Friends – Activity – Chris A

Libby replied 2 years, 5 months ago

New Queue has a hint of birdsong about it. A distraction in these ghastly times? :/
- Athelstone replied 2 years, 5 months ago
  
  It’s one of those words. I hear it mispronounced almost as often as it is pronounced correctly. The curious thing about it is that it really only has two parts, both of which are simple word-sounds in their own right: new and clear. I even hear people who work closely with things nu-cue-ler get it wrong.
  There’s a theory that the British, and a…[Read more]
RichardB replied 2 years, 5 months ago

I’d not heard of that one. Do people really say that? Yuck…
I’m always fascinated by the way words change pronunciation and meaning, for example Beaulieu becomes Byoolee but Beauchamp becomes Beecham.
And, speaking of lieutenant, I can see how a word that must have originally meant ‘place holder’ became used like ‘Lord Lieutentant of Wherever,’…[Read more]
- Athelstone replied 2 years, 5 months ago
  
  Pronunciation is a curious thing. I expect the list is very long and finds a home amongst both the well-heeled and the down-at-heel. So we have Magdalen College Oxford which we are admonished to pronounce in the medieval way “Maudlin”. This pronunciation evolved over time, but at least the middle-English speakers had the sense to spell it…[Read more]
  - Libby replied 2 years, 5 months ago
    
    I’ve heard the new-queue-lar version. It does sound odd but I’ve wondered if, unlike me, the speaker isn’t old enough to have grown up with nuclear as a familiar word and a consistent threat.
    - Athelstone replied 2 years, 5 months ago
      
      Hah, that did occur to me. Hardly a day went by from the late 50s to the 80s when somewhere on television, radio, or simply in conversation, the word nuclear didn’t crop up.
- Libby replied 2 years, 5 months ago
  
  Perhaps it’s the same. Place holder for the captain under whose command the lieutenant is acting. Does that make sense?
  Re pronunciation, here’s the OED:
  
  The origin of the βtype of forms (which survives in the usual British pronunciation, though the spelling represents the αtype) is difficult to explain. The hypothesis of a mere m…[Read more]
  - RichardB replied 2 years, 5 months ago
    
    Speaking of the nuclear threat, I’m reminded that Aldermaston, where the Canpaign for Nuclear (never new=queue-lar) Disarmament used to march to when Ah were a lad, is in Berkshire. Now I wonder when we started pronouncing that Barkshire, because a certain piece of rhyming slang suggests that Cockneys, at least, used to say it the way Americans still do.

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Libby replied 2 years, 3 months ago

Sorry I didn’t manage to do a story, Alex. I had work to finish, and it’s a busy time of year.
Congratulations, Ath. A lovely story, exactly right for the season.

Libby replied 2 years, 3 months ago

Hi Ath, you did reply! I received an email on Christmas Day: “And to you, Libby. And a very happy Christmas to all of us.”

It never appeared here on the site. I put this down to a computer glitch.
Thank you for this reply and the next one. Happy new year 🙂

Janette replied 2 years, 5 months ago

Oh! I signed in for a glimpse of the next challenge, to find it’s down to me. I did not expect that – thank you. And thank you for the prompt which made me close examine this and another scene I saw improvement possibilities in.

@chris-allison