Saturday, October 23, 2010

quicko: pronunciation lesson

Aside from the obvious ("pronunciation"), several others have recently been brought to my attention.  To wit:

--produce (i.e., vegetables)
--squirrel
--compost
and, the clincher:
--tuna

For the all grief I've taken over putting a "d" in "ninety" (though, for the record, I still maintain I do not) -- Australians don't even use a T for "tuna" -- they use a "ch"!!  It's highly bizarre.

4 comments:

Rachel Aubrey said...

If Australians pronounce tuna as [chuna], how do they pronounce produce, squirrel, and compost? Is the difference in which syllable receives the major stress? As in 'PROnounce versus pro'NOUNCE? Or is it in vowel quality?

On another note, is A to Z in Australia, A to Zed perchance?

Mom said...

I second the questions about pronunciation. How do they pronounce those words?

I remember noticing the different pronunciation of brochure,with the accent on Bro.

Sam said...

That's so true! Tuna with a "ch"! Yes, we are strange! :0) P.S. Yes! Super kitten would be more than happy to visit! Stay tuned (with a "t"!)!

Laetitia :-) said...

Rachel - yes, we say Zed, not Zee.

I'll pay tuna - maybe we do it to distinguish it from a tuner? We also say 'pic-cha' if we're being lazy for 'picture'.

I'm left wondering how you say produce, squirrel and compost.