tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8044541580633294348.post7896464704673264623..comments2024-03-15T15:16:54.518-04:00Comments on Reggie Darling: When Is a Vase a Vahz?Reggie Darlinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04044215790585354363noreply@blogger.comBlogger35125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8044541580633294348.post-76685857764647896012015-02-13T16:22:59.525-05:002015-02-13T16:22:59.525-05:00I tend to say "on-vuh-lope" and "tu...I tend to say "on-vuh-lope" and "tuh-may-toe" and always rhyme "vase" with "place." I am from Colorado. I also pronounce "pin" and "pen" identically, which I assume is regional more than familial. Alternate pronunciations of things don't tend to irk me too much, with the possible exception of the Southern pronunciation of "crayon" as something nearing "crown." I'm also not too fond of the British pronunciation of "zebra" as "zehh-brah" or "Aeroplane", as the Wright brothers invented it (at least the first working one) here, so in this rare case our pronunciation should be considered the original.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8044541580633294348.post-86918679555036268192015-02-13T16:02:13.305-05:002015-02-13T16:02:13.305-05:00Also, according to the Online Etymology Dictionary...Also, according to the Online Etymology Dictionary, "Amer.Eng. preserves the original Eng. pronunciation (Swift rhymes it with face, Byron with place and grace), while British Eng. shifted mid-19c. to preference for a pronunciation that rhymes with bras." <br /><br />So perhaps you can just think of us as safeguarding the original form of the word for the British, while they assault their own language and accuse us of the same.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8044541580633294348.post-13333405607489187052015-02-13T15:53:40.849-05:002015-02-13T15:53:40.849-05:00Despite the fact that there are more English speak...Despite the fact that there are more English speakers in the US than in England? Not that that justifies anything, but still, any nation not wanting it's language severely changed wouldn't engage in colonialism. The English, however, did, and now must deal with our pronunciation of things in popular media. Too bad for them.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8044541580633294348.post-44159984436674868242011-05-23T15:09:57.226-04:002011-05-23T15:09:57.226-04:00Dear Reggie,
I adore this post and have read it m...Dear Reggie,<br /><br />I adore this post and have read it many times. I am still at loss on how to correctly pronounce foyer. Growing up in the low South with parents fluent in French and relatives whose accents could give Sally Kato a run for her money, I was often confused on the correct pronuciation of many words. How did MD instruct you to pronounce foyer? <br /><br />Always a greatful reader,<br />R LordRoberthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00144706444800577564noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8044541580633294348.post-63291292046297121192010-08-25T08:24:04.404-04:002010-08-25T08:24:04.404-04:00Love this post RD. I am the product of the unholy...Love this post RD. I am the product of the unholy union of a Boston Brahmin father and a genteel southern belle. Suffice it to say my great aunts spent most of our Cape Cod summers smoothing out my budding southern drawl via covert diction lessons. My mother was not thrilled when I returned to the south after labor day saying things like "No thank you, I have had an elegant sufficiency of your innumerable delicacies but anything more would cause a gastronomical catastrophe..."Patrick Sheehanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11237658330558641719noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8044541580633294348.post-12215421437920095882010-07-22T21:18:02.928-04:002010-07-22T21:18:02.928-04:00is your mother my mother, too? they sound identica...is your mother my mother, too? they sound identical.<br /><br />xoPigtown*Designhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13775512940294150252noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8044541580633294348.post-82039648916329794262010-07-20T13:28:10.684-04:002010-07-20T13:28:10.684-04:00Per my mother, a lady does not chew gum or smoke i...Per my mother, a lady does not chew gum or smoke in public and definitly doesn't walk with her hands in her pockets, although that may have been to protect very expensive orthodontia........Patsyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02840629057159581688noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8044541580633294348.post-17346811158400524382010-07-18T23:24:03.662-04:002010-07-18T23:24:03.662-04:00Oh, I love this. My view is that you can say it ei...Oh, I love this. My view is that you can say it either way, as long as that's the way you've <i>always</i> said it: no changing horses midstream. Changing your pronunciation to be like everybody else isn't necessary & doing it just to be different is hokey. Still, I don't expect people to conform to MY way of doing everything, at least, not when it comes to stuff like pronunciation. No, I prefer to save my corrections for issues that really matter--say, magazines fanned out across a table doctor's-waitng-room style.<br /><br />But "vase"...<br /><br />Every major holiday, my far-flung family used to gather down at my grandmother's house for a few days, and we were always welcome to bring along college pals, girlfriends, anybody with nowhere else to go. We always had a good time. One year my brother showed up with a brand-new girlfriend, whom none of us had met before. She was pretty, well-dressed & obviously, she had good intentions, because she showed up with an armful of spotted lilies wrapped in crinkly paper, and what's more did it back in the day before you could pick up a last-minute bouquet at Wal-Mart. <br /><br />The rest of the family was still hugging & shaking hands when my brother took the bouquet from her arms, looked around & said in an oddly refined voice, "Grandmother, where is the Lalique vaahhhzz?"