she say?" I thought it was totally clear 😂
Proving that if you live with it, you learn it & even toddlers of all nations have an accent!
Here's one, American submariners pronounce it "submarine-er" whereas the Brits say "sub-mariner".
Though I was USN and an American, I have always preferred "sub-mariner". I was discussing this with one of the few people on the boat I considered a friend, who was 1st generation American (his family is from Ireland), one day while standing armed topside watch. I told him I consider "sub-mariner" to be the more erudite pronunciation.
But then the Assistant Weapons Officer came up to the deck. He used to be an enlisted man, which is why I cut him some slack for what came next: he asked what "erudite" means. lmao. 😂🤣😂
Honestly as an American I never knew "Submarine-er" was used, "Sub-mariner" sounds far better to my ears.
@@rateeightx I know the Australians say sub-mariner as well, we had a few Royal Australian Navy submarine officers on the base...I didn't know any of them well, but overheard them saying "submariner" a few times. Also the HMAS Collins, diesel-electric submarine, came over one day.
They were moored near my submarine (USS Florida SSBN-728) so I saw them coming in and out...at first they didn't have an armed watch...the whole crew would drive out to Bremerton to get drunk (well, I assume they had designated drivers)...but then the base commander told them that's not allowed, they have to have at least one person standing armed watch. lol. 🙂
But yeah I prefer sub-mariner, but I have never met an American submariner who says it that way lol 🙂 I wonder how the Canadians say it? They have submarines as well. I saw some of their officers on the base as well, but never had the chance to speak to them. 🙂
The English like to add lots of unnecessary letters to words and then proceed to pronounce almost none of them.
Not as bad as the French though.
😹😹😹😹
@negativeindustrial. Is that because we English use more colourful language than our US neighbours?
@@alansmithee8831
Who knows? Sounds cool with the right word choice, though.
@@robo5013 Ah, but the French put the silent letters on the *ends* of the words. English mostly puts them at the beginning.
West Coast US here:
1) Suh-kay-duh.
2) Ape-ruh-kaat (but my mom says app-ruh-kaat).
3) Slawth.
4) Ehs-truh-jin.
5) “Nurse” or “doctor” or “obstetrician”(I don’t think
I’ve ever said midwifery).
6) “Rath.”
I've never heard anyone say midwifery.
same here in Cali. Oh Mom, being all fancy, lol (hey, do we even have cicadas?)
Interesting that you say ape. I say a and put the p with the second syllable.
@@anndeecosita3586 you might do that in your mind, but out loud there's no difference.. unless you actually pause.
@@KairuHakubi I think maybe I have a millisecond of a pause. I actually say the second syllable as a short I rather than a short u as the OP described. I say ay prih cot. I noticed a few comments where some people said they say the second syllable as a short I as well.
How about words where we pronounce the letters the same way but stress and/or divide them into syllables differently, such as controversy?
Good idea for an upcoming segment !
I absolutely love your work, good sir! Learning the history of words has always been an interest of mine. Thank you for the chuckles along the way.
Software engineer here. One difference that bugs me, is "char" vs "char" (the first being enunciated /kh/ar, vs. the "char" in "char"coal or "char"t.).
Data Engineer checking in. I use both of those Interchangeably, and sometimes /kăr/ as in the American pronunciation of "character". Then "varchar" can rhyme with "carebear".
Do you assimilate the vowels (so that they rhyme with one another) in varchar, even though the first vowel in "character" is normally pronounced as an -air diphthong?
Char, yes please, milk no sugar.
I see it as char, a partial enunciation of "character", you don't shove the enunciation for "charcoal" in there, right?
Also, just because you chop off the word doesn't really change its enunciation or intended enunciation.
@@jonadabtheunsightlyUsually yes. "Var" is short for "variable (length)" so that also rhymes with "air" in American English.
Sometimes, I mix them up though. The key is to pronounce it with complete confidence regardless and gaslight anyone who finds it odd, as with "gif".
To throw another country into the mix I am from New Zealand.
Words I say the US way - cicada sloth estrogen hibiscus trimester vitamin wrath (7)
Words I say the UK way - Tomato gala charade midwifery privacy simultaneous simultaneous scallop catacomb apricot (9)
Some oddities charades - game - US way other context UK way
Privacy - read the word UK way. Use the word ( the privacy minister. I am worried about my privacy) US way
So consider them half each way
Do Brits pronounce the deadly sin of sloth the same way they pronounce the animal that inherited the name?
Yes.
