Words PRONOUNCED Differently in the UK and USA (interesting!)

[@MartinParnham]

If it ain’t baroque, don’t fix it…

[@IanJames-n9f]

Shame he only had 2 terms 🙂

[@JimpZee]

UK: Mir‒ror US: Meeeeeeeer 😄

[@zak3744]

I swear some Americans go even further and just pronounce it "mrrrrrrrrr"!

[@vkdrk]

Also UK: mirah

[@angreagach]

Not necessarily (or even usually)

[@jacketrussell]

Mrrrrr

[@catgladwell5684]

Squirrel (UK) squurrl (US).

[@alton171]

Thanks!

[@GirlGoneLondonofficial]

Thank you so much, this is really really kind of you and I appreciate it so much. I hope you continue to enjoy the channel. :)

[@Canalcoholic]

You mentioned Herbs v. erbs, and Bazzil v. Bayzil, but overlooked orry-GAR-no v. o-REGG-a-no.

[@karatepielover]

Oregano is another example where our american cousins are being influenced by Spanish from whom they no doubt learned about the herb. In Spanish its spelt orégano, the accent highlights that you stress the 'Re' sound. However even then it is Spanglish because they pronounce the last letter as the English 'o' (like owe) instead of the spanish 'o' (like o in Orange)

[@ianmontgomery7534]

@@karatepielover well as the US had large french ans Spanish populations in early days it is hardly surprising.

[@JohnHutchinson-p3x]

I always find language observations like this interesting. I think you'll find that most Brits are essentially "bilingual" when it comes to US English and UK English - we consume SO much US media and culture. Most of us would be unlikely to use these pronunciations but they're also second nature when hearing them.

[@Phiyedough]

I notice a lot of Brits are using the US pronunciation for route, wifi router, woodwork router etc. Some are also adopting the American "different than", which infuriates me.

[@JohnHutchinson-p3x]

@@Phiyedough Interesting - I would make a couple of distinctions with these words - I think some Brits do use the US pronunciation for wifi router. But I think the woodworking tool has always been a "row-ter". I'm not a fan of "different than".

[@phoenix-xu9xj]

Speak for yourself, I try to avoid any Americanism.

[@jpj084]

@@Phiyedough A woodwork router is correctly pronounced the 'American' way, from the verb 'to rout', rather than the verb 'to route'

[@leftmono1016]

When my daughter was small, she told me she’d hurt her pinkie. I had to explain that we don’t have pinkies, we have little fingers 😀

[@FalcomScott312]

Congratulations 🎊 on 24K subscribers, Kalyn. I'm happy for you! 👏

[@zyndr_]

I had no idea that Americans pronounced "solder" differently to us. I only recently found this out when I heard an American on KZbin say something like "I used a sudder-ing iron". In the UK we pronounce the "L" and say _sole-der-ring_ iron (the first syllable rhymes with coal).

[@jester5ify]

Sounds more like soddering...

[@abergreg]

Its about time they "axed" themselves why the mispronounce it so badly!

[@andyf4292]

i noticed that on Mythbusters..... 'soddering 'is something priests do, until theyre caught.

[@abergreg]

@@jester5ify Precisely, its an error 150 years ago thats been propagated. Sodder (as they say and spell it) is a phrase the British reserve for interfering mother-in-laws.

[@andyalder7910]

Big Clive pronounces it "sodder".

[@eddisstreet]

UK Lever rhymes with Fever US Lever rhymes with Never

[@noelsalisbury7448]

I believe it's Leverage is the USA & UK. (? For ever ?)

[@ovief]

As a Dutch person depending on the word I use the English and American pronunciations and probably 50/50. For all original French words I am more inclined to use a more French pronunciation (so more American but less stressed as Americans do), probably because I also learned French. But I have to correct you on the Van Gogh. For that one you should use the Dutch pronunciation since he is from the Netherlands.

[@JeeWeeD]

Yes, 'Van Gogh' was... wrong both times, I'd say; ask someone from Scotland next time, because I suspect it is less hard for them X-D

[@stevebarlow3154]

Yes, even though I'm not Dutch it really bugs me when Americans pronounce the painter's name as 'Van Go'. The British pronunciation of 'Van Gock' is probably closer, but when I've heard Dutch people pronounce the painter's name it is much more guttural.

[@tonyobrien6282]

Probably beyond the ability of english speakers to say it the Dutch way - the Dutch G is a challenge!

[@davidforman6191]

​@@tonyobrien6282Scots are brits and have no problem with the Dutch 'ogh'. Similar to och in Scottish pronunciation of loch.

[@ajs41]

@@stevebarlow3154 Probably closer? It's a lot closer.

