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Post by Verbivore on Jul 1, 2017 3:39:22 GMT
While "celebrity" is not my thing, the names ... mispronounced in the headline caught my eye. For what it’s worth or of interest, some trivia … . With any luck, this month's postings will only improve. ;-) Celebrity names that are usually mispronounced1. (Wonder Woman) Gal Gadot – Gal Gad-dott (But emphases on which syllables?)2. JK Rowling – "It's Rolling - as in Stone," says she. 3. Amanda Seyfried – It's Sigh-fred. 4. Martin Scorsese – It's Scor-sess-see. (The director says so himself in the fifth series of Entourage – so I'm informed.) 5. Barbra Streisand – The singer told NPR, "Streisand with a soft S, like sand on the beach." So that's Strei-sand to you and me. 6. Shia LaBeouf – He's Shy-a La-Buf, not Shee-ya La Boof. 7. Charlize Theron – It's not Ther-on or Ther-own (rhymes with Throne) – she goes by Ther-in. And that's not even her actual name. In Afrikaans, it's pronounced Shar-leeze Thrawn, but she's opted for Ther-in as she thinks it's easier to say. (But emphases on which syllables?)8. Matt Groening – Not Groan-ing or Green-ing - it's Gray-ning. 9. Susan Sarandon – "It's Sa-ran-don - rhymes with abandon."
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Post by Dave Miller on Jul 1, 2017 13:07:42 GMT
For those who remember David Jacobs (suave, dinnerjacketted DJ and radio presenter, with classically excellent diction):
Some years ago, in a documentary on David's career, the BBC played again, in full, an interview he had held with Barbra Streisand. He had begun by introducing her and was then interrupted as she tried to get him to pronounce her name correctly. Fair enough, but by the second attempt, he was repeating EXACTLY what she had said, yet she huffily complained, and said it again.
She came over as a right pratt and I'm delighted to say he let her! Rather than apologise that he coudn't get it right, and move on, he kept calmly repeating ... until she'd used up her interview time.
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Post by Verbivore on Jul 13, 2017 0:01:27 GMT
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Post by Little Jack Horner on Jul 13, 2017 10:59:31 GMT
I have never heard of most of these weather words but when I was a boy I very occasionally heard of a lazy wind — a cold, strong wind that was too lazy to go round one but went straight through. I think it was never used excepr as a joke to amuse folk who had never heard the expression.
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Post by Dave Miller on Jul 13, 2017 13:31:32 GMT
I think it was never used except as a joke to amuse folk who had never heard the expression. I guess that's right. When I read the phrase "lazy wind", my immediate impression was something more along the lines of a wind so gentle it could hardly be bothered to move!
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Post by Alan Palmer on Jul 14, 2017 1:13:40 GMT
An expression I rather like for a day when it's raining gently that I've heard in both the English Lake District and in County Antrim, Northern Ireland is "a soft day". Almost certainly it's used elsewhere as well in the north of the UK.
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Post by Verbivore on Jul 14, 2017 3:48:24 GMT
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Post by Verbivore on Jul 17, 2017 7:21:35 GMT
— Though 'tis a pity about the misspelled artifact. :-(
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Post by Dave Miller on Jul 17, 2017 7:43:53 GMT
— Though 'tis a pity about the misspelled artifact. :-( I would spell it "artifact" and, while I believe the etymology via "artefact", I don't think I've ever encountered it that way (except just now when looking it up). My OED (the 1928 version) lists the detail under "artifact" and under "artefact" says simply 'variant of artifact'. What concerns me more is the supposedly oxymoronic nature of "new artifacts". There's nothing necessarily old about them, is there? The word is used in archeology, about old things, but it's also used nowadays in, for example, image processing, where the errors of compression can produce unwanted blobs and borders.
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Post by Verbivore on Jul 17, 2017 12:27:13 GMT
Dictionaries are interesting in the way they record changes in word usages, spellings, and meanings.
My OED (2nd edn) has under artifact: "see artefact"; under the artefact entry are all the definitions and etymology, as well as the note: "Also arti-". My Merriam-Webster's has artifact as the main entry, while under artefact is merely the reference "Mainly British variant".
The following dictionaries give artefact as the main or only entry: Chambers (2003), Collins English (2005), Collins Australian (2003), Macquarie International (2004), Macquarie Australian (2003), Shorter Oxford (2009), Oxford English Reference (2002).
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Post by Geoff on Jul 18, 2017 5:43:43 GMT
A quickie:
Is it "licenced financial planner", as in the pamphlet I'm reading at the moment, or should it be "licensed financial planner" as I might see it more frequently? I've puzzled over this before but have never really satisfied myself that the latter is the correct adjectival form.
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Post by Verbivore on Jul 18, 2017 6:43:00 GMT
A quickie: Is it " licenced financial planner", as in the pamphlet I'm reading at the moment, or should it be " licensed financial planner" as I might see it more frequently? I've puzzled over this before but have never really satisfied myself that the latter is the correct adjectival form. Geoff: I've always regarded the verb and adjective forms as taking the s, and only the noun taking a c. This, however, is being lost thanks to the default US English settings in the likes of MS Word (which many users either don't know how to change, or even care); those reverse the s and c.
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Post by Twoddle on Jul 18, 2017 9:56:12 GMT
Definitely "licensed" in UK English, but Australian English often uses American spelling which, as Verbivore points out, would be "licenced".
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Post by Verbivore on Jul 18, 2017 11:35:20 GMT
Definitely "licensed" in UK English, but Australian English often uses American spelling which, as Verbivore points out, would be "licenced". Some Aussies might use licence and license in the US style, but they're wrong; all Oz dictionaries give them the British spellings. With the ~ise / ~isation – ~ize / ~ization issue, Oz officially employs Cambridge style ( s), although many use the Oxford style ( z), which is also US style.
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Post by Little Jack Horner on Jul 18, 2017 13:38:08 GMT
Vv says, "Oz officially employs Cambridge style". I am all for the Cambridge style but officially? What makes it official, please?
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