Pronunciation: 'Millions' and 'Kilometres'

fionnmar

Just listening to the reports on NAMA and notice that amounts are described with the 's' on million and billion - will cost the taypayer x billions euro. Is this new?
Also when did the pronunciation of kilometres change to become a slender e on the 'metres' part? It seems to be no longer kill-aw-metres but instead kilo-meee-tres (hard to describe that I hope I have got my question across :rolleyes:)

pickarooney

I've never heard a native speaker make such an obvious error as "X billions euro".
The 's' can only be used in the context of "billions of euros" or "the figures are in the billions".

'Kilometre/kilometer' has two possible pronunciations, 'KILometre' or 'kilOMetre' but never 'kiloMEtre'.

Donkey Oaty

Pickarooney's analysis is indisputable.

OP, where did you hear the report? Around holiday times there are often people standing in for the regulars and I'm wondering if nerves may have got the better of them.

Theta

I have noticed that its very much a continental european thing to say Kilo-meters rather then the way people in Ireland/UK/Canada say it which is Kill-om-eters

FlutterinBantam

If there is a wrong way to pronounce a word, the Irish will find it.

Yakuza

FlutterinBantam wrote: »

If there is a wrong way to pronounce a word, the Irish will find it.

Lol, a truer word was never spoken (well, typed ). Some of the country seems to think that NAMA will be spending X "billon" euro (I'm thinking in particular of a former FG leader from the Limerick area, who used to refer to x, y and z costing "millons" of pounds / euro).

Personally, I say "kil-Om-eters" but "KIL-o-grams". Ah, the mysteries of English

FlutterinBantam

Heh heh.

My favourite one was ... when we dealt in pounds

Flutter.(to taximan:D) "What do I owe you?"

Taximan. "That will be 22 pound sir."

Sharp suck in of breath from the Flutt.:eek:


Years later............................................many years.

We're in the Euro

Can the fcukers get it right, it's all set up!

Flutter.(to taximan:D) "What do I owe you?"

Taximan. "That will be 22 Euros sir"

Sharp suck in of breath from the Flutt.


They just won't learn, my nut brown bollox , they will fck it up some way:D

The Raven.

FlutterinBantam wrote: »

If there is a wrong way to pronounce a word, the Irish will find it.

Like 'Dor-set Street' :rolleyes::)!!

pickarooney

FlutterinBantam wrote: »

Heh heh.

My favourite one was ... when we dealt in pounds

Flutter.(to taximan:D) "What do I owe you?"

Taximan. "That will be 22 pound sir."

Sharp suck in of breath from the Flutt.:eek:


Years later............................................many years.

We're in the Euro

Can the fcukers get it right, it's all set up!

Flutter.(to taximan:D) "What do I owe you?"

Taximan. "That will be 22 Euros sir"

Sharp suck in of breath from the Flutt.


They just won't learn, my nut brown bollox , they will fck it up some way:D

In fairness, there's no rule of English that says 'euro' should not be pluralised. I'd have been more taken aback that he called you 'sir''.

BarryM

Theta wrote: »

I have noticed that its very much a continental european thing to say Kilo-meters rather then the way people in Ireland/UK/Canada say it which is Kill-om-eters

In France (where it originated) the 'metre' is pronounced 'metrre' (not sure how to write it phonetically, short e) so kilometre becomes kilomettre....

BarryM

pickarooney wrote: »

In fairness, there's no rule of English that says 'euro' should not be pluralised. I'd have been more taken aback that he called you 'sir''.

AFAIK, there is no plural version of Euro. We had a discussion of it just recently and a French guy admitted to writing cheques with 'euros' and checked and discovered it was wrong. I suppose he checked some EU site...??

seamus

The Raven. wrote: »

Like 'Dor-set Street' :rolleyes::)!!

To be fair, most "wrong" pronunciations simply come from a phonetic translation of what you would expect it to sound like. And I'm a bastard for doing that and sticking with my own translation.

I would expect Dorset street to be pronounced "Dor-set", though perhaps without the massive emphasis you sometimes hear on "set". The common pronunciation I would expect to be spelled Dorsett.

I also have a tendancy to say "May-nooth", as opposed to the more popular "Mehnooth".

FoxT

Would not consider 'Billions' or 'millions' - All 'Billuns & Milluns' to him.

Also , a bit off topic but I have to slip it in... afaik Everybody from PortLaoise says they are from 'Portleesh' which I think is grand but RTE insist on the abominably pretentious 'PortLuaghaise'

-Foxt

FlutterinBantam

:rolleyes:

Happens to be the correct pronunciation Mr Fox.

Because everyone in Ballyfermot calls it 'Ballyfeahmah' should RTE follow suit??

pickarooney

BarryM wrote: »

AFAIK, there is no plural version of Euro. We had a discussion of it just recently and a French guy admitted to writing cheques with 'euros' and checked and discovered it was wrong. I suppose he checked some EU site...??

The EU has no jurisdiction over the rules of any language (thankfully) and as 'euro' is not a registered trade mark there is nothing to say that 'euros' is wrong.

In fact, I think the same EU guidelines suggest not pluralising 'cent', a word which has existed in English with a normal plural for centuries. It would be ludicrous to talk of American cents and European cent.

