British Slang 101

Oh yeah. I heard 'left-tenant' a few years ago and thought I was hearing it wrong.

Oh yeah. I heard 'left-tenant' a few years ago and thought I was hearing it wrong.

Me too!  They kept saying 'left-tenant' this and 'left-tenant' that & the whole time I was like - Huh?  Come again?

At first, I thought they were mis-pronouncing 'lieutenant' but then they kept saying it like that, so I wondered if this was just a whole other word I'd never heard of before.

I'm wondering how the British got to 'left-tenant' instead?

Here's your answer!

Interestingly, the Americans used to pronounce it the British way up until the end of the 19th century.

My parents always pronounced it the British way, so I just assumed everyone else was wrong! 

Thanks!  That is interesting - particularly all the different theories on how that pronunciation came to be.

Thanks!  That is interesting - particularly all the different theories on how that pronunciation came to be.

The spelling mistake - V for a U - makes the most sense to me.

We had a laugh about that. When she told me the correct thing to say would have been "Go wash your hands in the toliet" I laughed even harder thinking of how a group of American kids would interpret that instruction!   

Well, at least it would be easier in the typical modern American toilet bowl......      But that's another thread! 

How bizarre - lieutenant being a French word, and the American pronunciation being (not the same as but) closer to the French pronunciation. 

It's noteworthy how American English tends to follow the original French pronunciation more closely than British English with many other words of French origin:  Compare ballet, fillet, chauffeur, etc.

Well, at least it would be easier in the typical modern American toilet bowl......      But that's another thread! 

It's noteworthy how American English tends to follow the original French pronunciation more closely than British English with many other words of French origin:  Compare ballet, fillet, chauffeur, etc.

That's odd Paul, the only thing yanks pronounce differently there is fillet.

And as far as the original French pronunciation goes, some medieval French dialects used to pronounce the silent et endings.

That's odd Paul, the only thing yanks pronounce differently there is fillet.

Look at the typical stressed syllables on the other words though.

Still not 'seeing' the difference, Paul.

Take ballet for instance, both countries stress the ay at the end.

I'm sure there are some regional accents in both countries that produce a slightly different sound but the standard pronunciation is the same.

I've always heard "ballet" pronounced in the UK as BALL-ay, with the "ay" unstressed.

I've always heard "ballet" pronounced in the UK as BALL-ay, with the "ay" unstressed.

That's what I was getting at.  Obviously there are regional variations in both countries so we can only generalize, but in my experience ballet is most often pronounced as BAL-ay in Britain whereas in the U.S. it's far more likely to resemble the French pronunciation with the last syllable stressed. 

The same with chauffeur.  The stress is more likely to be at the beginning in British pronunciation, and with the -eur ending Anglicized to a shorter -er sound.

Well, with the caveat that regional differences make it impossible to  generalise, I still don't hear a difference.

Well, with the caveat that regional differences make it impossible to  generalise, I still don't hear a difference.

There's definitely a difference.

I really don't want to derail the thread, so I leave it at this:

Of course there is a difference between the way, say, a Geordie or a 'New Yoik' accent will pronounce these words but with all the variance between regional accents in both countries I really don't think you can say one country pronounces them closer to the French.

You could sub any accent for the two examples and by picking the right example you could argue either side of the case.  In the main, I really don't hear any difference between the standard UK and US pronunciations.

In the main, I really don't hear any difference between the standard UK and US pronunciations.

With the word 'ballet,' I do hear a difference between the UK and the US pronunciations. However, I'd put the proper French pronunciation somewhere smack-dab between the two, so I don't think I'd say either was closer to real French.