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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
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In an article on the TV show The Middle in this week�s TV Guide, the cast answered the question �Did you guys immediately click?�
Neil [Flynn]: It�s strange. You�re barely introduced to someone, then you�re on camera and have to pretend to be in love and that you�ve known them all your life. Now we spend so much time together, we have developed relationships.
Patricia [Heaton]: Like the last shot we did yesterday. We were in the car together, and I forgot that everyone could hear us. We were talking about people who pronounce the �l� in �almond,� �palm,� �calm� � and just laughing our heads off. We concluded that you shouldn�t pronounce it, much to Neil�s chagrin, since he�s been pronouncing it all his life. That�s probably why he�s not married.
Neil: I didn�t realize how much I was turning off prospective wives. Who knew?
... Q: �What bugs you about each other?�:
Patricia: Well, Neil pronounces the �l� in �almond� �
Neil: I used to not pronounce the �l� in �wolf.� I was 25 when I learned about that. �The boy who cried woof.�
Patricia: My woof likes alllmonds!
This conversation puzzled me, since I pronounce the �l� in almond (and, calm and palm). And what do the cast members say? �Ah-mond?� �Aw-mond?� � Pecan?� So, I asked a couple of people to say �almond�, and they pronounced the �l�, too. Is it a regional variation?, I wondered, and if so, where are the cast members of The Middle from? Well, a little poking around the net got me this: http://www4.uwm.edu/FLL/linguistics/dialect/staticmaps/q_29.html59.68% of those surveyed pronounce the �l�. 18.69% pronounce it �ah-mond� 5.65% pronounce it �aw-mond� 13.53% say something between �l� and nothing 2.45% say �other�, which is quite the leap from �almond� :p Look at the map in the link. The variation isn�t regional. It looks like all versions of the pronunciation of �almond� occur all over the country. It was just Neil Flynn�s bad luck to be stuck in a car with the 18% and/or 5% who distain the twelfth letter of the alphabet. A shame, really, since he has been misled on his matrimonial failure, and �L� is one of my favorite letters. So, how do *you* say �almond�?
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Joined: Apr 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
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I say something in between l and nothing, because this is just the sort of thing that I worry about getting wrong.
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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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Boy howdy! Now I'm all self conscious about it and I don't know if I pronounce the L or not. I kinda think I'm with tsuwm here and sort of almost maybe pronounce it. It's probably one of those words like salmon where the L was added back in when we discovered it was from the Latin, which did have the L. The L was lost in Old French before we got the word salmon. We called the fish leax before the French word came in and muscled that word out.
A quick check of my Random House Dictionary shows that the L was there in OFr when we got almond from them so I guess there's no reason not to pronounce it.
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Joined: Mar 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
I don't keep the L out of it.
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Joined: Jun 2008
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2008
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Lots of red where I am: we say the "l".
----please, draw me a sheep----
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Joined: Sep 2010
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 1,706 |
Great story...and subject  I had to say it out loud to hear wither I do or not. And I don't...well that is to say I kinda say 'ar mond' No way can I insert the 'L' sound. Same as Salmon. With that word though there is no 'sound' between 'sa' and 'mon' but if the L was deleted, wouldn't the word look silly!
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Joined: May 2010
Posts: 963
old hand
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old hand
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 963 |
Ahlmund. I think that for calm (and palm) my pronunciation varies, depending on�I don't know what it depends on, but it runs from kahm to kawlm, with stops in kahlm and kawm and all point between. When the L is there, it's just hinted at. Obviously, I, of all people, should know better than to criticize or laugh at how people pronounce things!
Peter
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Joined: Jun 2006
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,295 |
We called the fish leax before the French word came in and muscled that word out.Thank you Faldage , now I know where the Swedish gravadlax comes from. I know it survives in German - Lachs, but I didn't know the leax part. I pronounce the l in salmon and almond, it prolonges the a-sound and somehow that makes me want to have both treats right now! Love those maps. 13.53% say something between �l� and nothing
2.45% say �other�, which is quite the leap from �almond� :p Laugh!
Last edited by BranShea; 02/27/11 01:11 PM.
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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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Yeah. Lox comes from the PIE laks-, 'salmon'.
Now the first L in salmonella is a whole nother thing. That salmon is from a guy's name and is pronounced.
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Joined: Jun 2008
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 9,944 Likes: 3 |
Yeah. Lox comes from the PIE laks-, 'salmon'.
Now the first L in salmonella is a whole nother thing. That salmon is from a guy's name and is pronounced. I was just thinking about that guy and the trouble he got into.
----please, draw me a sheep----
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