Why do Brits pronounce Putin as “Pyoo-tin” and Jaguar as “Jag-yoo-wer”?

Because they can, you silly lumpkins!

Pyoo-tin?

Don't forget pen-gyoo-in. That one makes me grind my teeth with rage.

Aussies pronounce samurai sam-yur-eye.

English is their language - they can pronounce words any damn way they want.

It's the correct pronunciation. Only the lower classes pronounce a u as an oo.

Pronunciation threads: the only DL threads more certain to implode than threads about Italian cooking.

Or sushi as SUHH-shi

We do it only to annoy you OP.

The British ‘u’ is rather similar to the French ‘u’, non?

A little FYI to the OP. The Brits are the ones who invented the language. Therefore, they are the ones who are pronouncing it correctly.

Your question should be, "Why do Americans bastardize the English language?" And why do they do it so often?

AND why do they say "alumineeyum.?

Well - English is really a fucked up version of the old German brought over by the Angles, isn't it?

From that angle, I see your point.

Whyever does OP continue creating threads obsessing over Brits' speech and vocabulary?

and they pronounce schedule. Shed-Yu-Ull

irritating AF

OP is stupid. I guess you don't realize that YOU ARE THE ONE with the English accent.

Yes and the angles were the first English so..it's our language. Must be galling to you yanks to have a language that's not your own...oh well, maybe you should have learned cherokee or something.

What is OP's background, and how does he come to feel so superior to the British? He does understand he is living in one of OUR former colonies, does he not?

Rubbish.

The Angles weren't the first people in Britain. They were a Germanic tribe who brought their language and displaced Common Brittonic, a Celtic language. So those of you original Britons are speaking a conquering tribe's language - a form of German. If we should go back to Cherokee, shouldn't you go back to Celtic? or Gaelic or something? Same thing - our conqueror was you - your conquerer was a German tribe, after the Romans had a turn, among others...

"At the beginning of the fifth century, the Romans left Britain. They had not trained the British to defend themselves and so the next time the Saxons tried to invade Britain they succeeded. It was during the second half of the fifth century that more and more Anglo-Saxons arrived to take land for themselves."

Does OP reali(s)e it's' our' in words like labour, behaviour etc.

Only dimwit Americans find it too taxing having an extra letter.

Poutine

I have never understood why so many Americans here are down on one of their biggest allies, and we do after all share the same language. The Americans I met while still living in London were very cordial, and seemed to genuinely admire us. After moving here roughly twenty years ao, I've come to realise that is a very minority faction of the US. in reality.

No Americans are down on Britain r24, it's just good natured teasing. Why are Brits so tender to the touch?

Why do they call a cat "my pussy"?

r25

We do not find that amusing and I am unanimous in that.

Well I'm from England so I can claim it as my beautiful language. By the way...listen Americans. . Germanic refers to a family of northern European languages, including German, English, Dutch and Scandinavian. That's for you Yanks who aren't too good at geography. It does not just refer to Germany.

I'm not so tender really R25. I can enjoy living in this great country hanging out with other Brit Expats, Germans, and Canadians. I did not find most Americans easy to work with, and glad to be retired. I find many (especially younger than 50's) seem inordinately proud and judgemental of people from EVERY foreign country. Just my experience living in NY & Chicago.

That's funny r29, that was my experience in the U.K.

R18 I love your retort. I'm R17. I just have a lot of friends from across the pond.

That's too bad R30. I genuinely like Americans so long as they don't suffer from a superiority complex. I do find the ones that don't particularly care for me have never visited Britain (nor have they travelled widely outside the US), and seem to treat many here as outsiders. My Mexican nighbous are quite outgoing and friendly. I suspect there is some Nationalism there on both sides. I also find the Americans I get to know in Grand Cayman like us Brits too. Now that I'm retired, I leave the US more frequently now, and it can be comforting to be around one's fellow countrymen.

Oh, let's do this again.

Pootin' just sounds silly.

Those damn Celts were too drunk to keep the Angles at bay.

Idiot "English is bastardized German" troll, English also has huge influences from French and Latin incorporated into it. If you are ignoring those you clearly don't have a clue what you're talking about.

[quote]Why do Brits pronounce Putin as “Pyoo-tin” and Jaguar as “Jag-yoo-wer”?

And is this U or non-U pronunciation?

R36 slight majority of French, if I remember correctly. English has a huge amount of French loanwords in it.

