eighthoursbehind

To what degree are you sliding into our host’s culture? And I use that term loosely During my first year here, I swore blind that I would not change any English pronunciations, assuming that it would sound odd to talk with an accent for 95% of the time, while throwing in the American pronunciations for just certain words. Within the first year, I almost unconsciously swapped often used words; pavement for sidewalk, and petrol for gas etc, just to minimize the blank looks and necessary explanations that would pepper conversations. A defining moment was telling a customer who had recently pulled into the car park and had forgotten to seal that rear of her car, that her boot was open and I could see her luggage. Her look of confusion as she stared down at her open toes sandals, possibly assuming that I had a foot fetish took some explaining away. Now, 5 years later I find that saying tomato, yogurt and water with an English accent almost sounds contrived - although I cannot bring myself to use the American versions of banana or vase yet. I do not ever believe that I can ever bring myself to mention fanny-pack with a straight face.
On my return, for the first time, to the UK this year, I wonder just how American I will sound to my friends and family.

md95065

There's an American version of banana???

(and I think that you will find that the pronunciation of "vase" has a lot of regional variations in the UK so I don't think that is just a UK/US difference ...)

eighthoursbehind

Mhmm - it is all in the a. Ba-nar-nah as in narwhal. Ba-nah-nah as in Narnia

Sally Redux

I would say the American one is more like the 'a' in Nanna.

eighthoursbehind

Oh, I see what I did there.. both of those are the English pronunciation..

cindyabs

hmm, I would say bah-nan-na

lansbury

By the time you lot have finished I will not know what to say next time I want to buy some.

eighthoursbehind

Just ask for some 'nanas

robin1234

Orange you glad etc.

MattySD

I would say bath, laugh and banana like you do - I guess someone from London or the south east has a more of an 'alien' way of pronouncing stuff to American ears than someone from up north who would pronounce it the same way they do.

cindyabs

Lettuce leaf this subject in peas.

Sally Redux

Then again around here they say 'tarcos' for the Mexican dish.

MattySD

Every time you see some sort of pattern in pronunciation, words and spelling you end up with exceptions. One of the most interesting is that we always complain that Americans put "ize" at the end of loads of words. Hospitalize, burglarize and so on. However an American would never say "pressurized" like we would do (in the context of a person putting pressure on another person) they would use the word "pressured" only - likewise "acclimatize" is purely British-English (Americans use "acclimate" instead)!

Sally Redux

Yes I get confused now with words like that.

Some words are just subtly different, like 'specialty' and 'envision'.

I will say 'trash' but I still put the bins out on dustbin day

MattySD

Yes, I like to say "chuck it in the bin" unrepentantly rather than "throw it in the trash"! However, I know that I have become an American when I watch "Man vs. Wild" and I hear Bear Grylls say "Disorientated" and it grates on me - I almost always will say "disoriented" these days.

I added "in the context of a person putting pressure on another person" to my previous post as of course an American would use the word pressurized in the context of gas etc.. although they are more likely use the word "compressed" instead.