65 years old Brit here, I have never heard the word 'Sloth' prone 'Sloath' here in the UK
Us Americans in the northeast pronounce scallop pretty much the same as the British pronunciation. The other way doesn't sound right to me, though I've heard it probably a quadrillion times in my life.
We say scah-lop in the South too. I've always thought of "scal-lop" as a Midwestern thing.
Guess it depends on where in the northeast 'cause I'm from New York and don't remember ever hearing the British way.
I am Midwestern living on the East Coast now and you might be right. I always pronounced it scallop and never heard scahl llop until I moved here
@BrianMckee - Must be a Apple-eater vs. Masshole thing - I'm from Cape Cod and I've only ever heard it the "British way."
@@BrianMcKeeSame.
The Southern pronunciation of "cicada" is locust. 🙂
I first encountered the word "sloth" on the page, and never heard it until, IIRC, I was in my teens. I sounded it out (which today no one knows how to do 😢), and to this day I automatically use the long O.
I've always heard people pronounce "apricot" as APE-er-cot.
I pronounce Sloth to rhyme with broth in the UK
As do I. !
@@juliajoyce4535 Since I say it like Laurence, is that a northern thing? It does make saying "three toed sloth" 🦥 easier.
@@alansmithee8831 I’m not sure as David Attenborough pronounces sloth sloave, I’m from South Wales (non Welsh speaker)
I’ve only heard “slowth” from Stephen Merchant and Ricky Gervais.
@@alansmithee8831 I think it might actually be more of an "educated speech" or posh sort of thing. My experience is that it's mostly posh and Oxbridge people who use the slowth pronunciation. Especially when talking about it in the context of the Catholic deadly sins.
Great video, I learn something new every day!
One thing I've always found interesting is that the way Americans pronounce the letter t or d in the middle of a word, such as in "water" or "bladder" is considered a rhotic in other languages.
Except the zone where it's "woo-durr" which defies both forms of logic.
Guilty as charged. 😅
Sometimes even other dialects of English, The Scottish pronunciation of "Barrel" sounds a lot like an American saying "Bottle", for example.
I grew up with American and British shows as a kid, so my pronunciation has always been jumping the pond, depending on the word. For instance, I've always pronounced "hibiscus" and "simultaneous" the British way.
Another odd pronunciation to my American ears is how Brits pronounce "aluminum" and "oregano."
And yes, I say "ah-pri-cot" even though my family pronounced it "A-pri-cot. It just sounded better to me. 🤷♀️
The English spell the word aluminium. The word originally had an I in it but we Americans decided to change it. As far as pronunciation of words go, Californians mispronounce their Spanish named cities wrong all the time.
@@krystalsmith849All or most of the cities named after foreign cities across the country are usually pronounced wrong. Like New MADrid MO, Mylan MI, Lime-a OH, ToLEEdo OH, there's a ton more
also the wildest word difference for me is lieutenant. where are people in the UK getting the F from??
The F comes from the medieval/modern pronunciation of Greek. The American pronunciation is based on ancient Greek.
FWIW we local dignitaries called Lord Lieutenants, who "rule" over Lieutenanancies.
@@colinmacdonald5732 I once learned of a very nice lady, who was Lord Lieutenant. Quite irritating.
Wheres the R in colonel
Out of lieut field.
In Wisconsin we pronounce it "app-pricot" for the word apricot.
Yeah, it bothered me that his poll didn't have an option for pronouncing the "i" like and "i", rather than a "u".
I enjoy your vids Laurence, and appreciate your fresh view on all things American. We are pleased to have you.
He’s delightful to watch.
Eastrogen is the opposite of westosterone.
"I thought I would spend WAY more time in catacombs."
Just you wait. You will get to spend literal centuries in a catacomb.
I’m from Georgia & I pronounce apricot with an ay. I don’t think I’ve ever heard it the other way. I’m surprised so many pronounce it that way. Of course I don’t think I’ve had many conversations about apricots.
Yeah, because you people only talk about peaches.😉
“How do you say ‘both’?”
I pronounce it “bolth”, inexplicably. So should I say it like … “slolth”? 🤣
My accent is the San Francisco accent that many people in Northern California speak. Surprised to learn that we pronounce a lot of words the British way. I wonder why that is. We say "gah-luh" and "ay-pri-cot".
I live in SF and do not say nor have I ever heard aypricot!...gahluh yes definitely
@@derekdurst9984 Most of the bay area says AYpricot. I have worked in the grocery industry for years, and I rarely hear APPricot here.
Now I am totally confused about how to pronounce the word apricot!! I participated in the poll and now I am saying it both ways!! Thank goodness the word does not come up in conversation that much.
