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Okay, I have always known this word to be pronounced (and pardon my clumsy notation; no good at the technical way...) as "MISS chuh viss". I have heard "miss CHEE vee uhss", but never paid much attention to it. I thought it was wrong, or perhaps a slipped in Britishism along the lines of "aluminium". Online it is characterized as incorrect. Just wondering what different people hear/think in their necks of the woods. I heard it pronounced as the latter on NPR recently. Thanks! :0)
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what do I know? I find upon reflection that I pronounce it *either way when I read it, depending on.. I've no idea on what. I haven't had the opportunity to actually speak it in many years, or hear it spoken, so I'm at a loss.
edit: M-W online gives ÷mis-ˈchē-vē-əs as a variant, but I don't know what the '÷' symbol implies.
Last edited by tsuwm; 11/19/10 03:17 PM.
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÷ = incorrect variant ;0)
"The obelus, or division sign, is placed before a pronunciation variant that occurs in educated speech but that is considered by some to be questionable or unacceptable. This symbol is used sparingly and primarily for variants that have been objected to over a period of time in print by commentators on usage, in schools by teachers, or in correspondence that has come to the Merriam-Webster editorial department."
Last edited by twosleepy; 11/19/10 03:48 PM. Reason: looked it up....
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I hear chee-vee-ous at times. But there is no 'i' in the
final syllable so I've assumed it to be incorrect.
----please, draw me a sheep----
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ah, the RPSN* marking.
*Received Pronunciation Society of Nitpickers
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Another country heard from.
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always used to say the Chee-vee-us version, unless I was trying to be clever, then I'd use the "proper British" form.
then I actually read the word, and realized the i was transposed.
now I just don't use the word.
:¬ )
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I got thinking that it might be suffering from crosstalk with devious. The two do share some common ground.
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I got thinking that it might be suffering from crosstalk with devious. The two do share some common ground. that's a good thought and certainly makes me feel better about my mis-pronunciation... :¬ )
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It happens a bit over here, although generally only at school because English teachers tend to favour it as a spelling test word because so many young people tend to say it with the non-existant i and so spell it incorrectly. Because of this they tend to get taught the correct spelling and so learn to spell it with its phonetics miss-chee-vous and so after school most have lost the -vee-ous.
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It was a favorite of mine when I taught school.
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Okay, I have always known this word to be pronounced (and pardon my clumsy notation; no good at the technical way...) as "MISS chuh viss". I have heard "miss CHEE vee uhss", but never paid much attention to it. I thought it was wrong, or perhaps a slipped in Britishism along the lines of "aluminium". Online it is characterized as incorrect. Just wondering what different people hear/think in their necks of the woods. I heard it pronounced as the latter on NPR recently. Thanks! :0) I did, too. It was the revered Scott Simon and I actually wrote to him about it. He replied, thanking me!
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I've always thought it a real chique word for something bad. I like it. We learned " MISS cheef " and "MISS cheve us" . What should it really be?
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let's see if this works.. audio
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----please, draw me a sheep----
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Works perfectly and it sounds nice. Hope I can use it soon.;-)
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Your link leads to an empty page. Now emptiness can be interesting too.
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Your link leads to an empty page. Now emptiness can be interesting too. Funny, it opens for me.
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Your link leads to an empty page. Now emptiness can be interesting too. Ah but is anything truly empty? There is always something there, so can therefore never be empty.
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If nothing else, it's filled with empty.
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Pooh-Bah
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the link worked well for me
and I listened to several other words (even my name LOL )
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Your link leads to an empty page. Now emptiness can be interesting too. Ah but is anything truly empty? There is always something there, so can therefore never be empty. That's why I said it is interesting. Today the page decided to open up; a useful link to save, Luke. Thanks.
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I was merely commenting on the word. I tend to ask people what nothing is as well and so far no-one has come up with anything except "well...it's, like, nothing, right?'. There are a few of these words and empty happens to be among them so I was just being...(word melts from mind...will go with pedantic instead)...pedantic 
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So, if someone asks you if the glass is half empty or half full you'll answer, "Yes." Right?
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Most certainly. It can't very well be one or the other if it is 'half' anything, it's both.
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Or either that or it's a parfait of empty and, e.g., water.
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Glad it finally worked for you. I had a friend try and
it opened for her, so I was sort of wondering why it
worked for some and not others. But I never did
get to see what Jackie wrote with the "white out" - never
worked for me. So....
----please, draw me a sheep----
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Pooh-Bah
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So, if someone asks you if the glass is half empty or half full you'll answer, "Yes." Right? I always have trouble with that one too.... are you optimistic when its half full.. because you 'have' some? but NO....thats pessimistic. you should be happy that the glass is half empty!!!!!!!
Last edited by Candy; 11/28/10 12:57 AM. Reason: being mischievous LOL
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...(word melts from mind Picayunish?
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are you optimistic when its half full.. because you 'have' some?
but NO....thats pessimistic.
you should be happy that the glass is half empty!!!!!!!
Or, as the design engineer said, "I kept half my water in a redundant glass."
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...(word melts from mind Picayunish? That is exactly the word that disappeared from my mind! Thanks
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You're welcome!
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stranger
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I hear miss chee vi us a lot more than I did. I also hear proNOUNciation frequently, even on the BBC.
And of course Nucular power.
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I hear miss chee vi us a lot more than I did. I also hear proNOUNciation frequently, even on the BBC.
I hear air for err, often with the t pronounced, and intelligentsia with a soft g (all variant pronunciations of the past century or less), but I'm not losing sleep over it. Oh, and flaccid with the first c soft, rather than hard [sic].
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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----please, draw me a sheep----
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Pooh-Bah
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..... Oh, and [i]flaccid with the first c soft, rather than hard [sic].
a bit of Viagra might help with that.
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Air is the pronunciation I learned for err, and by far the more often heard, not that it's common in everyday speech. I don't believe I've every heard a hard c in flaccid. It all depends on where you're from, I guess.
Peter
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I am with you on the "air' for 'err'. that is the way
I learned it.
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Same here. Apparently I don't always air on the side of caution.
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Cannot get it mixed up with 'ear', either.
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Air [iis the pronunciation I learned for err][/i]
Yes, that pronunciation has been more common, but it was not the original one. I'm not saying one or the other pronunciation is more correct than the other. I was just offering a more cautionary tale for the peever in all of us. Air for err was not so common fifty or more years ago. Now it's quite common. Same with flaccid with a hard c. Language changes.
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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Air for err was not so common fifty or more years ago. Well, fifty or more years ago was when I was learning the language. I have no recollection of bumping into the alternative until I was well into my teens, and of course decided that the speaker must be an ignoramus. I've relaxed a bit since then. Peter Edit: Still learning.
Last edited by Tromboniator; 01/25/11 03:42 AM.
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I learned it as /ur/, so I guess that must make me a really OP.
-ron o.
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Ah! The ur-pronunciation.
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I always thought err was sort of short for error, so I pronounced it air.
Last edited by Buffalo Shrdlu; 01/27/11 01:03 PM.
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I always thought err was sort of short for error, so I pronounced it air.I'm sure many feel that way. The AH dictionary has the etymology and a usage note ( link). I have only heard the older pronunciation in the wild a couple of times from older folks who no doubt had it drilled into them long, long ago. Note, I am not suggestion that the older pronunciation is better or more correct, just that the newer pronunciation has nearly replaced it. I've never run across any normative grammarians/style-usagists who have insisted on the older pronunciation, because I think they are unaware that they are pronouncing it in the newer fashion, but it is fun to see that they are inconsistent in their peeves.
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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The curse and blessing of the erring peever. How dull it would be if we agreed on every word.
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It's not like some enjoy forcing their opinion down
everyone's throat, or consider them less a person
if they don't agree with them.
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Ah a favourite quote of mine fits this perfectly
"To err is human. To rerr is computer" I cannot for the life of me remember who said it but it make me laugh everytime I see it...
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Good one.
Eerie. Error (I confuse these sometimes.)
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aerie and eyrie are the same thing pretty much and yet both can be pronounced in at leats two ways which not only confuses the matter but makes it difficult to work out what the speaker is saying as it gets confused with eerie and airy...sigh...thank goodness for books and the written word!
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