I will dissect the next person that says dyesect on TV

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

I was corrected by a biology teacher, P'Rose, one can't forget early humiliations.

[Saffron]

The OED indicates that DYE-sekt is the original pronuciation and is still accepted as correct. The AHD indicates that di-sekt, DYE-sekt, and dye-SEKT are all accepted pronunciations. Your bio teacher sounds like a %^?*.

[civilservant]

Is that the latest OED, Saffron? My pre-1970 OED specifies DISS-ect as the only pronunciation.

I accept that things have moved on, but not strictly correct to say that DYE-sect is the original pronunciation.

Agree that PGC's bio teacher was a complete wotsit

[Saffron]

I believe it listed that as the entry for 1896.

Edited to say "original" in the sense of this being the first recognised entry for pronunciation of this word in the OED, as it was first published in such format. Therefore, "original" being correct in this sense as pertaining to the "original" OED.

Interesting that it was later changed. Is that the full or abridged OED that you have?

[civilservant]

Ah! Even I wasn't around in 1896!

[Saffron]

A good year for port wine, so I'm told.

[civilservant]

Saffron Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> A good year for port wine, so I'm told.

:0)

[RosieH]

"try and..."

"different to..."

flassid or flaksid? OED says either is correct; a former lecturer of mine was altogether less laissez-faire.

[PeckhamRose]

Not fewer laissez-faire though. That wouldn't make sense.

So...

[maxxi]

RosieH Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> "try and..."

>

> "different to..."

>

> flassid or flaksid? OED says either is correct; a

> former lecturer of mine was altogether less.

> laissez-faire.

One sounds like a nasty case of reflux in the phlegm and the other like a cockney linseed farmer

On the basis that having to use the word at all means you are probably beyond the point of worrying about embarrassment - pronounce it the Spanish way, as in Flaccido Domingo and do it with a flourish.

[dulwichgirl2]

And then there is the hideous, "CONtribute".

The word is correctly pronounced, "conTRIBute".

[RosieH]

OED has it either way.

[katie1997]

Loz Wrote:

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> I feel the same about 'schedule'. It's SHED-ule,

> not bloody SKED-ule.

Same here, I hate it.

Someone I know deliberately says SKED-ule to annoy me (and they take delight in pointing out that "Well.....we don't say SH-OOL, do we" as opposed to "SK-OOL". Grr.

[Saffron]

Some of these are examples of American English vs British English. People sometimes comlain that American English is creeping into British English. However, a recent BBC article demonstrated that the current runs both ways. Indeed British English is infiltrating America.

"Britishisms and the Britishisation of American English"

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19670686

There is little that irks British defenders of the English language more than Americanisms, which they see creeping insidiously into newspaper columns and everyday conversation. But bit by bit British English is invading America too.

[civilservant]

Interesting that most of the terms quoted in your link are British slang rather than 'correct' usage, Saffron.

Overall, I think that we are more influenced by them than they are by us and the impact is much more fundamental. I'm thinking of words like 'billion' - which is now accepted to mean a thousand million (originally US usage) rather than a million million (old UK usage)

American English is influenced by much more than British usage, though - there is a lot of Italian, Spanish and Yiddish influence. I was told that their use of 'hopefully' is a literal translation from German usage. But many of their their strange spellings (losing the u in words such as "colour", for example) come from early attempts to rationalise English spelling, which succeeded in the States but failed to catch on here.

Anyway, here's another of my pet hates - 'DISinterested' when one means 'UNinterested'. That's wrong both in the US and the UK!

[nashoi]

Defining different meanings of the use of the word billion as US usage and UK usage is not accurate, there's a bit more to it than that.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_and_short_scales

[Saffron]

Hmm, just to be clear, the point of my post wasn't to further the "us" and "them" attitude. It was simply to demonstrate that the dynamic does indeed run both ways, irrespective of whether one thinks that the dynamic is unequal. Nevertheless, an inter-influence in both vocabulary and pronunciation occurs.

Yes, particularly historically, American English has been influenced by many other languages. And British English hasn't? No, indeed they're both influenced by other languages.

If we accept that one of the strengths of the English language is its ability to absorp other languages, than we'll also have to accept that one of the things it absorps is itself: dynamic interchange between dialects and pronunciations. Toe-MAY-toe, toe-MAH-toe. Forsooth.

Anecdotally, I have noticed many Californians using the British "shed-dule", rather than American "sked-dule". Although, I'm not sure we can compare California to the rest of the States anyway.

civilservant Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Interesting that most of the terms quoted in your

> link are British slang rather than 'correct'

> usage, Saffron.

> Overall, I think that we are more influenced by

> them than they are by us and the impact is much

> more fundamental. I'm thinking of words like

> 'billion' - which is now accepted to mean a

> thousand million (originally US usage) rather than

> a million million (old UK usage)

>

> American English is influenced by much more than

> British usage, though - there is a lot of Italian,

> Spanish and Yiddish influence. I was told that

> their use of 'hopefully' is a literal translation

> from German usage. But many of their their

> strange spellings (losing the u in words such as

> "colour", for example) come from early attempts to

> rationalise English spelling, which succeeded in

> the States but failed to catch on here.

>

> Anyway, here's another of my pet hates -

> 'DISinterested' when one means 'UNinterested'.

> That's wrong both in the US and the UK!

[uncleglen]

I actually heard a Biology teacher say dis section today- he is from oop north- does that make a difference?