Foyer / Foy-yay / Foy-er / Foy-ah / For-aye

[Hollanda]

Buff-ay is how we say buffet. Foy-yay for foyer, val-ay for valet.

Someone I know who was trying to be posh said "boof-ay" and my friends and I were howling with laughter. "Should we go to the boooooooooooof-ay?!"

Yeah, you had to be there...

[Tilt Fairy]

Buff-ay is how we say buffet. Foy-yay for foyer, val-ay for valet.

Someone I know who was trying to be posh said "boof-ay" and my friends and I were howling with laughter. "Should we go to the boooooooooooof-ay?!"

Yeah, you had to be there...

Yes. In the UK its buff-ay, foy-yay, val-ay.

Then we have the more quirky pronunciation differences:

Par-sta-cine or pla-sta-cine?
al-mond or arl-mond or all-mond?
ga-ridge or gar-raaaaaaage?

And out of all the intercontinental differences between the UK and US my favourite is gardens and yards. We have back or front gardens or back and front lawns. We would never say yard. A yard over here is a sort of derelict unkept area at the back of a kebab shop or on a farm where you would comunally store your tools or rake or lawn mower or rubbish bins.

[Hollanda]

Buff-ay is how we say buffet. Foy-yay for foyer, val-ay for valet.

Someone I know who was trying to be posh said "boof-ay" and my friends and I were howling with laughter. "Should we go to the boooooooooooof-ay?!"

Yeah, you had to be there...

Yes. In the UK its buff-ay, foy-yay, val-ay.

Then we have the more quirky pronunciation differences:

Par-sta-cine or pla-sta-cine?
al-mond or arl-mond or all-mond?
ga-ridge or gar-raaaaaaage?

And out of all the intercontinental differences between the UK and US my favourite is gardens and yards. We have back or front gardens or back and front lawns. We would never say yard. A yard over here is a sort of derelict unkept area at the back of a kebab shop or on a farm where you would comunally store your tools or rake or lawn mower or rubbish bins.

My DF is from Suffolk (quite a posh area lol) and he says "garrige" for garage, but he does say "graaarrrrrrrrrse" and "paaaaaarse" (grass and pass). I find it funny and cute! He says "larf" for laugh, too. He says "But laugh is not spelled L-A-F-F, despite what you see on Facebook. It is spelled with an 'au' which makes a completely different sound." Um I get what he means, but if it was pronounced that way it would be "lorf" if we use the 'au' to make an 'or' sound as in the word "auction" or "audience"...does anyone get what I mean here?

And my Grandma used to have a yard at the back of her house. It was simply a concrete area 6 x 6ft approximately and my bro and I used to chase each other round it riding our little plastic trikes!!!  I also used to help Grandma by sweeping the yard.  She always called our front garden at home a yard, too, despite the fact it had grass lol.

I love this thread!

[Tilt Fairy]

Ha Ha! So strange to think of a yard as somewhere that has anything growing/surviving in it let alone grass! Normally it's just somewhere between two shops just full of rusty tools and some sort of wasps nest, where you might go to take your cigarette break!

The main regional differences in the UK will be the north/south divide. Though there's debate on where exactly the divide is. I see anyone from north of London as a northerner but most people put the divide either mid-or north of the midlands. The main differences in pronunciation is how people say their a's. It's a dead giveaway.

I'm from Sussex so I say car-stle (castle) and darnce (dance). My boyfriend is from up north and he says ca-stle (sounds a bit like cattle) and da-nce (sounds like pants).
I also say 'my aunt' whereas he says 'me ant'.

[Hollanda]

Ha Ha! So strange to think of a yard as somewhere that has anything growing/surviving in it let alone grass! Normally it's just somewhere between two shops just full of rusty tools and some sort of wasps nest, where you might go to take your cigarette break!

The main regional differences in the UK will be the north/south divide. Though there's debate on where exactly the divide is. I see anyone from north of London as a northerner but most people put the divide either mid-or north of the midlands. The main differences in pronunciation is how people say their a's. It's a dead giveaway.

I'm from Sussex so I say car-stle (castle) and darnce (dance). My boyfriend is from up north and he says ca-stle (sounds a bit like cattle) and da-nce (sounds like pants).
I also say 'my aunt' whereas he says 'me ant'.

Lol. Oh yeah. The "is Nottingham in The Midlands or is it up North" debate. Hahaha. To me, Notts is in the Midlands, DF reckons it's "Up North". I am from Lancashire (think Peter Kay!!!) so I talk more like my Dad. After 2 glasses of vino, it gets more pronounced lol.  My BFF, Jo, is from down South (near London), and she reckons Notts is up North too. Her and DF constantly poke (good natured) fun over my Northern attitude - chips and gravy anyone?? It has to be thick, tasty gravy and huge, fat chips dripping in fat.  He thinks the idea is disgusting.

