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I had a friend who always used the word "eh" in his emails. My question is, how do you pronounce this? I've heard people say it "A" and also just how it looks, "eh". Which is right??? This has always bothered me. I'm a stickler for correct pronunciation, despite living in the south. Maybe just because I do live here. Anyway, I'll get no rest until I find out...
~Erinn~
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Welcome to the madhouse, Sunhinegal. I guess to some extent how you pronounce "eh" will depend on where you come from. It's a staple of conversation in New Zealand, and it's always pronounced "ay" as in "hay", but with a kind of breathiness at the end of it.
This, as I said, may vary from place to place.
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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"eh" ... how do you pronounce this?
I think that either would work. I'd go with the [e] sound in better but I might hear a Canadian saying something like the [ey] in hey.
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Dear Sunshine: I'm an ignorant old Yankee, and in New England, the old timers frequent used "eh" as an interrogoative expletive. I don't know proper terminology, but it would be sort of a brief "schwa" coming from deep in the throat. " Eh, what's that you said?" My dictionary gives is as a long A. In old time New England, agreement might start with "Ayuh" When I was in the South, the natives used to fall down laughing. "Did you hear him say 'Rownd abowt and owt in the boooshes?"
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When I was in the South, the natives used to fall down laughing. "Did you hear him say 'Rownd abowt and owt in the boooshes?"
Eh?
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Allo Sunshine
Yep, here it sounds like ay in hay and most sentences are peppered with it. Is your friend Canadian? (or Zildish as we now see by Cap's post)
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stranger
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actually, I think he is from the northern U.S., but I'm really not sure. I never asked him. (I know that must sound weird...)
~Erinn~
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Probly a Yooper, den, eh?
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Pooh-Bah
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Hi sunshinegal Michiganians pronounce "eh" with an "ay" sound. You can hardly tell us from the Canucks. And thanks for this: I'm a stickler for correct pronunciation, despite living in the south. I anticipate this coming in handy. Right, Jackie? 
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When I dipped a toe into learning the Hawaiian language I learned that 'Eh was a proper way to greet someone as in
"Eh Sam, how are you?" It has the ay sound as in "Hey Sam..." It was also used and an interrogatory sound as in "Have you everything you need eh?"
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Good to have you, sunshinegal. Milum, greet your neighbor! And thanks for this: I'm a stickler for correct pronunciation, despite living in the south. I anticipate this coming in handy. Right, Jackie? Whah, yay-ess, Ah'll be dee-lahted to demonstrate coh-rect pruhnunciation tuh everybody...
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Know what? I'm not sure I know what "correct" means in this context. Or whose authority I would accept to speak for me, or any of us...
(And here I am, the one who complained that dictionaries were abdicating their responsibility to be prescriptive rather than descriptive...)
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wofa, my guess is she means common mispronunciations such as liberry, and prolly not things like tomayto vs. tomahto.
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yer prolly kreck there, miz J! But I think we should ask a Californian since it's a well-known fact (WKF®) that these fine people are the only ones in the universe without an accent...  
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re: ask a Californian since it's a well-known fact that these fine people are the only ones in the universe without an accent...
Like, are you, like, sure, like, about that Mav? and like, how would you like, know? like, aren't you, like, stuck in some strange like, country that like, uses w like a vowel? and like, how can you like, tell they don't like, have an accents? is it like, obvious?
actually the only person i know who speaks with out an accent- and sound somewhat mechanical as a result is Keanu Reeves. he was born and raise in Hawaii, and had a very strong accent.. and went to speach classes to learn accent less speach..
its not totally accentless.. you can tell he is north american (and not say from UK, and most definately not from Oz or NZ)-- but his speach is very neutral.. even more neutral than say baltimore (hi Bob) or philedelphia. which have very neutral accents..
unlike yanks who Pahk theih cahs in Havahd yahd..
or new yawkers who sometime go to the east end lon guyland..
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how can you like, tell they don't like, have an accents? is it like, obvious?indeed® - I get, like, told, on a totally regular basis
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Ahs? We don' need no steenkin' ahs!... Except when you go to Gorr-rrrrre!
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And yet, and yet... Accents are so very much in the ear of the beholder. I was born in the Bronx, raised in Long Island, went to school in Boston; I pick up the accent of whatever group I'm among for an hour or two (or I used to anyway), and my accent -- well, it depends. I've been told by New Yorkers that I can't be from there, I don't have the right accent -- but the further away from the US East Coast a listener originates, the more obvious my NY accent is...
In any case - the Eh? the thread was initiated over seems to me to be such a clear regionalism - but with so many different regions using it - that to assign it a "correct" pronunciation will of necessity be arbitrary, and disputable.
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Jackie, you're absolutely correct. I wasn't meaning potyto/potahto, but rather things such as "Up the hill over there" instead of "Up 'at hill o'er yonder ways" *I like correct grammar too* :o)
To tell the truth, I don't mind accents. I absolutely adore the English accent, but I really don't like the southern accent, just because of what some people associate with it.
~Erinn~
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I was in a discussion today with three other people, all Brits and all from different regions of the country. We were discussing auctions, and I couldn't help noticing that although they had wildly different pronunciations for a lot of words, the word "auction" was always pronouned "orkshun". Moi, being a Zildian, I pronounce it "okshun".
Comment?
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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...the word "auction" was always pronouned "orkshun". Moi, being a Zildian, I pronounce it "okshun".I pronounce it more like "awekshun". If someone said "orkshun" to me, I would expect to be bidding on Robin Williams!
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i say aukshun too-- at least i think i do..
but i have heard a wild r slip in..
adding r willy nilly to words is rather common in NY-- but of course i never can think of any, since i just tune them out.. but any one who ever watched Carroll O'Connor do Archie Bunker would have heard his dead on NY turlet
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auk-shn here. I deliberately left out the u. It really doesn't register when we say the word and the stress is totally on AUK
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but i have heard a wild r slip in.. Gene burgled your house? (Yeah, I know, Q & A oughta (ortta?) be kept for serious word posts, but right now I think we could do with all the laughs we can get.)
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auk-shn here. I deliberately left out the u. It really doesn't register when we say the word and the stress is totally on AUK
That's pretty close to how we say it here in Dutchy-land, except that the first syllable is more like OCK. OCK-shn.
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OK, I was telling my husband about this one, specifically about "orkshun". His response? "Maybe they were from Whales?" [crosseyed-e]
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So shoot the man and marry TEd ...
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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Funny how the topic of conversation can change at the drop of a hat, isn't it? LOL. I'm very amused... :o)
...and thanks to all of you who helped me out with "eh", though I'll never know how to pronounce it in this instance until I know where he's from, will I?
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