[@stewedfishproductions9554]

Being a Brit, the one word that baffles me, and has done since hearing it used about 15 plus years ago in the US is BUOY ! As in, a float anchored in a river, sea or similar waterway. I was with some Americans, looking out to sea at dolphins, when one (paraphrasing), shouted "just there by the BOO-EE..." - I said "where, what?" (quite confused). Now I hear it all the time on US TV shows (including Star Trek, when they left a BOO-EE marker in space). How did they ever pronounce it that way? It comes from the word 'buoyancy ' and means a flotation device. Buoyant = to float. I recall the conversation I had, with NOT one of the Yanks being able to explain why they called it a BOO-EE and not a BOY !!! 😂😂😂

[@bobm4378]

now get them to say 'buoyancy'...🧐

[@vast001]

Niche is also a French word. Van Gogh was a Dutch painter so we Dutchies speak this in another different way. As mentioned before listen to the Dutch pronounciation of van Gogh.

[@alanscott8063]

Scherdule - shed-ule vs sked-ule. Although due to the influence of US TV skedule is becoming more prevalent in the UK.

[@valeriedavidson2785]

Not with me. I hate mistakes.

[@roger6867]

I recall reading a book where a very British RAF officer criticised an American for saying SKEDULE. "Where did you learn to speak like that?" the officer said. "I'm sorry, sir, I must have learned at SHOOL", the American said..

[@IanJames-n9f]

I'm English and was always told that it's skedule, but that it depends what shool you went to. Skedule just sounds stronger too. Which sounds tougher? "I have arrived and I am on skedule" Or the other?

[@IanJames-n9f]

Send in the shopper, we're getting decimated out here!

[@frogandspanner]

1:35 No! No! No! There is no stress syllable in French (except as part of sentences). Equal emphasis per syllable. British pronunciation is much closer as emphasis is normally mild, and earlier in a word.

[@otsoko66]

100% incorrect. French absolutely unambiguously strongly stresses the final syllable of the word. British English is strongly iambic - there is always a huge difference between a stressed and unstressed syllable -- English in general uses stress more heavily than most languages -- we have primary and secondary stress patterns that are really hard for second language learners to grasp.

[@hughtube5154]

Japanese is syllabic. French and English and American are metric.

[@lanzji1345]

@@otsoko66 No. French has no stress syllables for the words. Stressed syllables are purely in the context of the entire phrase. You probably confuse with long and short syllables. But even if that's the case, the "French absolutely unambiguously strongly stresses the final syllable of the word." is simply wrong.

[@jpj084]

@@lanzji1345 It's Italian where the final syllable is stressed isn't it?

[@lanzji1345]

@@jpj084 I'm not sure - I understand Italian, well, more or less, but I don't encounter it often enough to really be able to tell. I do live in France however, so, even though french isn't my first language, I can tell. It's been a huge debate between (Northern) Germans and Swiss/Southern Germans. Germans tend to stress the last, Swiss the first syllable of french words. And both say "Ours is the right way, just listen!" But actually, both just hear their usual stress patterns - which are different between northern and southern German dialects - because French has none 😁

[@jamesreid7835]

There's the American pronunciation of lieutenant. There's the usual British pronunciation of lieutenant (as used in the British army). And then there is the pronunciation used within the Royal Navy: "le-tenant' veering towards 'l-tenant'....

[@stephenede-borrett1452]

I have, in a magazine that I edit, a whole essay on 'Leftenant' v 'Lootenant'. BOTH were in use in England in the 17th Century and it simply depended on what part of England that you came from.

[@davidhines7592]

good that you know that acts of parliament were written in Norman French for centuries. not many british know that. and then there is Clique which we pronounce cleek and americans say click. the produce one is interesting, because brits often say it differently due to context: produce said when talking about farm vegetables is said differently when talking about how to produce a document (that is take it to a police station for example) or produce a product in a factory.

[@10538overture]

There's an old guest book from when Van Gogh stayed in London, and he signed his name "Van Goff", because that was the closest the locals could get to saying it. In The Netherlands it's actually pronounced more like "Vaan (with a very clipped N) Hohh", so I suppose we're both wrong.

[@peterhewson3216]

this pronunciation of basil is faulty- Basil Fawlty in fact. A niche comment! Pronounce this as you will

[@RNS_Aurelius]

There are a few "Frenchified" parts of American english like pants being pantalons, the pronounciation of z coming French (which is like zay) while in the UK it comes from Germanic zett and the more French pronunciation of garage. Though with so many words Americans just use the wrong vowel sounds like a long I in Iran and the way you said Americans say buoy hurt my soul.

[@geoff1201]

Not to mention the neighbouring country Eyerack.

[@yasminm7157]

@@geoff1201 And Mos-COW!

[@dereksmith6126]

Ive always boggled at how many syllables the Americans put into the word 'Vehicle' when in Britain it's two syllables.

[@RobinPalmerTV]

Well done for not getting completely confused!

[@Korea4Me]

I'm originally from the US. I came to the UK when I was 19. I'm 64 now. I'd say most of the time I pronounce my words the British way but not all of them.

[@dufflepod]

So close - we actually pronounce it 'prod-juice'. interestingly though we accent the 1st syllable when it's used as a noun, and the 2nd syllable when it's a verb. Go figure.

[@ballyhoo]

We do that with loads of words: Convict, Protest, Project etc. They're nouns if 1st syllable is stressed and verbs if 2nd syllable is stressed. For example: He went on a PROtest march to proTEST against the Government. I can proJECT that the PROJect will be completed on time. The CONvict said that the jury's decision to conVICT him was unfair.