How about “pit-uhh” bread? Or the flaky Turkish pastry drenched in honey and filled with nuts? The Brits pronounce it “buh-KLAW-vuh.”

When I went to Cambridge for a study abroad, I loved how one of my professors said “prin-CESS” instead of “PRIN-cess.” I learned that English and American English diverge a lot.

My friends and I asked a woman where we could find an ATM.

“A wot?”

“An A-T-M.”

“I’m sorry. I’ve no idea wot you’re saying. What exactly are you looking for?”

“Money? We’re from the US, looking for somewhere we can withdraw money.”

“Oh, a bank? Or a cash machine?”

“A cash machine! Yes, do you know where we can find one?”

She told us where we could get cash and then asked what we were saying again, and then what ATM stands for. Automated teller machine, we said.

“Oh. That’s funny, isn’t it? A robotic bank teller...”

I had never realized what a weird concept an “automated teller machine” is. Cash machine is a lot plainer and simpler. So is “the lift” versus the “elevator.” What’s the fastest way to get upstairs? Walk or elevate?

After college I learned more about the history of the English language. It is a German dialect, technically, but “the great vowel shift” changed it from sounding German to sounding more French, and from my experience, the English of the UK is closer to French in both pronunciation and in vocabulary than American English is.

In case you didn’t know, Webster’s New American Dictionary isn’t just a brand. Webster intentionally revised the English language to a “new American” language that he felt would reflect American ideals on a subconscious level and galvanize us as a country against the United Kingdom. He decided to make the language more practical and to eliminate what he felt were unnecessary flourishes that had been influenced by impractical French. So as obvious examples, he changed “colour” to “color” because he thought the U was extraneous and unnecessary, and he changed “theatre” to “theater” to reflect how the word is spoken. It was all about re-ordering things to be plainer and more rational. Yet as with the ATM and elevator above, it’s clear that Webster’s American identity did take but the rationale of being more plain spoken has not always taken. We Americans love our bullshit, indecipherable acronyms. LOL!

I mostly like British pronunciations (especially as compared with Chicago, Michigan, Texan and some other US dialects), but for some reason I’ve grown intolerant of Australian and especially New Zealand accents—especially “BEAD-ruhm” for “bed room.” I can’t watch House Hunters International from down under because the people say BEADruhm 20 times per episode. *shudder*

R36 The English language is considered a Germanic derivative because of its syntax, or how words are arranged. Today Old English is almost wholly unreadable to us, and Middle English is only barely decipherable...sentences are ordered similarly to how they are now, but we can’t read them because of major linguistic changes. I can’t believe how many people (at least in the US) think Shakespeare is “old English.” Shakespeare is thoroughly modern—meaning his writing has so much French influence that it is essentially the same as contemporary English, just written in verse and spelled differently.

Old English is foreign, and it’s essentially an archaic dialect of German. From Beowulf: “Hwæt. We Gardena in geardagum, þeodcyninga, þrym gefrunon, hu ða æþelingas ellen fremedon.”

(One translation: “So. The Spear-Danes in days gone by And the kings who ruled them had courage and greatness. We have heard of those princes’ heroic campaigns.” The above verse is technically English and it is the foundation of what we speak today, which is still consideres to be Germanic, but the influence of French over modern English has been profound.)

Middle English looks more like Modern English, but the average English speaker can only guess the meaning about as well as guessing the meanings of written French, Spanish or Italian if they don’t speak those languages:

“WHAN that Aprille with his shoures soote The droghte of Marche hath perced to the roote,t And bathed every veyne in swich licour,t Of which vertu engendred is the flour...”

(“When April with his soothing showers has pierced March’s drought to the root and bathed every vine in sweet liquor, which engenders the flower’s growth...”)

By comparison, even people who have a hard time reading Shakespeare—whose Modern English had changed significantly as a result of French language infusion—can see that Shakespeare’s is indeed essentially the same language we speak today.

“Horatio says 'tis but our fantasy, And will not let belief take hold of him Touching this dreaded sight, twice seen of us: Therefore I have entreated him along With us to watch the minutes of this night; That if again this apparition come, He may approve our eyes and speak to it.”

Why don’t Americans pronounce the ‘h’ in herb ?

R42 The pretentious ones from NJ who pretend they’ve always lived in Connecticut do!

And don’t forget the Trumps and the Bernie Sanderses who say YOOGE when “huge” obviously has an H.

