Why do Americans pronounce centaurs "centars"???

Nikosandros · Sep 24, 2021

Cadence said:
On the radio ads from the 50s and before, Protein is pronounce "Pro-tee-enn" instead of "Pro-teen"...

Edit: It's not quite as extreme as the radio ones, but you can here some of it in this TV ad from the 60s
around :11, and twice just after :29, and again a few times more.

That's how I always pronounced it.

But, if an English word is very similar to an Italian one, I noticed that I tend to pronounce it similarly to the Italian pronunciation....

Maxperson · Sep 24, 2021

Morrus said:
Well, assuming by “ah” you mean the thing I think you mean, I don’t think I’ve ever heard anybody (even on US TV!) say those words like that. Even on American TV they say it they way I do. “Orto”, “Plorsible”. It must be a regionalism local to you?

Maybe. I've been in California since I was 13 and I'm 51 now, so my memory of Michigan and how things were pronounced there is spotty.

Snarf Zagyg · Sep 24, 2021

Maxperson said:
Maybe. I've been in California since I was 13 and I'm 51 now, so my memory of Michigan and how things were pronounced there is spotty.

How 'bout Pennsyltucky?

BookTenTiger · Sep 24, 2021

Do you think creatures that only speak through telepathy still have accents?

billd91 · Sep 24, 2021

turnip_farmer said:
If I try to imagine someone saying 'claustrophobic" in a Midwest accent it sounds a bit like 'ah'. I can't get my head around 'plahsible' though.

Important point to bear in mind here is that we don't actually all hear the same sounds as each other. Depending on the languages and dialects to which you're exposed, especially when growing up, your brain learns to distinguish and group different sounds. So it's entirely possible for me and you to hear two distinct vowels where someone from across the Atlantic can hear only one, and vice versa. My girlfriend finds it hilarious that I struggle to distinguish 'ou' and 'u' in standard French.

Further complicating things is that, not only do we hear different sounds, but we label them differently as well. The way that I would pronounce the vowel in 'hot' or 'top' would, for me, define what a short 'o' sounds like, but to American ears it apparently sounds more like an 'a'. Which is funny because the standard American pronunciation of that vowel sounds closer to an 'a' to me.

Yeah, there's gotta be something in the hearing. When I see the references to 'clahstrophobic' and 'plahsible', the sound doesn't seem right unless someone's from Boston where they "pahk the cah in Hahvahd Yahd". Nor does 'orto' or 'plorsible'.

What I would characterize as the standard American TV accent should render the au in those words as aw (pronounced aw-ful, awe-some). So you get 'clawstrophobic' and 'plawsible'.