How do you pronounce "flaccid"?

[Gus]

I was watching Silicon Valley and schooled...

http://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2007/01/is-flaccid-pronounced-flass-id-or-flak-sid.html

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/flaccid

[Jerry Friedman]

Me? Flaxid.

--
Jerry Friedman

[R H Draney]

Gus <gus.o...@gmail.com> wrote in
news:3588d120-4eed-494a...@googlegroups.com:

I have some "Uncle Sam" breakfast cereal here, the brand that used to have
on its package the large slogan "A Natural Laxative!"...

That's the first time I encountered the word "flaxseed" in the wild....r

[Janet]

In article <mgoofs$rdn$2...@news.albasani.net>, jerry_f...@yahoo.com
says...

me too.

and while we're at it, ackseptable is acceptable and asseptable isn't.

Janet.

[James Silverton]

On 4/16/2015 1:13 PM, Janet wrote:
> In article <mgoofs$rdn$2...@news.albasani.net>, jerry_f...@yahoo.com
> says...
>>
>> On 4/16/15 10:35 AM, Gus wrote:
>>> I was watching Silicon Valley and schooled...
>>>
>>> http://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2007/01/is-flaccid-pronounced-flass-id-or-flak-sid.html
>>>
>>> http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/flaccid
>>

>> Me? Flaxid.&s

>
> me too.
>
> and while we're at it, ackseptable is acceptable and asseptable isn't.
>
> Janet.
>

I don't think I've ever had reason to say the word but I have a terrible
admission: I always mentally pronounced it as /fl&sId/. Now I am
corrected; it should be /fl&ksId/ as confirmed by the OED.

--
Jim Silverton (Potomac, MD)

Extraneous "not." in Reply To.

[HVS]

On 16 Apr 2015, James Silverton wrote

> On 4/16/2015 1:13 PM, Janet wrote:
>> In article <mgoofs$rdn$2...@news.albasani.net>, jerry_f...@yahoo.com
>> says...
>>>
>>> On 4/16/15 10:35 AM, Gus wrote:
>>>> I was watching Silicon Valley and schooled...
>>>>

>>>> http://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2007/01/is-flaccid-pronounced-flass-
>>>> id-or-flak-sid.html
>>>>
>>>> http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/flacc

>>>> id
>>>
>>> Me? Flaxid.&s
>>
>> me too.
>>
>> and while we're at it, ackseptable is acceptable and asseptable isn't.
>>
>> Janet.
>>
> I don't think I've ever had reason to say the word but I have a terrible
> admission: I always mentally pronounced it as /fl&sId/. Now I am
> corrected; it should be /fl&ksId/ as confirmed by the OED.

+1. Although I've known for many years that it's supposed to be the
latter, my mind's ear still invariably rhymes it with "placid".

--
Cheers, Harvey
CanEng and BrEng, indiscriminately mixed



---
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
http://www.avast.com

[Don Phillipson]

On 4/16/15 10:35 AM, Gus wrote:

> I was watching Silicon Valley and schooled...
>
> http://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2007/01/is-flaccid-pronounced-flass-id-or-flak-sid.html

We read there, " FLASS-id has become not only acceptable but
finally the more common."

We do not wonder why those anonymous authors did not write
" . . . the more acceptable."
--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

[Will Parsons]

I find it odd that anyone would be *tempted* to pronounce it
"flassid". It isn't like the pronunciation "flaksid" isn't perfectly
regular and paralleled by such common words as "succeed" and "access".

--
Will

[grabber]

Flassid. I don't think I've ever heard Flaxid.

[Sneaky O. Possum]

Janet <nob...@home.com> wrote in
news:MPG.2f99fe0b6...@news.eternal-september.org:

> In article <mgoofs$rdn$2...@news.albasani.net>, jerry_f...@yahoo.com
> says...
>>
>> On 4/16/15 10:35 AM, Gus wrote:
>> > I was watching Silicon Valley and schooled...
>> >

>> > http://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2007/01/is-flaccid-pronounced-flas
>> > s-id-or-flak-sid.html
>> >
>> > http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/fla

>> > ccid
>>
>> Me? Flaxid.
>
> me too.

When I first encountered the word in print, many years ago, I looked it up:
flak'-sid was perfectly clear, and I've always mentally pronounced it that
way. Hearing someone say 'flassid' always jars.
--
S.O.P.

[Peter Moylan]

On 17/04/15 03:23, HVS wrote:
> On 16 Apr 2015, James Silverton wrote
>
>> On 4/16/2015 1:13 PM, Janet wrote:
>>> In article <mgoofs$rdn$2...@news.albasani.net>, jerry_f...@yahoo.com
>>> says...
>>>>
>>>> On 4/16/15 10:35 AM, Gus wrote:
>>>>> I was watching Silicon Valley and schooled...
>>>>>
>>>>> http://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2007/01/is-flaccid-pronounced-flass-
>>>>> id-or-flak-sid.html
>>>>>
>>>>> http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/flacc
>>>>> id
>>>>
>>>> Me? Flaxid.&s
>>>
>>> me too.
>>>
>>> and while we're at it, ackseptable is acceptable and asseptable isn't.
>>>
>>> Janet.
>>>
>> I don't think I've ever had reason to say the word but I have a terrible
>> admission: I always mentally pronounced it as /fl&sId/. Now I am
>> corrected; it should be /fl&ksId/ as confirmed by the OED.
>
> +1. Although I've known for many years that it's supposed to be the
> latter, my mind's ear still invariably rhymes it with "placid".

I'm in the same boat. I know there should be a /k/ in there, but my
habits are too well established. Which is silly, because I only ever
pronounce it mentally. I don't think I've ever had occasion to say it
out loud.

--
Peter Moylan http://www.pmoylan.org
Newcastle, NSW, Australia

[Robert Bannister]

However often I read that it is supposed to be pronounced "flaksid", I
still blurt out the way I have always heard it: "flassid".

--
Robert Bannister - 1940-71 SE England
1972-now W Australia

[Robert Bannister]

Haven't heard that one, but "assessories" is commonly heard for
handbags, whereas partners in crime always get the K.

