Alliterative Rooster

My teenage boys have a new favorite condiment - Sriracha Chili Sauce.

I was unsure about the standard pronunciation, so I looked it up and came across a New York Times article titled "A Chili Sauce to Crow About ".

The pronunciation, according to the article is: SIR-rotch-ah.

But that is not the only reason I mention Sriracha.

My favorite part of the article is the author's alliterative description of the origin of the sauce -

"... an American sauce, a polyglot purée with roots in different places and peoples."

"Polyglot purée", as a description of the sauce, is based upon the incorrect perception that the sauce is Vietnamese or Thai in origin.

pol·y·glot

adj.
Speaking, writing, written in, or composed of several languages.
n.
1. A person having a speaking, reading, or writing knowledge of several languages.
2. A book, especially a Bible, containing several versions of the same text in different languages.
3. A mixture or confusion of languages.

Definition from thefreedictionary.com.

Photo from NYT article.

How Do You Pronounce That?

A channel on You Tube called Pronunciation Book gives audio demonstrations of the pronunciation of various words. I don't know how they choose the words, but there are plenty of random and entertaining words from which to choose.

Mackinaw vs. Mackinac - Spelling and Pronunciation

A reader recently inquired about the two different versions of spelling Mackinac/Mackinaw in Michigan place names. The following excerpt from a Joe Grimm article that appeared in the Detroit Free Press is a wonderful explanation for the variation in spelling and the proper pronunciation.

How do you say it? It ends in "awe," never "ack". Never, ever. Make Mackinac rhyme with Saginaw. Doesn't that sound nicer? If you simply MUST say "ack", you can call the bridge "The Big Mac." That's the only time you can say "ack".

So, what's with the spelling? Well, it's confusing. So, while we're at it, let's get the spelling right, too.

Mackinac Island
Mackinac Bridge
Straits of Mackinac
Fort Michilimackinac
Mackinaw City

Why the confusion? Blame the French. And the British. You can even blame the area's Native Americans. When Europeans got here (the French first), they picked up on all these words spoken by the local people and tried to write them down in their own language.

Are there other Mackinaw things? You bet. A mackinaw can also be cloth or coat made from thick woolen material, pronounced with an "awe."

What does Mackinac - or Mackinaw - even mean? Mackinac - and Mackinaw - are abbreviations for Michinnimakinong. Michinnimakinong is four words mashed together; mish-inni-maki-nong. In English they mean great connecting sound fault land or place. That, of course, is a good way to describe the Mackinac area.

The Michigan Accent

After much serious analysis of the Yooper dialect in the past, I thought it would be fun to take a humorous look at what michigannative.com considers to be the Michigan accent.

"aeh Narbor": Ann Arbor. Home of the Michigan Wolverines.
"Ashfault": Asphalt.
"Bob-lo": Bois Blanc. The name shared by several Michigan islands (and a former amusement park).
"Char-LOTT": Charlotte, a Michigan village close to Lansing.
Related: Durand, MI, pronounced "DUrand", Saline, pronounced "SuhLEEN", its neighbor "MYlun" (spelled Milan), and of course, Lake Orion, pronounced "OReeyun."
"COMF-terbul": Comfortable.
"Cranz": Crayons.
"Crick": Creek, in some parts of the state, they say "crick".
"Davenport": Sofa.
"Deerburn": Dearborn, home of Ford Moder Company.
"Di'TROI'": Detroit. You can always tell a non-native because they'll say "DEEtroit". "Drownded": Drowned. "
Related: "drownding".
"EeeevsTraaaf": Eavestrough.
"FI-yerr": Fire. Say it in two full syllables.
"FREVer": Forever.
"Frigerraider": Refrigerator.
"Graage": Garage. Ahhh, shuddup an' go parrk yer cahrr in the friggin' graage. (another one from Tim)
"Gran Blank": Grand Blanc, a suburb of Flint.
"Grrarapids": Grand Rapids
"GROSHries": Groceries.
"Haahkee": Hockey.
"Hunnerd": Hundred. Alternate pronunciation: "hundrid".
"I-munna": I'm going to.
"Kiddycorner": Kitty-corner. Elsewhere in the US: "catty-corner".
"KI-nuh": Kind of. I dunno, I kinuh like Vernor's.
"LayKEERie": Lake Erie.
"Lie-berry": Library.
"liVONEya": Livonia. Perhaps the fladdes' ciddy in Michigin.
"Melk": Milk.
"Michiganderr": Michigan native.
"Muskeeda": Mosquito. The State Bird of Michigan.
"NAWzeeus": Nauseous.
"Night-meer": Nightmare.
"Er": Or. Ya know, it wuz like watchin' X-Files er somethin'.
"Pah-neeack": Pontiac.
"Pahp": Pop. "Soda", in other parts of the world.
"Pellow": Pillow.
"Port Urine": Port Huron.
"Pronounce-eation": Pronunciation.
"Reeelatur": Realtor. This one sent in by Joe in KalamazOOOOOO.
"Samwich": Sandwich.
"Sherbert": Sherbet. Is this unique to Michigan? Another one from Kalamazoo Joe.
"Stold": Stole. "
"Sump'n": Something.
"Tempachur": Temperature.
"Tuh": To. It's hardta get inta the habita sayin' teeeoooo.
"Terr": Tour.
"U-sta": Used to. My deead u-sta work at th' Tek-Cenner in Warn. (submitted by Hari)
"Vanella": Vanilla.
"WEEK-en": Weekend. "
"Winzerr": Windsor, Ontario.

Eric Clapton in Japanese

While checking out a blog called "Who? Wot! Me?,"
I came across this picture with the caption "What do Japanese people really think of Eric Clapton?"

I, personally, am a big fan of Eric Clapton's music, but I still found humor in this Japanese attempt at spelling his name in English. There is, however, a very valid reason that the Japanese would spell Clapton's name as such and that is: the Japanese language does not have the "l- sound." Actually, the /l/ phoneme, as it is called, is unique among American English speech sounds.

The /l/ phoneme is classified as a sonorant approximant liquid by phoneticians - as is the /r/ phoneme. Although the /l/ and /r/ phonemes do have articulatory differences, many non-native American English speakers have difficulties differentiating between the two. These difficulties result in non-native speakers of English most frequently replacing the English /l/ phoneme with the /r/ phoneme.

This is why the Japanese pronounce Eric Clapton as Eric Crapton, not necessarily because they don't care for his music.

Phonetics and George Bernard Shaw

Because of the inconsistencies in English language spelling and word pronunciation, when George Bernard Shaw died in 1950 he left money in his will to develop a new phonemic alphabet. The Shaw Alphabet contains 48 letters and each letter represents one individual sound.

Think about this - how would you pronounce the word ghoti?

This is the spelling that Bernard Shaw suggested be used for the word fish to demonstrate the inconsistencies in English spelling and pronunciation. He suggested this spelling based on the [gh] from "laugh", the [o] from "women" and the [ti] from "nation".

The preferred phonetic alphabet today is the International Phonetic Alphabet or IPA. The IPA consists of 43 symbols for the sounds of American English and additional symbols for the sounds of other languages.