It came to me over dinner...

[mhalachai]

...that I don't have nearly enough polls up.
Whatever. You put up polls like they're going out of style.
Maybe because, with my lj comment notification emails not working, I need to suck the last bit of paid-for features out of LJ.
Good point.

So: A brief and unscientific How do you say it? poll

[Poll #623926]

If you have anything to add regarding your pronunciation based on geographical location or linguistic quirks, please speak up.

Comments

[jooniper-pearl.livejournal.com]

OMG!!! Roote? People say roote? I've NEVER heard that! It's rought in Louisiana :)

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

I know that the "Canadian" pronunciation, at least out west, is "roote". Not sure if it extends into any areas of the US at all... Heck, now I'm curious as to what they say in Britain!

[catherinecookmn.livejournal.com]

I find that in Minnesota, the word "route" is pronounced according to usage. If we're talking about highways, it's "Roote 66"; if we're talking about newspaper delivery, it's "paper rowute"; if the subject is computer hardware, "rowuters" are what the internet server uses.

Do you go oot and aboot in a boat? ;-)

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

No, I go owut and abowut.

In a bous :P

[houses7177.livejournal.com]

I use it that way but clicked root in the poll. Really, it's a usage thing and to me they mean different things. Like Catherine said.

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

This whole thing is so neat! I hadn't thought about a computer router in this context....

[watcher457.livejournal.com]

yeah. that's how i use the word "route" as well

[deepfishy.livejournal.com]

Here in Australia, "scone" is usually pronounced "skonn" (short "o". Unless it's the town, in which case, like "own").

And I'm totally not sure what all this "is there an R in saw?" is about. Sawrrr?

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

Sawrred-off shotgun. I say it like that and I have no idea why. My mouth can't make the open AW sound without the R consonant sound.

There's a town names Scone in Australia? That's cool. Of course, I'm from the land of Moose Jaw, Dildo and Spuzzum.

[uten.livejournal.com]

Contrary to what deepfishy said, I am originally from a suburb of Brisbane, and although went to public schools, ended up with a lovely british accent somehow, rather than the vulgarity that spews from Mick Dundee, the croc. hunter and the majority of my relatives. *grin* And I can say that because I have to practice to be able to say g'day, so there.

Anyway, pretty much all private schooled and upper class aussies usually have british english diction, and will pronounce words that way. And the rest of us depends on the school mostly - I went to one school for a year where the english teacher was trying to force people away from using any 'Australianisms' like g'day and 'tucka', etc. and was rather forceful about it, although that was the only teacher out of the six or seven schools I went to that was like that and all the schools I went to were public.

I still don't get half the Americanisms and I've been here five years. I still have to bite my lip to correct people who say 'root' instead of 'route', but it's the little things that have different names that are the worst, like a shopping trolley. It's called a cart where I am now. Where I'm from a cart is used for little kids to play with or to carry heavier loads than shopping. But then if you go to another state, it might be something else again. I blame both the variable diction and naming of items on the school system - in Australia, it's regulated quite well, over here some people decide where to live based on how *good* the schools are in the county. And that doesn't say much when it's viewed as a fact of life. In Australia, unless you pay more to go to a private school, the public schools are pretty much the same in what they offer and what the standards are. Over here, if you live in a certain area, you have to go to the school that is in your district (or so I've been told) and from the tales I've been told, it's simply amazing how variable they are in their educational standards. I went to six or seven schools, and was quite easily able to pick up from where I left off at my old school, but I get dumbfounded looks from people over here, and questions asking me how it was even possible to keep up with that many school changes. And for some reason, most people are dumbfounded by the "School of the Air" system also in place in Australia and it seems a hugely difficult concept for people over here to get..

As for the town of Scone (http://www.horsecapital.com.au/), get a nice detailed map of Australia one day, and just look at town names - we have some of the most amusing (like Scone) and multicultural, especially some of the aboriginal ones which can be quite funny when listening to a foreigner try to pronounce them.

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

"School of the Air" system

What's that?

In Canada, each province has a provincial curriculum, so when we were moving frequently when I was in grade school, it was all okay. I always thought that was the way it was all over the place, and was surprised when I found out it's not.