[Steve Hayes]

On Thu, 16 Apr 2015 09:35:52 -0700 (PDT), Gus <gus.o...@gmail.com>
wrote:

> How do you pronounce "flaccid"?

I don't.

I think here on aue I learned a few years ago that it ought to be
pronounced "flak-sid", but I've never had occasion to say it aloud.


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

[Guy Barry]

"Steve Hayes" wrote in message
news:vvd1ja130mdnocura...@4ax.com...

>
>On Thu, 16 Apr 2015 09:35:52 -0700 (PDT), Gus <gus.o...@gmail.com>
>wrote:
>
>> How do you pronounce "flaccid"?
>
>I don't.
>
>I think here on aue I learned a few years ago that it ought to be
>pronounced "flak-sid", but I've never had occasion to say it aloud.

[This isn't about Steve's post in particular, but a more general point.]

Quite often on aue I read posts similar to this one; "I'm not sure how to
pronounce it because I've never said it aloud". I don't know about anyone
else, but I learn the pronunciations of words through *hearing* them spoken,
not saying them myself. I've certainly said the word "flaccid" on many
occasions (and pronounced it, anomalously, as "FLASS-id") but even if I'd
never said it, I'd know how to pronounce it because that's the pronunciation
I learned from my school science teacher. I don't think there are many
words in common usage that I've seen written down but never heard spoken.
Perhaps my listening vocabulary is particularly large because I listen to
BBC speech radio a lot, but even so I find it a little surprising that there
are people who've never heard the word "flaccid" spoken aloud. Do people in
this group tend to spend more time reading than listening to people?

--
Guy Barry

[Peter Duncanson [BrE]]

When I was a boy, pre-teen and early teens, I did a lot of reading and
came across words in books that I had not heard, or did not realise I'd
heard in spite of there being no lack of educated spoken English in my
environment

One I particularly recall was "determined" as an adjective. When I first
read it I guessed that it was pronounced "deeter-mined". In fact, I
remember wondering whether the word was a misprint for "determinded"
because in the context in which I read it it obviously described a state
of mind. So I analysed it as two words, "deter" and "mined/minded" and
quessed at a pronunciation for "deter" as an adverb or adjective on its
own.


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

[Derek Turner]

(BrE) flassid. Never heard it pronounced any other way on this side of
the pond. Though the Shorter Oxford Dictionary assures me that I'm wrong
(and doesn't even give it as an alternative). I must mend my ways.
Although I see that Chambers has it as a second option, so maybe I wont.
FWIW I first encountered the word at school in a biology lesson and
that's the way the teacher pronounced it. I suspect it's quite common
over here.

[Derek Turner]

On Thu, 16 Apr 2015 17:00:16 +0000, R H Draney wrote:

> That's the first time I encountered the word "flaxseed" in the wild....r

While looking up flaccid in the SOD I came across flax-seed - hyphenated.

[grabber]

Which edition of Chambers do you have?

The 1971 Twentieth Century Dictionary (same text as 1964) gives flak'sid
only

The 1993 Chambers Dictionary gives fla'sid first, before flak'sid, and
this is the same in the most recent edition I own (2006).

Was there an intermediate edition that put flak'sid before fla'sid, or
were you not using "second" in that sense?

Collins (2005) has both, with flaxid first.

Merriam-Webster (1971) has both, but marks flassid as unacceptable to some.

If you and I are representative, there may be a growing pondian divide
here, but if so, the dictionaries had not picked up on it in those
editioins.

[Derek Turner]

On Fri, 17 Apr 2015 13:06:25 +0100, grabber wrote:

> Which edition of Chambers do you have?

1983

[Jerry Friedman]

I find it odd too, but the same thing happens with "succinct"
/s@'sInkt/, especially outside the U.S. if I'm not mistaken. Maybe
analogously, the only pronunciation of "suggest" in the OED is
/s@'dZEst/. (Apparently at an a.u.e. "boink" or meet-up in England, an
American ex-pat once fascinated a whole table of Brits by pronouncing
"suggest" with a /g/.)

--
Jerry Friedman
Nothing secedes like secess.

[grabber]

Thanks. That must have been just about the last edition with "20th
Century" in the title.

[HVS]

On 17 Apr 2015, Guy Barry wrote

-snip-

>
> I don't think there are many words in common usage that I've
> seen written down but never heard spoken. Perhaps my listening
> vocabulary is particularly large because I listen to BBC speech radio a
> lot, but even so I find it a little surprising that there are people
> who've never heard the word "flaccid" spoken aloud. Do people in this
> group tend to spend more time reading than listening to people?

For some of us, probably yes.

If we're starting a list, I'd offer "execrable" and "sidereal".

[Mark Brader]

Jerry Friedman:

> (Apparently at an a.u.e. "boink" or meet-up in England, an American

> ex-pat...

O-y!
--
Mark Brader | "/dev/null institutionalizes a regrettable loss of bits
Toronto | that could have been transmitted to mailing lists and
m...@vex.net | netnews. Our grandchildren will miss them." --Ritchie

[Adam Funk]

On 2015-04-17, HVS wrote:

> On 17 Apr 2015, Guy Barry wrote
>
> -snip-
>>
>> I don't think there are many words in common usage that I've
>> seen written down but never heard spoken. Perhaps my listening
>> vocabulary is particularly large because I listen to BBC speech radio a
>> lot, but even so I find it a little surprising that there are people
>> who've never heard the word "flaccid" spoken aloud. Do people in this
>> group tend to spend more time reading than listening to people?
>
> For some of us, probably yes.

Oh yes. I've had that problem, as have a number of friends. I knew
someone in high school who read "urn" in a poem aloud as "yearn"; I
know someone who learned "capacity" from reading & assumed the stress
was on the first & 3rd syllables. (See also "Metrocity" in
_Megamind_.)

> If we're starting a list, I'd offer "execrable" and "sidereal".

Rhymes with "diarrheal", innit?


