Dotty Parker

where seldom is heard a discouraging word

Pronunciation. This is a sticky topic for me because I can't figure out where I stand.

Today I am firmly of the opinion that the way you pronounce something is entirely irrelevant as long as the meaning gets across. In the past I've been judgmental and snooty about it if it was someone I didn't like. If it was someone I did like, I might tell them or I might not.

But now, the snooty angle isn't working out so well. Furthermore, I'm growing more and more charmed by the phenomenon of "the child who reads".

When a person grows up reading books, a person tends to advance through the levels of vocabulary faster than they hear the words. This often leads to mispronunciation. It's a beautiful thing to hear, really. It reminds me that clever children, children who were like me, grow up into truly charming adults, also like me.

On the radio today I heard a word that BrilliantEditor and I laugh about. He was one of those precocious readers, so he has this charming habit. One of my favorites is this one: chortle.

BE pronounces the "ch" as a "k" sound. Now, the word has a bit of onomatopoeia to it. With the "ch" sound it sounds like a gurgling laugh to me. With the "k" sound, it sounds like a death rattle.

Then today on the radio, a band was being interviewed. And I heard the word "chortle" the way BE pronounces it. BUT! They were actually saying chordal. With a "k" sound at the beginning.

I thought it was pretty funny, in the way things are funny when you're alone in the car and and suddenly you hear yourself make a small laugh sound and you become aware that you're making laugh sounds with no one to hear you and that's just weird, but it was still pretty funny.

It was that kind of funny.

Posted by dotty at February 10, 2004 10:35 PM