Donkey

[Pablo]

Blimey. The OED says that donkey rhymes with monkey. So which one am I
pronouncing wrong?

I say dOnkey and mUnkey.

--
Pablo

http://www.flickr.com/photos/wibbleypants/
http://paulc.es/

[Guy Barry]

"Pablo" wrote in message news:agn9eb...@mid.individual.net...

> Blimey. The OED says that donkey rhymes with monkey. So which one am I
> pronouncing wrong?

Not for me it doesn't. What does the OED say exactly? I find that a little
hard to believe.

> I say dOnkey and mUnkey.

So do I, and I speak fairly standard southern English. Who uses a short "o"
in "monkey" then? Or is the OED suggesting that "donkey" is pronounced with
a "u" sound?

--
Guy Barry

[Steve Hayes]

On Fri, 16 Nov 2012 17:54:35 +0100, Pablo <no...@nowhere.net> wrote:

>Blimey. The OED says that donkey rhymes with monkey. So which one am I
>pronouncing wrong?
>
>I say dOnkey and mUnkey.

So do I, but how do you say "constable"?


--
Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
Blog: http://khanya.wordpress.com
E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk

[Pablo]

Forget it. I didn't read it right. It says "In early use pronounced to rhyme
with monkey".

[Peter Duncanson [BrE]]

On Fri, 16 Nov 2012 17:54:35 +0100, Pablo <no...@nowhere.net> wrote:

>Blimey. The OED says that donkey rhymes with monkey. So which one am I
>pronouncing wrong?
>

???

>I say dOnkey and mUnkey.

Me too. Although I have heard "dunkey", but not recently.

OED:

donkey, n.
Pronunciation: /?d??k?/

pop-up pronunciation guide:

d - o - ng - k - y
IPA Sounds like
d d as in dig (main stress)
? o as in pot, option
? ng as in singing, think
k k as in card, park
? y as in happy

monkey, n.
Pronunciation: Brit. /?m??ki/ , U.S. /?m??ki/

Brit:
m - u - ng - k - ee
IPA Sounds like
m m as in mine (main stress)
? u as in butter, upset
? ng as in singing, think
k k as in card, park
i ee as in happy

U.S.:
m - ? - ng - k - ee
IPA Sounds like
m m as in mine (main stress)
? ? as in another (schwa)
? ng as in singing, think
k k as in card, park
i ee as in happy

--
Peter Duncanson, UK
(in alt.usage.english)

[James Silverton]

On 11/16/2012 11:54 AM, Pablo wrote:
> Blimey. The OED says that donkey rhymes with monkey. So which one am I
> pronouncing wrong?
>
> I say dOnkey and mUnkey.
>

The online OED does not indicate rhyming.

--
Jim Silverton (Potomac, MD)

Extraneous "not" in Reply To.

[Pablo]

James Silverton wrote:

> On 11/16/2012 11:54 AM, Pablo wrote:
>> Blimey. The OED says that donkey rhymes with monkey. So which one am I
>> pronouncing wrong?
>>
>> I say dOnkey and mUnkey.
>>
> The online OED does not indicate rhyming.
>

I was referring to my paper "Shorter" (of 2 large volumes).

But I since corrected myself.

[Jerry Friedman]

On Nov 16, 10:12 am, "Guy Barry" <guy.ba...@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:
> "Pablo"  wrote in messagenews:agn9eb...@mid.individual.net...

My father says "dunkey" (or he did till his children helpfully mocked
him for it).

--
Jerry Friedman

[Robert Bannister]

On 17/11/12 1:17 AM, Steve Hayes wrote:
> On Fri, 16 Nov 2012 17:54:35 +0100, Pablo <no...@nowhere.net> wrote:
>
>> Blimey. The OED says that donkey rhymes with monkey. So which one am I
>> pronouncing wrong?
>>
>> I say dOnkey and mUnkey.
>
> So do I, but how do you say "constable"?
>
>

"Sir"?

--
Robert Bannister

[John Varela]

On Fri, 16 Nov 2012 16:54:35 UTC, Pablo <no...@nowhere.net> wrote:

> I say dOnkey and mUnkey.

It's not obvious to me what sound you mean to represent by dOn. Is
that to sound sort of like DAWNkey?

