Author Topic: Dear Expert (Read 165812 times)

Jonathon · « **Reply #800 on:** March 25, 2014, 01:34:07 PM »

I don't see any difference in the choice between that and which there. In restrictive clauses with non-human referents, they're interchangeable. There's no syntactic or semantic difference between the two.

Ela · « **Reply #801 on:** March 31, 2014, 08:01:16 AM »

What's the correct pronunciation of lilacs?

My husband says it with a very short "a": lie-lacks. (Emphasized by a New Yawk "a".

)
I say it with a longer "a", more like this: lie-lox.

The pronunciations I found online sound like something in between that, but when I played one of them for my daughter, she thought it sounded like the British pronunciation.

(I found a post linking to an article about a dispute over lilac pronunciation, but the link was dead.)

Brinestone · « **Reply #802 on:** March 31, 2014, 08:08:51 AM »

I say something like "LIE-lucks," with a schwa for the second syllable, very unstressed. But I have heard both of the ones you describe as well. It looks like your pronunciation is the most commonly used one.

Jonathon · « **Reply #803 on:** March 31, 2014, 08:23:20 AM »

All three are apparently in use, and none of them are marked as regional or nonstandard. Merriam-Webster gives \ˈlī-ˌläk, -ˌlak, -lək\ (lie-lock, lie-lack, and lie-luck).

BlackBlade · « **Reply #804 on:** March 31, 2014, 08:32:01 AM »

Quote from: Jonathon on March 31, 2014, 08:23:20 AM

All three are apparently in use, and none of them are marked as regional or nonstandard. Merriam-Webster gives \ˈlī-ˌläk, -ˌlak, -lək\ (lie-lock, lie-lack, and lie-luck).

I guess we know what you do "whenever you walk by a lilac tree."

Ela · « **Reply #805 on:** March 31, 2014, 10:58:29 AM »

Quote from: Brinestone on March 31, 2014, 08:08:51 AM

I say something like "LIE-lucks," with a schwa for the second syllable, very unstressed. But I have heard both of the ones you describe as well. It looks like your pronunciation is the most commonly used one.

Yeah, that's pretty much how I say it.

Quote from: Jonathon on March 31, 2014, 08:23:20 AM

All three are apparently in use, and none of them are marked as regional or nonstandard. Merriam-Webster gives \ˈlī-ˌläk, -ˌlak, -lək\ (lie-lock, lie-lack, and lie-luck).

Interesting.

It just sounds wrong to me when my husband says it, though. Maybe it's the NY accent.

Noemon · « **Reply #806 on:** April 03, 2014, 04:09:28 PM »

My manager has a speech pattern that I've never heard anyone else use, and I was wondering if it was just her idiolect, or something common to where she grew up, or what. She very consistently adds an "s" to proper nouns. For example, she has said that her favorite food is "Raisin Brans", and consistently calls Wal-Mart "Wal-Marts" (actually, she says "Wal-Marks", but that's neither here nor there for what I'm curious about here). Is that a "thing" somewhere, or is it unique to her?

Jonathon · « **Reply #807 on:** April 04, 2014, 08:13:27 AM »

I've heard this before (or at least heard of it). It seems to happen mostly with store names—I haven't heard it with a brand name like Raisin Bran before—but it doesn't seem to be limited to a particular region. With a little googling, I found reports of it in the Midwest and South, and I've heard it out here in the West too. But I can't really find any more on it than that. But at least I can say it's not unique to her.

dkw · « **Reply #808 on:** April 04, 2014, 12:06:12 PM »

I've known several people who refer to Cub Foods as "Cubs." Drives me crazy.

Jonathon · « **Reply #809 on:** April 04, 2014, 12:21:57 PM »

Quote from: dkw on April 04, 2014, 12:06:12 PM

I've known several people who refer to Cub Foods as "Cubs." Drives mes crazys.

Fixed that for you.

dkw · « **Reply #810 on:** April 04, 2014, 04:00:59 PM »

Gah! My eyes!

Noemon · « **Reply #811 on:** April 04, 2014, 04:05:20 PM »

Today she mentioned looking something up on googles.

Jonathon · « **Reply #812 on:** April 04, 2014, 04:14:14 PM »

Annie Subjunctive · « **Reply #813 on:** April 05, 2014, 03:13:23 PM »

I've known people who did that - they were all old-school Montanans. Old-school Montanans talk like North Dakotans/Minnesotans. They say things like /fleg/.

Ela · « **Reply #814 on:** April 05, 2014, 06:58:14 PM »

And now I'm wondering what Cub Foods is (or are). Something not around here, apparently.

rivka · « **Reply #815 on:** April 05, 2014, 10:23:56 PM »

Supermarket chain. Wikipedia says they are only in Minnesota and Illinois.

Noemon · « **Reply #816 on:** April 06, 2014, 07:41:41 AM »

There's one here in Dayton, or at least there used to be; I haven't been over in that part of town in a year or two.

Ela · « **Reply #817 on:** April 06, 2014, 09:46:41 AM »

Quote from: rivka on April 05, 2014, 10:23:56 PM

Supermarket chain. Wikipedia says they are only in Minnesota and Illinois.

Well, that would be why I've never heard of it.

rivka · « **Reply #818 on:** April 06, 2014, 10:43:17 AM »

I think I was in one during RaspberryCon. And it's either come up here before, or in books I read, or something.

Brinestone · « **Reply #819 on:** April 06, 2014, 12:51:30 PM »

I think there may have been one in Maryland.

Ela · « **Reply #820 on:** April 06, 2014, 01:58:53 PM »

it's possible, but I've never seen one in Maryland.

rivka · « **Reply #821 on:** April 06, 2014, 02:13:56 PM »

Their website says Illinois, Minnesota, and Ohio. The only one listed in Ohio is the one in Dayton. 2 in Illinois. 66 in Minnesota.

Ela · « **Reply #822 on:** April 06, 2014, 04:03:49 PM »

Guess it must be a MN store, for the most part.

rivka · « **Reply #823 on:** April 06, 2014, 05:09:00 PM »

It does appear that is the case, at least currently.

Noemon · « **Reply #824 on:** April 06, 2014, 07:11:22 PM »

It struck me as being kind of a dismal place, the one time I went into the one in Dayton.