--
No right of private conversation was enumerated in the Constitution.
I don't suppose it occurred to anyone at the time that it could be
prevented. [Whitfield Diffie]

[Adam Funk]

On 2015-04-17, Mark Brader wrote:

> Jerry Friedman:
>> (Apparently at an a.u.e. "boink" or meet-up in England, an American
>> ex-pat...
>
> O-y!

Jerry was referring to someone who had changed his or her name from
"Pat", of course.


--
A mathematical formula should never be "owned" by anybody! Mathematics
belong to God. --- Donald Knuth

[Joe Fineman]

James Silverton <not.jim....@verizon.net> writes:

> I don't think I've ever had reason to say the word but I have a
> terrible admission: I always mentally pronounced it as /fl&sId/. Now I
> am corrected; it should be /fl&ksId/ as confirmed by the OED.

Same with me. However, in striking contrast, the AHD gives /fl&sId/
first, tho the OED does not even give it as a variant.

A similar American oddity is the pronunciation of "equation", which in
the US (almost) always rhymes with "persuasion", not with "relation" as
the spelling & etymology suggest. The AHD gives the voiced version
first; the OED gives it second (I imagine some Brits have picked it up
from the Yanks).
--
--- Joe Fineman jo...@verizon.net

||: Sex is an impediment to reproduction whose function is to :||
||: complicate life. :||

[Joe Fineman]

"Peter Duncanson [BrE]" <ma...@peterduncanson.net> writes:

> When I was a boy, pre-teen and early teens, I did a lot of reading and
> came across words in books that I had not heard, or did not realise
> I'd heard in spite of there being no lack of educated spoken English
> in my environment
>
> One I particularly recall was "determined" as an adjective. When I
> first read it I guessed that it was pronounced "deeter-mined". In
> fact, I remember wondering whether the word was a misprint for
> "determinded" because in the context in which I read it it obviously
> described a state of mind. So I analysed it as two words, "deter" and
> "mined/minded" and quessed at a pronunciation for "deter" as an adverb
> or adjective on its own.

I had the same experience. An extremely common misapprehension of this
kind is /'maIz-ld/ for "misled". Indeed, one even encounters the
jocular verb "to misle" among those who have been disabused of it.
Similarly, in my childhood I inly pronounced "infrared" as /in'frE@rd/.

--
--- Joe Fineman jo...@verizon.net

||: Be sincere: fool yourself first. :||

[Jerry Friedman]

On Friday, April 17, 2015 at 10:14:42 AM UTC-6, Mark Brader wrote:
> Jerry Friedman:
> > (Apparently at an a.u.e. "boink" or meet-up in England, an American
> > ex-pat...
>
> O-y!

There is that.

--
Jerry Friedman

[Charles Bishop]

In article <kt580cx...@news.ducksburg.com>,

Adam Funk <a24...@ducksburg.com> wrote:

> On 2015-04-17, HVS wrote:
>
> > On 17 Apr 2015, Guy Barry wrote
> >
> > -snip-
> >>
> >> I don't think there are many words in common usage that I've
> >> seen written down but never heard spoken. Perhaps my listening
> >> vocabulary is particularly large because I listen to BBC speech radio a
> >> lot, but even so I find it a little surprising that there are people
> >> who've never heard the word "flaccid" spoken aloud. Do people in this
> >> group tend to spend more time reading than listening to people?
> >
> > For some of us, probably yes.
>
> Oh yes. I've had that problem, as have a number of friends. I knew
> someone in high school who read "urn" in a poem aloud as "yearn"; I
> know someone who learned "capacity" from reading & assumed the stress
> was on the first & 3rd syllables. (See also "Metrocity" in
> _Megamind_.)
>
>
> > If we're starting a list, I'd offer "execrable" and "sidereal".
>
> Rhymes with "diarrheal", innit?

I found I was mizzled a lot as a lad.

--
charles

[Iain Archer]

Mine was bisyallabic se-same, /@'sem/, when uttering Open Sesame. No
wonder it never worked for me.

I seem to have still retained the habit, and when out urban walking
count myself a trisyllabic pede-strian, /'pi:dstraI@n/.

This is my first fairly naive attempt at transcription, into Ascii IPA.
I hope I've got it right.
--
Iain Archer

[Richard Yates]

On Fri, 17 Apr 2015 16:31:34 -0400, Joe Fineman <jo...@verizon.net>
wrote:

I said it the same as you, as well as "awry" as "aw'-ree"

[Robert Bannister]

dictionary.com gives me "suh g-jest", but when I listen, I can't hear
any g. There might be something like a glottal stop, but my ears only
hear "suh-jest".

[Steve Hayes]

On Fri, 17 Apr 2015 09:31:59 +0100, "Guy Barry"
<guy....@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:

I listen to steam radio in the car, and it was there that I first
heard pronunciations like "elec-TOR-al" and about people who are
"illegible to vote".

[Steve Hayes]

On Fri, 17 Apr 2015 16:31:34 -0400, Joe Fineman <jo...@verizon.net>
wrote:

>"Peter Duncanson [BrE]" <ma...@peterduncanson.net> writes:
>
>> When I was a boy, pre-teen and early teens, I did a lot of reading and
>> came across words in books that I had not heard, or did not realise
>> I'd heard in spite of there being no lack of educated spoken English
>> in my environment
>>
>> One I particularly recall was "determined" as an adjective. When I
>> first read it I guessed that it was pronounced "deeter-mined". In
>> fact, I remember wondering whether the word was a misprint for
>> "determinded" because in the context in which I read it it obviously
>> described a state of mind. So I analysed it as two words, "deter" and
>> "mined/minded" and quessed at a pronunciation for "deter" as an adverb
>> or adjective on its own.
>
>I had the same experience. An extremely common misapprehension of this
>kind is /'maIz-ld/ for "misled". Indeed, one even encounters the
>jocular verb "to misle" among those who have been disabused of it.

I first encountered "misle" in aue, and also "cow orker".

And I think we've discussed "unionised" and "un-ionised" before too.

[Peter Moylan]

As a lad I met the verbs "misle" and "infrare", and I still have trouble
pronouncing "awry".

