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Posted: 08-10-2008 10:46 Post subject: Forty Ann or Fort Ian?

Have we done this before?
I've always pronounced it the former, but a good friend of mine always says it the other way.

Which is right / most used?

Posted: 08-10-2008 11:47 Post subject:

I say the former so you are definitely correct!

Posted: 08-10-2008 13:28 Post subject:

Forty-un.

Posted: 08-10-2008 13:40 Post subject:

I don't hear a difference. The word breaks down into three syllables, not two parts. Are you asking where the stress goes?

It doesn't matter anyway. "Correct" pronunciation is an illusion, says the air force brat with the Iowa/West Texas/South Texas accent who was once asked if she was from England because she pronounces the "g" at the ends of her gerunds.

Posted: 08-10-2008 13:57 Post subject:

'Fort-Ian,' of course. Smile

Posted: 08-10-2008 14:12 Post subject:

Posted: 08-10-2008 17:26 Post subject:

Fort - schwa - mumble.

Alright then, Fort-Ian.

Posted: 08-10-2008 18:21 Post subject:

The first one. It annoys me when ppl pronounce it 'fourteen' but I don't know why.

Posted: 08-10-2008 18:40 Post subject:

FORTY-Un, so the first one's closer.

An the private life of the Gerund. Actually Peni a lot of us Brit's don't sound the "g" in gerunds. Just us what talk proper....

Posted: 08-10-2008 20:19 Post subject:

I make no statements and have no opinion about how many British people drop their terminal gs; but in West Texas in the 70s, this was seriously given to me, more than once, as the reason why people thought I might be from England. It didn't make any sense to me then, either.

I've tried it out loud several times, and it seems I alternate between putting the primary stress on the first syllable and the secondary stress on the second syllable, and vice versa. The third syllable is consistently unstressed. Inconsistency in the stress placement is probably a result of my aforementioned hybrid accent. The chief hallmark of the West Texas accent is to place the primary emphasis squarely on the first syllable of most multisyllabic words regardless; the result, for me, is that I tend to distrust this emphasis and stress the second syllable. But in this word, the primary meaning is in the first syllable, and stressing the meaningful syllable makes the most sense.

If people understand you when you say it, that's the main thing. It's not a word I say aloud often, anyway.

Posted: 12-10-2008 02:37 Post subject:

I cop the "Are you American?" ALL THE FRIGGING TIME because I pronounce my Rs and Rs and not As.

Not sure if other accents have that issue, it's an Aussie thing I think.

For example: The word 'monster' is generally pronounced MON-stah.
I say MON-ster. "Mr" is pronounced MISS-tah. I say MISS-ter. It could be the Canuck coming out, or I could just talk proper Very Happy

Posted: 01-01-2009 02:21 Post subject:

I was born and raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma, but people here in Tulsa ask me all the time where I'm "from" and get mad when I won't "tell them." I've heard guesses ranging from New Jersey and New York to England and Germany.

Anyway, the word should be pronounced "FORTRAN" just like in Comp. Sci. (That joke is fading into history just like the computer language.) Actually, I have glimpsed books with FORTRAN or FOURTEEN in the title and thought, "At last! A copy of Fortean Studies!"

Anyway, I always pronounced the word FOR--tee'--uhn, with descending emphasis. But the important question is, "Is the 'F' capitalized?"

Posted: 01-01-2009 09:31 Post subject:

Posted: 02-01-2009 04:50 Post subject:

The FT writer's guide, at the back of every Fortean Times, asks you to use a lower-case "f". The idea, I suppose, comes from a proper or trademarked name eventually norming into the language, like "macintosh". Words like "Kleenex" and "Xerox" are well on their way to lower-case words -- nobody I know says "Xerographically reproduce fifty copies of this letter!"

Posted: 02-01-2009 18:32 Post subject:

a) Shows how much attention I pay

b) I'd disagree on a purely linguistic basis. But, hey hell, it's their mag.