A Civil World. Off-topic discussions on a variety of topics. > Trans-Atlantic Knowledge Exchange
Foyer / Foy-yay / Foy-er / Foy-ah / For-aye
katycoo:
--- Quote from: cabbageweevil on November 16, 2012, 08:00:27 AM ---Bumping this thread, in respect of a regional-pronunciation matter which I encountered lately -- from a song heard on a You Tube item, performed by a Canadian singer.
The word concerned, is "leisure". Will set out the word's second consonant, as "zh" -- like the J in the French name Jacques. There seem to be (at least) two possible pronunciations for this word. "Lezher" -- to rhyme (vowels-wise) with "fed her"; and "Leezher" -- to rhyme with "feed her".
In my country, the UK, I have only ever heard "lezher". I've heard from Canadians (including, but not only, in the the You Tube instance mentioned above), "leezher". And I had a friend who was from New Zealand, who pronounced it "leezher". The "leezher" pronunciation sounds strange, at least to this Brit; but, of course, a case of "whatever is standard practice / accustomed, for you".
Would be interested to know how this word is pronounced in the USA -- maybe it varies according to what part of the States? And, should any Aussie participants be around; what's the pronunciation in Australia?
--- End quote ---
Lezher
kareng57:
--- Quote from: Outdoor Girl on November 16, 2012, 07:01:18 PM ---It's kind of funny because we use a lot of British spellings in Canada so I'm surprised we don't pronounce things in the British way. (Neighbour, colour, sulphur, etc.)
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As usual (metric/imperial is another example) we just can't make up our minds here.........
cabbageweevil:
--- Quote from: katycoo on November 18, 2012, 05:55:20 PM ---
--- Quote from: cabbageweevil on November 16, 2012, 08:00:27 AM ---And, should any Aussie participants be around; what's the pronunciation in Australia?
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Lezher
--- End quote ---
So, it's beginning to look like: Britain and Australia, short "e"; English-speakers elsewhere, long "e" (unless my New Zealander friend was just odd !).
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