[@brigidsingleton1596]

Un / une, deux, trois, quatre, cinq, six, sept, huit neuf dix... (?) 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10. Six is _not_ pronounced as 6 (?!) Dix is like six . That's _my_ French basically!! Apart from 'c'est la vie', (& c'est la guiere -?) _and_ the name of a song by 'Lady Marmalade': "Voulez vous couchez avec moi, ce soir" (?) and it's just a song title - I am definitely _not_ propositioning you, or anyone, (!!) and I have probably misspelt it anyway (?!) if so, pardonez moi, s'il vous plait?🤔 ...😏🇲🇫🤫🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿❤️🇬🇧🤭🖖

[@CarloCocciolo]

@@brigidsingleton1596, you wrote everything correctly in French, but you made a mistake right at the end: it's _s'il vous plait_

[@brigidsingleton1596]

@@CarloCocciolo Firstly, I am surprised I managed to spell anything correctly in French, since I have not studied the language since I was 11 years old, that's nearly _60_ years ago now, and what I _do_ know of it - apart from just one school year of it, when I came _First_ in French exam, at the end of that last Term - but then was dropped from 'A Group', and placed into 'B Group', because I have dyscalculia and couldn't cope in Maths... I have merely picked up through life! As for the one misspelling, thank-you so much for taking the time to offer the edit. I appreciate your having bothered to help me. 😏🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿❤️🇬🇧🙂🖖

[@heraklesnothercules.]

@@brigidsingleton1596 I was taught to pronounce "six" and "dix" as "seece" and "deece".

[@peterdegelaen]

'address (stress on the first syllable) is the noun (=the place where you live). a'ddress (stress on the second syllable) is the verb (= direct your speech to ...)

[@iainsan]

Brits in the midlands and north of England sometimes say 'advertisement' the same way as Americans. Another one is vase: 'vaarse' in the UK and 'vayze' in the US. It's really interesting how divergent these pronunciations have become.

[@BillDavies-ej6ye]

Varz. And if you quibble, how do you pronounce 'nose.'

[@dVb9]

In English (or as you would say, British English) Tune does rhyme with Dune, but it doesn't quite rhyme with Moon. Also, we don't say Prodoos, we say Produce (like it's spelt), though the emphasis shifts depending on whether it's being used as a noun or a verb.. The point here is that in both countries, the letter U on its own is pronounced as "yu", but when it appears in a word the Americans seem to prefer to pronounce it as 'oo' for some reason.

[@tonyspencer692]

Compost is different either side of the Atlantic, the American com-poast (rhymes with toast), really grates.

[@kenbrown2808]

Americans pronounce it to thyme with post.

[@geoff1201]

In English, we pronounce it to rhyme with the French compôte.

[@pabmusic1]

Some words are pronounced as they are in theUS because of the influence of Noah Webster. The US Army officially pronounced lieutenant the British way till the 1890s, holding out a long time. The word came from Burgundian French about 1300 and was pronounced 'leev-ten-on', with the u as a consonant v.

[@conallmclaughlin4545]

5:59 it might be you accent but you said bouy pretty unsualy. Most people just say boy...its essentially short for buoyancy or buoyant. You guys say those pretty similar to us so I don't know how's ended up with boueee

[@lemdixon01]

I noticed that when Americans say 'produce' the stress the 'O' when in British English we don't but for the word 'process' we stress the 'O' in British English but in American English they don't. So sometimes it seems arbitrary with no rules.

[@valeriedavidson2785]

There is no such thing as British English. It is just English because it is the correct language and is NOT a variation.

[@BillDavies-ej6ye]

@@valeriedavidson2785 And don't forget, those other inhabitants of the British Isles also have their own languages. If anything, it's English English. And to keep it simple, just don't mention dialects!

[@valeriedavidson2785]

If you tap on to pronunciation on your phone it will say the correct way of pronouncing an English word. There is a correct and an incorrect way with pronunciation. To say "Anything goes" is ridiculous. (We all know that Americans are incorrect).

[@valeriedavidson2785]

@@BillDavies-ej6ye No such thing as English English. It is just ENGLISH. Dialects are an incorrect way of speaking.

[@BillDavies-ej6ye]

@@valeriedavidson2785 Valerie, there are different forms of English, whether you like it or not. I'm referring to the English who are brought up in England. I would say native-born English, but North Americans can claim that, too. The Celtic communities of Britain have their variants, and by some accounts we British have about 40 different accents. What form would you say is the correct one?

[@ianb5949]

Excellent talk, Kaylin. Hows about WATER?

[@THX_1138]

Would've loved to hear Kalyn try to say "water" in a British accent 😆

[@geoff1201]

You mean it's not pronounced WODDER?

[@missharry5727]

Or the Cockney global stop for T : the wa'er in Major'a don't taste like what it ough'a. This was part of a famous beer advert in the UK, Google "the water in Majorca".

