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erastesI had sea bass for lunch. Everyone is always raving about sea bass. it’s on every single cooking show and people say how yum it is and it’s bloody expensive. But… I’m baffled at the attraction. It was just an oily version of cod that i could see. I mean, I know it’s “just fish” but I was expecting something a bit startling. Not just…. FISH. Anyone else get the Emperor’s New Clothes reaction from sea bass?
Also pronunciation gripe; How on earth can premiere and mirror rhyme in American-speak? Stop it Americans please or I’ll have to come and spank.
Amusing Spartacus Quote: “May the gods see you safely on the plane to Thrace. “ Well, not likely for another 2000 years… and then you’ll be lucky to be able to take off, what with volcanic eruptions an’ all…
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Date: 2010-04-18 08:30 pm (UTC)I also suspect some people will post voice versions of this travesty just to make *sure* you came over and paddled them really properly. With the Brit accent.
And some of them want a caning, too.
Just sayin'.
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Date: 2010-04-18 08:31 pm (UTC)??? How do you all pronounce premiere? I've always pronounced it "pre - mirror" and you all say it differently?
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Date: 2010-04-18 08:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-04-18 08:37 pm (UTC)ETA: Mirror has two syllables, but a lot of Americans don't seem capable of articulating them, and it comes out "meer." Just as "drawer" comes out "draw." Not even "drawr," which is generally how I say it -- just "The teaspoons are in the kitchen draw." ARGH!
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Date: 2010-04-18 08:41 pm (UTC)mirr-roar - not meeeer
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Date: 2010-04-18 08:42 pm (UTC)there's an advert on at the mo where you can win "tickets to the premeer of Toystory 3" and I want to kill the tv.
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Date: 2010-04-18 08:59 pm (UTC)Mirror = MEER-er, with the schwa sound in the second syllable. (If one were saying it slowly and loudly for someone who didn't get it the first time, then one would probably pronounce it MEER-or with the "o" sound obvious in the second syllable, but not in everyday, rapid speech.)
That's how I say them, at least, and everyone I know. I'm with Nagasvoice that having them rhyme must be a regionalism. [squint]
Angie
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Date: 2010-04-18 09:01 pm (UTC)LOL! We've obviously migrated a step farther away from the original French than you. [grin]
Angie
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Date: 2010-04-18 09:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-04-18 09:06 pm (UTC)Dim American French fail.
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Date: 2010-04-18 09:09 pm (UTC)I'm sorry...don't choke...
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Date: 2010-04-18 09:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-04-18 09:14 pm (UTC)it must be a hollywood thing
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Date: 2010-04-18 09:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-04-18 09:22 pm (UTC)*kicks the gottens*
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Date: 2010-04-18 09:22 pm (UTC)At least I'm not French!!!! They would be even crosser!
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Date: 2010-04-18 09:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-04-18 09:25 pm (UTC)"Premiere" is, obviously, a French word, and it sounds as though you pronounce it more along the lines of the original language. However, I've heard Brits talk about a "fillet" of fish, where I'd say filay, and a French persot would say fee-lay.
"Meer" for "mirrow" is what I think of as American slop-speak -- like "tempacher" for 'temperature,' where syllables get jammed together because no one teaches elocution. (I could have hugged Maya Angelou when I saw her in an interview during the 'ebonics' kerfuffle. She said, in that precise way of hers, "Black children do not need to learn Ebonics. They need to learn elocution and grammar."
US English has produced a couple of generations of young girls who all communicate in a sort of modified 'valley girl' slanguage. And some of these kids have grown up to be 'personalities' -- news readers, weather reporters, etc. The language is doomed, I tell you, doomed.
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Date: 2010-04-18 09:27 pm (UTC)And, this American does not hear how premiere can rhyme with mirror. I stood here, frowning at the screen and trying the various possibile pronunciations. It took me a moment to figure it out. So I guess that means I don't get to get spanked.
