Google Groups no longer supports new Usenet posts or subscriptions. Historical content remains viewable.
Dismiss

How to pronounce Herb?

17 views
Skip to first unread message

Geeta Bharathan

unread,
Jul 16, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/16/96
to

HH Struve (hhst...@aol.com) wrote:
:
: ke...@cybercash.com says about Martha Stewart
:
: > That doesn't bother me too much...what REALLY bugs me is the way she
: > says Herbs. With a big "H" sound. HHHHHHHHHHerbs. ack. :)
:
: I took a short and very elementary course about growing and using herbs in
: which we watched a video. There was a section featuring Marcella Hazan and
: her cooking school which was the best thing in the course. Anyway, the
: narrator of the video I believe was British or Welsh? (the Richard Burton
: sound), and he pronounced herbs with the big "H" sound.

Of course, because that _is_ the way to say it!

--Geeta


HH Struve

unread,
Jul 16, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/16/96
to

ke...@cybercash.com says about Martha Stewart

> That doesn't bother me too much...what REALLY bugs me is the way she
> says Herbs. With a big "H" sound. HHHHHHHHHHerbs. ack. :)

I've noticed that too.

I took a short and very elementary course about growing and using herbs in
which we watched a video. There was a section featuring Marcella Hazan and
her cooking school which was the best thing in the course. Anyway, the
narrator of the video I believe was British or Welsh? (the Richard Burton
sound), and he pronounced herbs with the big "H" sound.

Hannah
hhst...@aol.com

Edwin Pawlowski

unread,
Jul 16, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/16/96
to

> : > That doesn't bother me too much...what REALLY bugs me is the way she


> : > says Herbs. With a big "H" sound. HHHHHHHHHHerbs. ack. :)
> :

> : I took a short and very elementary course about growing and using


herbs in
> : which we watched a video. There was a section featuring Marcella Hazan
and
> : her cooking school which was the best thing in the course. Anyway, the
> : narrator of the video I believe was British or Welsh? (the Richard
Burton
> : sound), and he pronounced herbs with the big "H" sound.
>

> Of course, because that _is_ the way to say it!
>
> --Geeta
>
>

According to my copy of "The American Heritage Dictionary" it can be
pronounced "urb" or "hurb".

They accept both.
--
Ed
e...@snet.net


Richard Koser

unread,
Jul 17, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/17/96
to

hhst...@aol.com (HH Struve) wrote:
>
>ke...@cybercash.com says about Martha Stewart
>
>> That doesn't bother me too much...what REALLY bugs me is the way she
>> says Herbs. With a big "H" sound. HHHHHHHHHHerbs. ack. :)
>
>I've noticed that too.
>
>I took a short and very elementary course about growing and using herbs in
>which we watched a video. There was a section featuring Marcella Hazan and
>her cooking school which was the best thing in the course. Anyway, the
>narrator of the video I believe was British or Welsh? (the Richard Burton
>sound), and he pronounced herbs with the big "H" sound.
>
The folks at the local herb society call 'em *H*erbs, too.

-RK-


--
Richard Koser
Croton Falls, N.Y. USA
rko...@worldnet.att.net


Kimma Rock

unread,
Jul 17, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/17/96
to

In article <4sh4gt$r...@newsbf02.news.aol.com>, hhst...@aol.com (HH
Struve) wrote:

> ke...@cybercash.com says about Martha Stewart
>
> > That doesn't bother me too much...what REALLY bugs me is the way she
> > says Herbs. With a big "H" sound. HHHHHHHHHHerbs. ack. :)

Yes!!! This drives me nuts!!!!!
I watch the show when I can & read the magazine (which, as a graphic
artist, I like for its design) because she does have some good ideas.
BUT the woman herself annoys me to no end.
She grew up in Nutley, NJ, 2 towns over from where *I* grew up, and where
"herbs" is pronounced "erbs". I know that it is pronounced with the "H" in
England. *Every* time I hear her say it, I yell at the TV, "Come off it,
Martha-you're from *Nutley*, for Christ's sake!" She's just being
affected-like when she throws around all those French names for things.
Makes me wanna vomit.

Kimma

Sue M. Ford

unread,
Jul 17, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/17/96
to

On Jul 17, 1996 14:22:46 in article <Re: How to pronounce Herb?>,
'edr...@halcyon.com (Ed Rich)' wrote:

>This thread reminds me of several other pronunciations that suffer
>several interpretations'
>
>A. Creek: East of the Rockies the unlettered call it creek (rhymes
>with peek. We in the west call it Creek but it rhymes with sick,
>pick, crick.

Not everywhere in the East. Where I grew up it was split probably 50:50.
The West Canada Creek is a "crick" to me (don't ask me why it's "west" when
it's in the east).

>b. Easterners call a rodeo a ro-DAY-oh. God that is awful.
>Westerners call it a ro=DEE -oh (one exception here, the shopping
>center in Hollywood is properly pronounced ro-DAY-oh drive) but people
>who frequent rfc are not apt to be shopping there anyway. ( Very ritzy
>place.)..

No way. I've never heard anyone say ro-DAY-oh (except on TV when they
speak of that drive in Hollywood). We do say RO-dee-oh

--
Sue (tm)
Lead me not into temptation.... I can find it myself!

Nancy Dooley

unread,
Jul 17, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/17/96
to

In article <Duo7M...@ridgecrest.ca.us> Mary Ash <sm...@owens.ridgecrest.ca.us> writes:
>From: Mary Ash <sm...@owens.ridgecrest.ca.us>
>Subject: Re: How to pronounce Herb?
>Date: Wed, 17 Jul 1996 04:40:09 GMT


>If you are British the "H" is said but if you are American then the "H"
>is silent. We say "erb" NOT "Herb" in the good, old USA.

>Mary

I daresay many people in the USA say "herb," whether or not they know it is
acceptable.


Nancy Dooley

"Celebrate our State." Iowa's Sesquicentennial year, 1846-1996.

OddlyEnuff

unread,
Jul 17, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/17/96
to

>>b. Easterners call a rodeo a ro-DAY-oh. God that is awful.
Westerners call it a ro=DEE -oh (one exception here, the shopping
cen<<

I beg to differ, we ( the cretin easterners) say the forma, not the
latta (:D )


Oddly...@aol.com
aka LJ Colten-Smith
"It's really all quite
beyond my control, you see"


Nancy Dooley

unread,
Jul 17, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/17/96
to

In article <marcella_trac...@marcella-tracy.taligent.com> marcell...@taligent.com (marcella tracy) writes:
>From: marcell...@taligent.com (marcella tracy)

>Subject: Re: How to pronounce Herb?
>Date: Wed, 17 Jul 1996 11:06:28 -0700

>In article <4sissh$e...@news.halcyon.com>, edr...@halcyon.com (Ed Rich)
>wrote:

>> This thread reminds me of several other pronunciations that suffer
>> several interpretations'
>>
>> A. Creek: East of the Rockies the unlettered call it creek (rhymes
>> with peek. We in the west call it Creek but it rhymes with sick,
>> pick, crick.

>Me thinks you are backwards here. I've never lived East of the rockies (
>ralised and lived in California and Colorado) and I've never heard anyone
>pronounce creek "crick" unless you count on "The Beverly Hillbillies"...and
>didn't they come from the east?

>marcella

Here in the mighty midwest (east of the Rockies), I say: crick for
creeeeeeek, ruf (rhymes with "wuff") for roof, r-ow-t for route, and
RO-dee-oh, and root is pronounced with with the same vowel sound as wuff.

Sam Waring

unread,
Jul 17, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/17/96
to

On 16 Jul 96 Mary Ash said this about that:

MA> If you are British the "H" is said but if you are American then the
MA> "H" is silent. We say "erb" NOT "Herb" in the good, old USA.