[uten.livejournal.com]

'School of the Air' was originally basically primary school (years 1-7) via HF radio for those in remote areas of mainly central Australia. Nowadays, it is extending into adult education as well, and there is more than one school - although it started as a service from 'The Royal Flying Doctor Service' (http://www.flyingdoctor.net/default.htm). Some of the properties in the inland are so large that everything is done via air. Food and supplies are air-dropped. Cattle herded by helicopter. And leaving the property basically requires a small plane. Met a guy at university that came from a property like that.

Look it up - it's the very first incarnation of distance education, built on the backbone of the RFDS service having other possible uses and started out with pedal powered radios. Exercise and education at once back then. *grin*

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

Pedal powered radios? I guess one certainly needed to want an education, then :)

I live in a city of about a million people and something that vast and empty makes my brain spin. Yes, I know, I'm a total city girl.

[watcher457.livejournal.com]

i took classes in my theatre degree on pronunciation. it's a baby r sound. people will use their lips to pronounce an r to make it sound like a w. i suppose it works the other way around as well, where a person will use their tongue to pronounce a w sound and it creates the r sound. you should use lips for a w and only tongue for an r.

[eavling.livejournal.com]

I, proud Georgian, say Route (oot) 66, but say you take this route (out) to get to the movies...so, both. I've never heard the 'awr' pronunciation before...I love linguistics!

We can always tell a foreigner in my city by how they say the city's name. Atlanta is properly pronounced with no t's and emphasis on the middle vowel. Many are the friends who have been taught not to say 'Ata-lan-TA' but instead the liquid vowels of 'ah-LAN-uh' or, if you must, 'ah-LAN-tuh'

[(Anonymous)]

I also tend to mimic whomever I am conversing with.

E.A.V.

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

I've had to call the Atlanta courthouse several times for work, and have been told to slow down as they can't understand my Canadian accent. We tend to accentuate the consonants :P

(also, I tend to say at-LAN-ta)

[slythhearted.livejournal.com]

My 'scone' ryhmes with 'on' but then cissasghost can testify to my rather odd accent.

[mary-re.livejournal.com]

I say y'all...a lot.

And around here, we call the roads that run alongside highways "feeder roads" - I think they are called "access roads" elsewhere, maybe?

For wierd town pronunciations, Houston is pronounced "Hyoose-ton," Refugio is "Ref-yur-ee-oh," Bexar County is "Bear," Gruene is "Green," and there are a ton more...argh.

My aunt says "warsh" instead of "wash," which I find hilarious. My grandma and mom say "Eye-talian" instead of "Ih-talian," which drives me up the wall. Just about everyone says "Eye-raq" and "Eye-ran," when I think that more correctly it'd be "Ih-rahq" and "Ih-rahn."

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

I often say y'all... and i have no idea why.

We say access roads, or byways. Not sure what the proper name is up here.

Houston, eh? I hear tell it's a strange land down there. How's the weather?

[mary-re.livejournal.com]

Yes, but down here, we often say y'all unnecessarily often...from what I've heard, in states and countries that don't use y'all, sentence structure usually avoids using the 2nd person plural in general, when they can, whereas we in the south revel in having a word that fits appropriately, and drawls so well. *g*

The weather? HMPH! I've heard that it is going to get up to 85F on Saturday! It's supposed to be winter, dammit! It gets the mid-70s to 80s during the day, and then drops to the 50s at night. Damn Texas weather. And there's something in the air; everyone I know with allergies is absolutely miserable right now.

But dude, I'm curious; what's the weather like up there?

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

It's strange up here in Vancouver. We were having our normal rainy winter, with temps between 5 and 10 degrees, then *bang* the temp drops to freezing! With snow! I only exclaim so because we usually only get one snowfall a year, around Xmas.

At the same time, everything looks very pretty.

[uten.livejournal.com]

The weather is doing the same here in Indiana. It's making it hell on me because of my disease.. And because the doctors decided that this time of year would be a great time to screw around with all my drugs and change them. I used to love snow until the cold became a pain causing issue.

Still, I quite like to watch it snow.

[morgie.livejournal.com]

I do not comment on route due to the fact I have now lived on the east and west coast so I have to change my pronounciation depending on who I talk to. :(

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

East and west coast? I hadn't thought of that. I should find me an eytymologist to talk to about this stuff...

[morgie.livejournal.com]

Yup. California Resident, and now a Connecticut Resident.

[(Anonymous)]

I live on Route 89 (which is Route 66 after it goes under a bridge) in Flagstaff, AZ. I actually work on Route 66 at a Best Western too so I give a LOT of directions. Everyone that I know at work and at school pronounces it like 'root' but I know when I go home to my family in Wisconsin everyone says it like it rhymes with drought. Ah well . . . :)

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

Do you get a lot of people driving Route 66 just because? That's one of those songs that gets stuck in my brain.

