Dear Americans, I have a question.

Brendocon · Post by **Brendocon** » Tue Nov 22, 2011 7:23 pm

Why do your television characters pronounce the names Graham and Craig as "gram" and "creg" respectively?

I can just about buy the insistence on saying "terra" instead of Tara, as it's seemingly built around the mistaken belief that Sara is pronounced the same as Sarah... but the other two... really?

Why?

Do you real people do this, too? Or is it just your actors?

And this isn't me being all "oh, you wacky Americans, why can't you speak English properly, ho ho ho" or anything. This is genuinely annoying me and I need an answer.

Metal Vendetta · Post by **Metal Vendetta** » Tue Nov 22, 2011 7:49 pm

The Canadian missus does this too

Metal Vendetta · Post by **Metal Vendetta** » Tue Nov 22, 2011 7:52 pm

I just asked her why..."because we just do" is about the best answer I got.

Shanti418 · Post by **Shanti418** » Tue Nov 22, 2011 8:01 pm

The best answer I can come up with (via here) is that "stressed vowel sounds are usually lengthened in English." So these could be instances of grAham and crAig. Also, we're lazy, wacky, and can't speak English very gooder.

Optimus Prime Rib · Post by **Optimus Prime Rib** » Tue Nov 22, 2011 8:03 pm

I TALK GOOD A'MERKIN!

Post by **spiderfrommars** » Tue Nov 22, 2011 8:13 pm

I've noticed Kelly Rowland keeps saying Cregg on X Factor but I love her all the more for it.

Metal Vendetta wrote:The Canadian missus

I'd like one of those.

Post by **Best First** » Thu Nov 24, 2011 12:46 pm

She talks some proper seppo that one.

And yes.

wideload · Post by **wideload** » Wed Nov 30, 2011 10:37 pm

Metal Vendetta wrote:The Canadian missus does this too

Canadians do say Graham as Gram, but we most certainly do not pronoounce Craig as Creg.

Also, do British people really want to get into a battle about random pronunciations? If you want to call it "Lester", you're going to have to drop a syllable in there somewhere.

DJ_Convoy · Post by **DJ_Convoy** » Wed Nov 30, 2011 11:40 pm

I'll cop to "Gram," what with my crippling case of Americanitis and all, but not to "Creg." I would say "CRAYYYYG." Or somesuch. Of course, as a Washingtonian, I say "roof" instead of "rooooooof" and "leg*" instead of laiiiiiig" so YMMV.

*like one might say Meg, or indeed "Creg" for instance

bumblemusprime · Post by **bumblemusprime** » Thu Dec 01, 2011 4:00 am

As a native Californian in Washington, I say:

DooooOOOOOoood.

Post by **Kaylee** » Thu Dec 01, 2011 4:31 am

bumblemusprime wrote:As a native Californian in Washington, I say:

DooooOOOOOoood.

But surely you must then follow up with an interogative as to the whereabouts of your horseless carriage?

Brendocon · Post by **Brendocon** » Thu Dec 01, 2011 9:02 am

wideload wrote:Also, do British people really want to get into a battle about random pronunciations? If you want to call it "Lester", you're going to have to drop a syllable in there somewhere.

I fully admit we've got some creative pronounciations... But you're the ones who forcibly change the spellings of words to fit the wacky ways you say them.

Full-on history of saying what you see. Which is exactly why the examples baffle me.

Metal Vendetta · Post by **Metal Vendetta** » Thu Dec 01, 2011 8:40 pm

wideload wrote:Canadians do say Graham as Gram, but we most certainly do not pronoounce Craig as Creg.

It's possible that she's picked it up off our friend Craig, who is himself a septic and calls himself "Creg". That's who she's usually talking about, anyway. For reference, he's from New Joisey

Metal Vendetta · Post by **Metal Vendetta** » Thu Dec 01, 2011 10:15 pm

Eh, she says not. She says Canadians do both, apparently.

bumblemusprime · Post by **bumblemusprime** » Thu Dec 01, 2011 11:02 pm

Karl wrote:
bumblemusprime wrote:As a native Californian in Washington, I say:

DooooOOOOOoood.
But surely you must then follow up with an interogative as to the whereabouts of your horseless carriage?

See, that's the problem: as a West Coaster, I should be walking to my local business in order to spend local dollars on green initiatives for peace in the occupied Middle East. But this is Seattle, y'all, and it's probably raining n'****. Moral of the story: I rode my bike and froze my damn legs off. Doooooood.

Hubcap · Post by **Hubcap** » Thu Mar 22, 2012 5:37 pm

Brendocon wrote:Why do your television characters pronounce the names Graham and Craig as "gram" and "creg" respectively?

Are you bitching about not pronouncing an h sound? Hypocrite!!!

saysadie · Post by **saysadie** » Thu Mar 22, 2012 5:46 pm

I say "Graham", fiance says "Gram"... but thinks he's saying "Graham". Go fig. I think we both say "Creg", though I've heard it said both ways and tend to be sensitive to preferred pronunciation (in both cases).

