an enthusiasm of AWAD subscribers

[ymf]

An earful of iPod users. -Paul Kitching (paulkitchingATripitup.com.au

Comments

[schizophoenix]

Shouldn't it be "a earful of ipod users"? having a y-consonant beginning sound.

[ymf]

hmmm i'm one for pronouncing it as "ee-year-ful". does the pronunciation of "earful" and similar words vary on geographical locations? o_O but if your version is commonly accepted, then i suppose it'll be "a" (do you call that an article too?).

[schizophoenix]

hmm. my dictionary says "ir", with i as in English. i can't get it to sound right!!

[ymf]

your dictionary is...?

[schizophoenix]

world book dictionary. not very authoritative =)

[ymf]

hmm it's either ulu or i'm ignorant hehe.

[forthright]

The pronunciation [ir] is the same vowel sound in 'ear' as it is in words such as 'fear', 'beer', 'evil'; that is, it is a long 'eeeeee' sound, not the short e of 'English'. And there is definitely no y consonant at the beginning of 'earful', so 'an earful' is the only correct form.

[ymf]

thanks for dropping by! hmmm is this particular pronunciation of "earful" accepted in both american and british english? because i do faintly remember some primary school teachers saying some words with a hard 'y' consonant, but not sure if it's their problem or it's accepted in some places.

[forthright]

Earful is never pronounced with an initial 'y' consonant in either American or British English, or any other dialect I've ever heard. In fact, I'm trying to think of any English word starting with 'e' that is pronounced with an initial 'y' sound, but I can't think of one. It's simply not right.

[ymf]

Ah okay, thanks a lot then! (=