Do not! You say "yarb," of course! B-{>###


******************************************************************************
* Sam Waring * Disclaimer: The Infomail Asso- *
* Sam.W...@382-91-12.ima.infomail.com * ciation doesn't necessarily agree *
* war...@purch.ci.austin.tx.us * with my opinions and neither do I. *
******************************************************************************

... He thought he saw an buffalo, upon the mantelpiece....
--
|Fidonet: Sam Waring 1:382/91.12
|Internet: Sam.W...@382-91-12.ima.infomail.com
|
|Standard disclaimer: The views of this user are strictly their own.


N/V/S Fazakerley

unread,
Jul 17, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/17/96
to

Well, the confussion presumably comes of the French pronounciation, which is
with a silent H. There are other words in English which you can pronounce with a
silent H, like hotel and history. To me it sounds contrived, but then I am
Danish, so who am I to say.

Vibeke
--
-------...@argonet.co.uk---------------------------------------------------


Ed Rich

unread,
Jul 17, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/17/96
to

This thread reminds me of several other pronunciations that suffer
several interpretations'

A. Creek: East of the Rockies the unlettered call it creek (rhymes
with peek. We in the west call it Creek but it rhymes with sick,
pick, crick.

b. Easterners call a rodeo a ro-DAY-oh. God that is awful.
Westerners call it a ro=DEE -oh (one exception here, the shopping

center in Hollywood is properly pronounced ro-DAY-oh drive) but people
who frequent rfc are not apt to be shopping there anyway. ( Very ritzy
place.)..

c. You can raise the hackles of any good Oregonian by speaking of
Ore-E-gon when local usage dictates it be pronounced Ory-gone.
d. And for God sake don't call those things on the wings and
fuselages' of airplanes "Motors", they are ENGINES. I become visibly
agitated when I hear-" motors."
This concluded todays session of English 101


VPDavis

unread,
Jul 17, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/17/96
to

In article <internews...@argonet.co.uk>, N/V/S Fazakerley
<f...@argonet.co.uk> writes:

>There are other words in English which you can pronounce with a
>silent H, like hotel and history. To me it sounds contrived, but then I
am
>Danish, so who am I to say.
>
>

Otel and istory? To me they sound contrived, but then I'm dying of the
heat, so who am I to say.

Karen L Lingel

unread,
Jul 17, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/17/96
to

Wait! don't conclude yet! More lessons:
E. "a lot" is TWO WORDS, DAMMIT!
F. It's Ill-annoy, not Ill-a-noise.

-k-
--------------------------------------
Karen Lingel, Physicist and Penguinist


Blindeye

unread,
Jul 17, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/17/96
to

Sue M. Ford wrote:
>
> On Jul 17, 1996 14:22:46 in article <Re: How to pronounce Herb?>,

> 'edr...@halcyon.com (Ed Rich)' wrote:
>
> >This thread reminds me of several other pronunciations that suffer
> >several interpretations'
> >
> >A. Creek: East of the Rockies the unlettered call it creek (rhymes
> >with peek. We in the west call it Creek but it rhymes with sick,
> >pick, crick.
>
> Not everywhere in the East. Where I grew up it was split probably 50:50.
> The West Canada Creek is a "crick" to me (don't ask me why it's "west" when
> it's in the east).

I think it's <<West>> Canada Creek, because somewhere east of it, is <<EAST>> Canada
Creek. West Canada's got much better fishing in it though. Nice to see another
Central New Yorker who still admits to where they came from! I love it here in
Syracuse, and I say it's a "crick".


>
> >b. Easterners call a rodeo a ro-DAY-oh. God that is awful.
> >Westerners call it a ro=DEE -oh (one exception here, the shopping
> >center in Hollywood is properly pronounced ro-DAY-oh drive) but people
> >who frequent rfc are not apt to be shopping there anyway. ( Very ritzy
> >place.)..
>

> No way. I've never heard anyone say ro-DAY-oh (except on TV when they
> speak of that drive in Hollywood). We do say RO-dee-oh

Yep, I concur!

-Blindeye

marcella tracy

unread,
Jul 17, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/17/96
to

In article <4sissh$e...@news.halcyon.com>, edr...@halcyon.com (Ed Rich)
wrote:

> This thread reminds me of several other pronunciations that suffer
> several interpretations'
>
> A. Creek: East of the Rockies the unlettered call it creek (rhymes
> with peek. We in the west call it Creek but it rhymes with sick,
> pick, crick.

OddlyEnuff

unread,
Jul 17, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/17/96
to

>>Wait! don't conclude yet! More lessons:
E. "a lot" is TWO WORDS, DAMMIT!
F.<<

so is Damn it! :D

Mary Ash

unread,
Jul 17, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/17/96
to

edr...@halcyon.com (Ed Rich) wrote:
> This thread reminds me of several other pronunciations that suffer
>several interpretations'
>
>A. Creek: East of the Rockies the unlettered call it creek (rhymes
>with peek. We in the west call it Creek but it rhymes with sick,
>pick, crick.
>b. Easterners call a rodeo a ro-DAY-oh. God that is awful.
>Westerners call it a ro=DEE -oh (one exception here, the shopping
>center in Hollywood is properly pronounced ro-DAY-oh drive) but people
>who frequent rfc are not apt to be shopping there anyway. ( Very ritzy
>place.)..
>c. You can raise the hackles of any good Oregonian by speaking of
>Ore-E-gon when local usage dictates it be pronounced Ory-gone.
>d. And for God sake don't call those things on the wings and
>fuselages' of airplanes "Motors", they are ENGINES. I become visibly
>agitated when I hear-" motors."
>This concluded todays session of English 101

Well, Ed, having lived all over the US but born in Arizona I've found
different pronounciations for just about everything. Different meanings
too. Case in point, when I first moved to Virginia I was asked by a young
man to go out for a soda. Well I envisioned an ice cream soda not a Coke.
Where I was living in Arizona, a Coke meant soda pop and a soda was ice
cream and root beer for example. I ended up with a Coke at Burger Chef in
Virginia.

I've never used the term crick and I've always prounounced rodeo as
rodeeoh like they do in Phoenix. But I love the Black Hills Round Up in
Belle Fourche, South Dakota because a round up is a rodeo. Just an older
term that gets around how to pronounce rodeo.

As to airplanes I know there are engines on the wings and not motors.

Finally, as to herb I'm speaking about common usage. Most Americans say
"erb" not "Herb" I'm sure there are exceptions to everything.

And finally, in first grade I got in trouble with my teacher (Mrs.
Axelrod) because I said windoh (long o sound) rather than winder (er like
er in verse). So I've heard a lot of variations and so I guess it all
adds up to regional dialects and pronounciations. What do you think?

Mary
>

Kate Connally

unread,
Jul 17, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/17/96
to

Ed Rich wrote:
> A. Creek: East of the Rockies the unlettered call it creek (rhymes
> with peek. We in the west call it Creek but it rhymes with sick,
> pick, crick.

That, most certainly, is not true. Back east here we say crick.
(Unless you were just referring to people on the east slopes of the
Rockies. But in PA we say crick!)

> b. Easterners call a rodeo a ro-DAY-oh. God that is awful.

Again, not true. Maybe some Easterners do it, but certainly not
all or even most!

Kate

mid

unread,
Jul 18, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/18/96
to

Reminds me of the Car'ibbean, Car-ib'bean, Clem'atis, Clem-at'is
debate. Never to be resolved. mid.


Bob Brunjes

unread,
Jul 18, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/18/96
to

In article <4sissh$e...@news.halcyon.com>, edr...@halcyon.com (Ed Rich) says:
>
> This thread reminds me of several other pronunciations that suffer
>several interpretations'
>
>A. Creek: East of the Rockies the unlettered call it creek (rhymes
>with peek. We in the west call it Creek but it rhymes with sick,
>pick, crick.
>b. Easterners call a rodeo a ro-DAY-oh. God that is awful.
>Westerners call it a ro=DEE -oh (one exception here, the shopping
>center in Hollywood is properly pronounced ro-DAY-oh drive) but people
>who frequent rfc are not apt to be shopping there anyway. ( Very ritzy
>place.)..
>c. You can raise the hackles of any good Oregonian by speaking of
>Ore-E-gon when local usage dictates it be pronounced Ory-gone.