Some years ago, a book was published with the title "There's No Ape in Apricot." It had a companion volume titled "There's No Zoo in Zoology." I disagree with both of these.
@JRBWare1942 Wait how else would you pronounce "Zoology"?
I guess as "zoh - ology"
@@JRBWare1942 agree with one of them the first 1
@@rainbowstarfall seileach67 is correct.
Apricot came from the Portuguese abricoque, and was written 'abricock' or 'apricock' until 19th century prudes objected to 'cock'.
Apricock...Lmao
I live in the Pacific Northwest, on the north coast of Washington State. It's not quite the end of the world, but you can see it from here. I find it interesting that in the local vernacular some words like "route", "creek", and yes, "apricot" have dual pronunciations depending on context. APricot is what you buy at the roadside fruit stands. But when singing while looking out the window, you'll find popcorn popping on the AYpricot tree. Similarly, when deciding which path to take to Seattle, you'll choose the route (rhymes with "trout") that gets you to the ferry that docks closest to your destination on the other side of Hood Canal. But that road that traverses the east coast from north to south is route 95 (rhymes with "fruit"). "Creek" might be strangest of all, I can't find a hard and fast rule for when it rhymes with "freak" Vs. "trick". It might even go, "What's the name of that little CRICK that runs through the valley?". "Oh, that's Tumwater CREEEEK"!
How about British adding R sound to words that don't have them, like "saw". Tuna and tuner seem to be swapped as well in some cases
Tuner in the UK, tooner in the US
Americans do this too, In the Korean name "Park", Which the British spelled as such because it was similar to how they pronounce the word "Park", Without the 'R'. It'd be better transcribed into American English as "Pok".
As a listener to a substantial number of Scottish preachers, "Wroth" is how I pronounce it when it needs to be emphasized.
I will not be taking pronunciation queues from a country that orders "tay-coes and burr-EYE-toes from Mexican restaurants and when called on it, says, "Well that's how we say it in Britain", as if Britain gets to decide the correct pronunciation of a non-English word.
I assume you mean "cues." A queue is a bunch of people waiting in line, or a pigtail worn by Chinese during the Manchu dynasty.
No gwacky mole for them! I watched a British guy eat a taco starting at the middle of the bottom on TikTok. 🥺
As if the US is immune from this habit, croissant anybody?
Also, I have never heard anybody say Tay-coes pr bur-eye-toes. Presumably you’ve encountered the ignorant section of the UK populace in much the same way that the ignorant section of the US populace is trotted out on TV all the time for these sorts of things
There are 333 million Americans. There are 66 million British. Might makes right. How very British. Translation: Americans say it correctly and the Brits are wrong.
Let’s put this to bed. The British or rather specifically the English. They sounded like Americans around the time of Shakespeare. However, a period known as “the great vowel shift” occurred in English society. This was due as it has been theorized to be because of upper class people wanting to sound a different way to the lower classes. England being a class system this would make sense.
So, these upper class gits decided to incorporate bloody French spellings and pronunciation into their English and this is where we get both asinine spelling and pronunciation differences. Not only did they detest the lower classes and their patterns of speech and spellings. They also later on despised Americans as well because of the usage of this “lower class” way of speaking.
That’s why some places in England still use inches and feet and miles and sound more like American English. As well, that’s why wealthy places like Grimsby in England sound more upper class. I’ll add this also took place in the sciences as they wanted to be considered upper class as well and why they bullied Sir Humphry Davy who was British and invented the spelling and word Aluminum, bullied him into changing it into Aluminium. To sound upper class and what they called “classical” but it was really to not sound lower class and worse in their eyes, American.
There are also modern class distinctions in how we Americans speak - pronounce words , utilize phrases , etc.
@2:13... Gal-uh is a 3rd way to pronounce Gala. Gal rhyming with the mans name Hal.
I was just thinking the same exact thing to post.👍🏻
This is the way I pronounce it.
Wrath: this word's pronunciation has changed in the last 50-70 years. My dad (born in Philadelphia, 1926) said "wroth", but my mother (KC, MO, 1927) said "wrath". Many people in the Northeast and New England used "wroth" well into my childhood. In the Marx Brothers film "The Big Store" from the 1930's, Groucho's secretary says about a superior of his waiting for a long time to see Groucho; "Mr. xxxxxx is still waiting, and he's WAXING WROTH!". Groucho responds "He is? Well tell him to wax the floor while he's out there!"
I wonder if apricot is regional. So many words are in the USA.