<br /><br />There was a moment of silence, then my grandmother broke out laughing & my middle brother--the actor, naturally--said in his snootiest English accent "Dammit, Jeeves dropped the bloody thing in the conservatory yesterday and Grandmother had to sack the bugger!" That's when everyone else busted up.<br /><br />Well, the pretty girl never came back, but the question about the Lalique vaaaahhhzz comes back on a periodic basis, most memorably at the vistation after my grandmother died, when it set off an unseemly fit of giggles among the sadly bereaved--or, at least, among all of us but one.magnaverdenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8044541580633294348.post-67446256390118017052010-07-18T11:01:27.999-04:002010-07-18T11:01:27.999-04:00Reggie, DAHling! Love your blog, how have I not d...Reggie, DAHling! Love your blog, how have I not discovered it sooner? Witty post, I appreciate the whole vase/vahz controversy, but my favorite line of the post was "I am NOT a snob, I'm a registered Democrat!" Love it! Happy to find you, will be following. Cheers!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06675513377877728471noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8044541580633294348.post-80235459817452142042010-07-17T10:28:30.628-04:002010-07-17T10:28:30.628-04:00According to Judith Martin aka Miss Manners, "...According to Judith Martin aka Miss Manners, "A vase is a vahz when it's filled with dahzies."<br /><br />Which is another way of saying, "Never!" I suppose.<br /><br />Y'all might be interested in Charles Harrington Elster's The Big Book of Beastly Mispronunciations <br /><br />http://www.pbs.org/speak/speech/beastly/ <br /><br />This all brings to mind the George and Ira Gershwin song<br /><br />"Let's call the whole thing off"<br />http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJz7bIl0kRw<br /><br />"Let's call the whole thing off " on skates<br />http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dskTypuEXoM&feature=related<br /><br />KO<br />FloridaAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8044541580633294348.post-49983586788366292842010-07-17T06:04:39.122-04:002010-07-17T06:04:39.122-04:00Camilla and Hermione: I confess, I still sometimes...Camilla and Hermione: I confess, I still sometimes say on-vuh-lope, too, but like DED and Magnuspetrie do with tomato, I wince when I do so. And to really bare it all, I do still sometimes say to-mah-toe. Usually when I'm either tired, or drunk, or both. Reggie aspires to perfection, but he so rarely achieves it. And, thank you, Hermione, it was lovely.Reggie Darlinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04044215790585354363noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8044541580633294348.post-19561084812772059962010-07-17T01:55:16.880-04:002010-07-17T01:55:16.880-04:00Dear Reggie, How many times have you heard the wor...Dear Reggie, How many times have you heard the word house and the word home confused as one. My mother would always correct the person no matter who used the word incorrectly or when. Thanks for memories.Hollywood forever, Kevinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16608998958466509181noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8044541580633294348.post-83708059846702540352010-07-16T20:05:47.690-04:002010-07-16T20:05:47.690-04:00yes,yes HaPee Buth'Daa RegGee Dawlin'! I c...yes,yes HaPee Buth'Daa RegGee Dawlin'! I can only assume the correct pronunciation for anything comes from Georgie in Mapp and Lucia- that is where one born on the wrong side of the Empire goes to for the King's English, No?<br />(as per our convaShaShun- my GranMa always said she wuz a Bap'ist and a Democrat- that would be a disciple of the Dixiecrats, yee gawds-an lit'l catfish.,xo,lit'l dawlin' aw'gry.P.Gaye Tapp at Little Auguryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15115534755711063462noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8044541580633294348.post-71627299648787762412010-07-15T11:18:22.321-04:002010-07-15T11:18:22.321-04:00Oh no, Reggie. We British can't believe you&#...Oh no, Reggie. We British can't believe you'd say anything as comic -and common - as vase to rhyme with faze. A vase is a vahz this side of the pond. (There are people who call it a vawse but they are off their heads.)<br /><br />I think it must be true that we are two nations separated by a common language.Rose C'est La Viehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17193872186283731567noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8044541580633294348.post-7278049885823145122010-07-15T11:07:43.493-04:002010-07-15T11:07:43.493-04:00You missed most of my MD's early dedication to...You missed most of my MD's early dedication to French- torture of tortures- Please remind me to tell you some of those horrible, life changing scenarios when we visit !izzyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06379007428464069723noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8044541580633294348.post-58575641741959797122010-07-15T10:16:47.278-04:002010-07-15T10:16:47.278-04:00I still say on-velope. The things that cover windo...I still say on-velope. The things that cover windows are curtains, and the stuffed thing that more than one person can sit on is a sofa. You wipe your mouth with a napkin.<br /><br />Remember how grumpy it made Father when our accents got polluted by association with locals at the farm? Bewwnsburra for Boonesboro was anathema!<br /><br />DED: I, too, am apt to slide into the accent of others. When I go to the UK everyone thinks I am from the opposite part of the country. I feel like an idiot when I realize I have done a chameleon shift, but unless I concsiously avoid it I am helpless. I also cannot harmonize while singing. Put me next to a soprano I will attempt to sing high, next to an alto I sing low. Do you find this true as well?