PLEASE Orry-gun or alternatively Orry-g'n, but _never_ anything
ending in "gone". It's a state, not a noble gas.

>d. And for God sake don't call those things on the wings and
>fuselages' of airplanes "Motors", they are ENGINES. I become visibly
>agitated when I hear-" motors."
>This concluded todays session of English 101
>

Bob Brunjes Asterisk
r...@oz.net Engineering
(360) 293-0620 Communication

Janet H.

unread,
Jul 18, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/18/96
to

> : > That doesn't bother me too much...what REALLY bugs me is the way she


> : > says Herbs. With a big "H" sound. HHHHHHHHHHerbs. ack. :)

> :
> : I took a short and very elementary course about growing and using


herbs in
> : which we watched a video. There was a section featuring Marcella Hazan
and
> : her cooking school which was the best thing in the course. Anyway, the
> : narrator of the video I believe was British or Welsh? (the Richard
Burton
> : sound), and he pronounced herbs with the big "H" sound.
>

> Of course, because that _is_ the way to say it!
>
> --Geeta
>
>

According to my copy of "The American Heritage Dictionary" it can be
pronounced "urb" or "hurb".

I asked my English officemate whether she thought it was funny
that Americans say "erb", and she says she thinks it's
hilarious. She also said that she would have shortened
my Uncle Herb's name to "Bert".

Janet H.

Sue M. Ford

unread,
Jul 18, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/18/96
to

On Jul 18, 1996 10:19:21 in article <Re: How to pronounce Herb?>,
'lu...@melbpc.org.au (Lucy Hamilton)' wrote:

>We pretty much all do in England, Australia and, I think, New Zealand;
>believe me - you sound just as funny to us in dropping the "h". :-)
>
>Lucy Hamilton
>lu...@melbpc.org.au

I don't think it's so much whether anyone pronounces it with an "h" as much
as it seems to be an affectation for an American to do so. Like saying
"tomahto." Wouldn't you think it odd to hear an Australian say "'erb" even
if it is correct?

Ed Rich

unread,
Jul 18, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/18/96
to

I

>PLEASE Orry-gun or alternatively Orry-g'n, but _never_ anything
>ending in "gone". It's a state, not a noble gas.

>Yes you are absolutely right. As soon as I hit the "post" button I realized
my error and have spent a very sleepless night worrying about it. I deserve to
be thrashed with a strand of long spaghetti-al dente. It is ORY-GUN.
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
Moosemeat:
If you think the creator didn't have a sense
of humor look at the person next to you.,








PENMART

unread,
Jul 18, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/18/96
to

In article <4sj0uu$2...@lnsnews.lns.cornell.edu>,

k...@lns598.lns.cornell.edu (Karen L Lingel) writes:

>
>Wait! don't conclude yet! More lessons:
> E. "a lot" is TWO WORDS, DAMMIT!

> F. It's Ill-annoy, not Ill-a-noise.
>
>-k-
>--------------------------------------
>Karen Lingel, Physicist and Penguinist
>

It's DAMN IT, darn it!

Sheldon ( That's my forte. Say fort! )

PENMART

unread,
Jul 18, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/18/96
to

In article <4sj7rq$n...@newsbf02.news.aol.com>, vpd...@aol.com (VPDavis)
writes:

>
>Otel and istory? To me they sound contrived, but then I'm dying of the
>heat, so who am I to say.
>
>

I see you pronounce your aitches, or you would have said 'eat'! :-)

Sheldon

tam...@aloha.net

unread,
Jul 18, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/18/96
to

Ed Rich wrote:

very good stuff. . .

but. . .

> b. Easterners call a rodeo a ro-DAY-oh. God that is awful.
> Westerners call it a ro=DEE -oh (one exception here, the shopping
> center in Hollywood is properly pronounced ro-DAY-oh drive) but people
> who frequent rfc are not apt to be shopping there anyway. ( Very ritzy
> place.)..

Beverly Hills, not Hollywood. Beverly Hills. "90210" (and 90212, as well)

> This concluded todays session of English 101

Geography (and postal codes), as well!

Claudia

PENMART

unread,
Jul 18, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/18/96
to

In article <4sissh$e...@news.halcyon.com>, edr...@halcyon.com (Ed Rich)
writes:

>
> This thread reminds me of several other pronunciations that suffer
>several interpretations'
>
>A. Creek: East of the Rockies the unlettered call it creek (rhymes
>with peek. We in the west call it Creek but it rhymes with sick,
>pick, crick.

>b. Easterners call a rodeo a ro-DAY-oh. God that is awful.
>Westerners call it a ro=DEE -oh (one exception here, the shopping
>center in Hollywood is properly pronounced ro-DAY-oh drive) but people
>who frequent rfc are not apt to be shopping there anyway. ( Very ritzy
>place.)..

>c. You can raise the hackles of any good Oregonian by speaking of
>Ore-E-gon when local usage dictates it be pronounced Ory-gone.

>d. And for God sake don't call those things on the wings and
>fuselages' of airplanes "Motors", they are ENGINES. I become visibly
>agitated when I hear-" motors."

>This concluded todays session of English 101
>
>

This CONCLUDES today's session of English 101!

Sheldon

Ed Rich

unread,
Jul 18, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/18/96
to

In

>Ed Rich wrote:
>
>very good stuff. . .

>but. . .

>> b. Easterners call a rodeo a ro-DAY-oh. God that is awful.


>> Westerners call it a ro=DEE -oh (one exception here, the shopping
>> center in Hollywood is properly pronounced ro-DAY-oh drive) but people
>> who frequent rfc are not apt to be shopping there anyway. ( Very ritzy
>> place.)..

> Beverly Hills, not Hollywood. Beverly Hills. "90210" (and 90212, as well)

>> This concluded todays session of English 101

> Geography (and postal codes), as well!

>Claudia.
..............................................................................

A pox on you Claudia, Beverly Hills or Hollywood- it's all the same to me.
Weird people, weird places, weird carryings-on. But I suppose that
techically you are correct. God, how I hate this.

Jan Penovich

unread,
Jul 18, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/18/96
to

nancy-...@uiowa.edu (Nancy Dooley) writes:

>>Subject: Re: How to pronounce Herb?

>>Date: Wed, 17 Jul 1996 04:40:09 GMT


>>If you are British the "H" is said but if you are American then the "H"

>>is silent. We say "erb" NOT "Herb" in the good, old USA.

>>Mary

>I daresay many people in the USA say "herb," whether or not they know it is
>acceptable.

That might be true, but I bet they're usually talking to a
man whose full name is Herbert. :-)

jan
--
********************************************************************
TTFN, * jpen...@encore.com (my opinions are my own
jan penovich * Encore Computer Corp. not my employer's)
*********************************************************************

Jan Penovich

unread,
Jul 18, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/18/96
to

k...@lns598.lns.cornell.edu (Karen L Lingel) writes:


>Wait! don't conclude yet! More lessons:
> E. "a lot" is TWO WORDS, DAMMIT!
> F. It's Ill-annoy, not Ill-a-noise.


It's also all right not alright.
Height is pronounced hite not hithe.

And, BTW, it's damn it not dammit. :-)

Jan Penovich

unread,
Jul 18, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/18/96
to

Kate Connally <conn...@physast1.phyast.pitt.edu> writes:

>Ed Rich wrote:
>> A. Creek: East of the Rockies the unlettered call it creek (rhymes
>> with peek. We in the west call it Creek but it rhymes with sick,
>> pick, crick.

>That, most certainly, is not true. Back east here we say crick.


>(Unless you were just referring to people on the east slopes of the
>Rockies. But in PA we say crick!)

Well I've lived my whole life on the east coast, and never
said Crick unless I was talking about a crick in my neck. :-)

>> b. Easterners call a rodeo a ro-DAY-oh. God that is awful.

>Again, not true. Maybe some Easterners do it, but certainly not
>all or even most!

Never pronounced it ro-DAY-oh, nor do any of my friends.
Except for Rodeo Drive in California.

