Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Huh. All this time, I thought "arse" rhymed with "farce."

British and Australian readers, please advise. Ben Yagoda says:

Arse and ass look different in print. However, in Britain, where non-rhotic (that is, silent r) pronunciation is the standard, they would sound the same.

(Many of his commenters dispute his assertion.)

5 comments:

M. Bouffant said...

Wow. New Zealanders will be hurt at their potential input not being requested.

Of course, they probably couldn't be arsed.

bjkeefe said...

Well played.

Substance McGravitas said...

Important.

Alastair said...

Of course, Nuw Zilanders would pronounce it "iss".

(Pardon the Kiwi-baiting)

bjkeefe said...

My apologies to the NZeders. But of course, now you're all madder at Alastair than me.

What does everyone think about the video Sub McG linked to? I hear a very soft R, but it took a few repetitions before I did.

ShareThis