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Post by onlyMark on Nov 29, 2017 15:02:00 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Nov 30, 2017 3:49:53 GMT
I don't have time right now to review your post Mark but I am anxious to soon. I'm sure it will be of great interest and generate some discussion.
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Post by whatagain on Nov 30, 2017 6:36:02 GMT
You bet English is not easy !
French has some too.... les poules du couvent couvent. Les fils de l'électricien ont coupé les fils. Are two I remember.
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Post by tod2 on Dec 1, 2017 7:24:49 GMT
When you read the words as the man speaks it really comes home just how difficult English must be to learn by people like the Chinese. But then, there is Chinese and there is Chinese!~ so we're all sunk. Thank you Mark for that enlightenment.
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Post by kerouac2 on Dec 2, 2017 6:18:51 GMT
Some of the pronunciations have merged in American English but not as many as I would have thought. Then again, a great number of people have sloppy pronunciation and merge some of the sounds when they shouldn't.
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Post by whatagain on Dec 2, 2017 11:12:56 GMT
About pronounciation, it took me decades to pronounce differently 'beach' from 'bitch', I only recently learnt that 'tomb' is pronounced 'toomb' and that moutain forgets the 'i'. However I have still decades to understand how to pronounce the rest !
Now I can't pronounce in French 'pape', 'pâté' and 'huit' correctly, not even talking about cacahuète, as a lot of my 'h' are actually 'w'... 8 = Wouitte, cacahuète = kakawette...
I like that US pronounce differently, it gives me one more chance to be understood ;-)
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Post by onlyMark on Dec 2, 2017 12:37:20 GMT
Just don't ask how to pronounce scone.
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Post by lugg on Dec 3, 2017 9:50:40 GMT
Scone .......causing as much disagreement on eating ......jam or cream first?
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Post by onlyMark on Dec 3, 2017 10:07:37 GMT
Has to be jam first for me with a dollop of cream on the top.
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Post by patricklondon on Dec 3, 2017 11:08:25 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Dec 3, 2017 15:18:14 GMT
I have lemon curd on my scone. Is this considered improper?
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Post by onlyMark on Dec 3, 2017 15:52:59 GMT
Only if you are a traditionalist and want to call it a cream tea, but lemon curd or whatever you want can be put on them. It's a free country and I doubt you'll be dragged before the courts if you do it in the privacy of your own home.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 3, 2017 17:16:28 GMT
Phew!!!!!!.....I was really worried.
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Post by lugg on Dec 3, 2017 18:58:03 GMT
Casi - yes however it works for you ..... my favourite is a savoury cheese scone with onion marmalade and cream cheese .
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Post by tod2 on Dec 14, 2017 15:37:48 GMT
Just don't ask how to pronounce scone. I have always pronounced it "SCON" and was amazed when my British friends pronounced it as you spell it "scone" as in 'own'. Which is correct?
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Post by patricklondon on Dec 14, 2017 16:37:54 GMT
Just don't ask how to pronounce scone. I have always pronounced it "SCON" and was amazed when my British friends pronounced it as you spell it "scone" as in 'own'. Which is correct? It's one of those regional divides, I think - or a class marker, or a bit of both. I'm with you, as it happens. And the place in Scotland is pronounced SCOON.
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Post by onlyMark on Dec 14, 2017 17:33:12 GMT
My 'scon' is gone or my scone is alone?
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Post by mickthecactus on Dec 14, 2017 18:23:45 GMT
The Stone of Scone.
How confusing is that?
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Post by onlyMark on Dec 14, 2017 19:51:05 GMT
Pronounced as in 'own'. So the way I say it must be right. Scon(e) is fine enough though, I'll accept that but I just can't say it that way.
By the way, they say that no man is an island. But what about the Isle of Man?
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Post by patricklondon on Dec 15, 2017 7:15:03 GMT
My 'scon' is gone or my scone is alone? My scones are quickly gone, and none is left alone for long.
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Post by onlyMark on Dec 15, 2017 8:20:59 GMT
Well done Patrick. I'll have a go -
I took out a loan and ordered a home grown scone on my own phone with a groan from a clone called Joan with a baritone tone whilst lying prone on my throne. I had known it would be flown by a drone and not thrown to my zone like a stone that would break a bone.
(I'll have to think how I can get sewn in there later)
On the next episode will be rhymes with scon(e). Tune in next week.
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Post by mossie on Dec 15, 2017 8:43:03 GMT
Going back to the beginning how about
The cow had a cough while sitting on the bough. Enough!
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Post by whatagain on Dec 15, 2017 9:07:33 GMT
I don't see any problem here. I put my french accent everywhere ! there are 2 ways to pronounce own and scon ? ;-)
The worst pronounced word by frenchspeaking is whole. Sometimes I hear hole sometime wool sometimes wol like in wolf without the f.
What amazes me is that sometimes alcohol enhances my pronounciatuon as I feel pushed to try to speak like an English having Less inhibition then after a point the slurring is hampering these improvements ....
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Post by mickthecactus on Dec 15, 2017 10:37:07 GMT
Going back to the beginning how about The cow had a cough while sitting on the bough. Enough! And was she kneading the dough?
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Post by patricklondon on Dec 15, 2017 14:48:02 GMT
I took out a loan and ordered a home grown scone on my own phone with a groan from a clone called Joan with a baritone tone whilst lying prone on my throne. I had known it would be flown by a drone and not thrown to my zone like a stone that would break a bone. Your private life is your business....
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Post by questa on Dec 15, 2017 23:20:44 GMT
And was she kneading the dough? Just a thought...
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Post by mossie on Dec 18, 2017 20:16:21 GMT
And here is a shot which illustrates the difference between the English and French pronunciation of the letter 'g', as well as being a neat pun
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Post by whatagain on Dec 18, 2017 21:24:17 GMT
Jeez. I didn't get it ... guinguette is an old word. Probably even obsolete.
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Post by kerouac2 on Dec 20, 2017 12:46:23 GMT
The multiplex where I usually go is the only place I know in Paris that plays Christmas music during the whole month of December. It's not the old traditional stuff, which you think it would be a relief not to hear, but the songs turn out to be even more irritating sometimes, because they seem to come from old albums which must have had titles like "A Johnny Mathis Christmas" or "Karen Carpenter's Christmas Adventure." Anyway, I'm not posting this to complain about the music, but it was making me realise what a strange form of English is used during the Christmas season, and it must be a real challenge for people learning English.
For example, who ever encounters the word "sleigh" unless they live somewhere like Zermatt or Sundance? And English learners who learn the word orally probably do not at all connect it to its written form until it finally smacks them in the face one day since it has probably been turning into "sly" or "sluff" or something in their mind.
Another thing they must wonder about it what on earth is Yuletide and this business about carolling? Stocking stuffer? Is this done in any non-English speaking country? (In France things were put in shoes not socks.)
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Post by mossie on Dec 20, 2017 16:45:44 GMT
The greedier kids put out pillowcases
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