As for herb, always pronounce it urb (as is the first
choice in the American Heritage Dictionary).

Lisa Olson

unread,
Jul 18, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/18/96
to

I've got another one ..

"expresso" instead of "espresso"


Lisa


Lucy Hamilton

unread,
Jul 18, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/18/96
to

hhst...@aol.com (HH Struve) wrote:


>ke...@cybercash.com says about Martha Stewart

>> That doesn't bother me too much...what REALLY bugs me is the way she
>> says Herbs. With a big "H" sound. HHHHHHHHHHerbs. ack. :)

British or Welsh? (the Richard Burton


>sound), and he pronounced herbs with the big "H" sound.

>Hannah
>hhst...@aol.com

Jennifer Boggess

unread,
Jul 19, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/19/96
to

In article <4sissh$e...@news.halcyon.com>, edr...@halcyon.com (Ed Rich) wrote:

> This thread reminds me of several other pronunciations that suffer
> several interpretations'
>

> A. Creek: East of the Rockies the unlettered call it creek (rhymes
> with peek. We in the west call it Creek but it rhymes with sick,
> pick, crick.

Ah'm in good ol' Texas, East of the Rockies but West of the Miss'ssip',
and here most people say crick (Ah don't, but Momma was born in New York
an' Ah learned the word from her).

> b. Easterners call a rodeo a ro-DAY-oh. God that is awful.

> Westerners call it a ro=DEE -oh (one exception here, the shopping
> center in Hollywood is properly pronounced ro-DAY-oh drive) but people
> who frequent rfc are not apt to be shopping there anyway. ( Very ritzy
> place.)..

In Texas it's RO-dee-oh in all uses. Allatime.

The one that gets me is people who say y'all when they're talkin' to one
person. It's the second person plural, dammit! (Yankees usually make
that mistake when they try to use the word, poor things, but everyone I've
ever met from Kentucky uses it that way too.)

--
- Boggles, aka Jennifer Boggess bog...@io.com
omo...@brewich.com
"I'm the one you're looking for; lay your burden down"
- Beans Barton

Noman

unread,
Jul 19, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/19/96
to

>b. Easterners call a rodeo a ro-DAY-oh. God that is awful.
>Westerners call it a ro=DEE -oh (one exception here, the shopping
>center in Hollywood is properly pronounced ro-DAY-oh drive) but people
>who frequent rfc are not apt to be shopping there anyway. ( Very ritzy
>place.)..

I'm from Nova Scotia (pretty far east...not China, but...) and I've
always said ro-dee-oh

