Weird English pronunciation of Obamar

Sam. · Fri 20/03/2009 16:57:13

Quote from: monkey_05_06 on Fri 20/03/2009 16:46:20
The ironic thing is that the English are supposed to speak "proper English," as opposed the the wretched, bastardized "Amerikaanized Engrish." It's really quite interesting that the English do this.

I'm not sure i'd interpret it as a mistake. If we are supposed to speak proper english (which we do

) then surely people who DON'T do it are making the mistake.

Revan · Sun 22/03/2009 17:52:29

Quote from: monkey_05_06 on Fri 20/03/2009 16:46:20
The ironic thing is that the English are supposed to speak "proper English," as opposed the the wretched, bastardized "Amerikaanized Engrish." It's really quite interesting that the English do this.

If you're so great... spell colour...

Eggie · Sun 22/03/2009 19:14:54

*whispers discreetly in Revon's ear before our nations victory gets punctured by a very obvious joke he just set up*

markbilly · Sun 22/03/2009 19:18:59

A Scottish friend of mine has a friend called "lar" and was frequently annoyed his English friends calling her "laR". He tried to explain how to say "lar" without the r, but it came out as "laR" or "la" whenever I said it. I never really knew what he was on about. Obviously the same kind of thing.

What annoys me, is the way British people say Barack wrong, when talking about Obama. They "Ba-ruck Obarmuh" as in army barracks. It should be "B'rack Obarma", surely.

Interesting stuff.

Revan · Mon 23/03/2009 09:10:15

Quote from: Eggie on Sun 22/03/2009 19:14:54
*whispers discreetly in Revon's ear before our nations victory gets punctured by a very obvious joke he just set up*

Not sure what your getting at. At first I thought I'd spelt something wrong. But I think it's all correct.

Misj' · Mon 23/03/2009 10:51:58

Quote from: monkey_05_06 on Fri 20/03/2009 16:46:20
The ironic thing is that the English are supposed to speak "proper English," as opposed the the wretched, bastardized "Amerikaanized Engrish." It's really quite interesting that the English do this.

Well...anyone who can't correctly pronounce Marlboro (a bastardisation of Marlborough) should be banned from the English language altogether, shouldn't they? - And no, Marlborough (and thus Marlboro) is not pronounced as: Mawl-bo-ro.

The correct pronunciation is of course:

Spoiler

Mawl-bra

I'm not good at writing phonetically, though...but those who speak English will know what I mean.

[close]

Andail · Mon 23/03/2009 11:21:08

And it's not Wor-cester-shire, it's

Spoiler

woash

[close]

SSH · Mon 23/03/2009 11:32:08

And "Burgh" is NOT pronounced "Burrow". Edinburgh is pronounced "Edinbrr-rr" or "Edinburra"

Snarky · Mon 23/03/2009 14:59:07

Quote from: Revan on Sun 22/03/2009 17:52:29
If your so great... spell colour...

Quote from: Eggie on Sun 22/03/2009 19:14:54
*whispers discreetly in Revon's ear before our nations victory gets punctured by a very obvious joke he just set up*

Quote from: Revan on Mon 23/03/2009 09:10:15Not sure what your getting at. At first I thought I'd spelt something wrong. But I think it's all correct.

"If your so great"?

BTW, Eggie: "our nations victory"?

Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens · Mon 23/03/2009 15:08:45

The Private Grammar and Punctuation Insultant strikes again!

Eggie · Mon 23/03/2009 15:36:54

I yam hoomiliatad.

monkey0506 · Mon 23/03/2009 16:00:48

colour, k.a.u.l.r, colour. 8)

Edit: Augh, the automagic TXT SPLR strikes again!...that should work.

Revan · Wed 25/03/2009 01:30:15

Quote from: Snarky on Mon 23/03/2009 14:59:07
Quote from: Revan on Sun 22/03/2009 17:52:29
If your so great... spell colour...
Quote from: Eggie on Sun 22/03/2009 19:14:54
*whispers discreetly in Revon's ear before our nations victory gets punctured by a very obvious joke he just set up*
Quote from: Revan on Mon 23/03/2009 09:10:15Not sure what your getting at. At first I thought I'd spelt something wrong. But I think it's all correct.

"If your so great"?

BTW, Eggie: "our nations victory"?

Haha Modified consider myself told! lol

paolo · Fri 27/03/2009 11:59:23

Ahem, back to the topic at hand...

US English (except perhaps in New England) is rhotic, meaning that "r" is always pronounced wherever it appears in a word. In rhotic accents, "bar" and "baa" sound different. UK English as pronounced in the south of England is non-rhotic, which means "r" is only pronounced if it comes before a vowel sound. The "r" is pronounced in "rabbit" but not in "car", which means that "bar" sounds identical to "baa". (In pretty much all of the rest of the UK, English is rhotic.)

