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My secondary school English teacher taught me (and the rest of my class) that the correct pronunciation of "hyperbole" was "hyper-bowl". It wasn't until this year, almost 20 years later, that I found out the correct pronunciation was "hai-purr-boll-ee", which totally flabbergasted me.
Are there two pronunciations, one on each side of the Atlantic, or was my old teacher a complete idiot?
Maybe your teacher was wrong. The only way I've ever heard in England, USA and Europe is the last one (boll-ee).
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My secondary school English teacher taught me (and the rest of my class) that the correct pronunciation of "hyperbole" was "hyper-bowl". It wasn't until this year, almost 20 years later, that I found out the correct pronunciation was "hai-purr-boll-ee", which totally flabbergasted me.
Are there two pronunciations, one on each side of the Atlantic, or was my old teacher a complete idiot?
It's entirely a Greek word. So it's 'hy-PER-bolay'. (?pe?ß???) That last 'eta' (?) is most correctly pronounced as 'ay' though 'ee' is acceptable.
It's just Greek for 'exaggeration'.
A 'hyperbowl' sounds like a stadium that's one step up from the Superbowl. The other possibility is that he was a comedian. There's always the 'dark sarcasms in the classroom' as Pink Floyd would put it?
P.S. Whoops ... the paste I did of Greek letters didn't carry to the board here, so what's in the brackets is gobbledygook. Sorry!
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I see that Recordman already beat me to the punch with going to hospital rather than to THE hospital, although we Yanks DO say "to school" rather than "to THE school."
How about spellings? "Marvellous" in Britain, "marvelous" in the U.S. You say centre, I say center, you say spectre, I say specter (and maybe sphinctre and sphincter!). Color and colour. Valor and maybe valour? There are lots more.
And yes, I like it when words have different meanings, such as the already mentioned Randy and randy! Or maybe bugger.
But don't you just hate it when spell check simply refuses to let you spell something differently even if you are quoting it? Bollox!
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US fall UK autumn. The thing is, America call it fall because we used to in England (in them olde days) & American carried on calling that time of year the fall, & we started calling it the autumn, lovely word. The Kinks wouldn't sound the same singing about Fall Alamnac.
And the key word...fanny...a big difference there
My old spinster aunt, from Virginia, once exclaimed in a loud voice, in a clothes shop, trying on clothes, and bemoaning her expanding girth, when I was on holiday over there (no, honest), "My fanny can't fit into my pants no more!" The picture it conjured up in my mind was not pretty.
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Reminds me of someone on the Underground assuming, without hearing me speak, that I was from either the States or Australia based on my wearing white socks. (Sox? Stockings?) And I'll never forget after taking the train from Gatwick to Victoria Station, in the middle of a phone conversation, realizing with a start that I was, without even thinking about it, picking up a British accent just a few hours after landing!
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Reminds me of someone on the Underground assuming, without hearing me speak, that I was from either the States or Australia based on my wearing white socks. (Sox? Stockings?) And I'll never forget after taking the train from Gatwick to Victoria Station, in the middle of a phone conversation, realizing with a start that I was, without even thinking about it, picking up a British accent just a few hours after landing!
Ron, were you wearing suspenders too?
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Another thing, pants. In the UK it's trousers, pants are underwear.
CinemaScope, you are hereby accused of not reading the previous threads. How do you plead?
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Elevator and lift.
Cheque and check.
Programme and program.
Have you noticed that some software downloads or load-ups from CDR now, in their list of lingo options for set-up, list 'English (US)' or 'English (European)' instead of 'English (UK)'?
'Hi Joe , you speak Amellican?'
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US fall UK autumn. The thing is, America call it fall because we used to in England (in them olde days) & American carried on calling that time of year the fall, & we started calling it the autumn, lovely word. The Kinks wouldn't sound the same singing about Fall Alamnac.
And the key word...fanny...a big difference there
When the American musical, MY FAIR LADY opened in London, Lerner changed the lyric in the song, "Show Me", from "Don't talk of June, don't talk of fall, don't talk at all!" to "Please don't implore, beg or beseech, don't make a speech."
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Posted: |
Dec 19, 2013 - 9:43 AM
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By: |
CinemaScope
(Member)
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US fall UK autumn. The thing is, America call it fall because we used to in England (in them olde days) & American carried on calling that time of year the fall, & we started calling it the autumn, lovely word. The Kinks wouldn't sound the same singing about Fall Alamnac.
And the key word...fanny...a big difference there
When the American musical, MY FAIR LADY opened in London, Lerner changed the lyric in the song, "Show Me", from "Don't talk of June, don't talk of fall, don't talk at all!" to "Please don't implore, beg or beseech, don't make a speech."
In the film of the musical Oliver! They changed the lyrics of the song, Be Back Soon, from, We know the Bow Street Runners, but they don't know this tune, to, We know the nosy policemen. I think they should have left it alone, I'm sure most Americans would have known what they were singing about, & if they didn't they could look it up, that's how you learn.
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We got the word "soccer" from the Brits, as well. Except, we use it, they don't. Mostly, anyway.
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