Can I ask those from N. America how they would pronounce the word 'deaths'? My colleague from the US (Nebraska and California I believe) had occasion to use this word several times this morning, and his pronunciation was (approximately given the limitations of this system) /dez/, while I would pronounce it /deths/, where th = voiceless dental fricative.
Bingley
Were you hearing your colleague face to face or was it over some (possibly low fidelity) electronic medium as a telephone?
I would pronounce it with an unvoiced dental fricative and an unvoiced sibilant. If pronounced with a voiced dental fricative and a voiced sibilant the voiced fricative could easily get lost in the sibilant in low fidelity reproduction.
if my dentals aren't fricasseed, I think I'm with you.
I've always preferred chicken fricassee, with consonant clusters for dessert.
I say "deths", not "dez".
Oh, yeah. Like Sparteye, I say /deths/. When I have to.
We say "they all be daid". Note 'daid' properly has at least two syllables (as does 'two')...
'deths' for me
It was a face to face encounter. I shall have to work other -ths words into the conversation to see what he does with them. Do we have any members from Nebraska or thereabouts? (I must confess to being a trifle vague as to where exactly it is.)
Bingley
Nebraska is in the center of the US, in what we call the Great Plains. I lived a lot of my life out in those parts, and I have always said deths. but then, I'm edumacated...
Well, yes, I knew it was in the middle somewhere. But that's an awful lot of somewhere.
Bingley
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=nebraskaright there, left-of-center-loike... <smile>
Yor hi faluntin' edumacation, hrumph! I'm much eruditer...
I have been trying to think of ths's that I would pronounce in the opposite way (so obtusely described by master Faldage...), so far no luck.
tickle yourself with a feather?
long or short, one syllable or two?
long or short, one syllable or two?Vayg? vay-gyu? vag? vag-you? vahg? vah-gway?
We say "they all be daid".Is that how it goes on the certificate?
so obtusely described
That was precise terminology.
In reply to:
tickle yourself with a feather?
Particularly nice weather!
nice one Rog!
then that's that, I guess...
heh
In reply to:
so obtusely described
That was precise terminology.
yeah, should have said abstrusely.
reconditely,
-ron o.
at least not chartreusely...
Dunno about that, ask me sometime later...
Last night, my son and I went to see George Romero's "Land of the Dead" -- the latest zombie flic. My sweet bride had the prescience to stay at home and watch tennis on the telly. The only sound made by the (literally) hundreds of zombies who were dispatched in this epic film was "gurgle, gurgle, gurgle."
Well, zombies are not generally known for their conversational skills, are they? I haven't seen that many, but don't they usually just lurch around without saying anything?
Bingley
In that this was George Romero's fourth zombie movie, and in that he has evolved as a film-maker, it is perhaps unsurprising that the zombies evolved a bit, as well. There was some degree of communication between them, in this film, where there was none in any of the three prior "epics".
In reply to:
In that this was George Romero's fourth zombie movie, and in that he has evolved as a film-maker,
But not, perhaps, very far?
In reply to:
it is perhaps unsurprising that the zombies evolved a bit, as well.
I would be interested to hear from the biologists amongst us how zombie evolution would work.
Bingley
hear from the biologists amongst us how zombie evolution would work.
It's a Bildunsfilmserie. Of course they're going to evolve. Biology's got nothing to do with it.
I have been trying to think of ths's that I would pronounce in the opposite way (so obtusely described by master Faldage...), so far no luck.
I would pronounce "deaths" as so ably described by Faldage (although I wouldn't have been nearly so erudite in describing it!) but I would pronounce "moths" with a voiced "th"
> but I would pronounce "moths" with a voiced "th"
yeth, me, too.