The Canadians I know sound more like “aboat“ except when theyr exaggerating their accents. I have heard “aboot” from some northerners from the USA, though. Minnesotans, as I recall.
Why do Americans pronounce centaurs "centars"???
niklinna
satisfied?
Oh here you go—Why Canadians [sound like they] say "Aboot" [or aboat, depending on how your brain divides the phonetic space for vowel sounds].
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Argyle King
Legend
To me, "au" sounds different than "a."
How I would read "centar" (used in the original post) is not how I would say centaur. I don't say centaur the same way I would say dinosaur either.
I think I say it something more like the 'au' in "taurus." It's not a long-a, nor is it a short-a. It's a little like a slightly stretched short-a, but spoken more from the back of the throat.
Thinking about it, I guess what I'm doing with my lips is similar to the sound at the end of "dinosaur," but the sound is coming from my throat and tongue differently.
I can’t link to it directly (f-bombs droped), but there’s the amusing “Baltimore accent test” on Youtube (originating on Reddit, apparently) in which several people try to say “Aaron earned an iron urn” with mixed degrees of success.
And there are several videos about Scots trying to use vocal commands to do things like operate elevators (skit) and car SatNav systems (RW video).
If you go from one end of the American south to the other, you’ll hear about 5 distinct pronunciations of “praline”, some of which include consonant sounds for letters not found in the word.
My home city (NOLA) has some interesting takes on things as common as “sinks” (starting with a “z” sound) and mutilation of mythological names of the 9 greek muses (they’re used as street names). Interestingly, despite that, “Pheidippides“ is usually pronounced correctly because it was the name of a runner’s gear store.
Anothe good one to look for: back when Eyjafjallajökull was erupting, a travel segment crew went to Iceland to get educated on how to say it properly, since so many non-Icelandic speakers were struggling with it. One man broke it down very well, but then mocked others for having so much trouble getting it straight, The interviewer got him back by asking him to say “sausage”, which he failed to get that “edge” ending, instead frustratedly storming off camera saying it like “sausish”.
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doctorbadwolf
Heretic of The Seventh Circle
those words rhyme for you!?
niklinna
satisfied?
I once won a contest with my French host parents when they asked me to say "grenouille" (frog) and I nailed it, and then I asked them to say "squirrel", and they couldn't do it without inserting vowels: They pronounced it as [ˈskwiːʀɛl] instead of [skwɻl] (IPA, my American pronunciation; Brits seem to pronounce it more like [ˈskwɪrəl]). Oh and then there's this bit of youtube silliness.
I'd rather have had a gift for vocabulary over pronunciation, to be honest.
Edit: More fun—here are some nice French people being asked to pronounce English words.
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Twiggly the Gnome
Legend
When I say wolf, the vocal stress slides down from w to l, then picks back up on f. Wool has a flat vocalization.
When I say Washington, I don't add an r, but I do drop the g.
When I say Washington, I don't add an r, but I do drop the g.
doctorbadwolf
Heretic of The Seventh Circle
One thing I’ve noticed in Central California is that while we turn some Ts into Ds, we don’t really drop any sounds or letters from words. I mean obviously it’s a crossroads region so things vary from SoCal to NorCal to East Texas just amongst locals who primarily speak English, never mind all the variants from the large Spanish speaking population (over half of Kern County speaks Spanish as thier first language), and the many decent sized Asian populations, and smaller but noticeable populations from everywhere else in the world.
Eltab
Lord of the Hidden Layer
NE Indiana is in the boundary zone of settlement between "from Ohio River and points southeast" and "from New York / New England". I hear a lot of southern "warsh my clothes" but also hear a softened version of President Kennedy's "Pahk the cah in Havahd Yahd at nigh'" (Park the car in Harvard Yard at night) New England accent. I never have figured out why Cuba was "Koober" to him, though.
My father-in-law came from the coal mining territory of Kentucky and was proud of his "hillbilly accent". Out here on the flatlands, it made him distinctive.
P.S. That horse-man thingy from Greek mythology is a "sen-tar".
My father-in-law came from the coal mining territory of Kentucky and was proud of his "hillbilly accent". Out here on the flatlands, it made him distinctive.
P.S. That horse-man thingy from Greek mythology is a "sen-tar".