what bugs be is the roof thing...we pronounce it roof, not ruf...
*shiver*
--
and the last letter of the alphabet is zed!
(boy are our kids going to be screwed up...my husband wasraised in
Tennessee, where a roof is a ruff, and the alphabet ends in zee...
********************************Holly***********************************
"La La La Linoleum" Bert
````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````

"Oh Boy" Dr. Sam Beckett
````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
"Show business is full of actors, singers, dancers, and models. Then
there's me-actor, singer, dancer, model...Canadian" Buddy Cole
````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
"This is not one of your standard brands" nez


James Harvey

unread,
Jul 19, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/19/96
to

In article <Duo7M...@ridgecrest.ca.us>, Mary Ash <sm...@owens.ridgecrest.ca.us> writes:
[snip]

>
> If you are British the "H" is said but if you are American then the "H"
> is silent. We say "erb" NOT "Herb" in the good, old USA.

Unless your name is Julia Child. She uses what you call the British
pronunciation. Both pronunciations are used in the U.S., although non-silent
"H" is less common -- at least, that what my online Webster's says...
--
James Harvey har...@iupui.edu Disclaimer: My opinions; I don't speak for IU.

VPDavis

unread,
Jul 19, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/19/96
to

My parents, from Texas, always put an R in wash, i.e. we worshed things to
get them clean and the capitol was Worshington, DC.

Joel Ehrlich

unread,
Jul 19, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/19/96
to

Mary Ash wrote about How to pronounce Herb?
on 16 Jul 96 21:40:09 saying...

MA> hhst...@aol.com (HH Struve) wrote:
>
>ke...@cybercash.com says about Martha Stewart
>
>> That doesn't bother me too much...what REALLY bugs me is the way she
>> says Herbs. With a big "H" sound. HHHHHHHHHHerbs. ack. :)
>

>I've noticed that too.


>
>I took a short and very elementary course about growing and using herbs in
>which we watched a video. There was a section featuring Marcella Hazan and
>her cooking school which was the best thing in the course. Anyway, the

>narrator of the video I believe was British or Welsh? (the Richard Burton


>sound), and he pronounced herbs with the big "H" sound.
>
>Hannah
>hhst...@aol.com

MA> If you are British the "H" is said but if you are American then the
MA> "H" is silent. We say "erb" NOT "Herb" in the good, old USA.

MA> Mary

You mean you call Herbert "erb"?

Doesn't he object?

He should.

The point, of course, is that we, here in the good ol' USA, can be quite
inconsistent with our pronounciation.

Joel


Richard Sherratt

unread,
Jul 19, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/19/96
to

bog...@io.com (Jennifer Boggess) wrote:

>Ah'm in good ol' Texas, East of the Rockies but West of the Miss'ssip',
>and here most people say crick (Ah don't, but Momma was born in New York
>an' Ah learned the word from her).

>In Texas it's RO-dee-oh in all uses. Allatime.

>The one that gets me is people who say y'all when they're talkin' to one
>person. It's the second person plural, dammit! (Yankees usually make
>that mistake when they try to use the word, poor things, but everyone I've
>ever met from Kentucky uses it that way too.)

We had a visitor from the South not long ago who referred to a small
group of people as "y'all". A large group of people was "all y'all".
Kinda cute, really :-)

Regards,
Richard.


Lyndon Watson

unread,
Jul 19, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/19/96
to

In article <internews...@argonet.co.uk>, N/V/S Fazakerley
<f...@argonet.co.uk> writes:
> Well, the confussion presumably comes of the French pronounciation, which is
> with a silent H. There are other words in English which you can pronounce with a
> silent H, like hotel and history.

It's a matter of dialect again. There was a time in the 18th Century
or thereabouts that the initial "h" sound seemed to be disappearing from
"polite" English on both sides of the Atlantic - perhaps there was a
French influence, but it's usually attributed to the influence of the
London dialect (Cockney) which lost it long ago.

Then, in the late 19th and the early 20th Century, for some reason,
dropping the initial "h" became a mark of social inferiority in England
(I would guess that it was a matter of snobbery and pejudice against
Cockney) and it has since almost completely returned in British English,
but much less so in the U.S.

Oddly enough (g'day, LJ), saying "an hotel" as if the "h" were still
dropped is a mark of a sort of old-fashioned gentility here, but you
would risk being thought precious if you said it before the age of
about 70.

To me it sounds contrived, but then I am
> Danish, so who am I to say.

If you can actually say anything in Danish without doing yourself an
injury, you have my admiration.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lyndon Watson L.Wa...@csc.canterbury.ac.nz
------------------------------------------------------------------------

whose great-grandmother came from Yding, near Skanderborg.


N/V/S Fazakerley

unread,
Jul 19, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/19/96
to

As far as I know it was during the Regency that it became fashionable to put in
the H. I don't think it was a prejudice directed against the Cockney, they were
pretty harmless. It was much more directed at rich Nonconformisth of the
industrail North, who were hugely successful and who were resented in London
society for their riches.

In Denmark dialects have not been the subject of prejudice for at least 150. In
fact as Denmark shrank due to the aggressive nature of her neighbours there was
a Danish vicar who coined the phrase:" What was outwardly lost, shall be
inwardly gained." Which meant that EVERY aspect of Danish cultural life was
taken up and retold and reused in any way possible to keep up the people's
morale. You will find that Danes are almost tribal in their approach to their
cultural heritage including language. The Danish word for herb is not based on
French so there is no debate about how to pronounce it. Many Scandinavian words
have no background in Latin, Greek or French, it has its own distinctive
language group.

Vibeke


--
-------...@argonet.co.uk---------------------------------------------------


Mary Ash

unread,
Jul 19, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/19/96
to

pen...@aol.com (PENMART) wrote:
snippity snip...

>
>Sheldon ( That's my forte. Say fort!
........................................................................

There are two pronounciations for forte, according to my well used Random
House Dictionary:

1) Forte - pronounced fort, like in an army fort. This pronounciation
means to excel in something

2) Forte - prounounced, like fortay (long a sound) used in music. Forte
is an adjective meaning loud.

Mary

Sue M. Ford

unread,
Jul 19, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/19/96
to

On Jul 19, 1996 01:33:18 in article <Re: How to pronounce Herb?>,

'bog...@io.com (Jennifer Boggess)' wrote:

>The one that gets me is people who say y'all when they're talkin' to one
>person. It's the second person plural, dammit! (Yankees usually make
>that mistake when they try to use the word, poor things, but everyone I've

>ever met from Kentucky uses it that way too.)

Same problem with incorrect usage of "youse," as in "youse guys."

Noman

unread,
Jul 19, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/19/96
to

>
>We pretty much all do in England, Australia and, I think, New Zealand;
>believe me - you sound just as funny to us in dropping the "h". :-)
>
>Lucy Hamilton
>lu...@melbpc.org.au

How do the cockneys pronounce it? ;)
--

Joan Ellis

unread,
Jul 20, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/20/96
to

oddly...@aol.com (OddlyEnuff) wrote:

>>>Wait! don't conclude yet! More lessons:
> E. "a lot" is TWO WORDS, DAMMIT!
> F.<<

>so is Damn it! :D
>Oddly...@aol.com

"Dammit" is one word. "Damn it" is two.

And furthermore: "it's" means it is. "Its" means belonging to it.

Don't get me started on "their", "there" and "they're".

Joan

Mary Elizabeth

unread,
Jul 20, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/20/96
to

Sue M. Ford wrote:
>
> On Jul 17, 1996 14:22:46 in article <Re: How to pronounce Herb?>,

> 'edr...@halcyon.com (Ed Rich)' wrote:
>
> >This thread reminds me of several other pronunciations that suffer
> >several interpretations'
> >
> >A. Creek: East of the Rockies the unlettered call it creek (rhymes
> >with peek. We in the west call it Creek but it rhymes with sick,
> >pick, crick.
>
> Not everywhere in the East. Where I grew up it was split probably 50:50.
> The West Canada Creek is a "crick" to me (don't ask me why it's "west" when
> it's in the east).

Well, I come from central Illinois, & I certainly heard enough people
say "crick" when I was growing up. It wasn't considered a regional
pronunciation; it was something we were corrected for saying by
college-educated parents (whose farming relatives stuck with "crick".)
I don't think it's a regionalism.

>
> >b. Easterners call a rodeo a ro-DAY-oh. God that is awful.
> >Westerners call it a ro=DEE -oh (one exception here, the shopping
> >center in Hollywood is properly pronounced ro-DAY-oh drive) but people
> >who frequent rfc are not apt to be shopping there anyway. ( Very ritzy
> >place.)..
>

> No way. I've never heard anyone say ro-DAY-oh (except on TV when they
> speak of that drive in Hollywood). We do say RO-dee-oh
>

Right you are, Sue! This bit of misinformation reminds me of living in
the UK during the Los Angeles Olympics. Used to drive me nuts to hear
the Brit reporters call it "Los An-juh-leez".

MEB

sgf

unread,
Jul 20, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/20/96
