Open Thread

I always wanna say invent-tory

Joe, I had the same problem in reading the word evanescent before hearing it, and then pronouncing it incorrectly for the rest of my life (so far).

I confess to hating the sound of German and how it looks on the page. Considering I love Yiddish, it’s pretty obviously emotional. But Yiddish is softer and funnier than German, to me. German sounds harsh and angry.

regional accents have much less to do with class.

Posted by: Joe from Brooklyn at October 20, 2009 11:39 AM

Joe-I have to disagree..the way one speaks and they way they are taught as children to intonate have everything to do with upbringing and class. My now retired mom, was a NYS Regent Scholar out of Bishop Mc Donnel Memorial HS., is also a college educated former “Miss Brooklyn” of the late 1950’s. She grew up in Northern Brooklyn/ENY/Queens Border surrounded by Doctors , lawyers & business owning, management class Brooklynites. In all honesty ,she nor her old Brooklyn Dodger fan siblings have pronounced regional accents. Nor did my maternal grandparents.(She is the only one in fact who remains in Brooklyn.) The regional accent contrast between my mom’s family/older generations as oppossed to that of my Dad’s family/older generations was to me growing up , somewhat noticable. Just calling it as I saw it . I tend to agree that the definition of what is proper is very debatable. That’s why I “end quoted” it in my original post.

I didn’t know that, joe. I used to hide books under my desk and read them because I couldn’t follow the conversations. Math was a disaster of course- but strangely I did really really well in science. I read everything I could get my hands on but math books weren’t all that fascinating to me (Unless it was a book like “A Beautiful Mind.”) I still pronounce the b in subtle in my head and always have to check before I say it verbally.