This vegetable is an onion. Pronounced "UN-jən". NOT bloody pronounced "UNG-jən". I just thought I needed to say that as the owner of this blog, Zézette, tells me that she has to tolerate not one, but two people in her household saying it in the second, hick and rather embarrassing fashion. Lord, but that woman puts up with a lot, but "UNG-jən" is really just a step too far. It's "UN-jən". Please do what you can to remember that, for decency's sake.
Fond regards,
H.H.
8 comments:
Really? I always called it "that white layered thing that's like an Ogre."
:P
Hmmm, perhaps I should try to implement that name in my kitchen. Could be easier for all concerned.
Down here in the bayou, we like to call that critter an AWN-Yin!
Seriously, is this a clash of regional dialects? Like Tomato and Tomato? And Potato and Potato? Seems like it's more like Oysters and Ersters.
Kind of. Australian English isn’t divided along regional lines so much as city/rural, or edjumicated/less edjumicated ones. "UNG-jən" is an unedjumicated pronunciation. I am an unrestrained snob in these matters, so "UNG-jən" shits me to tears, but I'm too polite to say so to the perpetrators.
You might not want to get too attached to the 'correct' pronunciation (or spelling) of anything. Don't look now but with these living languages the things you learn as correct are changed in next generation dictionaries all the time. Which is good for me because then my spelling may have a chance of, one day, being correct.
Yeah, that's absolutely true. I'm all for dynamism in language in principle... except for the bits that are wrong. ;)
I'm not being entirely serious. Not entirely. Some language "quirks" do bother me, but the other half of my brain thinks that it's each to their own (except for "UNG-jən", of course).
On the topic of dictionaries, the rate of change depends on the dictionary. Some are descriptive, some prescriptive. The Macquarie, for example, is descriptive, so when something is in common use for a while, it's added to the listings. The OED, on the other hand, is prescriptive, so it tells how a word "should" be used. I think the OED gets around changes in usage by noting the "correct" usage followed by a sniffy reference to the "popular" usage (from memory). At UQ they have the full 27(?) volume OED. If anyone's stuck for a gift for me for Christmas.....
I'm trying to imagine what that Aussie pronunciation actually sounds like. Ung-yen? How hard is the G?
In any event, it's kind of silly. I mean there's no g in the word. Then again, a lot of r's go missing down under, so perhaps the g's are there as a result of the first law of thermodynamics? :D Of course, the Australian r's may just be redirected to Canadian pronunciations.
The g is soft or perhaps silent. Rhymes with "young". Get on Messenger sometime and I'll pronounce it for you. :) I'd then have the chance to test how much you've been practicing your Australian accent since I left.
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