"Good bye?"
-wth!?
Incidentally, I worked with an immigrant from Mexico in the public service sector. When English was still new to him, (before I met him), he said he'd get confused when customers would say, "See ya!" at times when leaving the store.
He knew this to mean "chair" in Spanish, (Spelt: "silla")
I was so amused by this anecdote that anytime a customer said the phrase we would both answer with: "Mesa!"
(Which is Spanish for "table")
I was about 12 years old (1965) before I found out the "katy-did" was really cicada. That's what happens in Oklahoma sometimes. 🙂
Not the same in either behavior or appearance.
Great Steely Dan album Katy Lied has a katy did on the cover.
a katy-did is a preying mantis
In Texas it’s the same 😂❤
there are katydids that are not cicadas. though I'm sure it's possible some region might call one by the other name.
My favorite of all time is "Featherstonhaugh," which the Brits tend to pronounce as "Fanshaw." Americans pronounce and spell it as "Fanshaw," sometimes with a silent "e" at the end.
The only person who should be allowed to pronounce sloth with a long o is Sir David Attenborough. 😊
One difference that surprised me a few years ago listening to an audiobook (Grapes of Wrath, actually) narrated by an American, is the pronunciation of 'shone' . I couldn't believe i was hearing him say it like 'shown' (rhymes with grown) rather than 'shon' (rhymes with 'on'), which is the British way. I never noticed or came across that before, though I've heard it many times since then.
I've always said, "apricot." The "a" sounding like the 'a' in the word hat.
Right? I've always said "data" instead of "data".
Interesting! When I first saw "Midwifery" on the screen, I did say it with a long "i" but quickly changed it to a short "i." I'd been corrected in the past by my dad and had no idea the long "i" pronunciation was acceptable here in America.
I'm Canadian. I pronounce "apricot" as follows: "kumquat"
That's a different fruit altogether.
Jerk!
That's surprising considering a Kumquat is a citrus fruit whereas an Apricot is more like a peach or a plum.
Lost in the Pond, awesome video keep it up bro
Googled myself a few years ago no results
I would say that's great and amazing.
@@TheSleepingonit I got so many results, I gained "ee", but it did not seem to bring me any royalties from Hollywood.
My mom used to prounounce it ay-pricot, but somehow I grew up pronouncing it app-ricot. I don't think my dad talked about them at all because he didn't like them. So, if we learn language from our parents, how did some of my pronunciations change? When I was little, I pronounced 'aunt' as 'ant' (very Midwestern), but now I pronounce it 'awnt'. Another thing that people of my age might remember is we _were_ taught that 'buoy' was prounounced 'boy'. It was in our homonym tests at school. Somewhere along the line, American pronunciation got changed to 'booey'. Mind you, that's just been in the past 50 years, too (I attended school between 1970-1983). Can we all just agree that English is a stupid language with no rhyme or reason to anything, be it pronunciation or spelling? It doesn't have any of the organized structure of other languages, rather just seems to be words mashed together in nearly any order we wish. No wonder non-English speakers have such a hard time learning how to speak it, never mind read or spell it.
Long A for the win. "What puts the 'ape' in ape-ricot?" (The Cowardly Lion, "The Wizard of Oz", 1939). Every side of the pond. (Drops mic.)
I have lived in the US west for 50 years, including nearby some significant apricot growing areas. I have used and heard the ay pronunciation more than 90% of the time. In fact, the first time I hear the ah pronunciation, was in reference to a computer brand (clearly trying to distinguish itself from other fruit-themed computer companies), and that was a British brand.
So I always assumed that ah was the British way, and ay was the American way, and your highly scientific survey surprised me greatly.
Italians brought over the CHI-CAH-DA pronunciation.
But, no one says chi-cah-dah unless maybe some Italians.
@@LiliWhyte
Haven't been to Jersey lately have you?
When I was a college freshman in a Pennsylvania university, my history professor had done her doctoral dissertation on midwifery. She pronounced the middle syllable like WHIFF.
So do I. I grew up in Connecticut. 😊
I call them "AYPRICOT"😁
Me too. I say APE RE COT
Having grown up earning pocket money picking them in northern California, I have used both pronunciations, however the soft A was the one I used most for Apricot.
I don't know what a "soft A" is.
In Boston, we pronounce scallops (and some other words) like you. The way the rest of America says it, makes me cringe. lol
In the film "The Wizard of Oz", the Cowardly Lion sings "What puts the Ape in Apricot"? (Ape-ricot)
But in the song "You're So Vain", Joan Baez sings "Your scarf it was Apricot." (Ap-ricot)
How many of us pronounced "Final Thoughts" on the last slide? 😂
👇
Canadian/American here in NZ. One word the Kiwis pronounce differently is cervical (sur-VY-kal). I say it sur-vik-al.
