{"id":2109,"date":"2020-11-17T07:00:06","date_gmt":"2020-11-17T13:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/?p=2109"},"modified":"2021-02-18T09:29:35","modified_gmt":"2021-02-18T15:29:35","slug":"thats-nyooz-to-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/pronunciation\/thats-nyooz-to-me\/","title":{"rendered":"That’s nyooz<\/em> to me"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pronunciation changes gradually through the years\u2014that\u2019s evolution, and nothing could be more natural.<\/p>\n

But nowadays, if an influential public figure goes on TV or the Internet and says a word wrong, millions of people hear it, and the mispronunciation may gain an undeserved legitimacy. That isn\u2019t evolution, it\u2019s weeds taking over a rose garden. Virtually overnight, a word\u2019s long-established pronunciation can be upended because some big shot misspoke. Examples of widespread mispronunciations for which we blame the media include alleged<\/em><\/a>, camaraderie<\/em><\/a>, controversial<\/em><\/a>, divisive<\/em><\/a>, homage<\/em><\/a> \u2026 we could go on.<\/p>\n

We recognize that with language the majority rules, but it\u2019s frustrating to realize that those who don\u2019t know or care much about words ultimately decide how they\u2019re spoken.<\/p>\n

So here is another installment in our series of pronunciation columns. (Note: capital letters denote a stressed syllable.)<\/p>\n

News<\/strong>\u00a0 Don\u2019t say nooze; it\u2019s nyooz (rhymes with fuse<\/em>).<\/p>\n

Era<\/strong>\u00a0 The er<\/em> should sound like ear<\/em>. Say EAR-a, not AIR-a.<\/p>\n

Dais<\/strong>\u00a0 It\u2019s a raised platform for speakers (the human kind). The right way to say it is DAY-iss, but you often hear DYE-iss.<\/p>\n

Dalai Lama<\/strong>\u00a0 DAH-lye LA-ma is the pronunciation unanimously accepted by our office dictionaries, which span the last seventy-five years. The ai<\/em> in Dalai<\/em> is pronounced like the first syllable in aisle<\/em> or the last syllable in samurai<\/em>. Avoid \u201cDolly Lama\u201d\u2014that second a\u00a0<\/em>in Dalai<\/em> was not just thrown in arbitrarily.<\/p>\n

Daiquiri<\/strong>\u00a0 More trouble with ai<\/em>. In the 1959 British film\u00a0Our Man in Havana <\/em>a character orders a DYKE-er-ee, and our 1966 Random House dictionary prefers that pronunciation. But for years now, Americans have said DACK-a-ree. Even so, the American Heritage online dictionary still lists DYKE-er-ee. Maybe the best bet is to order a mai tai.<\/p>\n

Guillotine<\/strong>\u00a0 Despite the oft-heard GEE-uh-teen, this word is traditionally pronounced GILL-uh-teen. In the early 19th century, Noah Webster\u2019s American Dictionary of the English Language<\/em> called for the l<\/em>\u2019s to be pronounced. Our 1941 Webster\u2019s New International Dictionary<\/em> also insists on saying the l<\/em>\u2019s. GEE-uh-teen as an alternative is a relatively recent trend.<\/p>\n

Electoral<\/strong>\u00a0 We\u2019re right in the middle of an important election season, and soon we\u2019ll be hearing semiliterate media types saying ee-lec-TOR-ul. Well, don\u2019t be like them. The word is properly pronounced with the emphasis on the second syllable. The 1999 Webster\u2019s New World<\/em> and the 2006 American Heritage<\/em> Dictionary of the English Language<\/em> list only ee-LEC-ter-ul. However, it is our sad duty to report that the latest edition of each now lists ee-lec-TOR-ul as an alternative. Why is something acceptable now if it wasn\u2019t all right ten years ago?<\/p>\n

The moral: When it comes to correct pronunciation, a new dictionary might not be the first place you want to look.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pronunciation changes gradually through the years\u2014that\u2019s evolution, and nothing could be more natural. But nowadays, if an influential public figure goes on TV or the Internet and says a word wrong, millions of people hear it, and the mispronunciation may gain an undeserved legitimacy. That isn\u2019t evolution, it\u2019s weeds taking over a rose garden. Virtually […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pronunciation"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2109"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2109"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2109\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}