The fiance is also a Washingtonian (I spent like three months there btw, was probably within a hundred miles of you other Washingtonians... Y U NO COME OVER?) and he says "leg", but also says "Laigs"... O.o Is it "Laigs"? o.O

One thing I don't get is beanie. Beanie? It's a toque! Which has nothing to do with pronunciation. But I don't care.

Brendocon · Post by **Brendocon** » Thu Mar 22, 2012 10:12 pm

Hubcap wrote:
Brendocon wrote:Why do your television characters pronounce the names Graham and Craig as "gram" and "creg" respectively?
Are you bitching about not pronouncing an h sound? Hypocrite!!!

What h don't I pronounce?

There ain't no h sound in the pronunciation of Graham, anyway. Gray-am. Or should that be Grey-am? Feh. Either way, it's not Gram.

Hubcap · Post by **Hubcap** » Sat Mar 24, 2012 12:01 am

Brendocon wrote:What h don't I pronounce?

There ain't no h sound in the pronunciation of Graham, anyway. Gray-am. Or should that be Grey-am? Feh. Either way, it's not Gram.

"Hour"

As for "Graham" I have been educated on how to pronounce the word. After extensively being told that even though I was making the same sound as her I was still pronouncing the word incorrectly.

Post by **Kaylee** » Sat Mar 24, 2012 4:11 am

Hubcap wrote:
Brendocon wrote:What h don't I pronounce?

There ain't no h sound in the pronunciation of Graham, anyway. Gray-am. Or should that be Grey-am? Feh. Either way, it's not Gram.
"Hour"

That's nothing, he also doesn't pronounce the 'g' in 'gnome' or the 'p' in 'pneumatic' and doesn't sound the 't' on the end of 'gourmet' either!

saysadie · Post by **saysadie** » Sat Mar 24, 2012 8:12 am

Hubcap wrote:
Brendocon wrote:What h don't I pronounce?

There ain't no h sound in the pronunciation of Graham, anyway. Gray-am. Or should that be Grey-am? Feh. Either way, it's not Gram.
"Hour"

As for "Graham" I have been educated on how to pronounce the word. After extensively being told that even though I was making the same sound as her I was still pronouncing the word incorrectly.

No, no you do not. You do not make the same sound!

"It's Grey-am"

"Right, Gram"

That second line in quotations there, that's you.

Brendocon · Post by **Brendocon** » Sat Mar 24, 2012 9:58 am

Karl wrote:That's nothing, he also doesn't pronounce the 'g' in 'gnome'

Shows what you know...

Optimus Prime Rib · Post by **Optimus Prime Rib** » Sun Mar 25, 2012 7:53 am

Brendocon wrote:
Karl wrote:That's nothing, he also doesn't pronounce the 'g' in 'gnome'
Shows what you gnow...

Metal Vendetta · Post by **Metal Vendetta** » Sun Mar 25, 2012 9:38 am

saysadie wrote:One thing I don't get is beanie. Beanie? It's a toque! Which has nothing to do with pronunciation. But I don't care.

See I always called it a ski-hat, then people started calling them beanies...I'd never heard it called a toque until a few years ago.

Do you pronounce that to rhyme with "Luke", incidentally?

Post by **Kaylee** » Sun Mar 25, 2012 1:50 pm

Optimus Prime Rib wrote:
Brendocon wrote:
Karl wrote:That's nothing, he also doesn't pronounce the 'g' in 'gnome'
Shows what you gnow...

that, sir, is wit.

IronHide · Post by **IronHide** » Sun Mar 25, 2012 9:48 pm

Isnt the way you pronounce a name all dependent on how the(your) parents decide to say it? I know a Johanna who pronounce her name 'Yo Haanah'.

bumblemusprime · Post by **bumblemusprime** » Mon Mar 26, 2012 1:09 am

saysadie wrote:
The fiance is also a Washingtonian (I spent like three months there btw, was probably within a hundred miles of you other Washingtonians... Y U NO COME OVER?) and he says "leg", but also says "Laigs"... O.o Is it "Laigs"? o.O

Ah! How horrid! Why, DJ Convoy and I, within an hour of each other, see each other all the... never.

DJ_Convoy · Post by **DJ_Convoy** » Mon Mar 26, 2012 4:47 pm

Who are you, again?

It's not your fault that I hate leaving my home and have all of the social grace of an uneducated caveman.

wideload · Post by **wideload** » Mon Mar 26, 2012 5:08 pm

On the topic of weird pronounciations, perhaps someone can explain to me how "Leicester" becomes "Lester".

For the record, Canadians do pronounce Craig properly, but not Graham. Our pronounciation of Graham is not quite Gram, but not quite proper either. If you listen closely you get hints of both.

Pronouncing Graham as two distrinct sylables really is a chore and makes my toungue hurt just thinking about it. Not only that, it sounds like you are saying "Matt Damon" from Team America when you do it.....Gra...yam.... weird. If we were going to pronouce the name properly, it would be: Gra...ham. That's weird too.

Brendocon · Post by **Brendocon** » Mon Mar 26, 2012 5:35 pm

wideload wrote:On the topic of weird pronounciations, perhaps someone can explain to me how "Leicester" becomes "Lester".

The same way Bicester became "Bister" and Worcester became "Wuh-ster."

Ie anybody who ever knew how/why is dead, but at least they were consistent with it.

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