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Joined: Mar 2002
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692 |
I was listening to an audio cassette of a Raymond Chandler novel read by Elliott Gould. Gould was at his laid back best but I was surprised when he said something like “The sun shone that day…” and pronounced the word shone as ‘shown’ rather than to rhyme with ‘gone’. Is that the usual American sound for the word or is it perhaps either a regional or a Gould variation?
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Dear dxb: I remember hearing a rather erudite clergyman use that pronunciation many years ago,and he commented on it, but I can't remember what he said to justify his preference.
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Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467 |
If I had heard someone say "The sun Sean that day," I would have been perplexed, wondering what the heck he meant. Here on the left bank shone rhymes with cone.
TEd
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Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210 |
I'm with TEd. never heard it shawn... that's what you do to a sheep...
formerly known as etaoin...
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
left bankI love this and intend to start using it immediately! And yeah, dixbie, like the fellas said.
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
here in flyover land it also sounds like shown, but then we learned a rubric that a final 'e' makes the previous vowel sound long (like in scone ;).
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Joined: Dec 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
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Pooh-Bah
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OP
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692 |
That's interesting. Most of the on-line dictionaries are American but I found that M-W recognises the British pronunciation, and apparently it is heard in Canada too. Don't know what they say up top in the antipodes. This is the M-W entry and I have included the etymology for the heck of it:
Main Entry: 1 shine Pronunciation: 'shIn Function: verb Inflected Form(s): shone /'shOn, esp Canadian and British 'shän/; or shined; shin·ing Etymology: Middle English, from Old English scInan; akin to Old High German skInan to shine and perhaps to Greek skia shadow
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Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 79
journeyman
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journeyman
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 79 |
That is extraordinary. I never knew Americans pronounce "shone" as homophonous with "shown". Round here, it's pronounced "shon", and it's a sign of how rarely the word is used in speech that I've never heard an American say the word on TV or film.
Similarly there are two variant pronunciations of "scone".
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Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 79
journeyman
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journeyman
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 79 |
akin to Old High German skInan to shine and perhaps to Greek skia shadow
Up is down, black is white and shine is shadow. Those wacky indo-europeans!
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