What R11 and R17 said.

Op you're a dumbass or a troll.

EXCUUUUSE me! We originated the language!

Do they have a special pronunciation for "stanksleeve," a term with which Brits are quite familiar (at least by the ones I've had the displeasure of encountering).

Because it sounds the most like “PUTRID”

There's at least one reporter of British origin on CNN or MSNBC who pronounces "peninsula" as "pen-in-shu-la."

Is "urine" accented on the first or second syllable?

^ as in "you-RYNE."

I'm still trying to figure out why they call the Pentagon the Pent-a-GHIN.

Why are Americans the only ones named after the continent they are on, when Mexico and Canada are also both part of the North American continent too?

I'm coot! I love the old TV show Jaqwar!

There is no one single way that Brits pronounced much of anything. It is such a provincial little place that it has more distinct accents than the vast U.S. could ever claim. Standard British Speech (SBS) is the preferred dialect in London and its surrounding areas and, of course, on the BBC. It is dry and affected and an artifact of a country that was once an empire. The much more beautiful accents are found in the north. Liverpool, Blackpool, Manchester. The poetry hasn't been drained out.

Ni-car-AG-you-ah. Fuck that. Horrible.

Is this a trick question?

quinine

Yank: kwai-nine

Brit: kwe-NEEN

The Russians themselves pronounce Putin as “POO-tin.” So that’s how it should be pronounced. The Brits just look bad when they make fun of the way Americans pronounce it because we do it correctly.

[quote]Or sushi as SUHH-shi

Not half as bad as cantonese speakers who can fully pronounce "su" based on their own language but purposefully say "shoe-shee" like an idiot.

There is a letter in Cyrillic that has an "ooh" sound and a letter that has a "yoo" sound. Putin's name is spelled with the "ooh" sound, not the "yoo" sound. Tbe British are wrong.

And THE British are wrong, too

R53 - because there's no adequate substitute for "American" if you live in the US, while residents of Canada, Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, etc... have very good easy-to-use monikers: Canadian, Mexican, Colombian, Ecuadorian, etc.

Most world residents would prefer not to have to say "a resident of the United States" every time they want to refer to people from the third largest country, by population, on the planet, which even then, has outsize impact and influence (for better or worse.) They are practically forced to frequently refer to American this or that -- like the insane American leader or the aggressive American foreign policy etc. ad infinitum.

Too late to name ourselves anything sensible so there it is - the reality, even if it offends some people with OCD nitpicking about literal-ness.

Actually all 9f the most common words in English such as the and man etc are of Anglo saxon origin. Oh by the way why do Americans hate white 'Anglo saxons'? WASP is used as an insult. Isn't that racism?

I personally don't think it's racism when you resent the preferential status of a certain race, and its mistreatment of other races.

I don't think the Jews who hated the Nazis were being racist. I think racism implies looking at others as inferior in some way - YMMV.

Ugh... Lower class people like OP irks me. THey pronounce like because they care enough to speak out every audible part of the word, as opposed to Americans and your low born mother, who just gloss over the entire word.

The worst is "Lieutenant" as "LUFFtenan."

There's not even an "f" in there!!!

[quote]Don't forget pen-gyoo-in. That one makes me grind my teeth with rage.

It's pronounced "peng-wings".

R47 You're still considered a Provincial Mary anywhere but in your small, rattlin' car town.

R68 smears dick cheese behind his ears when he goes looking for some. Or wishes he could.

R66 They're pronouncing the word leftenant not lieutenant, you tit.

Gonna write the BBC and tell them bitches to knock it off with the “Pyoo-tin” crap.

We say "Pew-tin" and "Jag-u-are", I'm not sure who you're listening to but they're not standard brits.

[quote] THey pronounce like because they care enough to speak out every audible part of the word,

Oh yeah. You make sense.

Путин

This is how you spelled Putin in Cyrillic. The second letter "у" is pronounced "ooh."

Нью-Йорк

This is how you write "New York" in Cyrillic. The second letter "ю" is pronounced "yew." So in Russian, New York is pronounced "Nyoo York." I've no idea why they used ю instead of у. Maybe it violates their spelling rules.

The ь in Hью-Йорк isnt a letter, it's a soft sign which makes the "n" soft. Consonants can be soft or hard in Russian, like our vowels.

R69 Sad all around. Can't even make a funny. Your mother was probably the only one who thought her little, ugly fairy was hilarious.