[@drzander3378]

Americans pronounce ‘masseuse’ incorrectly. The last syllable doesn’t rhyme with ‘loose’ but with ‘errs’ (sort of). Also, Americans often misgender the word. A ‘masseuse’ is female. Americans frequently use it for both genders. Generally, Americans mispronounce the ‘eu’ diphthong in words derived from French.

[@Paul2377]

Go to 4:50 for the start of the video (yes the first half is a mixture of waffle and a lengthy ad!)

[@angreagach]

Both pronunciations of adult, apricot, advertisement (also often with the accent on the first syllable), address, buoy and route are used in the US. Premiere may also be "pree-MEER." David Attenborough uses the "American" pronunciation of "zebra," so I suspect that's an alternative even in England.

[@Fiddling_while_Rome_burns]

Not just "military" having 3 syllable in US and 2 in UK, many words do this, for example chocolate(choclat) and strawberry (strawbree) are the same. You also missed the most famous one the internet is going crazy about - US says "water", UK say "wa er". Finally English tends to pronounce TH as F, such as US I think it's thirty three, UK I fink it's firty free. PS the me/my thing. US my car is parked outside, UK me car is parked outside.

[@parshakamarsh]

"Firty free" is more a southern pronunciation, it's not pronounced like that in northern England

[@swarandomidea7539]

In British English we often have more than one pronunciation, depending on things like social background and region. I, for example pronounce "zebra" as /ˈziːbrə/, and while I do pronounce "privacy" as /ˈprɪvəsi/, I think many British might say /ˈpraɪvesi/. With both these words, both forms are given in Longman's (British) Dictionary: ze‧bra - /ˈziːbrə, ˈze- $ ˈziːbrə/ priv‧a‧cy - /ˈprɪvəsi, ˈpraɪ- $ ˈpraɪ-/ Incidentally, many people in Scotland might say "advertisement" the same way as Americans. The one I find most interesting is the short "o", as in the British pronunciation of "baroque, Kosovo", which in American English seems to be more of a long "o".

[@barriehull7076]

The Premier League. Is it just me or do Americans always say Premiere? premiere noun the first performance of a musical or theatrical work or the first showing of a film. "the world premiere of his new play"

[@nigelogilvie9450]

In your vid on house front doors, you pronounce foyer like coyer (= more coy) whereas we mostly Frenchify it a bit and say foyay. Love the informal presentation style, by the way.

[@scottfw7169]

Hey, nobody is right & nobody is wrong since nothing in written English denotes "do this with this vowel"; there is no "Absolute Correct" there is only "We do it this way here because they said so".

[@grahamstubbs4962]

It's always amused me that there's a vehicle hire company in Hertfordshire called Vincent Van Hire. Not sure if it was an accident or they just decided to go for it. If I ever need a van, I'm going to them 🙂

[@tiapina7048]

I think that a person name, a brand, a city, a name specific to one thing or person should be learnd in the original language. Like Van Gogh I try, with difficulties, to pronunce it in Dutch. It would broaden people's minds.

[@dandy193]

French wasn't spoken for 300 hundred years in England. Norman French was and there is a difference. The Normans spoke a rural dialect of French with considerable Germanic influences, usually called Anglo-Norman or Norman French, which was quite different from the standard French of Paris of the period. Anglo-Norman French became the language of the kings and nobility of England for more than 300 years (Henry IV, who came to the English throne in 1399, was the first monarch since before the Conquest to have English as his mother tongue). While Anglo-Norman was the verbal language of the court, administration and culture, though, Latin was mostly used for written language, especially by the Church and in official records. The vast majority of the population, surf, peasants, and yeoman spoke Anglo Saxon.

[@tomwalker779]

As a Canadian I am feeling a bit schizophrenic, we pronounce some the brit way and some the US way. Zed sometimes zee, some spellings are different, cheque, not check, savour, flavour,favour, saviour, behaviour As Churchill said America and Britain two countries separated by a common language One more, Yogurt, pronounced yaw gert in Britain. TTFN

[@rp1692]

In Britain there are three "o" sounds - the short "o" of "gone"/"pot", the longer "aw" of "law"/"lore", and the diphthongal "oh" of "go"/"dough". "Yogurt" has the short o of "gone". So if writing pseudo-phonetically we wouldn't write it as "yaw-", because that would imply a different vowel.

[@matt_the_musician]

I am an American. My family says "Āpricot" (with a long a). We know other people who say it that way, too. It may vary regionally within the U.S.

[@michaelhaywood8262]

How often do you hear the word 'advertisement' [13 letters] in full? It is usually abbreviated to 'ad' [2 letters] although sometimes you may hear 'advert' [6 letters]. It must be the most abbreviated word in English.

[@angelamcandrew9782]

I once saw on a British tv show call the band Zed Zed Top 🤣

[@ronfehr7899]

I've heard 'adult' pronounced both ways, sometimes depending on whether the word is being used as a noun or an adjective. The same with 'address,' although in this case, whether a noun or a verb.

[@missharry5727]

Americans pronounce R at the end of a word, like mirror, mother etc. British people don't. This has a significant effect on the preceding vowel. Listen to people from each country saying "mother" and it's very different.

[@lynnstewart7034]

I don’t think it’s true to say that ‘British’ people don’t pronounce final ‘r’s. There are areas in the UK where people do. It’s one reason I never understood “ ‘fa’ a long, long way to run” in the song Doe a Deer in the Sound of Music. 😂

[@geoff1201]

Most English speakers are rhotic. It's only in the southeast of England where we don't emphasise the final R.

[@rb9580]

@@lynnstewart7034 One of my early memories is my father's annoyance at that line from Sound of Music! Your name, though, suggests that you are (like me) from the more linguistically enlightened part of UK! 🙂

[@kab7044]

In the US they say wader in the UK they water!

[@yasminm7157]

‘Erbs really gets me and another one is is literally. Americans say it in such a tongue-twisted way!

[@MetalMonkey]

I agree with the US on Yogurt (I'm Irish), Lieutenant, Advertisement, Military, Tune (but I say tchune), Privacy, Lever (but I say leever) Americans tend to use the Aw instead of Ah sound for A's. I've seen Americans not knowing how to pronounce ABBA, they say OBBA. Americans (playing Scribblio) struggling to spell Kebab because you pronounce it Kebob. She pronounced Premier wrong for the US, you say Pre-meer. "Produce" we says fruit and veg or to produce something we say projuice Jay Leno once got annoyed and shouted at Jamie Oliver (I think) because he said pasta instead of posta.

[@paulchilds1893]

Gotta give you props for that segue into the sponsor. (For the record "segue" is from Italian, so that's one of the rare non-french loanwords in English).

[@etherealbolweevil6268]

Not to mention all the germanic and norse words. Obviously there can be no celtic words, because...

[@BillDavies-ej6ye]

@@etherealbolweevil6268 Are you sure, buddy? The Welsh for a friend, a mate, is butty.

[@etherealbolweevil6268]

@@BillDavies-ej6ye Exactamundo - welsh. Via American back into UK English. Or merely homonyms. Entries linking to buddy. booty (n.) mid-15c., bottyne "plunder taken from an enemy in war," from Old French butin "booty" (14c.), from a Germanic source akin to Middle Low German bute "exchange."

[@gennytun]

One that surprised me , when i heard an Amercan audiobook narrator, was 'shone'. In the uk, the sun 'shone' rhymes with 'gone'. In the US, it rhymes with 'stone'. Now that I've come across the difference, I seem to hear it a lot more, but it still throws me.

[@rob60tom]

Well done!!! I started questioning myself after a few. Ha

[@ness-ee]

A couple more for you. Schedule in the UK is pronounced like “shed-yule”. Lever and leverage. In the US they tend to use “leverage” as a verb, whereas in the UK it’s a noun. Like, “We can use the low price as leverage just to get this client to sign”, whereas in the US you tend to say, “We can leverage the low price…”. I’ve also noticed that in the US some syntax is incorrect (not that anything in grammar is correct anymore with our evolving language). When a film is released to the cinema Americans make the verb “to release” describe the film/movie as the subject and not the object. Like “The movie releases to theaters Friday”. This syntax is very Latin but without the reflection on the verb. Here’s that sentence in Catalan: “La pel·lícula s'estrena divendres”.

[@JanUK-o7i]

Aluminium

[@PurushaDesa]

I'm surprised some of the more famous ones didn't make the cut like _laboratory_ and _controversy_ .

[@misolgit69]

how about the word cache, officially it's pronounced kash an acceptable alternative is kaish, I've noticed especially in American cop shows and similar it getting pronounced kash-ay, well a cachet which is pronounced that way is a completely different item cache is a hidden store of items a cachet is a seal appended to a document

[@Bramfly]

Van Gogh is only pronounced the right way in his and my homeland The Netherlands. Everywhere else it’s totally unrecognizable. 😊

[@DaddyStoat]

The UK pronunciation is closer to the Dutch, but, in the Dutch, you don't hear the "g" in Gogh - it's more of a "h" sound, like "Van Hoh". You need a bit of phlegm in your throat to pronounce it properly. :D

[@jiros00]

​@@DaddyStoatPhlegmish

[@HalfBlindAssassin-i5q]

another great video .

[@CaseyJonesNumber1]

Croissant - the French don't pronounce the 't' at end (they don't generally pronounce the last letter of any word, as far I as I know...), and it is pronounced the French way in British English.

[@geoff1201]

Cwusson, with the n being nasal.

[@foobar476]

A couple of words that don't generally crop up in conversation that I've picked up from science youtube channels are centrifugal and centripetal. Us Brits tend to stress the 3rd syllable on those.

[@what-uc]

sentient = senshent

[@BritishBeachcomber]

2:23 You cannot see France from Dover, which is at sea level. You can only see France from up on the White Cliffs.

[@stevebarlow3154]

Wrong, you can! On a flat surface, such as the sea or a desert, the horizon is thirty miles away. The Channel is only 21 miles wide at that point. From the beaches in that area on a clear day the cliffs near Calais are clearly visible. You can just about make out Calais.

[@dilligaf73]

Data and via are ones that immediately come to mind

[@brucebeamish5955]

I realise that these comparisons can be mildly interesting or even humorous to some but the reality there is still clear understanding of what is being said. This is the only important part.

[@simonspeechley2859]

A 70's Radio Two presenter ironically called Dynasty (US Soap) Dysentary to emulate the US pronounciation.

[@Lily-Bravo]

The ones that stand out to me are "thorough" and words like "mirror" "squirrel" "horror". We say "thurrah" while Americans say "thurrow" and we say "mirrer" and "squirral" and "horrer". I used to watch a daytime programme about preparing your house for selling with an American woman presenter and a young man sidekick and he loved to tease her when there was mirror in the vicinity, goading her to say the word. The other thing I notice is the Americans seem to all say "different than" while in the UK it's now usually "different from".

[@mattybob12310]

Fun fact, back in the day, as you said, the Nobility spoke French and the Peasants spoke (Anglo-Saxon) English, so the workers saw the animals (Sheep, Ox, Deer) while the Nobility saw the Meat (Mutton, Beef, Venison)

[@tsr207]

Scots pronounce "medicine" as a three syllable word rather than the English two syllable pronunciation.

[@Zomerset]

I’m English and say it with three syllables. I would find it impossible to say it with two :)

[@tsr207]

@@Zomerset Home counties say it as "medcine"

[@fionafrazer8820]

Fillet has two l's (English) - filet has one, (French & US)and therefore are pronounced differently. Herbs - pronounced by Americans without the "H" - as if it were French, but the french word is spelled differently, herbes. I'm a Brit - but I pronounce Van Gogh as Van Gok. Not sure why - perhaps the Dutch say it similarly. The Brits knowledge of French is comparable to the American knowledge of Spanish - you don't realize how much it is intermixed into everyday speech here. Taco's, Tortillas, Guacamole, Jalapeños for instance (although I've heard those pronounced quite differently in the UK too!). Mascara pronounced as Mascare-a in the US. Trouble is, I've lived here so long I forget which is correct - so glad to be able to watch all the Brit TV shows to keep up with the language!

[@vijay-c]

The whole zed vs zee fascinates me, I'd love to know where it originated

[@michaelduffy6874]

Brits (or at least Londoners?) of my generation will understand why "erb" sounds funny. I recently heard some American English teachers telling Asian students how to pronounce "ongtreprenooer". They described the British pronunciation of "schedule" as posh and upper class. I seem to hear the American pronunciation becoming more prevalent in the UK. Is it?

[@Wee_Langside]

The American pronunciation appears to add an "r" in the middle of some words. A lot of French words in English came with the Normans, it's why we have things like sheep and mutton. I could never work out why the Americans pronounce "solder" the way they do. I don't know if you've investigated the different pronunciation between North and South England barth/bath carstle/castle and then between England/Ireland/Scotland/Wales. You have a lifetimes work.

[@Wee_Langside]

​@@what-ucPossibly because I have Scots Gaelic speaking grandparents from Argyll and Uist. My mother was from London, I grew up in rural Perthshire (very rural no mains electricity, gas, water sewage), worked most of the last 40 years in the English East Midlands and live for 10 years in France? This might interest you when I first started working in England's Midlands a geordie started on the same day. He made no effort to tone down his accent and the locals couldn't understand him but I could so I translated for them. I hope that answers your question.

[@Beejay950]

UK and US are both wrong with Van Gogh. The 'G' in Dutch is pronounced like a 'H', Ruud Gullit, a Dutch footballer who played for Chelsea was pronounced Hullit. So Van Gogh is pronounced Hohh, or something like that :-). They asked this question on 'QI' and the host of the Dutch version was in the audience and gave the correct pronunciation.

[@gemmameeuwsen8928]

Well, it's not true that in Dutch the 'g' is pronounced as an 'h'. I don't know how to describe the way the 'g' sounds. Anyway, van Gogh is a Dutch name and both British as Americans pronounce it wrong.

[@tonyobrien6282]

To me the Dutch G sounds a bit like the soft ch at the end of loch

[@ricom6839]

Hey Kaylin, the Dutch pronunciation of Van Gogh is “ Van Ghurk with soft G making it sound like Hurk. ( I think after asking a Dutch friend )

[@dylanwolf]

