Cato's Grammar Grumble

[Cato]

Tour is pronounced Tore, rhyming with Sore and Saw, in England  .

So, one would hear e.g. "I have a saw thumb" ?!  😇

Okay!


It struck me: I wonder if the "Tore" pronunciation persists in the words "Tourist" and "Tourism."


Here in unaccented Ohio *, one hears a quasi-u sound in "Turist" (rhymes with Jurist), but "Tooerism" exists alongside "Toorism."


* Some decades ago, certain linguists mapped the country by accents, and a large chunk of Ohio was mapped as speaking "Pure, unaccented English," with the speech heard in a suburb of Cleveland being an example of such an animal!

To be sure, here in semi-rural northwestern Ohio, one hears curiosities: some farmers and very small-town people could be confused now and then as having a slight, Southern-style drawl.

At the same time, other farmers and villagers speak in that standard, "pure, unaccented" English.

What is fascinating, is that my brother-in-law has that drawl, but Mrs. Cato has none of it!   

I suspect the difference lies in the speech of their childhood friends.

[steve ridgway]

Oddly we pronounce Grand Prix the French way, but the cycle race is the Tore de France. And a Mr. Croissant at work insisted on being Croysant on the grounds that he was English .

[JBS]

I'm fairly certain I've never heard TOUR pronounced as anything other than TORE my whole life.

[Florestan]

I wonder whether there is any language, anywhere, with a more illogical and irregular pronunciation than English.

[Cato]

I'm fairly certain I've never heard TOUR pronounced as anything other than TORE my whole life.

Hearing "Tour" as a homophone with "Tore" (as spoken by New York City people this morning) tapped my ear drums!

Oddly we pronounce Grand Prix the French way, but the cycle race is the Tore de France.

And a Mr. Croissant at work insisted on being Croysant on the grounds that he was English .

Great story!

I wonder whether there is any language, anywhere, with a more illogical and irregular pronunciation than English.
 

We win!!!   

[JBS]

I wonder whether there is any language, anywhere, with a more illogical and irregular pronunciation than English.

Ghoti.

Which goes back to 1855.
https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=81#:~:text=One%20of%20the%20sturdiest%20linguistic,year%20before%20Shaw%20was%20born.

[Kalevala]

Ghoti.

Which goes back to 1855.
https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=81#:~:text=One%20of%20the%20sturdiest%20linguistic,year%20before%20Shaw%20was%20born.

K

[JBS]

From an advance copy of R. F. Kuang's forthcoming novel (to be published this fall)

[Florestan]

Blame it on the proofreader.

[Cato]

From an advance copy of R. F. Kuang's forthcoming novel (to be published this fall)

"...Liszt's poetic and religious harmonies[/i]..."

Hmmm!  I have never heard of this author: one source says she is a "Chinese-American," so I wonder if this phrase is a satire on translations of Chinese into English (?).


Otherwise, for religious harmonies, I suppose a good deal of I-IV-V progressions could be involved, but how often did Liszt use that? 

And poetic harmonies?

We might have a new topic!    

[Florestan]

"...Liszt's poetic and religious harmonies[/i]..."

Hmmm!  I have never heard of this author: one source says she is a "Chinese-American," so I wonder if this phrase is a satire on translations of Chinese into English (?).


Otherwise, for religious harmonies, I suppose a good deal of I-IV-V progressions could be involved, but how often did Liszt use that? 

And poetic harmonies?

We might have a new topic!    

Amazing what a difference capitals can make. 

[Kalevala]

"...Liszt's poetic and religious harmonies[/i]..."

Hmmm!  I have never heard of this author: one source says she is a "Chinese-American," so I wonder if this phrase is a satire on translations of Chinese into English (?).


Otherwise, for religious harmonies, I suppose a good deal of I-IV-V progressions could be involved, but how often did Liszt use that? 

And poetic harmonies?

We might have a new topic!    

That seemed bizarre.  Also, I'm used to more double-spacing rules in terms of punctuation...which apparently has changed.

K