Pronunciation Question

[tealin]

Obviously, I've been rereading Monstrous Regiment ... but I've been seized by doubt:

Polly's family name, Perks – is it pronounced like a plural of perk, or is it like clerk, derby, and Berkshire in that the 'er' is pronounced like 'ar,' thus making it 'Parks' and much easier for Strappi (and assorted others) to turn into 'Parts'? I tried finding some sample clips of the book on tape but the only one I found was a big stretch of internal monologue with no mention of names at all.

Help?

EDIT: Thanks karwei – yet another yawning gap of uncertainty has closed in my life. :)

Comments

it's a British thing!

[thecrookedmile.livejournal.com]

hey there, I live in London and it is just the brirish quirke that we DO say 'clarke', 'darby' and 'Barkshire' and its a forever confusing thing in schools when teachers try to convince us it's spelt 'er'.. so its kind of confusing in the opposite direction heh.
um, but also, when people say 'lufftenant' i think their saying 'left-tenant' which isn't wierd..!
just thought I'd giva an insider's account!

Re: it's a British thing!

[my-fox-rocks.livejournal.com]

Yeah, we say left - tenant (to be honest, that one I've always found rather odd and I pronounce it the other way)

But I go to University in Derby (Darby) and it took time for my American friends to get used to saying it like that.

Their pronunciation of Leicestershire (I've heard it said Lie - sester - shyre instead of Lestershuh) just makes me giggle.

On a different note Americans have language quirks too, like pronouncing 'herbs' 'urbs' even though there's an 'h' in it O_o And spelling through 'thru' which just looks...wrong.

Re: it's a British thing!

[paddita.livejournal.com]

like pronouncing 'herbs' 'urbs' even though there's an 'h' in it O_o

That makes me think of Eddie Izzard. :D

Re: it's a British thing!

[my-fox-rocks.livejournal.com]

I Love Eddie Izzard! *squees* ^_^

Re: it's a British thing!

[paddita.livejournal.com]

There is no limit to his genius, I'm afraid. :D

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

I don't know his work terribly well but I must say one of the funniest things I have ever heard is his rendition of the siren song:

'We've got a lovely island ... plenty of parking for ships!'

I had that stuck in my head once, for a whole day. Whispery falsetto voice and everything.

Re: it's a British thing!

[disneyboy.livejournal.com]

I also think it's hilarious that Worchestershire (where my sister really wanted to go to school) is pronounced "Wooster". Are the locals weird, or just lazy (like most Americans, with their penchant for shortcutting everything - "thru", the Acronym-ese spoken in forums like these, etc.)? As for saying "'erbs"...I may just be justifying my upbringing and habit, but you wouldn't pronounce the "h" in "honestly", right? Besides, when I hear something like "Hhherbal" remedies, I can't help thinking it sounds like something concocted by or for "Herb" (or Herbert, if you prefer) Same thing with "gathering Herbs", "grinding up Herbs", "Herbal Essence" (essence of 'Herb'?), etc. Which is rather amusing, so maybe the British way is better after all. :)

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

Once upon a time Vs were written as Us, so maybe lieutenant was a word that just didn't make the transition – was originally pronounced lievtenant but spelled lieutenant.

Of course, this is entirely conjecture, and completely ignores the fact that in French, 'lieu tenant' is literally 'place holding' and makes a little more sense ... and my brain is on weekend mode. :P

England

[ianfinerty.livejournal.com]

Yes we English are a funny breed. We pronounce lieutenant as leftenant.

"The English pronunciation was prevalent during the 14th and 15th centuries with the word being variously spelled as lieftenant, lyeftenant or luftenant. It may have originated from a mistaken reading of the 'u' as a 'v' (u and v originally were written as the same letter), with v eventually assimilating in voice to /f/. Some sources state that the original French word lieu had an alternative form spelt and pronounced lieuf, and that the modern standard English form retains the former spelling and the latter pronunciation."

And that is apparently why. So you're about right with the whole Frenchy-u/v-misreading thingy stuff.
P.S. We also pronounce the name Featherstone-Haugh like Fanshaw.

Re: England

[tannhaeuser.livejournal.com]

Re: England

[ianfinerty.livejournal.com]

We're also responsible for the phrase a flange of baboons. I felt it necessary that this was known.

Re: England

[naturalblue208.livejournal.com]

just had to butt in quickly with a cheer for Wodehouse!