The dictionaries don't know the origin of the word but it always
seemed to me to be an imitation of the donkey's bray. If so, then
DAWNkey[1] comes much closer to the sound than does DUNkey, but I
say dunkey anyway. When, that is,I need to say the word. Which is
rarely.


[1] That pronunciation always reminds me of the "On the Trail"
movement of the Grand Canyon Suite. The music says "Donkey, donkey,
donkey". So if I'm correct, we have a word that imitates a sound and
music that imitates both.

<http://courses.wcupa.edu/frichmon/mue332/spring2002/dougballard/rhy
pge.html>

--
John Varela

When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will
herald the end of the republic. -- Benjamin Franklin

[Steve Hayes]

On 17 Nov 2012 02:00:04 GMT, "John Varela" <newl...@verizon.net> wrote:

>On Fri, 16 Nov 2012 16:54:35 UTC, Pablo <no...@nowhere.net> wrote:
>
>> I say dOnkey and mUnkey.
>
>It's not obvious to me what sound you mean to represent by dOn. Is
>that to sound sort of like DAWNkey?

No, nothing like it.

But then I think that the sound you represent as DAWN I might represent as
DARN, and it's nothing like that either.


It's the CINC thing again: caught is not cot is not cart.

[Peter Brooks]

On Nov 16, 7:18 pm, Steve Hayes <hayes...@telkomsa.net> wrote:
> On Fri, 16 Nov 2012 17:54:35 +0100, Pablo <no...@nowhere.net> wrote:
> >Blimey. The OED says that donkey rhymes with monkey. So which one am I
> >pronouncing wrong?
>
> >I say dOnkey and mUnkey.
>
> So do I, but how do you say "constable"?
>

As rarely as possible - like good steak, constables are best rare. As
are osifers. Students are likely to need to pronounce both rather more
often than their elders

[Guy Barry]

"John Varela" wrote in message
news:51W5y0sPNk52-pn2-E6B50biBf0kk@localhost...

> On Fri, 16 Nov 2012 16:54:35 UTC, Pablo <no...@nowhere.net> wrote:

> > I say dOnkey and mUnkey.

> It's not obvious to me what sound you mean to represent by dOn. Is
> that to sound sort of like DAWNkey?

Pablo is originally from the English Midlands so his pronunciation may not
be identical to mine, which is given here:

http://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/british/donkey

I don't think there's much regional difference in short "o" in British
English though.

The "monkey" vowel (short "u") is an entirely different matter, which has
already been discussed exhaustively, but it's distinct from short "o" in all
dialects (as far as I know).

--
Guy Barry

[Robert Bannister]

You've got me thinking now. Might there be some parts of the Midlands
(of England) where the vowel of "monkey" is closer to /A./ than to /V/?

--
Robert Bannister

[Mark Brader]

"Pablo":

> I was referring to my paper "Shorter" (of 2 large volumes).

For future reference: the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary is not
"the OED". There are many Oxford dictionaries.
--
Mark Brader, Toronto "As for Canada's lack of mystique,
m...@vex.net it is not unique." -- Mark Leeper

[Robert Bannister]

On 19/11/12 6:16 AM, Mark Brader wrote:
> "Pablo":
>> I was referring to my paper "Shorter" (of 2 large volumes).
>
> For future reference: the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary is not
> "the OED". There are many Oxford dictionaries.
>

As schoolboys, we seized upon "SOD" with delight - the only swearword we
were allowed to use in the classroom.

--
Robert Bannister

[fabzorba]

As a kid starting High School, I entered the school library and saw
one of the most massively large books I had ever encountered, lying
open on its own pedestal, like an early Church Bible. Then I saw the
sign under it: "The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary". Shorter?! My
imagination was instantly aroused.

Of course, today, I would have just googled it and seen what the
"Longer" one looked like. But back then, before the internet, one
might have a million questions that largely went unanswered. Today, of
course, the long, repetitive and increasingly warm pub argument on
some trivial issue is a thing of the past. As long as someone has a
mobile ("cell" for the Yanks) phone hitched to Wikipedia.

myles [anyone notice 'google' is losing initial cap? a la zip, hoover
and masturbate?] paulsen

[Guy Barry]

"Robert Bannister" wrote in message
news:agtko9...@mid.individual.net...

I presumably that's why they decided to keep "English" in the title (as
opposed to the COD).

--
Guy Barry