We, in the UK, say produce in two ways depending on whether you are using the word as a noun or the verb, If someone from the UK says "They produce the produce" both produces would be pronounced quite differently. This applies to a whole series of words where one word can be both a noun and a verb - for example: Noun: CON-duct (ˈkɒn.dʌkt) Verb: con-DUCT (kənˈdʌkt) Noun: REC-ord (ˈrek.ɔːd) Verb: re-CORD (rɪˈkɔːd) Noun: PRES-ent (ˈprez.ənt) Verb: pre-SENT (prɪˈzent) Noun: EX-port (ˈek.spɔːt) Verb: ex-PORT (ɪkˈspɔːt) Noun: IM-port (ˈɪm.pɔːt) Verb: im-PORT (ɪmˈpɔːt) Noun: CON-flict (ˈkɒn.flɪkt) Verb: con-FLICT (kənˈflɪkt) Noun: PER-mit (ˈpɜː.mɪt) Verb: per-MIT (pəˈmɪt) Noun: SUB-ject (ˈsʌb.dʒɪkt) Verb: sub-JECT (səbˈdʒekt) Noun: RE-ject (ˈriː.dʒekt) Verb: re-JECT (rɪˈdʒekt) Noun: EX-tract (ˈek.strækt) Verb: ex-TRACT (ɪkˈstrækt) Noun: PRO-gress (ˈprəʊ.ɡres) Verb: pro-GRESS (prəˈɡres) Noun: OB-ject (ˈɒb.dʒɪkt) Verb: ob-JECT (əbˈdʒekt) Noun: SUR-vey (ˈsɜː.veɪ) Verb: sur-VEY (səˈveɪ)

[@carolineskipper6976]

It makes a lot of sense that historically words which have come into British English from French are anglicised versions of what our invading overlords used - whereas probably many of the words got into American English directly from modern french.

[@tonys1636]

Our French words and English derivatives come from Norman French which had a Norse influence compared to the modern French influenced words in the US. Normans being of Viking origin centuries earlier. The French have imported some of our derivatives into their language unofficially amongst the younger generations.

[@LikeItOrLumpIt2107]

There is no such thing as 'British English' It's the King's English - anything else is just wrong.

[@bethel1019]

A lot of British people pronounce 'privacy' the American way. It's one of my pet peeves. Also, I've recently noticed when watching American films that they pronounce 'inquiries' with a short 'i' in the middle, whereas we use the long 'i' as in 'fire'.

[@garthdev]

You're going to hate me for this 1:56 "France was spoken" I hate myself really I do but I thought this was funny 🙂 The herb thing got me thinking so go watch Eddy Izzard American vs. British English Sketch it's doing what you are but with comedy..It's old however incredibly funny..Have a great week GGL 🙂

[@BritishBeachcomber]

Everyone except the Dutch pronounce Van Gogh wrong. But many Dutch say it wrong too. I know because I asked a Dutch man, another and another. They all pronounced it differently.

[@drzander3378]

@BritishBeachcomber, I believe Flemish Belgians pronounce it correctly too. At least, a Flemish friend of mine does.

[@davewalker6760]

Tune does rhyme with dune... But not with moon

[@AndyRaffle]

Parmesan (UK) vs Parmezhon (US). Someone please explain that!

[@williebauld1007]

Loved you having an existential crisis over produce 🤣🤣

[@julia2jules]

Never been to the USA, but I have noticed that I have changed the pronunciation of some words to the American style as I watch so much American tv.

[@Sine-gl9ly]

The aisle in the supermarket where spuds, cabbage, courgettes, grapes, bananas, blackberries etc are sold is the _greengrocery_ aisle. Not the 'produce' aisle.

[@effyleven]

Sainsbury's call vegetables and fruit, "produce." I don't know about other UK supermarkets.

[@Sine-gl9ly]

@@effyleven Shops of all kinds may well use American marketing terminology and practices, it's their choice to do so as it's a free world, after all. Fruit and vegetables offered for sale remains greengrocery as far as many, many people are concerned. Our local outdoor market has a good range of greengrocery stalls, and during Covid lockdown, a local wholesale greengrocers used his delivery fleet - normally delivering cheeses and greengrocery to restaurants and other wholesale purchasers - to launch a free/discounted delivery service of greengrocery to retail buyers in a wide postcode area. A very valuable service it was, too.

[@shaunw9270]

Controversy in the UK, Contra-Versy in the US

[@GenialHarryGrout]

That one is a bit controversial 😁 I'll get my coat

[@ianmontgomery7534]

@@GenialHarryGrout I often say that there is a controv-ersy on how to say cont-roversy. I also say is the pope a Coptic (which is technically right as the proper name for the Roman g=catholic leader is not pope.

[@ajs41]

Have you noticed how British TV presenters have started saying "Byzantine" the American way even when the programme is for British TV? It must be because they're expecting to export the show to the US at some time in the future.

[@andykenny5674]

Oh isn’t it lovely though! I love love love different pronunciations with the same word. It’s what makes it endlessly fascinating to chat with American people in my humble opinion. Long may there be these twee differences that help us all stay friends 🤗

[@scottfw7169]

Having grown up in the US state of Georgia I am aware that Houston County, Georgia, is pronounced differently from Houston, Texas. And that brings up my big pet peeve with this English language, nothing in its common written form tells you which of the many options to use when pronouncing the vowels, it is all "because they said so".

[@philipmason9537]

You pronounced Lieutenant correctly( leff tenant) but because we watch so many American films and tv shows here most people only know the American pronunciation. It seems strange that Americans say Filet( fillay) which sounds more French than the British Fillet ( fill it).

[@daletrecartin1563]

Lieutenant is a bit more niche than that. The Navy says leff tenant but the Army says let tenant.