In my adolescent reading I met "barroom piano", and in my innocence I
thought that the first word indicated the sound produced by the piano.
Stress on the second syllable, of course.

It's not just as a lad that one can have such problems. I still can't
break my habit of giving second-syllable stress to "miniseries", and
that's a word I encountered only in the past few years.

[Guy Barry]

"Adam Funk" wrote in message news:hj580cx...@news.ducksburg.com...

>
>On 2015-04-17, Mark Brader wrote:
>
>> Jerry Friedman:
>>> (Apparently at an a.u.e. "boink" or meet-up in England, an American
>>> ex-pat...
>>
>> O-y!
>
>Jerry was referring to someone who had changed his or her name from
>"Pat", of course.

I think I once saw "expatriate" misspelt as "ex-patriot".

--
Guy Barry

[Guy Barry]

"Joe Fineman" wrote in message news:847ftah...@verizon.net...

>
>James Silverton <not.jim....@verizon.net> writes:
>
>> I don't think I've ever had reason to say the word but I have a
>> terrible admission: I always mentally pronounced it as /fl&sId/. Now I
>> am corrected; it should be /fl&ksId/ as confirmed by the OED.
>
>Same with me. However, in striking contrast, the AHD gives /fl&sId/
>first, tho the OED does not even give it as a variant.
>
>A similar American oddity is the pronunciation of "equation", which in
>the US (almost) always rhymes with "persuasion", not with "relation" as
>the spelling & etymology suggest. The AHD gives the voiced version
>first; the OED gives it second (I imagine some Brits have picked it up
>from the Yanks).

It's not just American; I've never heard any other pronunciation in BrE,
even though (as you say) the spelling suggests a voiceless "sh" sound. I'm
quite surprised by the OED entry.

--
Guy Barry

[Guy Barry]

"Steve Hayes" wrote in message

news:4pf3ja113n32qtl37...@4ax.com...

>
>On Fri, 17 Apr 2015 16:31:34 -0400, Joe Fineman <jo...@verizon.net>
>wrote:

>>I had the same experience. An extremely common misapprehension of this
>>kind is /'maIz-ld/ for "misled". Indeed, one even encounters the
>>jocular verb "to misle" among those who have been disabused of it.
>
>I first encountered "misle" in aue, and also "cow orker".
>
>And I think we've discussed "unionised" and "un-ionised" before too.

We have, on multiple occasions. Is there a generic term for this type of
misreading?

--
Guy Barry

[R H Draney]

"Guy Barry" <guy....@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote in news:dYmYw.246354
$TC7....@fx25.am4:

> I think I once saw "expatriate" misspelt as "ex-patriot".

Right up there with the film crew attracting sharks with "a bucket of
awful"....r

[Iain Archer]

Peter Moylan <pe...@pmoylan.org> wrote on Sat, 18 Apr 2015 at 14:48:03:
>As a lad I met the verbs "misle" and "infrare", and I still have trouble
>pronouncing "awry".
>
>In my adolescent reading I met "barroom piano", and in my innocence I
>thought that the first word indicated the sound produced by the piano.
>Stress on the second syllable, of course.

If you want to be really impressive you get a barroom barroom one.
--
Iain Archer

[Iain Archer]

Guy Barry <guy....@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote on Sat, 18 Apr 2015 at
07:39:39:

I agree. I've been voicing it all my life, and hadn't even realised the
potential anomaly until yesterday. If I heard it unvoiced, I would
probably presume it was being used to mean the act of equating, or of
asserting the equality.
--
Iain Archer

[Cheryl]

My favourite spelling on those lines was on a poster about research into
activities for the elderly with dementia - one lady was reported (by the
researcher, not by herself!) as still able to distinguish between
annuals and per-annuals.

The term almost makes sense.

--
Cheryl

[Jerry Friedman]

On 4/17/15 4:51 PM, Iain Archer wrote:
> Joe Fineman <jo...@verizon.net> wrote on Fri, 17 Apr 2015 at 16:31:34:
>> "Peter Duncanson [BrE]" <ma...@peterduncanson.net> writes:
>>
>>> When I was a boy, pre-teen and early teens, I did a lot of reading and
>>> came across words in books that I had not heard, or did not realise
>>> I'd heard in spite of there being no lack of educated spoken English
>>> in my environment
>>>
>>> One I particularly recall was "determined" as an adjective. When I
>>> first read it I guessed that it was pronounced "deeter-mined". In
>>> fact, I remember wondering whether the word was a misprint for
>>> "determinded" because in the context in which I read it it obviously
>>> described a state of mind. So I analysed it as two words, "deter" and
>>> "mined/minded" and quessed at a pronunciation for "deter" as an adverb
>>> or adjective on its own.
>>
>> I had the same experience. An extremely common misapprehension of this
>> kind is /'maIz-ld/ for "misled". Indeed, one even encounters the
>> jocular verb "to misle" among those who have been disabused of it.
>> Similarly, in my childhood I inly pronounced "infrared" as /in'frE@rd/.
>
> Mine was bisyallabic se-same, /@'sem/, when uttering Open Sesame. No
> wonder it never worked for me.

"Tcharlatan". I know I've had others, but I can't remember them.

I still want to know how to pronounce "asty", a colony of small aquatic
creatures such as bryozoa. (Ignorant spall chukker.)

> I seem to have still retained the habit, and when out urban walking
> count myself a trisyllabic pede-strian, /'pi:dstraI@n/.
>
> This is my first fairly naive attempt at transcription, into Ascii IPA.
> I hope I've got it right.

I believe you did. Have.

--
Jerry Friedman

[Peter T. Daniels]

On Saturday, April 18, 2015 at 3:53:43 AM UTC-4, Guy Barry wrote:
> "Steve Hayes" wrote in message
> news:4pf3ja113n32qtl37...@4ax.com...

> >And I think we've discussed "unionised" and "un-ionised" before too.
>
> We have, on multiple occasions. Is there a generic term for this type of
> misreading?

Asimov's essay on the topic in the 1950s was called "How to Tell a Chemist."

