Pronunciation question

[illuminated_sin]

My husband listens to the British radio drama, The Archers. He said one of the characters last night pronounced the word "vacuum" as "vac-u-um" -- with three syllables instead of two (in America we say "vac-youm"). He is wondering if Phil is speaking strangely or if this is a standard British pronunciation of the word.

Care to weigh in?

Comments

[concrete_stare]

My London-born husband says "vacuum" with two syllables, not three.

But he also had the odd idea that "Hoover" was the normal term Americans use for that particular household implement. When I told him that Americans think that "Hoover" is a British term, he looked at me like I had three heads and told me that Brits
always call it a "vac-youm". So he may just be a weirdo, or he may have been trying to be funny. It's hard to tell with him sometimes.

[illuminated_sin]

Well, Eddie Izzard says Hoovering for vacuuming, and he's a Brit, and I've read Hoovering (only the verb form) in many fanfics written by Brits. I've read vacuuming a couple of times but it doesn't seem to be the default word for the most part. It may depend on the region. Maybe Northerners say it one way and Southerners say it another?

[fictionbylouby]

I say it with two syllables, but I'm a northerner. I tend to call them Hoovers though.

[illuminated_sin]

Yes, that's what I'd thought. I've heard them referred to as Hoovers a lot but maybe I just have a lot of friends from the North.

Thanks for weighing in! :D

[silvan_lady]

Two syllables gets my vote but I can see how some British accents might make it longer.

On the Hoover debate, a lot of people here do refer to it as a Hoover - wrongly as they are made by many manufacturers, but I have often heard someone say something along the lines of "my Hoover is made by Electrolux". The use of the word hoover (lower case) is almost universally acceptable as an alternate to vacuum cleaner, just not strictly correct.

Interestingly, dictionary.com describes H/hoover is mainly British, and gives both pronounciations of Vacuum!

[illuminated_sin]

WOW! I'll have to tell him about that dictionary.com entry! We've never heard it pronounced that way before! :D

Thanks for the info, love. We have a similar phenomenon to the 'hoover' in America -- with soft drinks. Down south they will ask you in a restaurant what type of coke you want. Coke (as in Coca-Cola) is only one possible answer. Someone may call out to a friend who is heading to the store, "Get me a coke, will you?" and their friend will answer, "Sure, Diet Pepsi as usual or do you want a root beer this time?" Coke = generic word for soft drink for them. :/ Weird. That's how I grew up saying it, too, and when I came north and everyone referred to it as a "pop" I thought it terribly bizarre.

[tularia]

You ought to see the looks I get when I refer to it as a soda! (I say coke too, since I do live in daSouth.) *G*

[illuminated_sin]

Yeah, the folks I know who call it a soda live in the northeast (Pennsylvania, specifically). I once saw a map with a breakdown of what word people use in which region of the country. It was strange to see.

Actually, let me see if I have it. http://popvssoda.com:2998/countystats/total-county.html