Irritating Accents

JayeL wrote: »

It's hardly snobbery to ask that places be pronounced as locals pronounce it: inferring that the locals are wrong is more like snobbery.

Does that mean you try to remember to pronounce "paris" as "par..eee"?

I'm not sure its always correct to say that the locals have a monopoly on the correct way to pronounce anything. In any case, different locals will often pronounce names in different ways. If one thinks of Dublin, different sets of locals will pronounce it in a number of different ways, so which set of locals is a foreigner to decide to follow? The lady in Moore street? The lady from Drumcondra? The ORE-TV newsreader?

In Ireland, we used to all call the french cars "Ren-all-t" Now many say "Ren-au" which is more akin to the French way, although still many say "Ren-all-t". Similarly, we used to say "pew-gete" which many have modified in recent years to "pew-joe", although the french put less emphasis on the "pew" and say more "pa-joe" as if the first syllable is an exhalation of breath. Are we wrong? Are they?

I think the answer probably lies in the realisation that there is no one correct single way to pronounce a name, and there are many possible ways.

Irritating Accent = Tom Dunne

Micky Dolenz wrote: »

Tony Fenton freaks me out.

i love tony fenton on my radio

The French certainly aren't wrong, as they're French companies!

Peugeot is pronounced more like "puhh-joe" (hard to type a pronunciation but if you know French, you'll know what I mean by puhh, as in "peu", the french word for "skin").

Bard - 'Peau' is the French for skin and 'Peu' is French for little, as in 'un peu'

Otherwise you're spot on !!

S