[Athel Cornish-Bowden]

+1. I've heard it (and said it) _many_ times during my life, and I
don't think I've ever heard it in English unvoiced. If I did I'd
probably think the speaker was attempting to sound Welsh. (The
corresponding words in French and Spanish, with almost the same
spelling, are, of course, unvoiced.)


--
athel

[HVS]

On 18 Apr 2015, Peter Moylan wrote

> On 18/04/15 08:32, Charles Bishop wrote:
>> In article <kt580cx...@news.ducksburg.com>,
>> Adam Funk <a24...@ducksburg.com> wrote:
>>
>>> On 2015-04-17, HVS wrote:
>>>
>>>> If we're starting a list, I'd offer "execrable" and "sidereal".
>>>
>>> Rhymes with "diarrheal", innit?
>>
>> I found I was mizzled a lot as a lad.
>
> As a lad I met the verbs "misle" and "infrare",

+1 - and not just as a lad: that one still pops into mind now and then.

[Will Parsons]

Athel Cornish-Bowden wrote:
> On 2015-04-18 10:20:47 +0000, Iain Archer said:
>
>> Guy Barry <guy....@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote on Sat, 18 Apr 2015 at 07:39:39:
>>> "Joe Fineman" wrote in message news:847ftah...@verizon.net...

>>>> ...

>>>> A similar American oddity is the pronunciation of "equation", which in
>>>> the US (almost) always rhymes with "persuasion", not with "relation" as
>>>> the spelling & etymology suggest. The AHD gives the voiced version
>>>> first; the OED gives it second (I imagine some Brits have picked it up
>>>> from the Yanks).
>>>
>>> It's not just American; I've never heard any other pronunciation in
>>> BrE, even though (as you say) the spelling suggests a voiceless "sh"
>>> sound. I'm quite surprised by the OED entry.
>>>
>> I agree. I've been voicing it all my life, and hadn't even realised
>> the potential anomaly until yesterday. If I heard it unvoiced, I would
>> probably presume it was being used to mean the act of equating, or of
>> asserting the equality.
>
> +1. I've heard it (and said it) _many_ times during my life, and I
> don't think I've ever heard it in English unvoiced. If I did I'd
> probably think the speaker was attempting to sound Welsh.

That's what I would have thought, too.

--
Will

[Katy Jennison]

Yes to all of the above. (Where does the OED get these ideras? No,
don't answer that.)

--
Katy Jennison

[Mark Brader]

Adam Funk:

> I know someone who learned "capacity" from reading & assumed the
> stress was on the first & 3rd syllables. (See also "Metrocity" in
> _Megamind_.)

I'm not familiar with that one, but as I must have mentioned "megacity"
before. When the federated Metropolitan Toronto and its constituents
were forcibly merged into a new enlarged city of Toronto effective in
1998, it was nicknamed "the Megacity", and I wasn't the only person who
liked to pronounce it to rhyme with "mendacity".
--
Mark Brader, Toronto | "However, 0.02283% failure might be better than 50%
m...@vex.net | failure, depending on your needs." --Norman Diamond

My text in this article is in the public domain.

[Adam Funk]

You mean "idears"?


--
Indentation is for enemy skulls, not code!
--- Klingon Programmer's Guide

[Richard Tobin]

In article <mgu5pa$t4m$1...@news.albasani.net>,
Katy Jennison <ka...@spamtrap.kjennison.com> wrote:
>Yes to all of the above. (Where does the OED get these ideas?

The 19th century?

>No, don't answer that.)

Oops.

-- Richard

[Robert Bannister]

Because for a long time I knew "expatriate" only as a verb, I was never
quite sure what "ex-pat" was short for. "Ex-patriot" made as much sense
as "ex-Irish".

[Gus]

On Thursday, April 16, 2015 at 4:34:05 PM UTC-4, Will Parsons wrote:
> Gus wrote:
> > I was watching Silicon Valley and schooled...
> >
> > http://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2007/01/is-flaccid-pronounced-flass-id-or-flak-sid.html
> >
> > http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/flaccid
>
> I find it odd that anyone would be *tempted* to pronounce it
> "flassid". It isn't like the pronunciation "flaksid" isn't perfectly
> regular and paralleled by such common words as "succeed" and "access".
>

> --
> Will

I had only heard it "flassid" for decades here in the US til Richard on the tv show Silicon Valley mentioned it should be "flakid" to Ehlich... I wonder why AmE people don't pronounce it like "accident", and "succeed" and other double c words?

[Gus]

On Friday, April 17, 2015 at 4:15:08 PM UTC-4, Adam Funk wrote:
> On 2015-04-17, Mark Brader wrote:
>
> > Jerry Friedman:
> >> (Apparently at an a.u.e. "boink" or meet-up in England, an American
> >> ex-pat...
> >
> > O-y!
>
> Jerry was referring to someone who had changed his or her name from
> "Pat", of course.
>
>

> --
> A mathematical formula should never be "owned" by anybody! Mathematics
> belong to God. --- Donald Knuth

If someone has a sex change, and is named "Pat" or "Chris"-- do they need to change their name to show they have changed?

My ex's first ex husband both went by the name "Chris" and had the same last name. Though he was Christopher and she, Christine. That had to be confusing, them both going by "Chris".

[Richard Yates]

On Sat, 18 Apr 2015 17:56:36 -0700 (PDT), Gus <gus.o...@gmail.com>
wrote:

Because "flassid" uses a "soft" c? Seriously, perhaps the word as
description is affecting the pronunciation. Sound imitating
appearance.

If you were buying ED pills and had to choose between the "Flak-sid"
and "Flas-sid" brands, which would you spend your money on?

[Peter T. Daniels]

On Saturday, April 18, 2015 at 8:00:32 PM UTC-4, Robert Bannister wrote:
> On 18/04/2015 2:36 pm, Guy Barry wrote:
> > "Adam Funk" wrote in message news:hj580cx...@news.ducksburg.com...
> >> On 2015-04-17, Mark Brader wrote:
> >>> Jerry Friedman:

> >>>> (Apparently at an a.u.e. "boink" or meet-up in England, an American
> >>>> ex-pat...
> >>> O-y!
> >> Jerry was referring to someone who had changed his or her name from
> >> "Pat", of course.
> > I think I once saw "expatriate" misspelt as "ex-patriot".