[quote]R40: “Oh. That’s funny, innit? A robotic bank teller...”

Fixed.

R72, I listen to BBC radio and watch BBC World News all the time. James Menendez is one of the only ones on there pronouncing it as “Poo-tin.”

They spoke English first so I imagine they are right and we are just misprounoucing it.

I’m guessing you’re being an idiot on purpose, R78?

Because, OP:

Dispute

Reputation

Rasputin

Mute

Computer

Their use of British English phonemes in borrowed words may be annoying, but it's at least consistent.

Bullshit, R80.

Putin isn’t an English word.

Try again, luv.

Neither is jaguar originally, "luv"; thus my reference to borrowed words. Try reading.

Fuck off, R82/Zosha. Your intelligence is pulp. PULP.

I cannot stand it when Americans say "jag-wire." I've actually heard educated people say that. It's as grating as "nucular."

Am I supposed to know who Zosha is, OP? Sorry you're triggered, you poor, delicate thing.

"Jagwire" is crazy-making, I agree, R84.

Because not evryone Is like you you stupid vapid, nonpassport holding, hovel dwelling New Yorker.

Americans pronoun it Los AngelESS vs. British Los AngelEEZ.

American PAH-Stah vs. British PAY-stah.

Bucket vs. BOUQUET!!!

Is Sheridan appalled?

Alewmineeum!

Jaguar is a word from Spanish which they got from a native tribe in South America. In Spanish it is pronounced Ha-gwar. So shouldn't the closest English pronunciation be Jag-wahr instead of Jag-u-ar?

R87: I think you mean the Brits pronounce it PASS-ta (as opposed to PAY-sta). They also say MAZZ-DA for MAHZ-DA, and HOOSTON for Houston.

Putin creates problems in French as it can easily be pronounced the same as putain - whore.

But, do they drain the PASS-ta or don't they? Do they sauce the PASS-ta in the pan or in the dish? Do they use a fork and twirl the PASS-ta to eat the PASS-ta or chop it and eat it with a spoon? Is it sauce or gravy for that PASS-ta?

Since jaguars are native to the Americas, I would expect the American pronunciation to take precedence. Agree with R89.

OP, you forgot the Tube, Tyoobe.

[quote]Op you're a dumbass or a troll.

Why don't you just say he's "dumb"?

Why do Americans have to add "ass" to everything?

It's NOT pretty.

R95 Because 95% of this forum are total bottoms and therefore anal obsessed.

r95 Calling someone "a dumb" sounds bad (and is grammatically incorrect, dumbass).

Because the car company outside of the US is called Jag U ar in their own ads.

The announcer does have a sexy voice, kinda.

R53, It's always annoyed me as well. We should be referred to as United Statesmen.

However historically, before the American Revolution, the new world was widely referred to as "The Americas" and those settling here "Americans." and the English referring to thieir colonies as such and the people thereof the "Colonists" during the colonial period. But of course there were settlements of Spain and France here as well. that are now parts of the United States as well as in South America.

Somehow when it was all said and done the countrymen of the United States remained simply "Americans" instead of United Statesmen, while the others settled upon the more patriotic Mexican, Canadian, etc. We simply continued being Americans as though our domain included all of the western world as opposed to the southern portion of the North American continent. Most even find it necessary to insist that those from other American nations are not American because their origins are Canadian or Venezuelan etc.

Aluminum is the original spelling and pronunciation, IIRC.

Listen to the end for the JagUar pronounciation.

In South America they say "cha-kwar" so we don't say it 100% correctly either, although the British pronunciation is epically bad.

The word jaguar is of Spanish origin, taken from a native Peruvian (IIRC) word. So, the South American pronunciation is the closest to being correct.

Its commonly referred to as an English accent.

😹 Dumbest. Thread. Ever.

It doesn't really matter how we choose to pronounce our words..............

DING-DONG DONNIE IS STILL YOUR PRESIDENT !

R12, the "Brits" (as do Canadians) spell aluminum differently. The word is "aluminium". Do you see the difference?

OP, all Brits do not pronounce every word in the same way, any more than Americans do. Guess what? Many Americans pronounce words in ways that make most Americans cringe. Why don't you make that your cause?

Because we are all a bit cunty, love.

And you're point is, OP?

You think America is superior to Great Britain?

Obviously, you have forgotten where you came from................