No, we in the UK don't pronounce it Slow-th. We also pronounce it the same way as the Americans.
@@johnm8224 I pronounce it as you showed. Is it a northern thing? Anyway three toed sloth 🦥 is much easier to say that way.
Thank you
Not true at all
I stand corrected.
You asked how I pronounce those words, so here it is:
1- Cigarra
2- Preguiça
3- Estrogénio
4- Obstetrícia
5- Ira
6- Catacumba
7- Alperce ou Damasco
😉
Personally, Washyoursister sauce is one of the words the British get wrong pretty often
Is it pronounced worse-ter-sheer or worster-shire or wor-cess-ter-shire?
@@LiliWhyte Wuss-tuh-shure
@@jayg1438this, and they usually drop the "shire"
so a fuck-load of letters to say "wussta" and then make fun of us when we get it wrong lmao
@@cocomonkilla LOL fair point. I only learned it by living near Worcester, MA (woo-stah) for a few years!
as a canadian i use which ever pronuciation that fits my mood.
One word that has puzzled me is how “derby” is pronounced differently on either side of the pond.
I'm a skater and I find that my Irish friends use the US pronunciation but it just feels weird to me. Derby has a roller rink too, I've been there for an event once. lol
Our pronunciation does seem wrong to me too, it literally has an E.
Likely from the British city of Derby, pronounced "Darby". There's actually a lot of British place names where 'er' makes an 'ar' sound for some reason.
@rateeightx There's also the word "clerk." The British pronunciation confused me when I was young, then I learned that it happened with "derby," so it was a general pronunciation rule and I was OK with it.
I DID IT! I discovered, Lost in the Pond in March. I decided that I wanted to watch all of your videos both long and short. As of just now, I am all caught up! About halfway though, I realized I would have to watch at 2x speed in order to catch up. Fortunately, you speak slowly enough that I was still able to understand you. It will be nice to watch you at regular speed again! 😃
Here in New England we pronounce scallop as "scollop", in fact you can tell if someone is from away by they pronounce that particular word (schrod - a preparation of a whitefish like haddock, hake, or cod - is another word to test who's from away and who's a New Englander).
American here... learned to speak in Chicago, moved to New Hampshire at 3, then Colorado at 12. I have then lived in California, Texas, and now Washington. I have NO CLUE how I pronounce apricot! It's one of my words that just comes out however it wants to that day. Like a word lottery! I also vacillate between either/either (ee-ther ii-ther) and neither/neither and aunt/ant. Often depends on the people I'm talking with. I watch too much British TV which also influences it. The other day I called it maths and shocked even myself! I have also taken on a northern English affectation of saying, "It were cold today," etc.
Another word I'm quite familiar with is the British 'croshe' vs. the American 'croshay' for the word that's spelled crochet.
A couple of other pronunciations: Skeletal: US pronounces it SKELL-uh-tuhl while UK pronounces it skull-EE-tuhl. And Lichen: US pronunciation is LIE-ken while UK usually pronounces it LIH-chuhn.
The pronunciation difference that surprised me most was with the word "Solder", Growing up in the U.S. I'd always heard it pronounced "Sodder", And honestly never imagined it'd be pronounced differently, But then one time I was watching a video by an Australian, and he actually pronounced the 'l', Which genuinely shocked me. So I immediately looked it up, Turns out both "Solder" and "Sodder" are fairly widespread pronunciations, although the latter is older (The 'l' wasn't originally present, but was later added for etymological reasons, Since it comes from a Latin word that did have an 'l'.)
Laurence. You need to visit Tangier Island on the eastern shore of Virginia. It’s almost like stepping back into the 1750s. The inhabitants have retained a unique form of speech that’s been passed down from the island’s earliest English settlers. Today, Tangier is one of the last places in the US where people still speak with traces of their colonial past.
Canadian here and I use mix of British and US pronunciations
I grew up in the deep south of the US and have spent several decades now living in the UK, but "cicada" has was always pronounced the "British" way in my youth. More than a half century ago, I grant you. I have come across many such examples over the years and it is usually a generational shift in pronunciation rather than a strictly regional thing.
I spent some time in England last month, and I LOVE the Brits, their language, their humor, all of it 😂❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
Hello from a former German, then American, now Méxican resident 😅😊