Pronunciations

So, there's this metal apparel, I guess it's basically a vest, that has been around for a number of centuries.

When I was a kid, like < 10, I was really interested in medieval warrior stuff, which eventually led me to Conan and LotR in my teens. Combine that with my love of comics and here am, literally, on Trek BBS.

It's not a word I've ever used in conversation so the pronunciation is just what I thought in my head as a ten year old, which basically was "curious". (In all humility, I tutored English at college,)

Fast forward, after 6 decades on this hapless orb, I looked it up (for reasons I won't bother you with) and found out it was pronounced "queer-ass." (Please keep in mind here I am bi-sexual. If you are buying, I'm sexual.) The connotations should be obvious to any but the most sexually repressed.

"Lackey, bring me my cuirass... No, damn you, the other! I'm not getting dressed, I'm getting undressed!"

Anyone else had a similar experience?

(Posted in SF&F because where else do you come across this word on a regular basis?.)

 

It is not pronounced "queerass" it is pronounced \kɥi.ʁas\ in french, where this word originates from. There is no "queer" and no "ass" in that word, at least not as english speakers would pronounce it. In german it is called "Kürass". The french pronounciatian has an "ee"-sound after the Umlaut and the "a" is pronounced like the "u" in "up".

 

My wife was designing armor for her comic strip the other day and that came up.
She needed formal attire for a banquet of Amazon Warrior Royalty.
(Of course, they're all Hyenas, but that's beside the point.)

Yeah, in Colloquial English, that's the way it's pronounced.

That doesn't mean you won't get funny looks when it's spoken aloud though.

(On the other hand, if you know anything about Female Hyenas, this conversation gets Really weird.)

 

I've always pronounced it "cure ass".

 

It is pronounced kwi-ras with the accent on the second syllable.

 

And don't even get me started on Uranus, amirite, amirite?

 

A friend got a memo from the BBC pronunciation unit telling her how she should pronounce her name...

 

What was the context?

 

Those are along the ways I thought the word was pronunced at least in the UK.

But I suspect there are quite a few English words that are pronunced definterly in different countires.

 

I could probably list a couple of dozen that are pronounced differently beyond just accent differences.

 

I'm loving all the versions, but I got "queer ass" from the Oxford English Dictionary.

Hmm... Now I'm making sound like I picked up an STD.

 

The BBC version is So-fay-ah, but she has always been So-fee-ah.

 

The Beeb is wrong.

 

Thank you, but what I meant was, why would they even care how she pronounced her name? Was she representing the BBC on air?

 

I live in Texas (moved from California) and I have been here for years but NEVER can grasp how things here are pronounced the way they are. The place-names are the worst.

How do you think these towns' names are pronounced?
Boerne
Budha
Balmorhea
Iraan

 

Sound like a comedy bit.
"I'm Sophia Smith, live from Buckingham Palace"
"That should be So-fay-ah."
"What?"
"The name, you said So-feh-ah. It should be So-fay-ah"
"Are you telling me how to pronounce my own bloody name!?"

As a kid I lived in San Antonio, located in Bexar (pronounced "bear') County

 

We have a not so common last name, and in the past, I noticed there was a piece of mail that had the audacity to change it (even though we had correctly entered it) to a more common variation, as if to say we were wrong about the spelling of our own name because it was less common. I felt it was rather rude.

 

Boerne -- Bernie
Budha-- B--Yoo_Dah
Balmorhea -- Bal-Moor-Ray
Iraan -- Ira Ann

 

1) Burn
2) B-Yootah
3) Bal Moor Eye
4) Iraq

 

I think she was being interviewed about her novel. And then got a memo telling her how she should pronounce her name!