A pronunciation question....

[fajrdrako]

The phrase of the day on 'a word a day' today was "devil's advocate", a phrase I've always liked. But it surprised me by saying that "advocate" was pronounced "advo-kate". When "advocate" is a noun, I pronounce it "advo-cat".

Have I been wrong all these years?

(If so, won't be the first time, won't be the last.)

Comments

[idiotgrrl]

If you pronounce the sort of advocate that you are as AD-vo-ket, you're probably closer to the pronunciation I hear around here. (The Southwestern US)

[fajrdrako]

I suspect our pronunciation is very close, though I'd have to hear it to be sure. I definitely accent the first syllable.

[janne_d]

I would say that I advo-kate something. But an advocate as a person I would pronounce somewhere between advo-ket and advo-kit. And I'm Scottish.

[fajrdrako]

Yes, that works for me.

[walkingowl]

Been? Shone? Z?

You're not wrong.

[fajrdrako]

Bin. Shon. Zed.

Happily right!

[walkingowl]

Hi, cutie. I'm logging off to go drive sixty miles, now. Wish my arm the best. xo

[fajrdrako]

May your arm be strong and painless! May the drive go well.

We're getting a gorgeous thunderstorm right now.

And I'm about to write a short Apaplexy zine.

[halfspokenwords]

From dictionary.com:

[v. ad-vuh-keyt; n. ad-vuh-kit, -keyt]

That's news to me, though. I have never heard the two pronounced the same.

I say advakate (v) and advakit (n).

[duncanmac]

I too have always heard it pronounced that way (noun ad-vo-kut, verb ad-vo-kate), even in England, though I may have forgotten hearing it in other accents.

I have seen a few differences as to how the "schwa" sound is handled, but a lot of dictionaries (including, apparently, 'http://dictionary.reference.com/') always represent it as an "i." It always impressed me either as an "u" or as a complete absence (I'd be tempted to spell it "advoakt," if that makes any sense; I'd also refer to the first meal of the day as "brekfst"). YMMV, as usual.

[halfspokenwords]

Hmm. 'u'? Really?

To me, in both breakfast and advocate, the 'a' is fairly clearly a short i. In advocate, I emphasize the final syllable (so it's ad-vuh-KIT), so maybe that's why it's an identifiable vowel for me-- it rhymes with sit and hit. Breakfast I pronounce brek-fist... well, actually, usually it's bref-ist. Sounds like fist or kissed.

... but then again, 'water' is pronounced 'wooder,' so what do I know?

You know, discussing linguistics has got to be one of the easiest ways to make people self-conscious. XD

[fajrdrako]

discussing linguistics has got to be one of the easiest ways to make people self-conscious.

Yes, and pronunciation especially. Other people in my apartment building say things differently - all the worse when it's the whole world you're taking into account, even if only the English-speaking part.

You like potato and I like potahto
You like tomato and I like tomahto
Potato, potahto,
Tomato, tomahto.
Let's call the whole thing off

[duncanmac]

As for typos, I have seen some *real* howlers of late, though none come to mind that top the "peak" at the Vatican Gardens :-). I think several websites (including the CBC.ca and CNN.com ones) *really* need proof-readers to read over their articles before they publish them. [Reboot their clue server now (Y/N)? :-)]

[fajrdrako]

Yes, I've seen embarrassing typos on sites that really, really should do better.

{Gotta be careful here, or typos will creep into the Ottawa Little Theatre's website and it will be All My Fault.)

All typos are embarrassing, but some more than others.