British Slang 101

I can hear you saying it in my head!!

lol  

I know.  As soon as it was pointed out to me I was like, yeah I DO say that.

My little American boy used to be teased by the English relatives for the way he said giraffe, sounding a bit like 'jer-ay-uff'.  I didn't say it that way so I guess he picked it up from his Atlanta friends.

DH (a Brit) says nucular.

My DH also says nucular.

And I have always pronounced "route" as "root".


I pronounce "mirror" and "drawer" the same as my husband - I think.

My DH also says nucular.

I know there have been threads about this before in which people have insisted that this is now accepted pronunciation, but I'm sorry, I just can't ever accept that.

As we've veered off into accents here's a 'fun' thing for the Americans to try out on your British half:  Say "Adam" and  "Atom" to your OH without using them in a sentence or giving any context and see if they can tell which is which.

Those sound very different when I say them....

Also, "clerk" -- I'll never get used to the British pronunciation "clark".  

I thought that too, but now it doesn't sound weird to me at all. Same with "derby" - in fact I burst out laughing when someone referred to the Kentucky Derby recently - I guess all of those Liverpool Everton derbies have made a mark on me!!

Ann: The 'trick'  is that Americans can always tell the difference but British people can't (when said by an American.)

Ann: The 'trick'  is that Americans can always tell the difference but British people can't (when said by an American.)

It's because Americans pronounce the "a"s in Atom and Adam differently, but the "t" and the "d" the same, while Brits pronounce the "a"s the same, but the "t" and "d" differently. So Brits aren't listening for the differences in the "a" sound.

It's because Americans pronounce the "a"s in Atom and Adam differently, but the "t" and the "d" the same, while Brits pronounce the "a"s the same, but the "t" and "d" differently. So Brits aren't listening for the differences in the "a" sound.

Really? I'm American and I've never pronounced those two A sounds differently. And I also prounounce T and D differently. But maybe I'm just weird.

It's less noticeable in, for instance, southern accents.  'Generic' news-reader mid-west accents a good for this.

It's the cliché that Americans pronounce the T after a vowel in words as a 'd' sound, 'warder'  for 'water' etc.  Someone up thread commented about 'brits' being careful to enunciate their 't's, which I assume was related to this.

Those sorts of 't' sounds (I forget the name) are problematic in a lot of English dialects, I'm surprised no-one has complained about people down south using the glottal stop when they talk, as they generally occur in the same place.  Instead of 'warder' you get 'wa'er'.

The Prof explained the reason but it is interesting to try out, especially in mixed company because you can end up with the British half of the room swearing there is no difference and the Americans getting the right answer every time.

Adam and Atom are pronounced identically in my very neutral/generic (newsreader) American accent.

edited to add: okay, there is a *slight* difference in the A sound, but I had to say the two words to myself about 10 times before I could pinpoint it!  In passing conversation they'd sound identical to anyone, I think.

Really? I'm American and I've never pronounced those two A sounds differently. And I also prounounce T and D differently. But maybe I'm just weird.

We can be weird together!  The only difference for me is the T and the D.  Maybe it's a west coast thing?

We can be weird together!  The only difference for me is the T and the D.  Maybe it's a west coast thing?

That's how I've always heard it in the northeast, too. So count me weird!

Why is it the British people don't pronounce the 'ary' in words here? Words like: Library becomes 'libree', Military becomes 'militree', Commentary becomes 'commentree'. Sometimes when I hear an announcer on TV say 'commentary' it sounds just like 'Coventry'.

I think they do pronounce it - it's just done quickly.

It does disappear completely with many people's speech.   Combined with some other clipped sounds it can almost completely change some words.  Secretary comes to mind, which comes out as something like /secker-tree/.   

February is another candidate for the missing "r" sound; it's so widespread that "Febuary" is a common misspelling.

I know there have been threads about this before in which people have insisted that this is now accepted pronunciation, but I'm sorry, I just can't ever accept that.

Neither can I.   The word is nuclear -- There's room for debate about the first "u" sound, but prounouncing it /nu-cu-lar/ is just plain wrong, whichever side of the Atlantic you're from.

Route - British is pronoumced as root, whereas I hear Americans do it as rowt (or the word rout as in an army)

I've always looked upon /root/ vs. /rowt/ in the same way as /ee-ther/ vs. /eye-ther/. 

And the woodworking tool called a router is properly pronounced /rowter/ (first part rhyming with cow) in both America and Britain.

I've always looked upon /root/ vs. /rowt/ in the same way as /ee-ther/ vs. /eye-ther/. 

How a person pronounces route is entirely a regional thing.  It depends on where you're from. 

I used to always pronounce it 'rowt' but somehow over the years and move after move I changed it to 'root'.

I say 'rowter' as in broadband router, but 'root' for Route 66.