He also says "arsk" for "ask"...lol.

[cabbageweevil]

Endless fun and mickey-taking in Britain, about the (northern) short / southern (long) a, thing. I'm from the south; at university long ago, I had Northern friends with whom on one occasion, I was doing some  travelling up north.  The journey involved meeting-up in the city of Lancaster, which back then had two separate railway stations.  We were to meet at the main one -- Lancaster (Castle) station. In making the arrangements, my friends said to me re that venue (libellously, as it happened) -- "or as you probably call it, 'Larn-carster Carstle'  ". All good-humoured regional mockery...

[Tilt Fairy]

I went to Nottingham uni and I classify it as north (even though its technically the midlands). I think it's because the midlands in general have more in common with the north than the south in regards to pronunciation, cost of living, housing, culture, personality, food quirks etc... which is why so many people see the midlands as northern.

My boyfriends friends offered me a "chip butty" the other day. Errrr what?
Also, he says 'tea' instead of dinner. I can't take him anywhere.

[Hollanda]

I went to Nottingham uni and I classify it as north (even though its technically the midlands). I think it's because the midlands in general have more in common with the north than the south in regards to pronunciation, cost of living, housing, culture, personality, food quirks etc... which is why so many people see the midlands as northern.

My boyfriends friends offered me a "chip butty" the other day. Errrr what?
Also, he says 'tea' instead of dinner. I can't take him anywhere.

Chip butty - a chip sandwich, usually with the bread really heavily buttered. Yummy yummy yummy lol!

I say "tea" too. DF tells me it's "dinner" and what I call "dinner" is actually "lunch". I feel so uncouth sometimes!!

[marcel]

On the Van Gogh thing, it is neither, both Brits and Americans simply can not pronounce the name correctly.

Please -- what IS the right pronunciation, then?  (Enquiring minds want to know...]

It cannot be explained, since it is virtually impossible to explain the pronounciation of the Dutch G. You just have to hear it.
This video is the best I could find: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEqiVEPVY70 (Also note the pronounciation of the word van.)

[Thipu1]

About the yard question. 

In NYC, a yard is a place around a residence that includes grass.  A garden is a place in a yard that includes either vegetables or decorative plants.  One may easily have a very nice yard without having a garden. 

The derelict space between buildings is a 'vacant lot'.

'Yard' can also indicate a large outdoor storage space as in the term 'rail yard'.     

[Gumbysqueak]

About the yard question. 

In NYC, a yard is a place around a residence that includes grass.  A garden is a place in a yard that includes either vegetables or decorative plants.  One may easily have a very nice yard without having a garden. 

The derelict space between buildings is a 'vacant lot'.

'Yard' can also indicate a large outdoor storage space as in the term 'rail yard'.   

Same in Colorado.

[baglady]

About the yard question. 

In NYC, a yard is a place around a residence that includes grass.  A garden is a place in a yard that includes either vegetables or decorative plants.  One may easily have a very nice yard without having a garden. 

The derelict space between buildings is a 'vacant lot'.

Or alley, if it's a very narrow space. Where I live a vacant lot isn't necessarily a derelict paved space like the one our British posters were describing. It can have grass or dirt. It's just a piece of land with no building on it in an area where most lots that size do have buildings on them.

'Yard' can also indicate a large outdoor storage space as in the term 'rail yard'.   

Also brickyard and lumberyard.

"Garden" sounds very grand to my American ears, when it's used to mean what we call a yard. ("Let's have tea in the garden."). The way a poster once mentioned "carriage" sounded to her when she first heard it used to mean grocery cart.

[cabbageweevil]

On the Van Gogh thing, it is neither, both Brits and Americans simply can not pronounce the name correctly.

Please -- what IS the right pronunciation, then?  (Enquiring minds want to know...]

It cannot be explained, since it is virtually impossible to explain the pronounciation of the Dutch G. You just have to hear it.
This video is the best I could find: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEqiVEPVY70 (Also note the pronounciation of the word van.)

Thanks.  I do gather that it's a "given" that only a Dutch person can pronounce Dutch truly correctly !

[Hollanda]

Yes...and in England when someone is talking nonsense, we say they're talking "Double Dutch"!

[cabbageweevil]

England and Holland having had a mutual love-hate "thing" going many centuries back, including the occasional war between the two nations --  England has a number of expressions tending toward mockery of things Dutch.  A couple to go with "Double Dutch" are "Dutch courage" (getting drunk to nerve oneself to do something which one would normally be afraid to undertake), and "Dutch treat" (everyone pays for themself, so no-one gets treated).