= Сообщение: 5240 из 12549 ====================================== ENET.SYSOP = От : David Rance 2:203/2 20 Aug 17 23:36:41 Кому : Michiel van der Vlist 20 Aug 17 23:36:41 Тема : Swedish meatballs ... FGHI : area://ENET.SYSOP?msgid=2:203/2+599a00e8 На : area://ENET.SYSOP?msgid=2:280/5555+5999f014 = Кодировка сообщения определена как: CP437 ================================== Ответ: area://ENET.SYSOP?msgid=2:280/5555+599c0749 ============================================================================== On Sun, 20 Aug 2017 22:14:08 Michiel van der Vlist -> David Rance wrote:
MvdV> On Sunday August 20 2017 15:56, you wrote to me:
MvdV>>> Why does Ginger not rhime with singer?
DR>> Because singer comes from the verb sing. If it were from the verb DR>> singe then it would be pronounced as in ginger.
MvdV> That explains why singer is pronounced the way it is, it does not MvdV> explain why Ginger is not pronounced in rhime with singer. Or why MvdV> Ginger is not spelled Djindzjer.
Because we don't spell that way. Only the languages that don't have our soft "g" sound have to use "dj". And we don't have the soft "g" sound that there is in, say, French.
MvdV> And BTW would someone who singes be a singer, buit pronounced as sindzjer?
Yes.
MvdV>>> Why does Reading (the place) rhime with Redding? (as in Otis)
DR>> I had an uncle whose surname was Reading (pronounced Redding) and an DR>> aunt whose maiden name was Redding (pronounced Redding).
MvdV> These things baffle me. If it is pronounced Redding, why is it not MvdV> spelled redding?
It was at one time. But, as with a lot of words in English, the English tried to "posh them up" at bit. And so we have "humour" whereas the American have the original spelling of "humor". In the case of my uncle, it was a matter of how his forebears thought they ought to spell the name, and so some of them spelled it "Reading" and some "Redding". I found this out while researching my family tree.
MvdV>>> Why does Worchester rhime wit booster?
DR>> Worcester. And it doesn't quite rhyme with booster. The "u" sound is DR>> shorter, like u without an umlaut in German.
MvdV> The 'u' as in "Kurt" or as in "Burt"?
As in "Kurt".
MvdV>>> Why does Featherstonehaw rhime with Bernard Shaw?
DR>> Featherstonehaugh and it is pronounced Fanshaw.
MvdV> I know about Fenshaw. It was a gag in an episode of inspector Linley.
And it is the middle name of the eponymous character in P.G.Wodehouse's Ukridge - "Stanley Featherstonehaugh Ukridge - the man of many schemes."
DR>> And what about plough/Slough and tough/enough.
MvdV> Don't ask me... ;-(
DR>> And bow can be pronounced in two ways according to whether it's how to DR>> tie a knot or whether it's an acknowledgement.
MvdV> Things like that are very hard for non native speakers. Homographs are MvdV> very rare in most other languages.
You get a lot of homophones in French:
Ver (a worm), verre (a glass), and vert (green) Mer (the sea), mère (mother) and maire (a mayor) Poids (weight), pois (a pea or peas) and poix (tar).
I could go on.
David
-- David Rance writing from Caversham, Reading, UK
