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pronounciation of common words

(189 Posts)
etheltbags1 Tue 08-Sept-15 19:37:44

I really hate to see commonly used words being mispronounced
Toady I had an argument about how to say Benal Madena (the spanish resort). I used to write to a relative who lived there and it was said lke it was spelt but several people have called it Bellamadena. Can anyone tell me the correct way to pronounce it.
I also live fairly near to a Matalan store and find my skin creeps to hear people shouting 'Im going to Mataland'.
Its the same with sandwich commonly pronounced saanwich, strawberry pronounced strawbry and many others .This has nothing to do with local dialect its just a lazy way of talking.

Gerente Fri 11-Sept-15 10:44:47

Saanwich? Samwidge? It??s sangwich, as any fule kno.
?? It is impossible for an Englishman to open his mouth without making some other Englishman hate or despise him.?? (GBS. Pygmalion.)

rosequartz Fri 11-Sept-15 14:14:42

Or a sanger
(But that's in Strine, which is not the same as English)

grannylyn65 Fri 11-Sept-15 14:34:03

I had to look up schwa, am I to be drummed out??

Bellanonna Fri 11-Sept-15 15:05:20

Daisy - Benalmadena, emphasis on the middle syllable ( the MAD) is a suburb of Torremolinos

grannylyn65 Fri 11-Sept-15 15:17:54

Scottish!

etheltbags1 Sun 13-Sept-15 10:01:43

I m lost now what is a sanger and what is a schwa.
to get to the original post just what is the correct way to pronounce Benalmadena. Is it Bella Madena or as its spelt.

Indinana Sun 13-Sept-15 10:04:31

I don't see how anyone could think it's 'Bella' Madena confused. It is Benalmadena with the stress on 'mad'.

Indinana Sun 13-Sept-15 10:06:58

Sanger = sandwich. Schwa is a very lightly sounded vowel, for instance the 'e' towards the end of Benalmadena. This would sound more like an 'uh' sound, hardly pronounced at all.

rosequartz Sun 13-Sept-15 10:15:28

I had to look up schwa, am I to be drummed out?? along with me, grannylyn65 grin

Sanger is not proper English as she should be spoke
It is Australian slang for a sandwich, preferably with thick slices of white bread, a thick slab of meat of some sort [and lots of salad - optional]

etheltbags1 Sun 13-Sept-15 10:23:22

Indiana I have argued with three people that Benalmadena is called Bellamadena, that is why I wrote the OP, my relative called it Bellamadena and gave me her address to write to her and it was spelt Benalmadena. Two other people called it bellamadena and I argued with them. It doesn't even sound the same. This is not just a northern thing , my relative lived in the midland before moving to Spain.

rosequartz Sun 13-Sept-15 10:29:31

It's a British thing, isn't it, mispronouncing foreign names and place names.

trisher Sun 13-Sept-15 10:29:35

Sarnies? Sandwiches? They are Butties of course and your lunch is your 'bait'. Never mind pronunciation it's a different language up here!

Filmm is a pet hate

Went to Benalmadena years ago. Some seem to say BenalMADena others BenalmaDEEna
Think the first is the Spanish way.

rosequartz Sun 13-Sept-15 10:30:13

Chips come in butties!! wink

etheltbags1 Sun 13-Sept-15 10:40:41

Don't start me off wanting chips on a Sunday morning, although I could eat them anytime.

Indinana Sun 13-Sept-15 11:16:06

ethelt I would stake my life that no Spaniard would say Bellamadena. Anyone who calls it that is likely also to talk about Torriveckia when they mean Torrevieja.
It's another one of those mispronunciations, which so often happens with unfamiliar 'forrin' words, that lots of people have picked up on and they actually believe it's correct. It's not.

Mamie Sun 13-Sept-15 12:41:15

I can't speak for all Spaniards but I can confirm my Spanish DiL and half Spanish grandchildren say Benalmadena with the accent on the MAD. They nip down there quite often for the weekend. grin

trisher Sun 13-Sept-15 12:46:37

Just remembered the bit in Pitman Painters where the pitmen ask the very posh visiting art lecturer
"Ye de de art?"
And then put on a very posh voice when he doesn't understand and ask
"You do do art?"

Riverwalk Sun 13-Sept-15 13:22:05

As it's in Andulusia, Benalmadena is obviously Arabic in origin so even the Spanish pronUNciation is open to question! grin

Surely local names of places are just that - whatever way the locals pronounce it.

I was recently in Rye, East Sussex where a local landmark is Ypres Castle, usually pronounced something like 'epre' in England following WW1, but the locals proudly pronounce it 'Wipers'.

So for them that's how it is - in Belgium no doubt it's different.

Jane10 Sun 13-Sept-15 13:34:34

I can never get over how many people say 'nucular' instead of 'nuclear'. They do the same for Dracula - saying 'Draclear'. Very odd!

Mamie Sun 13-Sept-15 13:53:38

"In the 7th century BC, the Phoenicians arrived followed by the Romans in the early part of the 8th century AD. But the name Benalmadena came from the Moors who arrived later in the 8th century. The original name wa Ben-Al-Madina, which in Arabic translated as "children of the mines". At that time there were many iron ore and ochre mines in the area."
So there you are.
Wipers is the name given to Ypres by British troops in the first world war, Riverwalk.

etheltbags1 Sun 13-Sept-15 20:30:25

The correct pronounciation of Ypres is 'Yips', I was informed by my boss when involved with WW1 research.

Indinana Sun 13-Sept-15 20:46:31

Yips??? What, do you mean to rhyme with pips, but beginning with a 'y' sound as in yellow? Surely not! confused

Katek Sun 13-Sept-15 22:36:36

I've heard it pronounced 'Eeps' which isn't far from 'Yips'. I would tend to use 'Eep-r' but it isn't actually a French name.

Indinana Sun 13-Sept-15 22:52:04

The Belgians spell it with an i and with no final s - Ieper. When we were there a few years ago we asked one of the locals how it was pronounced and they said 'Eeper', only slightly differently from the French 'Eepr'.

Jomarie Sun 13-Sept-15 23:01:57

Maybe I'm going a little off piste here but what is really annoying me now is the merging of consonants in songs - I know it used to irritate my mother and obviously I am now turning into her (comes to many of us) but my current bugbear is being repeatedly played on Radio 2 - leona Lewis and her latest song "I am, with or without you" but she sings each and every time (and it is sung a lot) "I am, with or withou chew" - sad me but really p..... me off to the point that I turn the radio down until the song is over. My blood pressure can't take it..... Sam Smith does it too - so do many others but can't think of their names right now. Is it just me?