to

In article <4skhpb$c...@news.oz.net>, Bob Brunjes <r...@oz.net> wrote:

[regarding the pronunciation of "Oregon"]

>PLEASE Orry-gun or alternatively Orry-g'n, but _never_ anything
>ending in "gone". It's a state, not a noble gas.

Reminds me of an NPR economics show I was listening to 2 or so years
ago: a listener had written in to complain about the announcer's
pronunciation of "Oregon". The announcer read the letter, apologized,
then promised from then on to use the present tense of the state.

(I lived in San Antonio, TX for 6 years -- you could always tell a non-SA
person, because a "real" resident would *never* call it "San Antone.")

--Stephanie
--
sfo...@odin.cair.du.edu <*> http://phoebe.cair.du.edu/~sfolse/
"Assiduous and frequent questioning is indeed the first key to wisdom ...for
by doubting we come to inquiry; through inquiring we perceive the truth..."
--Peter Abelard (..........I claim this .sig for Queen Elizabeth)

Mary Ash

unread,
Jul 20, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/20/96
to

Joel.E...@salata.com (Joel Ehrlich) wrote:
>
>Mary Ash wrote about How to pronounce Herb?
>on 16 Jul 96 21:40:09 saying...
>
> MA> hhst...@aol.com (HH Struve) wrote:
> >
> >ke...@cybercash.com says about Martha Stewart
> >

>


>The point, of course, is that we, here in the good ol' USA, can be quite
>inconsistent with our pronounciation.
>
>Joel

Thank you Joel. In a later post I went onto state that I was speaking
generalities not in specifics when pronouncing the word herb. I should
know better after being married to an engineer for 16 years, there is
nothing general when discussing a topic with an engineer! 8-)

Mary
>


sgf

unread,
Jul 20, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/20/96
to

>In article <marcella_trac...@marcella-tracy.taligent.com> marcell...@taligent.com (marcella tracy) writes:
>>From: marcell...@taligent.com (marcella tracy)

>>Subject: Re: How to pronounce Herb?
>>Date: Wed, 17 Jul 1996 11:06:28 -0700
>>In article <4sissh$e...@news.halcyon.com>, edr...@halcyon.com (Ed Rich)

>>wrote:
>>> This thread reminds me of several other pronunciations that suffer
>>> several interpretations'
>>>
>>> A. Creek: East of the Rockies the unlettered call it creek (rhymes
>>> with peek. We in the west call it Creek but it rhymes with sick,
>>> pick, crick.
>>Me thinks you are backwards here. I've never lived East of the rockies (
>>ralised and lived in California and Colorado) and I've never heard anyone
>>pronounce creek "crick" unless you count on "The Beverly Hillbillies"...and
>>didn't they come from the east?

I grew up in Texas, and whether you pronounce "creek" as "creeeeeek" or
"crick" depends a lot on your, um, economic circumstances (if you know
what I mean) and whether you live out in the boondocks or in town. Age
has something to do with it too in my experience, people my parents' age
and older saying "crick" more than people my age.

--Stephanie

ObFood: one of my fellow anthropology students did a study on the
culture of bars and learned as a sidebar to her research that the
pronunciation of "Coors" varied depending on how prosperous the community
was. Most prosperous: "Cooooors" Middling: "Cors" Least: "Curs"

Joel Ehrlich

unread,
Jul 20, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/20/96
to

mid wrote about How to pronounce Herb?
on 17 Jul 96 21:27:31 saying...

mi> Reminds me of the Car'ibbean, Car-ib'bean, Clem'atis, Clem-at'is
mi> debate. Never to be resolved. mid.

Why not just ask him (Herb)?

After all, he's gone through his whole life with the name. He should
know how it should be pronounced by this time.

Joel


PENMART

unread,
Jul 21, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/21/96
to

In article <4sphrg$r...@hermes.cair.du.edu>, sfo...@odin.cair.du.edu (sgf)
writes:

>-Stephanie
>
>ObFood: one of my fellow anthropology students did a study on the
>culture of bars and learned as a sidebar to her research that the
>pronunciation of "Coors" varied depending on how prosperous the community

>was. Most prosperous: "Cooooors" Middling: "Cors" Least: "Curs"

Stephanie,

I'm familiar with a lot of legal terminology, but what is a Coors? And,
if the judge orders Coors in the courtroom, is that good, or bad for the
defendant?

I rest my case.

Sheldon (he's amazing )

Mary Elizabeth

unread,
Jul 21, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/21/96
to

Mark J. Cintala wrote:
>
> Geez. This *is* a neat thread.

<snip>

> I once decided to go through the entire "h" section of my Webster's
> New World Dictionary to see how many words there really are in the
> (American version of the) English language that are intended to begin
> with a silent "h." Admittedly, I was getting a little punchy near the
> end, there, but I found a grand total of zero. This was done in
> response to hearing "erb" earlier in the day, and then being reminded
> by one of the Rockets' broadcasters, who insists on calling them the
> "Yuston Rockets," talking about the characteristically high "yumidity"
> outside the Summit, and proclaiming what a great "yuman being" Hakeem
> Olajuwan is. (And yes, he used to be "Akeem" until he gently but
> impressively corrected the PR department, as I heard it told.)
>

A British journalist mentioned this in a humorous aside a while back,
after hearing a Texan talk about the Houston Symphony..."Wow. I'd been
to Euston lots of times but didn't realize there was room in that tube
stop"--read subway station--"for a whole symphony orchestra." It can't
have been a particularly "yuge" one.

MEB

PENMART

unread,
Jul 21, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/21/96
to

In article <4spmaf$g...@dfw-ixnews10.ix.netcom.com>, jo...@ix.netcom.com
(Joan Ellis) writes:

Don't get you started on 'their', 'there', and 'they're', that would be
rich, considering 'dammit' is NOT a word in the English language. This
cooking business is a riot run amok! ( amuk is a variant of amuck,
therefore, one may consider this about food in some abstract sense )
Besides, frankly Joan, I don't give a damn! Out damn spot, out! An Im
outta ere.

Mary Ash

unread,
Jul 21, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/21/96
to

har...@indyvax.iupui.edu (James Harvey) wrote:
>In article <Duo7M...@ridgecrest.ca.us>, Mary Ash <sm...@owens.ridgecrest.ca.us> writes:
> [snip]
>>
>> If you are British the "H" is said but if you are American then the "H"

>> is silent. We say "erb" NOT "Herb" in the good, old USA.
>
>Unless your name is Julia Child. She uses what you call the British
>pronunciation. Both pronunciations are used in the U.S., although non-silent
>"H" is less common -- at least, that what my online Webster's says...
>--
>James Harvey har...@iupui.edu Disclaimer: My opinions; I don't speak for IU.

************************************************************************

And, yes, if you read my later article on this subject I stated the
above. I was writing in general not specific terms when discussing how to
pronounce herb.

Most people in the US say "erb" making the h silent. Not all but most.
Either way is technically correct but again I was writing in general
terms.

Now would you like to join me in writing about how to pronounce forte
correctly?

Mary


Mark J. Cintala

unread,
Jul 21, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/21/96
to

Geez. This *is* a neat thread.

I'm from PA, now living in TX. I know you wonderful RFC folks will
find it in your hearts to forgive me if I'm kind of immune to some
stuff involving pronunciation. I won't get started on the Texas
dialect, but I will deposit these as I go:
UMbrella, INsurance, tenny runners (if you don't know what they are, I
can't say I blame you -- I was agog when I found out, myself). And,
of course, there's CoCola, ballpoint pins, and other things that leave
me embarrassed during conversations and asking quietly for
translations. But then I've found myself saying "y'all" when I go
home for Christmas. Blank stares returned. Blank stare reflected,
and suddenly I realized that I'd been coopted.

Anyway, where I come from in PA, we say "crick." We say "ROdeeoh;"
"Oregon," as far as I can remember, isn't pronounced the same way by
everybody; and airplanes have engines. Motors are reserved for things
like washing machines and solid-rocket boosters. (We also say
"youze," as an obvious home-grown version of "y'all.")

I once decided to go through the entire "h" section of my Webster's
New World Dictionary to see how many words there really are in the
(American version of the) English language that are intended to begin
with a silent "h." Admittedly, I was getting a little punchy near the
end, there, but I found a grand total of zero. This was done in
response to hearing "erb" earlier in the day, and then being reminded
by one of the Rockets' broadcasters, who insists on calling them the
"Yuston Rockets," talking about the characteristically high "yumidity"
outside the Summit, and proclaiming what a great "yuman being" Hakeem
Olajuwan is. (And yes, he used to be "Akeem" until he gently but
impressively corrected the PR department, as I heard it told.)

Please, no flames, especially from Texas -- I *love* this country!!!
If you *really* want to "hear" some strange things, I'd tell you about
some things I used to hear in Rhode Island, but this keyboard won't
let me transliterate effectively enough...

Mark


Mary Ash

unread,
Jul 21, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/21/96
to


Or two, to and too or I'll have to wear a tutu!

Mary


Martha McLemore

unread,
Jul 21, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/21/96
to

Once upon a time, MJCi...@iwl.net (Mark J. Cintala) wrote:
>....tenny runners (if you don't know what they are, I

>can't say I blame you -- I was agog when I found out, myself).

Ooo! Ooo! Mr. Cart-ter, I know...I know!

