Short pronunciation question from a foreigner

[Loki]

The only time I have ever said Aboot is when I'm joking around about it :dunno: and I don't think I've ever heard someone actually say it well not joking.

 

[Troyota]

ok...you guys are the experts. I'll take your word for it. But, next time I hear somebody say it, I'll be sure to find out where they are from. That way you guys can go to thier town and kick some ass for fueling the stereotype.

I love you guys...if it wasn't so damn cold. I wouldn't mind moving to Canada some times. But I'd still say "Zee"

 

[Slow66]

Ive honestly never heard "zed" in my life until this thread.

America's always gotta be different...lol...imperial instead of metric, 'zee' instead of 'zed', gas sucking vehicles instead of smaller more efficient ones, gettign our nose in every other countries business but our own....

Aint America great?? lol

 

[Big Wang Bandit]

^ Hell yes!

 

[NATAN666]

ok...you guys are the experts. I'll take your word for it. But, next time I hear somebody say it, I'll be sure to find out where they are from. That way you guys can go to thier town and kick some ass for fueling the stereotype.

I love you guys...if it wasn't so damn cold. I wouldn't mind moving to Canada some times. But I'd still say "Zee"

yup.. because 35+ degrees is too cold...

 

[CFSapper]

Dont remind me im sitting under like 3 fans right now

 

[Troyota]

Well, the average temp here has been in the 90's to 100's every day...today it was 95* w/ 30% humidity...that sucked. I hate humidity!!! The winters rarely get below 40's or 50's (in farenheit). I like the warm climate of the American SouthWest. And the atmosphere and attitude of the people is generally only second to the friendly Canadians.

 

[PROJECT N00b]

a (ay) b (bee) c (see) d (dee) e (eee) f (ef) g (gee) h (ay-ch) i (eye) j (jay) k (kay) l (el) m (em) n (en) o (oh) p (pee) q (cue) r (are) s (ess) t (tee) u (you) v (vee) w (double you) x (ex) y (why) z (zee)...sorry im bored.

 

[NATAN666]

Well, the average temp here has been in the 90's to 100's every day...today it was 95* w/ 30% humidity...that sucked. I hate humidity!!! The winters rarely get below 40's or 50's (in farenheit). I like the warm climate of the American SouthWest. And the atmosphere and attitude of the people is generally only second to the friendly Canadians.

so basically... your climate is nearly the same as ours? we just have alot more precipitation (im talking about lower mainland BC right now)

snow here is as rare as snow in southern california. below zero celsius (32F) is pretty rare in the winter and when it happens we're all bitching like somalians in alaska

 

[csr ma71]

What about aluminum? Is it "alew-minimium" or "alooo-minum"

 

[Troyota]

I say "Aloooo-Minum" it's said the way it's spelled...it's not spelled Aluminium!

 

[Jeff Lange]

I say "Aloooo-Minum" it's said the way it's spelled...it's not spelled Aluminium!

Depends. Most people in North America, (yes, Canada too) use aluminum, but the official international name for the element is aluminium, and they are currently trying to bring that into the local curriculum here in Canada. (Alberta at least). Most teachers still teach it as aluminum, but the official name is aluminium.

If you read up on it, you'll find that the element had a few names in it's first 10 years or so of discovery, with the guy who discovered it coming up with names. It started as alumium, then aluminum, then finally aluminium. International has become a standard of aluminium.

The spelling in –um continued in occasional use in Britain for a while, though that in –ium soon predominated. In the USA, the position was more complicated. Noah Webster’s Dictionary of 1828 has only aluminum, though the standard spelling among US chemists throughout most of the nineteenth century was aluminium; it was the preferred version in The Century Dictionary of 1889 and is the only spelling given in the Webster Unabridged Dictionary of 1913. Searches in an archive of American newspapers show a most interesting shift. Up to the 1890s, both spellings appear in rough parity, though with the –ium version slightly the more common, but after about 1895 that reverses quite substantially, with the decade starting in 1900 having the –um spelling about twice as common as the alternative; in the following decade the –ium spelling crashes to a few hundred compared to half a million examples of –um.

[...]

It’s clear that the shift in the USA from –ium to –um took place progressively over a period starting in about 1895, when the metal began to be widely available and the word started to be needed in popular writing. It is easy to imagine journalists turning for confirmation to Webster’s Dictionary, still the most influential work at that time, and adopting its spelling. The official change in the US to the –um spelling happened quite late: the American Chemical Society only adopted it in 1925, though this was clearly in response to the popular shift that had already taken place. The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) officially standardised on aluminium in 1990, though this has done nothing, of course, to change the way people in the US spell it for day to day purposes.

 

[tte]

Now the word "Garage"

Is it Gar raj like "Ga" Garfield the Cat and long streched "raj"
Or
"Ga" rage Like "Ga in Garett Turbo and "rudge" in Grduge.

I guess here in USA they say Gar Raj. In other parts of the world esp those countries following the english from England they say "Ga rudge"

Cheers,
Roy

 

[MassSupra89]

Carport:icon_bigg

 

[SupraDerk]

I have a question, why does everyone in other countries call us in the US "yankees"??? I'm from the American South...:cry: ...I don't claim to be a "Rebel" ...but I ain't no yank :naughty:

 

[supra90turbo]

oh you're a yank, alright :naughty:

I say aluminium because it's correct, and people always criticize me.
I say Ga raj, but funny enough, people literally one town over say "Gararge" say it like it's spelled gr-arge
I also say zee
and somehow I adopted a slight canadian accent somewhere so, occasionally, if you're around me, you'll hear me say aboot
I say some things with a very mild british accent, too... even though i've never been.

 

[SupraDerk]

oh you're a yank, alright

Haha alright then, I'm a yank...but ONLY cause you say so! ::w00t::

 

[Jeff Lange]

Now the word "Garage"

Is it Gar raj like "Ga" Garfield the Cat and long streched "raj"
Or
"Ga" rage Like "Ga in Garett Turbo and "rudge" in Grduge.

I guess here in USA they say Gar Raj. In other parts of the world esp those countries following the english from England they say "Ga rudge"

Cheers,
Roy

Most (if not all) of North America says it "ga raj" I've noticed, while internationally "gA" seems more used.

 

[encomiast]

One more: "missile": "miss-ile" or "missll" ?

As for the yankees:

Yankee: a native or citizen of the United States or, more narrowly, of the New England states of the United States (Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut). The term Yankee is often associated with such characteristics as shrewdness, thrift, ingenuity, and conservatism.

:biglaugh:

 

[Troyota]

I say "Miss-le" even though it's phonetically "Miss-ile" that's just the way I learned it and so it's how I say it.