Some of them probably are.

> Because for a long time I knew "expatriate" only as a verb, I was never
> quite sure what "ex-pat" was short for. "Ex-patriot" made as much sense
> as "ex-Irish".

Is that a verb with a specific meaning in Australian history? I don't see
that it would be of much use, whereas the noun is quite ordinary.

[Will Parsons]

Richard Yates wrote:
> On Sat, 18 Apr 2015 17:56:36 -0700 (PDT), Gus <gus.o...@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>>On Thursday, April 16, 2015 at 4:34:05 PM UTC-4, Will Parsons wrote:
>>> Gus wrote:
>>> > I was watching Silicon Valley and schooled...
>>> >
>>> > http://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2007/01/is-flaccid-pronounced-flass-id-or-flak-sid.html
>>> >
>>> > http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/flaccid
>>>
>>> I find it odd that anyone would be *tempted* to pronounce it
>>> "flassid". It isn't like the pronunciation "flaksid" isn't perfectly
>>> regular and paralleled by such common words as "succeed" and "access".
>>

>>I had only heard it "flassid" for decades here in the US til Richard on the tv show Silicon Valley mentioned it should be "flakid" to Ehlich... I wonder why AmE people don't pronounce it like "accident", and "succeed" and other double c words?
>
> Because "flassid" uses a "soft" c? Seriously, perhaps the word as
> description is affecting the pronunciation. Sound imitating
> appearance.
>
> If you were buying ED pills and had to choose between the "Flak-sid"
> and "Flas-sid" brands, which would you spend your money on?

I would think that I would be better off without either of those brands!

--
Will

[Guy Barry]

"Peter T. Daniels" wrote in message
news:d52b6b66-e49d-47c9...@googlegroups.com...

I don't think there's anything specifically Australian about the verb. It
means "to exile, banish" or "to withdraw (oneself) from residence in or
allegiance to one's native country". Unlike the noun, the verb is
pronounced with a long vowel in the final syllable.

--
Guy Barry

[Guy Barry]

"Gus" wrote in message
news:b1a15d91-02f6-46ea...@googlegroups.com...

>My ex's first ex husband both went by the name "Chris" and had the same
>last name. Though he was Christopher and she, Christine. That had to be
>confusing, them both going by "Chris".

Evelyn Waugh's first marriage was to Evelyn Gardner. They became known as
"He-Evelyn" and "She-Evelyn".

--
Guy Barry

[Katy Jennison]

I'm pretty sure I mentally pronounced it "flack-id" when I came across
it in writing, before I'd ever heard anyone actually say it.

--
Katy Jennison

[LFS]

+1. But I've only ever heard it pronounced "flassid" and had no idea
there was any other way.

--
Laura (emulate St George for email)

[R H Draney]

"Guy Barry" <guy....@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote in

news:UvIYw.280806$JH2.1...@fx11.am4:

For a short time, Paris Hilton was dating a male model named Paris
Latsis...I always imagined she picked him out so she could call out her own
name during sex....r

[Bertel Lund Hansen]

Gus skrev:

> If someone has a sex change, and is named "Pat" or "Chris"-- do
> they need to change their name to show they have changed?

That would be a personal question for themselves to decide.

> My ex's first ex husband both went by the name "Chris" and had
> the same last name. Though he was Christopher and she,
> Christine. That had to be confusing, them both going by
> "Chris".

A nice "both" you put there.

(You mean "My ex and her first ex husband both ...")

--
Bertel, Kolt, Denmark

[Bertel Lund Hansen]

LFS skrev:

> +1. But I've only ever heard it pronounced "flassid" and had no idea
> there was any other way.

I am mildly surprised that it didn't even occur to many people
that the first c in "cc" 'always' is pronounced as k. I
understand that one repeats the pronunciation one hears all the
time, but that the thought never popped up?

--
Bertel, Kolt, Denmark

[Peter T. Daniels]

Why would you use the four-syllable word with two stressed vowels instead of
either of those much shorter words?

"I expatriated myself" is something that I can hardly imagine even the most
pompous Colonel Blimp ever saying.

[Katy Jennison]

I've been trying to work out why I'd have imagined "flack-id" anyway,
since the -accid in "accident" ought to have been the obvious pattern to
follow. There must be words in which -cci is pronounced k, but I'm
dashed if I can think of any, apart from "biccie".

--
Katy Jennison

[LFS]

I think my reasoning was associated with floccinaucinihilipilification
which I always heard as "flocki...". My older cousin taught me that, and
that's probably where my hearing of "nihil" came from too. Which is
probably how he was taught to pronounce Latin at a London grammar school
in the 1950s.

[Athel Cornish-Bowden]

I spell that "bickie", but there is always "soccer" (not -cci of course).

On the rare occasions when I've wanted to say "flaccid" the
pronunciation that comes immediately to mind is "flakkd", not
"flassid". (This one example where ASCII IPA obscures more than it
illuminates).

Incidentally, "ASCII" has /k/ not /s/.


--
athel

[Katy Jennison]

Ah! Yes, of course, and flocculus, and so on. I bet that's it.

(I know floccinaucinihilipilificate is canonical, but for some reason I
was brought up with floccipaucinihilipilificate.)

--
Katy Jennison

[Peter Duncanson [BrE]]

On Sat, 18 Apr 2015 18:04:19 -0700 (PDT), Gus <gus.o...@gmail.com>
wrote:

>On Friday, April 17, 2015 at 4:15:08 PM UTC-4, Adam Funk wrote:
>> On 2015-04-17, Mark Brader wrote:
>>
>> > Jerry Friedman:
>> >> (Apparently at an a.u.e. "boink" or meet-up in England, an American
>> >> ex-pat...
>> >
>> > O-y!
>>
>> Jerry was referring to someone who had changed his or her name from
>> "Pat", of course.
>>
>>
>> --
>> A mathematical formula should never be "owned" by anybody! Mathematics
>> belong to God. --- Donald Knuth
>
>If someone has a sex change, and is named "Pat" or "Chris"-- do they need to change their name to show they have changed?
>

In my very limited personal experience of co-workers who have been
"reassigned" one changed from a male name to an unrelated female name,
the other chose a female version of his original male name.