;-)
y
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Date: 2010-04-18 09:33 pm (UTC)We only say "fillet of fish" because that's a Macdonalds product, btw - and fillet would be pronounced in the correct manner if i were to order it in the fishmongers. Of course we revert to class - and dialects here. Some working class people say "hospickle" and "vegtable" and "pleece" But I speak the Queen's English, so "nugget" for "nougat" and that kind of thing has irritated me since i was a child. I'm sure people would like to smack my middle-class arse, too.
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Date: 2010-04-18 09:34 pm (UTC)No spanking for you! But then you wear a cassock and so I'm not surprised.
How on earth can premiere and mirror rhyme in American-speak?
Date: 2010-04-18 09:40 pm (UTC)BTW, to paraphrase my favorite saying: Never spank an American. It's a waste of time, and it annoys the American.
Re: How on earth can premiere and mirror rhyme in American-speak?
Date: 2010-04-18 09:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-04-18 09:57 pm (UTC)Mirror would be "MEER-r."
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Date: 2010-04-18 09:57 pm (UTC)I'm afraid I correct my kids when they 'open a draw'. It's a fecking drawer.
I will never go to a premeer, nor will ever bother with sea bass again. One mouthful was enough, I'm sticking to lobster.
Re: How on earth can premiere and mirror rhyme in American-speak?
Date: 2010-04-18 09:58 pm (UTC)I thought you were referring to poetry and such, though, mind you, nothing would surprise me anymore.
The language is crumbling all around us.
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Date: 2010-04-18 10:31 pm (UTC)Don't kick the gottens, we got them from you!
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Date: 2010-04-18 10:36 pm (UTC)Re: How on earth can premiere and mirror rhyme in American-speak?
Date: 2010-04-18 11:08 pm (UTC)FTW!!!!
Re: How on earth can premiere and mirror rhyme in American-speak?
Date: 2010-04-19 12:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-04-19 12:11 am (UTC)I rhyme them. :D?
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Date: 2010-04-19 12:27 am (UTC)Clearer Mirror, perhaps.
Re: How on earth can premiere and mirror rhyme in American-speak?
Date: 2010-04-19 12:41 am (UTC)Re: How on earth can premiere and mirror rhyme in American-speak?
Date: 2010-04-19 01:13 am (UTC)There is a version of American English that is striven for by announcers, actors, TV news persons, etc. that is considered to be a kind of "golden mean", largely "accent-less" pronunciation. Rather an American version of The Queen's English. As a classical singer, *that* was drilled into me and now heavily colors how I hear my own language being spoken by others.
While I am not naive enough to think that that would be realistic for the average American, I do believe that not nearly enough emphasis is being placed as of late on teaching our children a good command of the basics as outlined in my first paragraph.
I do hope that I have explained well enough that at least some of the above makes sense, as I am extremely tired at the present moment. And, of course, all *is* just my humble opinion.
Re: How on earth can premiere and mirror rhyme in American-speak?
Date: 2010-04-19 01:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-04-19 01:41 am (UTC)If I say it really, really wrong do you PROMISE to come over and spank me? ;p
*hmmmm- thinks up some really bad pronunciations to add into a voice post...
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Date: 2010-04-19 01:43 am (UTC)Re: How on earth can premiere and mirror rhyme in American-speak?
Date: 2010-04-19 02:18 am (UTC)To once more reference my years as a classical singer, I relished the opportunities presented to sing in a variety of foreign languages. Things being what they are, my emphasis had to be on "perfecting" pronunciation and emphasis, so as to present as native a delivery as is possible for a non-native.
When singing in English, the decision had to be made as to when (and when not) any sort of regional (or national) pronunciation would be appropriate to the material.
Anyway, I'm rambling. Nice chatting with you. :)
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Date: 2010-04-19 02:21 am (UTC)Re: How on earth can premiere and mirror rhyme in American-speak?
Date: 2010-04-19 03:23 am (UTC)Re: How on earth can premiere and mirror rhyme in American-speak?
Date: 2010-04-19 03:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-04-19 04:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-04-19 06:00 am (UTC)(but not the same as "arrrr" which needs a rolled "r" which I am rather pathetic at, even though I grew up in Wales)
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Date: 2010-04-19 12:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-04-19 01:17 pm (UTC)