So when someone from southern England says something where a word ending in "r" is followed by a word beginning with a vowel sound, the "r" is heard (eg, "The bar is open" is pronounced like "The baa riz open"). This phenomenon is called linking "r" and is acceptable and standard. It is not wrong to omit the linking "r" and in very careful pronunciation, it is not heard ("The baa is open") . When there is a pause after the word ending in "r", there is no linking "r": in "I like it here. I think I'll stay.", there is no linking "r" at the end of "here" even though the word that follows begins with a vowel sound.

The problem is when words not ending in "r" are followed by a vowel, but an "r" is inserted. This is called intrusive "r", as Snarky says. Classic examples are "law and order" and "drawing", - intrusive "r" makes them "law rand order" and "draw-ring". This is often considered incorrect because there is no "r" there to pronounce, but is very common.

Source: The Oxford Dictionary of English Grammar, 1994 edition.

It's a very difficult habit to break, actually, and a lot of people don't even realise they are doing it. I usually manage to say "drawing" without an intrusive "r", but it tends to sound hypercorrect or "posh"when pretty much everyone else around me says "drawring", and it is hard to monitor one's speech to listen out for "r"s that aren't there.

I was watching a TV programme (that spelling looks odd to me as a someone who writes computer programs for a living

) made in Scotland, where English is rhotic. One of the characters was talking to another whose name was, let's say, Jessica. He shouted out her name and put an intrusive "r" on the end of her name, even though it was the only word he said. So either it can happen in rhotic accents too, or this was an actor with a non-rhotic accent who was just trying a bit too hard to sound Scottish

So when you hear "Obamarr riz talking to Gordon Brown", feel free to complain to the BBC!

Their standards of English have dropped greatly in recent years.

EDIT: Grr, the text-speech censor keeps changing all my Rs to "are"s...

EDIT 2: And I think it must have changed "...when you hear..." to "...when you here..." as well... at least, that's my excuse

monkey0506 · Fri 27/03/2009 17:24:05

Quote from: paolo on Fri 27/03/2009 11:59:23Grr, the text-speech censor keeps changing all my Rs to "are"s...

Lovely isn't it?

It was a very interesting read about the rhotic/non-rhotic differences. And start throwring some more rarrs in there ya posh bastard!

Tuomas · Fri 27/03/2009 22:29:18

I think the reason I'm not getting this at all is that I don't hear it often. I mean, the intrusive r in all the examples given here seems like something no-one I know would do, and I don't see why it would come to the r expecially. I've actually sat here for a while, trying to pronounce "draw-ring"... But I just can't. Could be a pronounciation thing having grown up talking Finnish, but still, I've never noticed such a phenomenon. I'd still love an audio example, if anyone had one, because the error really sounds too odd to me.

Haddas · Sat 28/03/2009 01:30:58

Quote from: Tuomas on Fri 27/03/2009 22:29:18
I think the reason I'm not getting this at all is that I don't hear it often. I mean, the intrusiveare in all the examples given here seems like something no-one I know would do, and I don't see why it would come to theare expecially. I've actually sat here for a while, trying to pronounce "draw-ring"... But I just can't. Could be a pronounciation thing having grown up talking Finnish, but still, I've never noticed such a phenomenon. I'd still love an audio example, if anyone had one, because the error really sounds too odd to me.

Boyd does it. He even has a joke about it. "What is the name of the invisible dinosaur? D'youthinkhesawrus"

paolo · Sat 28/03/2009 09:20:30

Quote from: Haddas on Sat 28/03/2009 01:30:58
Quote from: Tuomas on Fri 27/03/2009 22:29:18
I've actually sat here for a while, trying to pronounce "draw-ring"... But I just can't. Could be a pronounciation thing having grown up talking Finnish, but still, I've never noticed such a phenomenon.

Boyd does it. He even has a joke about it. "What is the name of the invisible dinosaur? D'youthinkhesawrus"

Nice joke. To my ears, saying "saw us" without the intrusive "r" sounds bizarre and unnatural, even though, strictly speaking, it's correct (and of course the joke wouldn't work if that's what people did say).

Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens · Sat 28/03/2009 10:42:33

Apparently, where Boyd lives people like to tack on k's to the end of what they're saying, like 'drawringk' instead of 'drawing'.

TerranRich · Sat 28/03/2009 15:03:17

This isn't just an English thing. Many New Englanders around here will do that, too. When I used to work at Subway (a sandwich shop), people would order a "footlong tuner sandwich", but then they forget their "money in the cah".

I'd be like... why the f*** would you omit the "R", and then ADD ONE where none exists!?