I don't think I've ever heard a native speaker from the UK using 'euro' in the plural (apart from those who use 'pahnd' as plural) and the official name in Irish is spelled eoró/eorónna, so frankly bollocks to the EU's vision of what we should call our coins and notes.

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noms_et_divisions_nationales_de_l%27euro#Orthographe_des_termes_.C2.AB_euro_.C2.BB_et_.C2.AB_cent_.C2.BB

FlutterinBantam

pickarooney wrote: »

The EU has no jurisdiction over the rules of any language (thankfully) and as 'euro' is not a registered trade mark there is nothing to say that 'euros' is wrong.

In fact, I think the same EU guidelines suggest not pluralising 'cent', a word which has existed in English with a normal plural for centuries. It would be ludicrous to talk of American cents and European cent.

I don't think I've ever heard a native speaker from the UK using 'euro' in the plural (apart from those who use 'pahnd' as plural) and the official name in Irish is spelled eoró/eorónna, so frankly bollocks to the EU's vision of what we should call our coins and notes.

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noms_et_divisions_nationales_de_l%27euro#Orthographe_des_termes_.C2.AB_euro_.C2.BB_et_.C2.AB_cent_.C2.BB

You can be absolutely sure that anyone who uses 'pahnd' as plural will use 'Euros' as plural G U A R E N T E E D.

I never ever use Euros and cents as the plural.


It's Euro and cent baby.

How much for that advice? 5 euro 20 cent horse.


Only way to roll.

deman

BarryM wrote: »

AFAIK, there is no plural version of Euro. We had a discussion of it just recently and a French guy admitted to writing cheques with 'euros' and checked and discovered it was wrong. I suppose he checked some EU site...??

I disagree. There is no rule to say you cannot say Euros. In fact, as an English language consultant, I always use Euros and not Euro. And every language and grammar book that I have seen all use Euros. I think it has to have come across from the incorrect usage of saying "10 pound" instead of "10 pounds". And I think it's something that Bertie dreamt up one night and decided that saying "10 Euro" would be the only correct form.

http://publications.europa.eu/code/en/en-370303.htm#euro

As for saying 10 millions, that is just so wrong.

And before I moved to Finland, I would always have said "kilOMeters" but through time it has changed to "KILometers" as it's more understandable to Finns. But, as said above, kiloMEters is totally wrong.

pickarooney

deman wrote: »

But, as said above, kiloMEters is totally wrong.

There's one possible use of it, when someone mishears what you first said as kilolitres and you need to repeat it, stressing the difference.

deman

pickarooney wrote: »

There's one possible use of it, when someone mishears what you first said as kilolitres and you need to repeat it, stressing the difference.

True

BarryM

pickarooney wrote: »

The EU has no jurisdiction over the rules of any language (thankfully) and as 'euro' is not a registered trade mark there is nothing to say that 'euros' is wrong.

OMG, I wasn't suggesting that the EU wanted jurisdiction I was only suggesting they were suggesting there is no plural, in their world....but in view of deman's link, which I haven't read yet, maybe they don't insist.... it was just a feeling I had (I did say AFAIK)

The Raven.

deman wrote: »

And before I moved to Finland, I would always have said "kilOMeters" but through time it has changed to "KILometers" as it's more understandable to Finns. But, as said above, kiloMEters is totally wrong.

Actually neither of those pronunciations is 'wrong'. Either of them can be used. There has been much discussion on this issue. There is an interesting article on the link below in the form of a diary, from which I have quoted here. [See 16 December 2001]

The term 'kilometer' is of Greek origin - 'Kilo' meaning 'thousand', and 'meter' from 'métron' meaning 'measure', although it would appear that there is no such word as 'kilometer' in the Greek language. It has been argued that 'in Greek the stress would be on the antepenultimate syllable, which makes the correct pronunciation kil-OM-et-er.'

However, following this line of argument, the terms 'kilogram', 'millimeter' and 'centimeter' would be pronounced 'kil-OG-ram', 'mill-IM-et-er' and 'cent-IM-et-er'. But wait! 'The prefixes 'centi-' and 'milli-' are Latin so the Greek rule of pronunciation wouldn't apply.'

http://www.cimms.ou.edu/~doswell/peeves/Discussions.html

I personally prefer to pronounce it 'KIL-o-meeter' because I feel that the 'O' seems less important than the other two parts and therefore doesn't deserve the stress, plus I don't like the sound of 'kil-OM-et-er'. Anyway, why should we follow the Greek rule? The English spelling is 'kilometre', yet they don't pronounce it the French way.

old_aussie

FlutterinBantam wrote: »

If there is a wrong way to pronounce a word, the Irish will find it.

Not if us Aussies find it ferst.

fionnmar

Sorry I cannot remember where I heard the billions euros but as an example of the km pronunication see below. It is not just a one off - every time I hear this word on Irish national radio it is with slender e. Morning Ireland this morning (go to rte.ie/radio to get the podcast: 1:16:14 in: 'the ash is being carried at an altitude of between 6 and 11 kilometres....'
Sorry for being a nerd on this one - but I am sure that not so long ago it the pronunciation was kilometres and I just wonder how / why the change came about.

ruskey!

when you've sorted out the millions and billions - can you please go and find the missing second "f" from "fifth" and the poor old "x" from "sixth".
the poor numbers are being morphed into "fith" and "sikth" by many radio heads on not only the bbc but also the donnybrook brigade - and of course george hamilton!!:rolleyes: