Gary Manuel Posted January 19, 2021 Share Posted January 19, 2021 As a Yorkshireman, I am aware that the way I speak is not in accordance with the way I am supposed to speak as defined by "The Queen's English". I am a great fan of Richard Osman's House of Games, BUT one thing annoys the hell out of me every time I watch it. That is the logic of how words are pronounced by these two well respected wordsmiths. The final round is always the "Answer Smash" round. I'll not explain how this works. You'll need to watch it if you don't know. What annoys me is how the "A"s in "Answer Smash" are pronounced. As a Northerner, I pronounce it the way it is spelt = "Answer Smash". I would have expected that Southerners would pronounce it as "AAnswer SmAAsh" but apparently the two words are subject to different rules. They pronounce it as "AAnswer Smash". Is there anyone on here who might be able to explain this anomaly to me. Why is the letter "A" sometimes pronounced as "AA" (or "Ah" ) and sometimes as "A", when obviously it should always be pronounced as "A" as demonstrated by Northerners everywhere? Edited By Gary Manuel on 19/01/2021 18:53:03 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
extra slim Posted January 19, 2021 Share Posted January 19, 2021 Arrr regional dialect eh. I’m an adopted northerner having spent 2/3 of my life oop north like!.. a couple of phrases I still can’t fathom... myther... can you borrow me a fiver.... advertise-ment.. on the latter, during a debate on its pronunciation, I asked the fella to pass me the con-di-ments.. he looked perplexed.. ahh the salt and pepper our kid!!.. love it.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin_K Posted January 19, 2021 Share Posted January 19, 2021 I am guessing. It could be to do with the roots of English being from Germanic language. Germans pronounce the first letter of the alphabet more like 'ah', but the pronunciation can be modified with an umlaut, which we don't use in written form. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin Harris - Moderator Posted January 19, 2021 Share Posted January 19, 2021 The answer is that it's spelling that doesn't follow the rules properly, not Southerners. Best to be guided by how English is meant to be pronounced (i.e. Queen/Home Counties), learn that you put bacon into buns, not baps and that "while" means during, not until. At the risk of being cited for sedition, I can't bring myself to pronounce plastic as the Queen does - "plarstic" - and despite the anomaly, hate the word mall being pronounced to rhyme with wall. ...which according to your rules should be pronounced wal, as in Hal... In the words of a lately departed clubmate, if we were all the same, we'd all fly Tiger Moths. (No, none of us understood it either!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David P Williams Posted January 19, 2021 Share Posted January 19, 2021 Many, many years ago in my programming days, I had a young trainee programmer from Yorkshire. Getting him to understand the difference between the program constructs "do while x is true" and "do until x is true" took some effort.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Collinson Posted January 19, 2021 Share Posted January 19, 2021 There was said to have been a train crash caused by a Southerner creating a warning sign about wait while the light is red, misread by a Northerner! In my youth, some of my elders and betters were wont to use the short “a” as in grass and bath, rhymes with gas, yet say plaster and master to rhyme with “rather”. Well not an exact rhyme but you get the drift. Being neither a Northerner nor a Southerner, I use the short a , especially in plastic and transport. Language evolves, innit? BTC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil McCavity Posted January 19, 2021 Share Posted January 19, 2021 Posted by Martin Harris - Moderator on 19/01/2021 19:24:15: The answer is that it's spelling that doesn't follow the rules properly, not Southerners. Best to be guided by how English is meant to be pronounced (i.e. Queen/Home Counties), learn that you put bacon into buns, not baps and that "while" means during, not until. At the risk of being cited for sedition, I can't bring myself to pronounce plastic as the Queen does - "plarstic" - and despite the anomaly, hate the word mall being pronounced to rhyme with wall. Bacon goes into a roll and plastic is pronounced "plastic" down here, only posh people say "Plarstic", but then I shouldn't even be commenting as it's been made clear this topic is confined to just Northeners or "Norveners" as we say in that most distasteful part of the country. Edited By Phil McCavity on 19/01/2021 19:59:12 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevin b Posted January 19, 2021 Share Posted January 19, 2021 Posted by Gary Manuel on 19/01/2021 18:50:31: As a Yorkshireman, I am aware that the way I speak is not in accordance with the way I am supposed to speak as defined by "The Queen's English". I am a great fan of Richard Osman's House of Games, BUT one thing annoys the hell out of me every time I watch it. That is the logic of how words are pronounced by these two well respected wordsmiths. The final round is always the "Answer Smash" round. I'll not explain how this works. You'll need to watch it if you don't know. What annoys me is how the "A"s in "Answer Smash" are pronounced. As a Northerner, I pronounce it the way it is spelt = "Answer Smash". I would have expected that Southerners would pronounce it as "AAnswer SmAAsh" but apparently the two words are subject to different rules. They pronounce it as "AAnswer Smash". Is there anyone on here who might be able to explain this anomaly to me. Why is the letter "A" sometimes pronounced as "AA" (or "Ah" ) and sometimes as "A", when obviously it should always be pronounced as "A" as demonstrated by Northerners everywhere? Edited By Gary Manuel on 19/01/2021 18:53:03 Gary. What does it matter ? We know we are right lad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john stones 1 - Moderator Posted January 19, 2021 Share Posted January 19, 2021 As a Yorkshireman myself, the answers obvious, everyone else is wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dad_flyer Posted January 19, 2021 Share Posted January 19, 2021 In general never believe anything from Wikipedia. "stigmatised as a Cockneyism until well into the 19th century" Edited By Dad_flyer on 19/01/2021 20:55:40 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Cunnington Posted January 19, 2021 Share Posted January 19, 2021 John, tha's reet lad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Cooper Posted January 19, 2021 Share Posted January 19, 2021 I saw the title to this thread and immediately thought it was going to be about comical alien creatures from another world, making mashed potato. I blame Cadbury's...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Manuel Posted January 19, 2021 Author Share Posted January 19, 2021 Posted by Brian Cooper on 19/01/2021 21:04:35: I saw the title to this thread and immediately thought it was going to be about comical alien creatures from another world, making mashed potato. I blame Cadbury's...... ... And then they smash them all to bits. ... And then they mispronounce our words. ... They are clearly a most primitive people. Ha ha ha ha ha.... Edited By Gary Manuel on 19/01/2021 21:25:17 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil McCavity Posted January 19, 2021 Share Posted January 19, 2021 The anti-Southern sentiment is strong in this one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin Harris - Moderator Posted January 19, 2021 Share Posted January 19, 2021 My dad would have reckoned all of us were northerners - he was from Portsmouth... I know one thing - on my next expedition to the dark satanic mills of the Calder Valley I shall be looking out for this as I grind my way up the M1: An isogloss runs across the Midlands from the Wash to the Welsh border, passing to the south of the cities of Birmingham and Leicester. You learn something every day... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Manuel Posted January 19, 2021 Author Share Posted January 19, 2021 Just to clarify. I don't have a problem with Southerners calling a Bath a Barth. My problem is that they call a Flat a Flat. If they are going to corrupt a perfectly good language, they should at least do it properly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin Harris - Moderator Posted January 19, 2021 Share Posted January 19, 2021 We actually call a flat a puncture. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Manuel Posted January 19, 2021 Author Share Posted January 19, 2021 Posted by Martin Harris - Moderator on 19/01/2021 19:24:15: ... and despite the anomaly, hate the word mall being pronounced to rhyme with wall. ...which according to your rules should be pronounced wal, as in Hal... Funnily enough, the first time I came across the word "mall" was as a kid, playing Monopoly. I had neither been to America or London. My family had no option but to pronounce the two new exotic words we had discovered as Pal Mal. I can see now that both words should perhaps rhyme with "all". Is that how Southerners pronounce it? Edited By Gary Manuel on 19/01/2021 22:18:53 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Robson Posted January 19, 2021 Share Posted January 19, 2021 In 1966 we moved to Shropshire from Gateshead, at the time there was still a lot of local accent , the new town of Telford was in the early stages and it became an overspill for the black country. Our next door neighbour was from Birmingham. We became great friends, My wife and June next door went up to the town shopping on a Friday and on one occasion went into a small cafe . The waitress asked what do ee want my love's! June a broad Brummie said oyl av acup of tea and a downut! my wife asked for a cup of tea and a trifle The waitress looked puzzled and asked ,you want a cup of tea and a doughnut and you want a cup of tea and a try (tray) full of doughnuts. They both collapsed laughing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john stones 1 - Moderator Posted January 19, 2021 Share Posted January 19, 2021 Would you like a Cream cake or a Meringue ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Manuel Posted January 19, 2021 Author Share Posted January 19, 2021 You're wrong John. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Robson Posted January 19, 2021 Share Posted January 19, 2021 On moving to Northants I found they called a book a buk a hook a huk a nail a nile and rain rhine ,among other things Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john stones 1 - Moderator Posted January 19, 2021 Share Posted January 19, 2021 Posted by Gary Manuel on 19/01/2021 22:27:15: You're wrong John. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nifty 50 Posted January 19, 2021 Share Posted January 19, 2021 I come from Croydon, now living in Halifax. A sandpiper is a bird, "dahn sahf" they use it to smooth wood. A tile is part of a floor or wall covering, or something you dry yourself off with... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin Harris - Moderator Posted January 19, 2021 Share Posted January 19, 2021 Posted by Gary Manuel on 19/01/2021 22:15:07: My family had no option but to pronounce the two new exotic words we had discovered as Pal Mal. I can see now that both words should perhaps rhyme with "all". Is that how Southerners pronounce it? We pronounce Pall Mall (correctly of course) to rhyme with pal. I hope this doesn't cast a pall over the subject or build a wall between us... As I said, spelling breaks all the rules! Maybe we should invite our New Zealand friends to comment on vowel sounds? Edited By Martin Harris - Moderator on 19/01/2021 23:17:36 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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