<br /><br />Ah, gum. I still cannot chew gum in the presence of another human being. But I no longer eat pizza with a knife and fork...<br /><br />Happy Birthday, Little Brother!<br /><br />xox,<br />HermioneAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8044541580633294348.post-82762139047830087042010-07-15T09:50:38.148-04:002010-07-15T09:50:38.148-04:00ein VUS?ein VUS?littlebadwolfnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8044541580633294348.post-4261886873108318262010-07-15T07:50:54.652-04:002010-07-15T07:50:54.652-04:00Oh my, this brought back memories. When I went to ...Oh my, this brought back memories. When I went to boarding school in Washington, DC, in 1959, I was completely shocked to discover that fried chicken was to be eaten using knife and fork. At home, there were very, very few food items we were allowed to pick up and eat, but fried chicken had always been on the list. <br /><br />I do still say on-velope for the paper product, I just can't help it.Cate Fitthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12835720513248934609noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8044541580633294348.post-54277883796724576942010-07-15T07:28:38.312-04:002010-07-15T07:28:38.312-04:00Magnuspetrie: PS, that Foxcroft story is a stitch,...Magnuspetrie: PS, that Foxcroft story is a stitch, I shall always remember what that teacher said with pleasure. Reminds me slightly of the time when I was a boy and attending a country day school in Virginia (not that far from Foxcraft, actually) where we were forbidden to use anything other than a knife and fork when eating fried chicken, which seemed perplexingly absurd to me at the time, and laughably so today.Reggie Darlinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04044215790585354363noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8044541580633294348.post-8688982952518161602010-07-15T07:20:52.779-04:002010-07-15T07:20:52.779-04:00Magnuspetrie: Granny Darling (born in 1893) did sa...Magnuspetrie: Granny Darling (born in 1893) did say "luncheon" but MD did not, would in fact snort derisively when anyone of a younger generation to Granny did. I use "luncheon" and "bruncheon" ironically and for fun at times here on RD but never use them in speaking, except playfully.<br /><br />Izzy: I remember your mother well, and as a boy thought she was English when I first met her, given the way she spoke. It is only as an adult that I came to understand that she was an American aristocrat of the old school, and spoke as one with a clipped English-influenced accent, which she and her kind were carefully raised to do, and so in her case was entirely appropriate.Reggie Darlinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04044215790585354363noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8044541580633294348.post-12015765866464349862010-07-14T23:55:11.636-04:002010-07-14T23:55:11.636-04:00Vaz? Cringe. MD was right.Vaz? Cringe. MD was right.Tally Prephttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06021308241767615963noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8044541580633294348.post-86434472477027904082010-07-14T21:05:31.448-04:002010-07-14T21:05:31.448-04:00Oh my, I'm late to the party again. Well in ...Oh my, I'm late to the party again. Well in my case, what can i say...English learned as a second language in a NE boarding school. I do say on velope, but say tomayto, but for the past 10 years have been wondering about the vaze/vase deblacle. Glad we've cleared that up.lindaraxahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15721286284279902181noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8044541580633294348.post-41546106394916804482010-07-14T20:32:46.919-04:002010-07-14T20:32:46.919-04:00So much is regionally determined. Take the region...So much is regionally determined. Take the region of the USA called Appalachia...<br /><br />--if and only if you live on the side of that mountain range, or thereabouts, from the Mason Dixon on down into Georgia, you can call it Appa-latchya.<br /><br />--If you live on the side of the range from the Mason Dixon line going north, you call it Appa-laishya. (Maine is where all the Frenchies are, after all.)<br /><br />--If you come from elsewhere, like Noo York or one of those godawful places, and say Appa-laitchya, no one will sell you any gas. Go away.<br /><br />Oh, and there are pronunciations that are essentially politically- and historically-motivated snubs. Have you ever read the Byron poem Don Jewann? Or seen a production of Waiting for God-oh?<br /><br />(I also hate the substitution of "home" for "house." I hate it when people base their ideas of refinement on cheap marketing ploys. Do not get me started on the diamond cartels.) <br /><br />I say "vayce." People who said anything else were just silly. Bless your dear sweet unsnobbish Democratic mother's soul.Staircase Witchhttp://staircasewitch.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8044541580633294348.post-44076554148003923872010-07-14T14:22:54.910-04:002010-07-14T14:22:54.910-04:00>>>"Don't be horrid, Reggie, I a...>>>"Don't be horrid, Reggie, I am not a snob. I'm a registered Democrat!" <br /><br />I had to chuckle at this. It's so similar to things I've heard my aunts say that I almost felt like I was a teenager sitting at the dinner table again.VA Galhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00800843514938606005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8044541580633294348.post-21361344915115439532010-07-14T12:47:10.774-04:002010-07-14T12:47:10.774-04:00Fun post. In my little book of quirkiness, it'...Fun post. In my little book of quirkiness, it's a vahz if I paid over 100 dollars for it!Tess Kincaidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04889725786678984293noreply@blogger.com