Like now. *sigh*

[(Anonymous)]

Actually, not as many as you would think. Mostly people stop in Flagstaff because we're 28 miles from Sedona, 10 miles away from a meteor crater, and 81 miles away from the south rim of the Grand Canyon. Can you believe that I have lived 28 miles away from Sedona for 3 years and I still haven't been? What a waste . . .

[thymidinekinase.livejournal.com]

I honestly have no idea which pronunciation will come out of my mouth for "route" and "scone" at any given time unless I plan it out in advance. Although I was raised in the American South ("Rah-out", "sco-un"), I'm told I sound like my Alberta-born grandmother in some ways. Six years of living near Lake Michigan muddled things even further. Also, my spouse is from north-central England, and lately I've started to adopt some of his intonations.

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

Mixing of pronunciation is always an interesting thing. My aunt, who was born and raised in Calgary and has spent the last 30 years in rural New York state has a facinating way of speaking.

[thymidinekinase.livejournal.com]

I imagine so. Also, I approve of your Methos icon and wish to encourage it. ;-)

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

He is so very pretty, isn't he?

[watcher457.livejournal.com]

i'm a military brat, so i've moved around a lot. i've lived in florida and california and am now in washington, not to mention having spent time in england. pronounciation in different places is very surprising sometimes. i tend to adapt very quickly to where i am and change things, usually without thinking about it. a professor in college used to beat me upside the head for using british o's and saying "git" instead of "get". other common mix ups are pen and pin. people use them interchangably a lot. just today, i corrected my mother when she said "thilthy" instead of "filthy". habit i'm picking up.

another bad habit i have is using words from other areas and confusing myself. i say trunk a lot for a chest, and just the other day at work i used the word dodgy twice. sometimes, my brain sticks british words in instead of american and i find myself second-guessing what i'm saying.

and y'all... that used to be a southern thing. it ain't anymore. i hear it everywhere now. i think it's just turned into a slang thing. i use that word all the time, including all y'all.

[catherinecookmn.livejournal.com]

"Y'all" fills a void in the English language, namely, the void caused by the lack of a plural form of "you". Every other major European language has one, but English lost its plural-you words when the post-Norman-Conquest Anglo-French language collision knocked out most of the English language's grammatical structure (including the tenses and inflections).

[watcher457.livejournal.com]

*blinks* whoa. i'm very impressed with how much you know about lingustics.

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

That would explain the innanity of the English langauge.

I wish there was a gender neutral singular pronoun. An "it" versus saying "him or her".

[krichardson.livejournal.com]

Route: Two ways used in the same (kind of), Route as in rhymes with flute for like Route Interstate 15 or something like that- the distinct name Route (as in flute) 66. For Route as in rhymes with drought that is for when plotting a trail or something in that nature. Maybe I'm just weird but I use both.

Scone: There is a scone that rhymes with dawn? Really! Weird....

[wanton-delirium.livejournal.com]

I'm from the Southern US, so the words "I", "eye", "aye" and "ah" all sound the same... I think we say them the way Northerners say "ah".

Plus, whenever anybody around here says "boiled" it comes out "bolled".

[mhalachaiswords.livejournal.com]

When you say "Southern US", what exactly do you mean? We never really went into regional US geography up here (Vancouver -- we had to learn the names of Canadian mountains and such. All very useful, they tell me)

[wanton-delirium.livejournal.com]

Well, I generally mean the southeast when I talk about the South - east of the Mississippi River and south of the Ohio River. Good ol' Dixieland. I'm from Georgia, which actually isn't as countryfied as some other Southern states. Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee, West Virginia, South Carolina, and Kentucky have that nice drawl/red-neck thing going for them.

The South has some pretty great slang -- all varieties of carbonated cola (Coca Cola, Sprite, Pepsi, whatever) are all called Coke. If you ask for a Coke in a restaurant, the waitress will generally ask you what kind. My answer's usually Sprite. And iced tea always comes sweetened.

And the wire thing you put your groceries in at the grocery store? It's a buggy. The subterranean room under your house? The cellar.

I don't know if this is a regional thing or what, but all my friends say I live in the boonies. It means I'm totally out in the middle of nowhere. Is that just a Southern thang?