In both cases they seem to have changed name to reflect the
reassignment.

>My ex's first ex husband both went by the name "Chris" and had the same last name. Though he was Christopher and she, Christine. That had to be confusing, them both going by "Chris".

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

[Peter Duncanson [BrE]]

No. The thought didn't pop up - the thought was too flassid to pop up.

[Bertel Lund Hansen]

LFS skrev:

> I think my reasoning was associated with floccinaucinihilipilification
> which I always heard as "flocki...".

But it ought to be "floksi...".

--
Bertel, Kolt, Denmark

[Bertel Lund Hansen]

Katy Jennison skrev:

> Ah! Yes, of course, and flocculus, and so on. I bet that's it.

"Flocculus" is quite regular with only a k. C before u is k.

--
Bertel, Kolt, Denmark

[Tough Guy no. 1265]

On Fri, 17 Apr 2015 00:59:41 +0100, Robert Bannister <rob...@clubtelco.com> wrote:

> On 17/04/2015 12:37 am, Jerry Friedman wrote:

>> On 4/16/15 10:35 AM, Gus wrote:
>>> I was watching Silicon Valley and schooled...
>>>
>>> http://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2007/01/is-flaccid-pronounced-flass-id-or-flak-sid.html
>>>
>>>
>>> http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/flaccid
>>

>> Me? Flaxid.
>>
> However often I read that it is supposed to be pronounced "flaksid", I
> still blurt out the way I have always heard it: "flassid".

Everyone in my entire life has said flassid. Until I read this thread, I thought that was the only way to pronounce it (in the UK, America may be different I guess). How else would you sensibly pronounce a word spelt like that?

--
Three guys go to a ski lodge, and there aren't enough rooms, so they have to share a bed. In the middle of the night, the guy on the right wakes up and says, "I had this wild, vivid dream of getting a hand job!" The guy on the left wakes up, and unbelievably, he's had the same dream, too. Then the guy in the middle wakes up and says, "That's funny, I dreamt I was skiing!"

[Tough Guy no. 1265]

On Sun, 19 Apr 2015 17:36:27 +0100, Tough Guy no. 1265 <n...@spam.com> wrote:

> On Fri, 17 Apr 2015 00:59:41 +0100, Robert Bannister <rob...@clubtelco.com> wrote:
>
>> On 17/04/2015 12:37 am, Jerry Friedman wrote:
>>> On 4/16/15 10:35 AM, Gus wrote:
>>>> I was watching Silicon Valley and schooled...
>>>>
>>>> http://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2007/01/is-flaccid-pronounced-flass-id-or-flak-sid.html
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/flaccid
>>>
>>> Me? Flaxid.
>>>
>> However often I read that it is supposed to be pronounced "flaksid", I
>> still blurt out the way I have always heard it: "flassid".
>
> Everyone in my entire life has said flassid. Until I read this thread, I thought that was the only way to pronounce it (in the UK, America may be different I guess). How else would you sensibly pronounce a word spelt like that?

In fact, since the word is talking about something soft, then a soft sound should be used to pronounce the word.

On that note.... is flaccid used for anything other than the penis?

--
Peter is listening to "DJ Felli Fel - Feel it"

[Richard Tobin]

In article <mh0gt7$g09$1...@news.albasani.net>,

Katy Jennison <ka...@spamtrap.kjennison.com> wrote:
>There must be words in which -cci is pronounced k, but I'm
>dashed if I can think of any, apart from "biccie".

Streptococci?

-- Richard

[Peter T. Daniels]

On Sunday, April 19, 2015 at 11:36:58 AM UTC-4, Athel Cornish-Bowden wrote:

> On the rare occasions when I've wanted to say "flaccid" the
> pronunciation that comes immediately to mind is "flakkd", not
> "flassid". (This one example where ASCII IPA obscures more than it
> illuminates).

An "explanation" of _that_ _mot_ would be fascinating. How does ['fl&ksId]
vs. ['fl&sId] "obscure" anything? (Though apparently he claims he would
pronounce it [fl&kt], which would not be predictable from _any_ existing
English orthography, regular or irregular.)

[Peter T. Daniels]

On Sunday, April 19, 2015 at 12:03:08 PM UTC-4, Katy Jennison wrote:

> On 19/04/2015 16:29, LFS wrote:

> > I think my reasoning was associated with floccinaucinihilipilification
> > which I always heard as "flocki...". My older cousin taught me that, and
> > that's probably where my hearing of "nihil" came from too. Which is
> > probably how he was taught to pronounce Latin at a London grammar school
> > in the 1950s.
>
> Ah! Yes, of course, and flocculus, and so on. I bet that's it.
>
> (I know floccinaucinihilipilificate is canonical, but for some reason I
> was brought up with floccipaucinihilipilificate.)

YES!!!! But everywhere I look, it's -nauci-.

However, it was among the at least 50% of the lines that were cut from the
New York Shakespeare Festival's production in Central Park last season so
that they could put in some really stupid songs.

[Tony Cooper]

I am trying - unsuccessfully - to think of any occasion in which I
would say the word "flaccid". I know the word, I know the definition,
but I don't know when I might be inclined to use it.

I also know that I don't want to hear the word applied to me by
someone who has reason to make that observation.

--
Tony Cooper - Orlando FL

[Peter T. Daniels]

On Sunday, April 19, 2015 at 12:11:04 PM UTC-4, PeterWD wrote:

> In my very limited personal experience of co-workers who have been
> "reassigned" one changed from a male name to an unrelated female name,
> the other chose a female version of his original male name.
>
> In both cases they seem to have changed name to reflect the
> reassignment.