Tenny runners are sneakers are tennis shoes are deckers are
crepes are creepers...and the list goes on and on and on.
Martha
mo...@sun-link.com

Edwin Pawlowski

unread,
Jul 21, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/21/96
to

Dam,
You're leafing just then I'm getting their. This is alot of fun.
Who are this goy Herb anyways?

--
Ed
e...@snet.net


> >
> Don't get you started on 'their', 'there', and 'they're', that would be
> rich, considering 'dammit' is NOT a word in the English language. This
> cooking business is a riot run amok! ( amuk is a variant of amuck,
> therefore, one may consider this about food in some abstract sense )
> Besides, frankly Joan,

What did Frank do to Jone anyway?

PET

unread,
Jul 22, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/22/96
to

bog...@io.com (Jennifer Boggess) wrote:
>In article <4sissh$e...@news.halcyon.com>, edr...@halcyon.com (Ed Rich) wrote:
>
>> This thread reminds me of several other pronunciations that
>>suffer several interpretations'
>>
>> A. Creek: East of the Rockies the unlettered call it creek
>>(rhymes with peek. We in the west call it Creek but it rhymes
>>with sick, pick, crick.
>
>Ah'm in good ol' Texas, East of the Rockies but West of the
>Miss'ssip', and here most people say crick (Ah don't, but Momma
>was born in New York an' Ah learned the word from her).
>
>> b. Easterners call a rodeo a ro-DAY-oh. God that is awful.
>> Westerners call it a ro=DEE -oh (one exception here, the
>> shopping center in Hollywood is properly pronounced ro-DAY-oh
>> drive) but people who frequent rfc are not apt to be shopping
>> there anyway. ( Very ritzy place.)..
>
>In Texas it's RO-dee-oh in all uses. Allatime.
>
>The one that gets me is people who say y'all when they're
>talkin' to one person. It's the second person plural, dammit!
>(Yankees usually make that mistake when they try to use the
>word, poor things, but everyone I've ever met from Kentucky uses
>it that way too.)
>
>--
> - Boggles, aka Jennifer Boggess bog...@io.com
> omo...@brewich.com
> "I'm the one you're looking for; lay your burden down"
> - Beans Barton
--
That's because they are replacing the Yankee colloquialism
"youze" with the Southern "y'all." I'm not entirely certain, but
think that "youze" could be construed to be either first person
singular or second person plural, whereas "youze guys" is most
definitely the second person plural. Perhaps these people are
attempting to replace the greater "mankind" with "y'all."

What seems curious to me is my last name, "Thames." As
Americans, we pronounce the "h" in the word, starting it with the
"th" sound. In the past, my husband, Danny and I have received
some excellent restaurant seatings because "Danny Thomas" was
coming to dinner. We do frequently get queries as to
pronunciation, but the really worst is when you try to help
people spell it and state that it's spelled like the river. The
return response? . . ."What river"?

FOOD: Tried to make the "cooked" version of the key lime pie
yesterday, what I got was OK, but I was unable to get "key" lime
juice in my area of Houston, TX! I've purchased it bottled in
the past, but none of the local groceries seem to be carrying it
now.

Patti

--

[Standard Disclaimer: I only speak for myself.]

Veronica Sullivan

unread,
Jul 22, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/22/96
to

Oboy, pronounciation!
Wait; if "Thames" is spelled "like the river" is it also pronounced
like the river? But where the H did the "h" go? A helluva question.
Like an earlier poster, I get impatient sometimes and put yarbs in my
cookin. (Is it anal-retentive to put a hyphen in "cook-in"?)
I grew up in PA too, near Harrisburg, and creeks were creaks except for
one: The Crick, which flowed by us just down the block. I must've been
15 before it occurred to me that The Crick probably had a name, and so
it does: Spring Creek. (Boing!)
I find "y'all" entirely too useful and clarifying to relegate to a
regionalism. Y'all can't keep it all to y'allselves anymore. "Y'all"
for Standard English!
And Texasisms. Yow. I had a Texan housemate who had very little of the
accent left except for when she tartured the harses and went shopping
at Woolsworth's. Though I think she says "INsurance" too, etc.
("ETcet'ra"?) There seems to be a certain perverse pride in mangling
Spanish, especially in place names, in Texas and California, Loss
Anj'lus being one example; how did that pretty Spanish word for
"yellow" end up being "Aamurilluh" rhymes with "gorilla"?

obFood: Don't talk with your mouth full.

ron

Helen Godolphin

unread,
Jul 22, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/22/96
to

Geeta Bharathan (fzye...@boris.ucdavis.edu) wrote:

: HH Struve (hhst...@aol.com) wrote:
: :
: : ke...@cybercash.com says about Martha Stewart
: :
: : > That doesn't bother me too much...what REALLY bugs me is the way she

: : > says Herbs. With a big "H" sound. HHHHHHHHHHerbs. ack. :)
: :
: : I took a short and very elementary course about growing and using herbs in

: : which we watched a video. There was a section featuring Marcella Hazan and
: : her cooking school which was the best thing in the course. Anyway, the
: : narrator of the video I believe was British or Welsh? (the Richard Burton
: : sound), and he pronounced herbs with the big "H" sound.

: Of course, because that _is_ the way to say it!

: --Geeta

not up here! in Canada, we primarily say " 'erb"--the French influence
i've always assumed--
helen g.
vancouver bc
hgod...@unixg.ubc.ca

amanda toering

unread,
Jul 22, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/22/96
to

In article <APC&1'0'567974ab'5...@igc.apc.org>, ronsu...@igc.apc.org
says...
>

>I find "y'all" entirely too useful and clarifying to relegate to a
>regionalism. Y'all can't keep it all to y'allselves anymore. "Y'all"
>for Standard English!
>And Texasisms. Yow. I had a Texan housemate who had very little of the
>accent left except for when she tartured the harses and went shopping
>at Woolsworth's. Though I think she says "INsurance" too, etc.
>("ETcet'ra"?) There seems to be a certain perverse pride in mangling
>Spanish, especially in place names, in Texas and California, Loss
>Anj'lus being one example; how did that pretty Spanish word for
>"yellow" end up being "Aamurilluh" rhymes with "gorilla"?
>

I object. It's all true, but I still object.

>obFood: Don't talk with your mouth full.
>

Noft wall texthhans aruh hicksttthhh.

>ron

amanda


Brent Washington

unread,
Jul 22, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/22/96
to

Sue M. Ford wrote:
>
> On Jul 19, 1996 01:33:18 in article <Re: How to pronounce Herb?>,
> 'bog...@io.com (Jennifer Boggess)' wrote:
>
> >The one that gets me is people who say y'all when they're talkin' to one
> >person. It's the second person plural, dammit! (Yankees usually make
> >that mistake when they try to use the word, poor things, but everyone I've
>
> >ever met from Kentucky uses it that way too.)
>
> Same problem with incorrect usage of "youse," as in "youse guys."
>
> --
> Sue (tm)
> Lead me not into temptation.... I can find it myself!

Actually, I learned after a trip to Nashville that Y'all is singular...
Youse All is Plural!

Jennifer Boggess

unread,
Jul 23, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/23/96
to

Horse apples. Y'all is the second person plural. All Y'all refers either
to a very large group of people or to a group of people about which you
are speaking, when you're speaking to a subset of that group. If you're
talking to Bob and Elyse Lanier, it's y'all. If you're talking to them
about everyone who works in Houston's City Hall, or addressing that whole
crowd of city officials at once, it's all y'all. The Nashvillians have
obviously been corrupted by the Kentucky usage. ;)

Chef Andreoli

unread,
Jul 23, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/23/96
to

Veronica Sullivan wrote:
>
> Oboy, pronounciation!
> Wait; if "Thames" is spelled "like the river" is it also pronounced
> like the river? But where the H did the "h" go? A helluva question.
> Like an earlier poster, I get impatient sometimes and put yarbs in my
> cookin. (Is it anal-retentive to put a hyphen in "cook-in"?)
> I grew up in PA too, near Harrisburg, and creeks were creaks except for
> one: The Crick, which flowed by us just down the block. I must've been
> 15 before it occurred to me that The Crick probably had a name, and so
> it does: Spring Creek. (Boing!)
> I find "y'all" entirely too useful and clarifying to relegate to a
> regionalism. Y'all can't keep it all to y'allselves anymore. "Y'all"
> for Standard English!
> And Texasisms. Yow. I had a Texan housemate who had very little of the
> accent left except for when she tartured the harses and went shopping
> at Woolsworth's. Though I think she says "INsurance" too, etc.
> ("ETcet'ra"?) There seems to be a certain perverse pride in mangling
> Spanish, especially in place names, in Texas and California, Loss
> Anj'lus being one example; how did that pretty Spanish word for
> "yellow" end up being "Aamurilluh" rhymes with "gorilla"?
>
> obFood: Don't talk with your mouth full.
>
> ron


Well Ron,

I lived in PA for 20 years where I heard words like 'creaks' and
'cricks'. Then, I moved to New York and heard many other different
pronounciations of the same words heard just 150 miles south of them. No
matter where you go everyone has their own way of talking. Ever been to
Long Island, The Bronx, or Brooklyn?? Now, I'm living in Texas.
Sure they say "Y'all" but what exactly are you getting at? All this for
the answer of the pronounciation of the word h-e-r-b. Do you own a
dictionary...Webster said it's pronounced either way (with or without the
H sound. And as for your invention of the word for yellow in spanish,
it is "armarillo." Perhaps you should study your dictionary more and
