Why do Americans pronounce centaurs "centars"???

[R_J_K75]

Its American public education at its finest.

 

[tommybahama]

Appalachian English is closer to Shakespearean English than that modern RP stuff you do in the old country. Maybe there is a user near the Blue Ridge Mountains that can settle this pronunciation question for us before this thread goes nukular?

 

[Cadence]

Either pronunciation is fine: Centaur - Wikipedia

In Attic it was a hard "k" and the au was pronounced like in "sauerkraut" (approximately).

Κένταυρος​

Everything is ok. No need to worry.

Is this like Kaiser Salad and Seltic Music?

 

[DemoMonkey]

If the googles is down they could just look it up at the liberry.

 

[MGibster]

We don't put out advertisements (ad-ver-tise-ments not ad-ver-tis-ments), but it's a well known fact that the Americans became the keepers and guardians of the true English language many, may years ago. It's not a bold (bold not "borld") claim on my part, and had I more leisure (lee-zhur not lezh-uh) time I would be more than happy to make you take your medicine (med-eh-sun not med-sun) but I don't want you to feel patronized (pat-run-eyezed not pay-trun-eyezed).

 

[MGibster]

If the googles is down they could just look it up at the liberry.

Sometimes I like to eat strawbraries at the liberry.

 

[R_J_K75]

Is this like Kaiser Salad and Seltic Music?

True story. I had a friend order a Barbarian Cream donut once. My brother, I and the waitress bursted out laughing. He couldnt understand why until we told him its Bavarian Cream not Barbarian Cream. In his defense his nickname was "Dummy".

 

[Twiggly the Gnome]

Appalachian English is closer to Shakespearean English than that modern RP stuff you do in the old country. Maybe there is a user near the Blue Ridge Mountains that can settle this pronunciation question for us before this thread goes nukular?

Born and raised in the shadow of the Smokies. I pronounce it the same way I do minotaur or taurus, with an "oar" sound.

 

[J.Quondam]

Is this like Kaiser Salad and Seltic Music?

"Well I believe in God, and the only thing that scares me is Kaiser Salad."

.

 

[Esau Cairn]

Why do Americans pronounce centaurs "centars"???

Rather a board stroke to cast over a country with literally a dozen major dialects and more than a hundred minor ones.

Its American public education at its finest.

A few summers ago, I had a debate with some university graduates from Germany about their county's 472km border with Poland--which they insisted did not exist. At first, I thought they were joking--being ironical obtuse or perhaps smugly nationalistic--but the longer the conversation continued, the more I wish (almost for the first time) that I carried a cellular device with access to verifiable information.

Public education is almost always available to those who want it.