Bradley Manning (notorious as the wikileaker) is now Chelsea Manning.

[Katy Jennison]

I think I've heard in flower-arranging circles, where it's the opposite
of turgid, which is the state in which one's plant material should
normally be.

--
Katy Jennison

[Katy Jennison]

On 19/04/2015 17:30, Bertel Lund Hansen wrote:
> Katy Jennison skrev:
>
>> Ah! Yes, of course, and flocculus, and so on. I bet that's it.
>
> "Flocculus" is quite regular with only a k. C before u is k.
>

Yes, which then leads one to pronounce "flocci" as "flocky".

--
Katy Jennison

[Tough Guy no. 1265]

Leaves should be flaccid surely?

--
Federal Expresso: When you absolutely, positively have to stay up all night.

[Bertel Lund Hansen]

Tough Guy no. 1265 skrev:

> Everyone in my entire life has said flassid. Until I read this
> thread, I thought that was the only way to pronounce it (in
> the UK, America may be different I guess). How else would you
> sensibly pronounce a word spelt like that?

There is a simple rule about c that works in all the European
languages that I know:

1. If e, i or y follows, the c is pronounced as an s.
2. If not, it is pronounced as a k.

"Success", "access", "flaccid" and "succinylcholin" should all
have "ks", while "flocculus" and "occult" only have k.

--
Bertel, Kolt, Denmark

[Bertel Lund Hansen]

Richard Tobin skrev:

>>There must be words in which -cci is pronounced k, but I'm
>>dashed if I can think of any, apart from "biccie".

> Streptococci?

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/streptococcus

has "ks" in "streptococci".

--
Bertel, Kolt, Denmark

[Katy Jennison]

Actually, in the competitive world of flower arranging, no. Lack of
turgidity indicates laco of uptake of water, therefore plant material in
poor condition.

--
Katy Jennison

[Tough Guy no. 1265]

Have you made a typo in the above? For example success has an "e" following the "c"s. So you'd say "sussess", as per rule 1.

--
Streakers beware: Your end is in sight!

[Tough Guy no. 1265]

I've got a houseplant doing that. It suddenly gave up drinking when I put it into a larger pot. I followed all the instructions given to me in a gardening newsgroup, but it's slowly dying. I can only assume the pot has poisonous glaze.

--
If it's zero degrees outside today and it's supposed to be twice as cold tomorrow, how cold is it going to be?

[Peter T. Daniels]

No, because palatalization is conditioned by a following front vowel.

[Peter T. Daniels]

Some people might object to your calling English a European language.

Remember "coccyx."

[Will Parsons]

Tough Guy no. 1265 wrote:

By "follows", "immediately follows" is implied, so you wouldn't.

--
Will

[Peter T. Daniels]

On Sunday, April 19, 2015 at 4:15:51 PM UTC-4, Tough Guy no. 1265 wrote:

> If it's zero degrees outside today and it's supposed to be twice as cold tomorrow, how cold is it going to be?

Fahrenheit or Celsius? (Kelvin is obviously excluded.)

[Will Parsons]

The high-pressured world of competitive flower arranging - somehow I
never imagined it.

--
Will

[Tough Guy no. 1265]

I love to say, "OW! I landed on my coccyx" when I fall over. Most people don't know what I mean and make an incorrect assumption.

--
Women are like dog shit, the older they get the easier they are to pick up.

[Tough Guy no. 1265]

But E does immediately follow the C in success.

--
"The best things in life actually cost a lot of money" - The Beatles

[Tough Guy no. 1265]

This is a group about English, so we'll assume Celsius, as the Merkins don't speak English.

--
PNEUMONOULTRAMICROSCOPICSILICOVOLCANOCONIOSIS (45 letters, a lung disease caused by breathing in particles of siliceous volcanic dust) is the longest word in the English language, beating TETRAMETHYLDIAMINOBENZHYDRYLPHOSPHINOUS ACID, HEPATICOCHOLANGIOCHOLECYSTENTEROSTOMIES, FORMALDEHYDETETRAMETHYLAMIDOFLUORIMUM, and DIMETHYLAMIDOPHENYLDIMETHYLPYRAZOLONE.

[Tough Guy no. 1265]

An instructional video: https://youtu.be/pNFZuPYSquY?t=30s

--
An e-mail computer virus has swept across the globe that automatically opens pornographic websites on the victim's screen.
Authorities intend to track down the hackers responsible for the virus just as soon as somebody complains.

[Will Parsons]

Tough Guy no. 1265 wrote:
> On Sun, 19 Apr 2015 21:49:42 +0100, Will Parsons <va...@nodomain.invalid> wrote:
>
>> Tough Guy no. 1265 wrote:
>>> On Sun, 19 Apr 2015 21:03:47 +0100, Bertel Lund Hansen <gade...@lundhansen.dk> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Tough Guy no. 1265 skrev:
>>>>
>>>>> Everyone in my entire life has said flassid. Until I read this
>>>>> thread, I thought that was the only way to pronounce it (in
>>>>> the UK, America may be different I guess). How else would you
>>>>> sensibly pronounce a word spelt like that?
>>>>
>>>> There is a simple rule about c that works in all the European
>>>> languages that I know:
>>>>
>>>> 1. If e, i or y follows, the c is pronounced as an s.
>>>> 2. If not, it is pronounced as a k.
>>>>
>>>> "Success", "access", "flaccid" and "succinylcholin" should all
>>>> have "ks", while "flocculus" and "occult" only have k.
>>>
>>> Have you made a typo in the above? For example success has an "e" following the "c"s. So you'd say "sussess", as per rule 1.
>>
>> By "follows", "immediately follows" is implied, so you wouldn't.
>
> But E does immediately follow the C in success.

There are two C's. The first is followed by another C, so is
pronounced [k] per rule 2.

--
Will

[Katy Jennison]

What's the plant? It may be one that wants to lie dormant for a while
until it recovers from the shock of being re-potted, in which case it
won't take up much water, and adding more water to the pot will be
counter-productive. Have you tried just letting it dry out?

--
Katy Jennison