I prefer it over that skanky-white trash- Southern Hillbilly-barbeque accent.

Some Americans say VAZE for Vase. Odd.

They say ruf, for roof. Odd.

And ROWTE, for route. Odd.

and they YUMAN for human.

please revisit r80.

And some dumb ass American says YUUUUGGGE !

Trump and Bernie

Yuuuge on Pootin' if you know what I mean

Why rhyme "Nike" with "Mike"? It's not that difficult to find the correct pronunciation.

That's mor like TINY in In Pootin' ...........

And you DO know what I mean, AMERICA !

Aluminum was originally spelled just like that, not as aluminium. So, why did they change it?

Yeah, odd thread. Hey, fish and chips still rock. So, why do they call them chips when chips instead of fries????

And biscuits instead of cookies?

Wrong, r70, THERE IS NO SUCH WORD AS "LEFTENANT," YOU TIT.

That's just how British pronounce "lieutenant."

Link to "leftenant" in any dictionary, TIT!

Do they still sell real fish and chips wrapped in newspaper paper? How I long for that.

Whatever you say to the TWAT @ R120

"LEFTENANT" is actually referred to as " an old, archaic spelling of lieutenant from the early 1900's.

Looks like YOU ARE WRONG, AMERICAN 👺 BOZO R120 ! ! !

As you Yanks are so fond of saying.........GOOGLE is your friend.

OP is dumber than a ....................

Finish the Sentence !

[quote]Do they still sell real fish and chips wrapped in newspaper paper? How I long for that.

Not for years, ducky.

Cuz he's stinky.

It's FAKE NEWSpaper.

But real, genuine English Fish & Chips.

And why do Brits say PooTEEN and not PewTEEN?

Why do Americans say TORD when it's TOWARDS.

& why don't they pronounce their T's? My name is Peter - not Peedah.

Why do Americans call The Mall - "the morl"?

It's called devoicing. Ts to Ds The notorious one is the Russian V to F. ProkofieF

Some Black people do the opposite and devoice Ds to Ts, ɡo͝od, ɡo͝ot

It happens all the time.

[quote]Why do Americans say TORD when it's TOWARDS.

Because it isn't TOWARDS, it's TOWARD, as in , "the plane is headed toward the WTC."

Google is MY friend, r123, but NOT YOURS. Google backs me up, whereas it proves you wrong.

"Leftenant" is improper and the Brits spell it "lieutenant" as the Americans.

They just pronounce it a traditionally mistaken way. You thought "leftenant" is a word and it's not. TIT.

OXFORD DICTIONARY SAYS IT'S A BRITISH MISTAKE AND YOU'RE ALL A BUNCH OF TITS!

I still want those fish and chips. Long ago, there used to be a place my father would take me near the water. So good. Miss that.

Back to words I hear mispronounced: Sang-wich, Idear are 2.

How much energy is r134 wasting on his venomous, know it all, "I'm so much smarter than all of you" research and development of a single word? No wonder you're so bitchy and exhausted at the end of the day. That also explains why you have no friends other a couple of old dictionaries. I bet you even have every volume of Funk & Wagnalls Encyclopedia.

I would really like some 🍦ice cream.

Many languages have dialects that differ from one another in pronunciation. So what's wrong with there being a British English (and there are various dialects of that, as well - Scouse doesn't sound like Estuary) and an American English (or multiple versions), an Aussie one, a Kiwi one, a South African one, etc. ??

And you people call yourselves "Amurikins"?

Fuck off, R124. I was merely pointing out something inaccurate I was hearing on the BBC and it seems to have sparked some debate here. Let’s see you do better, douchebag.

r134, look that up in your Funk and Wagnells!

[quote]Aluminum was originally spelled just like that, not as aluminium. So, why did they change it?

Well, first of all the (British) scientist who discovered it and named it** kept changing the name, lol. First he called it Alumium, the Aluminum, then Aluminium. The British and Americans used Aluminum and Aluminium interchangeably in the 19th century, the British going all-over to Aluminium eventually, the Americans only switching over completely to the simpler and pithier Aluminum in the early 20th century -- although Americans still use Aluminium when they are writing scientific papers and so on for international consumption.

. . .

[italic]**Sir Humphry Davy, who was immortalized by Edmund Clerihew Bentley as such:

Sir Humphrey Davy

Abominated gravy.

He lived in the odium

Of having discovered sodium.[/italic]