How to pronounce 'Blythe' (the doll)?
Raymond
Cheers.
RobertE
> Any anyone please tell me what's the correct pronounciation of 'Blythe'?
Regardless of whether it's a doll, Blythe is a woman's name - not as common
now as it once was. The only name that comes readily to mind is Blythe
Danner, the marvelous actress.
It's pronounced as it looks - the "e" is silent, the "y" a long "i", and the
"th" is voiced as in "The". It is one syllable.
RobertE
Donna Richoux
I would think the "th" is the debatable part. I'm sure I've heard
"Blythe Danner" said with a "hard" (unvoiced) th, as in "with" or
"teeth." It's hard to put a "soft" (voiced) th before "Danner". You need
a following vowel.
Any way to know what the lady herself prefers? Or other Blythes?
--
Best - Donna Richoux
Bill Schnakenberg
>Any anyone please tell me what's the correct pronounciation of 'Blythe'?
>Cheers.
>
I pronounce it like the first audio file for the word "blithe" on this page.
http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=blithe&x=15&y=14
--
Bill
ciniquiyo
wrought:
>RobertE <ro...@spamkillasgaard.co.uk> wrote:
>
>> > Any anyone please tell me what's the correct pronounciation of 'Blythe'?
>>
>> Regardless of whether it's a doll, Blythe is a woman's name - not as common
>> now as it once was. The only name that comes readily to mind is Blythe
>> Danner, the marvelous actress.
>>
>> It's pronounced as it looks - the "e" is silent, the "y" a long "i", and the
>> "th" is voiced as in "The". It is one syllable.
>>
>I would think the "th" is the debatable part. I'm sure I've heard
>"Blythe Danner" said with a "hard" (unvoiced) th, as in "with" or
>"teeth."
FWIW, many Brits voice "with", so "with a spoon" and "witherspoon" are
homophones.
>It's hard to put a "soft" (voiced) th before "Danner". You need
>a following vowel.
>
>Any way to know what the lady herself prefers? Or other Blythes?
All the UK Blythes I've known (only three or four, so admittedly it's
not much of a universe) voiced the "th", rhyming it with "writhe" and
"scythe".
The Northumberland town is pronounced the same way, even though it's
spelled Blyth.
Steve Hayes
wrote:
>
>> Any anyone please tell me what's the correct pronounciation of 'Blythe'?
>
>Regardless of whether it's a doll, Blythe is a woman's name - not as common
>now as it once was. The only name that comes readily to mind is Blythe
>Danner, the marvelous actress.
Bird she never wert?
--
Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/7734/stevesig.htm
E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk
RobertE
"Donna Richoux" <tr...@euronet.nl> wrote
> I would think the "th" is the debatable part. I'm sure I've heard
> "Blythe Danner" said with a "hard" (unvoiced) th, as in "with" or
> "teeth." It's hard to put a "soft" (voiced) th before "Danner". You need
> a following vowel.
>
> Any way to know what the lady herself prefers? Or other Blythes?
Hmm. I can honestly say that I've never heard the name pronounced with an
unvoiced "th", but that's hardly relevant.
I had always thought that the name was homophonous with the adjective
"blithe", as in Noel Coward's play, "Blithe Spirit".
The mention of Noel Coward, of course, brings us to another subject which
risks us going *seriously* OT. How the hell did he make those noises? I've
got a CD of his most popular songs ("Mad Dogs And Englishmen", "The Stately
Homes Of England", etc.). As a sort of an exercise, I've tried to imitate
his pronunciation, but my mouth simply cannot contort itself in the way(s)
necessary to make similar noises. How did he do it? And does *anyone* speak
now as he did? For the historians of English out there, was he unique in his
pronunciations, or was he typical of his time (I'm thinking "Brief
Encounter" here)?
RobertE
Harvey Van Sickle
> The mention of Noel Coward, of course, brings us to another
> subject which risks us going *seriously* OT. How the hell did he
> make those noises? I've got a CD of his most popular songs ("Mad
> Dogs And Englishmen", "The Stately Homes Of England", etc.). As a
> sort of an exercise, I've tried to imitate his pronunciation, but
> my mouth simply cannot contort itself in the way(s) necessary to
> make similar noises. How did he do it? And does *anyone* speak now
> as he did? For the historians of English out there, was he unique
> in his pronunciations, or was he typical of his time (I'm thinking
> "Brief Encounter" here)?
I'm not an historian of English, but having listened to a fair amount
of archival clips I'd say that his was an extreme example of an unusual
but not unique sound.
I don't think anyone now speaks that way -- and even if they use the
vowel sounds, I'm quite certain nobody speaks that quickly. (It's the
speed of the speech that always catches my attention. Damn, that's
fast...)
--
Cheers, Harvey
Ottawa/Toronto/Edmonton for 30 years;
Southern England for the past 21 years.
(for e-mail, change harvey to whhvs)
Don Phillipson
news:Xns94ABAD1E...@62.253.162.202...
> > The mention of Noel Coward, of course, brings us to . . .
>
> I'm not an historian of English, but having listened to a fair amount
> of archival clips I'd say that his was an extreme example of an unusual
> but not unique sound.
>
> I don't think anyone now speaks that way -- and even if they use the
> vowel sounds, I'm quite certain nobody speaks that quickly. (It's the
> speed of the speech that always catches my attention. Damn, that's
> fast...)
But consider the young new professor in
my 3d year of univ., fresh from Oxford.
None of us believed he was a Canadian
(from Halifax, via Rhodes scholarship.)
He explained that on arrival at Oxford
(Magdalen College) he found students
with foreign accents were not treated
seriously. So he taught himself the
Oxford accents, to which Noel Coward's
was very similar, except that Oxonians
speak even faster (cf. Isaiah Berlin.)
This was decades ago and the Oxford
accent lost much of its cachet in England
when the BBC abandoned its decades-long
policy of presenting everything in a single
"Home Counties" accent. But on my
annual visits to Oxford up to year 2000
I seemed to hear both the traditional
Oxford accent and Noel Coward's sort of
voice from time to time.
--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs (Ottawa, Canada)