[@Scotsman1969]

In Scotland lieutenant is pronounced the same way as Americans say it and always have. Nothing to do with films but from French influence.

[@daletrecartin1563]

@@ericadams3428 30 years in the navy. It was always lefftenant. Granted it was RCN but strong RN traditions and met many RN Lefftenants.

[@Alan_Mac]

@@Scotsman1969 Nonsense. Stop projecting your own ignorance onto the rest of Scotland.

[@Barlofontain]

The British (and many other countries) pronunciation of Lieutenant comes form the original Norman French word Leuftenant. The spelling changed but the pronunciation didn't

[@scottfw7169]

Fillet - here in the US I've heard people, and even the same person, say fill-ay when taking about cooking and fill-it when talking about streamlining aircraft and rockets both real and model.

[@Marmike91]

Garage is another word I've heard different. UK = GAH-RIDGE USA = GA-RAWRGE Moustache is another one too I think that is different. UK = MUS-STARSH USA = MUSS-STASH And of course yeah, Any word with an A in the middle such as Brass, Grass, Glass, Water, etc, The USA uses an AH sound, (BR-AH-SS, GL-AH-SS. W-AH-DER) wheareas in the UK, its more an AR sound (BR-AR-SE, GL-AR-SE, WAR-TER, or depending where you live...WAR-ER without the T XD)

[@noelsalisbury7448]

Nigel Farage's Garage.😅

[@individualmember]

The thing that I don’t understand about lieutenant is that when Webster’s dictionary came out and he changed spellings of a lot of words away from the traditional English spellings, there is a logic to it in the sense that the American spellings more closely represent the way that the words are actually pronounced (at least if we ignore a number of regional accents/dialects). So why didn’t he change the spelling of lieutenant to include an f?

[@pauljohnson4871]

Another fascinating video.i love the American side of you.. just love listening to you

[@jpgale]

I think the difference between most US and UK pronunciation is the difference between using a hard sound for the vowel (US) and a soft sound (UK)

[@finlandtaipan4454]

I am an expat myselt and I love expat KZbin channrels about language and/or culture. THANK YOU for not masking your natural beauty with chemical colors.

[@azounx]

5:48 advertisement: I thought US would have the stress on the first syllable, not the third.

[@TheEulerID]

Laboratory and nuclear always get me. Americans always seem to drop the second syllable and say "labratory". Conversely, I hear nuclear pronounced with an extra syllable as "nucular". So "nucular weapons were developed in a labratory". No doubt there are endless examples the other way with Brits dropping syllables and adding others to words. On the route thing, from what I understand the it is still reasonably common for those in the east of the USA to pronounce route the same way as the British. There is, of course, the curiosity of the song "(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66", which uses a British style pronunciation.That song date back to 1946, so maybe the "rout" style pronunciation hadn't yet taken full root... On the subject of songs and pronunciation, In the film Meet Me in St. Louis, Judy Garland trilled "Meet me in St. Louis, Louis, meet me at the fair" using the French style pronunciation of "Louis", which is the pronunciation usually used in the UK. I wonder if that, in 1944, the pronunciation of Louis as lewis had not fully taken over. Incidentally, you could, maybe, consider a video on where American pronunciations and usage are gradually being adopted in the UK. For instance, I often hear the US pronunciation of "schedule" in the UK, and "alternate" being used as a synonym for "alternative". Of course to do so might invite some bad reactions.

[@tiapina7048]

There is an area in the USA where people pronunce "man" and "men" the same, or the difference is so subtle that I can't hear it.

[@brumplum]

Please note that in BrEngish, fillet and filet are two separate words with distinct meanings and pronunciations. In spoken language it's rarely obvious that this is the case. 'Filet' spelled and pronounced the French way is EXCLUSIVELY used in the context of and abbreviation for 'filet mignon', a particular cut of meat and its resulting dish (and thus not used very commonly, hence the confusion). 'Fillet' pronounced as an English word to rhyme with 'skillet' is a general culinary term, both a verb and noun, referring to clearing a piece of meat or fish from the bone and the resulting presentation. USEnglish uses the French word for both, infamously in the context of McDonalds 'filet o' fish'. Partly because of that, many BrEnglish speakers have been losing the distinction over recent years. This is also down to the fact that people no longer go to butchers shops but to supermarkets where their meat has already been pre-packaged as fillets and thus have no reason to use the word. I am a Brit and I eat a lot of fish. In restaurants, it is normal with certain types of fish to be given the option to be served a whole fish on your plate or to have it served filleted. I have spent a fair amount of time in various parts of the USA and American high class eateries have got over the fact that AmEnglish has lost the word fillet and can't pronounce 'fileted', so they just call it "off the bone". Incidentally, when I was a child we had a local butcher/fishmonger whose shop front proudly proclaimed "Come To Willets For Fine Fillets!" :D

[@scottfw7169]

US English has a fillet pronunciation difference not addressed in that, fillet is fill-ay when cooking and fill-it when talking about airplane and missile streamlining.

[@neskire]

As the French say, "Vive la difference!" As long as we can understand each other, it doesn't really matter.