then you'll learn how to pronounce words and spell them correctly. I
wonder how you're pronouncing these words as you read them, maybe to the
Texans you sound like some dumb yankee. Maybe they're right??

Bob Brunjes

unread,
Jul 23, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/23/96
to

In article <edrich.41...@halcyon.com>, edr...@halcyon.com (Ed Rich) says:
>
>I

>>PLEASE Orry-gun or alternatively Orry-g'n, but _never_ anything
>>ending in "gone". It's a state, not a noble gas.
>
>>Yes you are absolutely right. As soon as I hit the "post" button I realized
>my error and have spent a very sleepless night worrying about it. I deserve to
>be thrashed with a strand of long spaghetti-al dente. It is ORY-GUN.
>```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
>Moosemeat:
> If you think the creator didn't have a sense
> of humor look at the person next to you.,
>
Well, you _seem_ repentent enough.

Now, repeat after me, "Willamette" and, "The Dalles".

Bob Brunjes Asterisk
r...@oz.net Engineering
(360) 293-0620 Communication

CUBARKER

unread,
Jul 23, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/23/96
to

In article <4svr9k$n...@tabloid.amoco.com>, PET <peth...@amoco.com>
writes:

>
>FOOD: Tried to make the "cooked" version of the key lime pie
>yesterday, what I got was OK, but I was unable to get "key" lime
>juice in my area of Houston, TX! I've purchased it bottled in
>the past, but none of the local groceries seem to be carrying it
>now.

Why don't you try callilng Williams Somona (if you don't have one in your
neck of the woods). and see if they can mail you some. Their 800 number
is:

J. Edward Bernard

unread,
Jul 24, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/24/96
to

In article <4skf6g$9...@hobyah.cc.uq.oz.au>, li...@psy.uq.oz.au says...
> I've got another one ..
>
> "expresso" instead of "espresso"
>
>
> Lisa
>


And yet another ...

"shall - its" ... or ... "shall - LOTS"

Eddie

Nancy Dooley

unread,
Jul 24, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/24/96
to

In article <4t5v7v$p...@hermes.cair.du.edu> sfo...@odin.cair.du.edu (sgf) writes:
>From: sfo...@odin.cair.du.edu (sgf)
>Subject: Re: How to pronounce Herb?
>Date: 24 Jul 1996 19:57:50 GMT

>In article <31F3B4...@pris.bc.ca>,
>Brent Washington <jdeere.pris.bc.ca> wrote:

>>Actually, I learned after a trip to Nashville that Y'all is singular...
>>Youse All is Plural!

>Must be a combination of North and South there -- farther South, "ya" or
>"y' "is singular and "y'all" is plural. I have never heard a Southerner
>use "youse" in any way.

When I was working in OKC, y'all was singular OR plural.


Nancy Dooley

"Celebrate our State." Iowa's Sesquicentennial year, 1846-1996.

LI Endell

unread,
Jul 24, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/24/96
to

VPDavis (vpd...@aol.com) wrote:
: In article <internews...@argonet.co.uk>, N/V/S Fazakerley
: <f...@argonet.co.uk> writes:

: >There are other words in English which you can pronounce with a
: >silent H, like hotel and history. To me it sounds contrived, but then I
: am
: >Danish, so who am I to say.

: Otel and istory? To me they sound contrived, but then I'm dying of the
: heat, so who am I to say.

It was a fashion thing. For a period (typically, I can't even remember
which century I'm about to talk about) it was very fashionable to
pronounce words (mainly those borrowed from French) without the initial
'h'. Therefore we had 'otel, 'istory, 'erb, even 'ouse and so on. After a
while the fashion changed, as fashions will, and the language users for whom
this was fashionable grew older, so people started to pronounce the words as
they were written, with an initial 'h'.

The first trend travelled to the States, the second didn't. 'erb is the
normal American pronunciation, herb the British. However, lots of people
still 'drop' the aitches - my Dad still says an 'otel.

BTW, I suspect that the fashion changed once the trend got to the
'bottom' of society. As soon as 'common' people started dropping the
aitches the pronounced h came in. It was the same with the dropped 'g'
in huntin', shootin' and fishin...

Lindsay

sgf

unread,
Jul 24, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/24/96
to

In article <31F3B4...@pris.bc.ca>,
Brent Washington <jdeere.pris.bc.ca> wrote:

>Actually, I learned after a trip to Nashville that Y'all is singular...
>Youse All is Plural!

Must be a combination of North and South there -- farther South, "ya" or
"y' "is singular and "y'all" is plural. I have never heard a Southerner
use "youse" in any way.

--Stephanie

Veronica Sullivan

unread,
Jul 24, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/24/96
to

What's all this I hear about yellow armadillos??

ron
Longtime Californ'

James Harvey

unread,
Jul 24, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/24/96
to

In article <Duwr1...@ridgecrest.ca.us>, Mary Ash <sm...@owens.ridgecrest.ca.us> writes:
> har...@indyvax.iupui.edu (James Harvey) wrote:
[beating the 'erbs to death, snip :]

>
> Now would you like to join me in writing about how to pronounce forte
> correctly?

No thanks, I'll pass. But some folks in alt.usage.english might...

Miche

unread,
Jul 25, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/25/96
to

In article <4sruci$c...@news.iwl.net>

MJCi...@iwl.net (Mark J. Cintala) writes:

> ne of the Rockets' broadcasters, who insists on calling them the
> "Yuston Rockets," talking about the characteristically high "yumidity"
> outside the Summit, and proclaiming what a great "yuman being" Hakeem
> Olajuwan is. (And yes, he used to be "Akeem" until he gently but

I thought this was a West Coast thing. I always remember Carl Sagan on
_Cosmos_ referring to the 'yuman race' at least 10 times per episode.

I wasn't aware our species had originated in Yuma...

Miche


------------
michelle...@stonebow.otago.ac.nz
What I post is my opinion only.
"Security and insanity are not the same thing!"
- Alex, _Shallow Grave_

Mary Ash

unread,
Jul 25, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/25/96
to

I say shall - LOTS.

Also, want to try read, reed, read, red, for more word games!

amanda toering

unread,
Jul 27, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/27/96
to

In article <APC&1'0'567974ad'9...@igc.apc.org>, ronsu...@igc.apc.org says
something like...

>
>What's all this I hear about yellow armadillos??
>
>ron
>Longtime Californ'


Wasn't that a Beatles song?


amanda

--
**Shameless Plug Ahead...**
Visit the Texas Observer's DownHome Page
for the best in Texas progressive journalism:
http://www.hyperweb.com/txobserver
(No, really, check it out.)


Mary Elizabeth

unread,
Jul 27, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/27/96
to

Lindsay, did you ever read Jilly Cooper's hilarious book "Class"? On
this very topic (fashion, not aitches) she notes that it is at least
semi-conscious: "Caroline Stow-Crat was brought up to call dresses
'frocks' but now that Samantha Upward has adopted that term as being
somehow more Victorian and Kate-Greenaway, Caroline's switching to
'dress'." Cooper uses five fictional couples as her exemplars of the
roughly five classes; Caroline and Harry Stow-Crat--pun intended--are
upper-class and Gideon and Samantha Upward are upper-middle. The
perceptions, she says, are so complicated that you frequently get
couples where both think they've married beneath them.

MEB

OddlyEnuff

unread,
Jul 28, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/28/96
to

>>Long Island, The Bronx, or Brooklyn?? Now, I'm living in Texas.
Sure they say "Y'all" but what exactly are you getting at? All this for
the answer of the pronounciation of the word h-e-r-b. Do you own a
dictionary...Webster said it's pronounced either way (with or without the
H sound. And as for your invention of the word for yellow in spanish,
it is "armarillo." Perhaps you should study your dictionary more and
then you'll learn how to pronounce words and spell them correctly. I
wonder how you're pronouncing these words as you read them, maybe to the
Texans you sound like some dumb yankee. Maybe they're right??<<

yikers! lighten up ! he's just having fun! geeezzzzzzzz!


Oddly...@aol.com
aka LJ Colten-Smith
"It's really all quite
beyond my control, you see"


OddlyEnuff

unread,
Jul 28, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/28/96
to

>>You're leafing just then I'm getting their. This is alot of fun.
Who are this goy Herb anyways?<<

I think it's (note the apostrpohy and not the spelling) the guy Burger
King was looking fer a few years back ;D

chr...@delphi.com

unread,
Aug 3, 1996, 3:00:00 AM8/3/96
to

Mary Elizabeth <be...@orph.org> writes:

>> It was a fashion thing. For a period (typically, I can't even remember
>> which century I'm about to talk about) it was very fashionable to
>> pronounce words (mainly those borrowed from French) without the initial
>> 'h'. Therefore we had 'otel, 'istory, 'erb, even 'ouse and so on. After a

Surely it's only words where the accent is on the first syllable - like
history and hotel, but not historical or hysteria, where the 'h' is (still,
as frr as I'm concerned) silent. SInce 'herb' only has one syllable, the
question of accent doesn't arise, so the 'h' is pronounced ...
Chris Hughes
Bombastic Pedant ...

chr...@delphi.com

unread,
Aug 3, 1996, 3:00:00 AM8/3/96
to

<chr...@delphi.com> writes:

>Surely it's only words where the accent is on the first syllable - like
>history and hotel, but not historical or hysteria, where the 'h' is (still,
>as frr as I'm concerned) silent. SInce 'herb' only has one syllable, the
>question of accent doesn't arise, so the 'h' is pronounced ...
>Chris Hughes

Or - to put it another way - where the accent ISN'T on the first syllable,
which is what I meant to say. So - 'otel, 'istorical, but hurricanes
hardly happen ... to herbs.
Chris (try again) Hughes

0 new messages