In which we discuss diction and proper pronunciation.
Read the following aloud:
We now know the earth is round.
Now, did you say “thee earth” or “thuh earth”? This is important. Because it’s “thee earth.”
THUH is used before words starting with consonants: thuh cat, thuh door. THEE is used before words that start with a vowel: thee attic, thee elephant.
I bring this up because I just heard a PhD on NPR say “thuh earth,” with a totally unneccessary glottal stop, and it made me crazy.
(I just won’t even mention that I started doing this thuh-before-a-vowel crap myself about five years ago. Get me out of the Midwest, for the love of God!)
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Thuh mighty power of one leetle beety word…
hehe – it’s always bugged me when ‘the’ is pronounced incorrectly.
similar to when ‘a’ (or ‘uh’) is used instead of ‘an’.
Wait a minute…you care about the pronunciation of ‘the’ but don’t mine the totally useless usage of ‘HOW COME’ instead of ‘Why?’. Geese.
That’s “don’t mind,” And “how come” is fine, it’s dialect. And I’d spell it “jeez” because geese are birds. -m
Mush- you would make a good french woman. they actually have a ministry of language. I didn’t know thee was before a vowel and thuh is before a consonant. I believe I do it correctly, but I didn’t know the rules.
My wife is good at that – correcting me when I mess something up like the grammar you speak about.
The thing is, I *know* all these rules of the English language, but when I’m in the middle of a conversation and not consciously thinking about it, sometimes I slip up.
i’m fairly certian that i’ve NEVER said ‘thee’ anything in my entire life. goddammit i love america.
And America loves you, bro. -m
I think the only people who know this to be true are singers. I mean, you can’t sing “Thuh Only” it sounds gross. You have to alide the vowels.
Stay tuned for news about my big audition tomorrow! ARRRRGGGHHH!!!!
Ooooh, so it’s a singer thingy. I feel better now.
V
(thuh lit. majuh who oughtta know betta)
I see you are filling in for logan in his absence.. or did he put you up to this?
I did not put her up to this.
I say “thuh earth”, complete with glottal stop. Anthony says “thee earth”.
“Thee earth”, however, sounds awkward to me, and as is my tendency in sitches like this, I’ll revert back to Older English and just start saying “þe eorþe” instead.
Lo, you are the absolute queen of special characters. And I love you for it. -m
I say “thee” earth, only because otherwise it sounds like th’earth. Then again I also pronounce the h in herbs.
I knew that one – and it bugs the s#!t out of me too. I can’t believe you heard someone on NPR do that. I’m appalled.
You self-censored the word shit on my blog? Been hanging out with children lately or something? *giggle* -m
Bless you.
Right back atcha, luv. -m
I’m missing your posts! I’ve read this eight times! 🙁 Hope your weekend was great
Snerk. I don’t know why I did that. I kind of like the way the # and ! look like the letters they are replacing. For fuck’s sake.
*giggle*