Pronunciations

[Anita Bensoussane]

In France and Germany, and possibly other countries too, it is becoming more common to refer to all women over a certain age, ie about 18, with the "married forms" - Madame or Frau. When I was in France last year, for example, I was sometimes called "Madame", although I am not married.

Nice to hear from you, Laura!

Just found an article on the subject:

http://www.nakedtranslations.com/en/200 ... demoiselle" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Katharine]

*Popping in after a long absence*

In France and Germany, and possibly other countries too, it is becoming more common to refer to all women over a certain age, ie about 18, with the "married forms" - Madame or Frau. When I was in France last year, for example, I was sometimes called "Madame", although I am not married.

Maybe we should just refer to all women, regardless of marital status, as "Mrs So-and-So"?

That's interesting. I seem to recall watching a programme many years ago in which the cook of a large house was called 'Mrs.' even though she had never been married, because it was considered someone in her position should have that title as a sign of their status. Presumably a woman who had never managed to 'get a man' was further down the human chain of importance - second only to child chimney sweeps I assume

[Katharine]

Interesting point about computers not recognizing 'duchess'........one of my clients in business are Lord and Lady XXXX.
They live in a magnificent house with acres of land.
Their heating failed due to the really cold weather,so Lady XXXX ordered a few calor gas heaters on line in the middle of the night till the heat could be restored to their home....
The next day at the shops all her credit cards where turned down and refused point blank....
She immediately rang to see why her cards had been refused......the manager said it was due to unusual transactions......what unusual transactions she asked.......'calor gas heaters!'.......they said they didnt think a Lord and Lady would buy such items online in the night and therefore decided to cancel all her credit cards!!
Yes Lords and Ladies dont require heat even in the winter as they can generate enough warmth through alternative means!

I suppose it is good that the credit card company were aware of an unusual transaction, but I can't help thinking that if I were going to go on a shopping spree with someone else's credit card, I'd purchase something a little more exciting than a few calor gas heaters! At the moment a one way ticket to somewhere warmer and snow free perhaps

Maybe they thought being titled they should have just thrown a couple of peasants on the fire to keep themselves warm

[janey]

great thread i has lots of catching up and posting to do

the name that bothered me as a child was Alicia she was one of my fav malory Towers characters i had never heard the name before so was never sure if it was A LEE SA, A LISH A, A LES E YA course people still prononce it diff now it must have made a subcon impact on me because i actually named my daughter alicia but spelt Alyssia and pronounced A LISS EE AH or ER depending on the accent lol her great granny who is northern irish calls her A LEECE EE YA poor kid got quite confused so now everyone just calls her Lissy lol makes life alot easier

[Fiona1986]

Mr, Miss, Mrs, Ms - it's odd how we pronounce them all differently.

I've always pronounced Ms as Mzzzzzzzz. Usually because I'm making fun of the daft women who insist on keeping their marital status a secret by omitting either 'r' or 'is' from their title. (If I'm being polite its just Mz)

Mr, short for mister, is just said as mister.
Miss is just miss
Mrs is misses

I love the English language. It's so impossibly silly sometimes.

[Moonraker]

Just a thought: How is Hugh Bonneville pronounced - Bonny-ville or Bon-ville?

[Lucky Star]

I pronounce it Hugh Bonn - e -vill. The "e" rhyming with "the".

[Eddie Muir]

I pronounce it Hugh Bonn - e -vill. The "e" rhyming with "the".

I agree, John, that would be my pronunciation too.

[Moonraker]

So does that mean I was right all along about Trott - e - ville?

[Lucky Star]

So does that mean I was right all along about Trott - e - ville?

Good point, I didn't think of that. I will continue to pronounce Trotteville as Trott - vill though. Thats the way I have always pronounced it. Perhaps its something like monkey and donkey; they ought to soound exactly the same but dont. Isn't English a wonderful language.

[Moonraker]

Isn't English a wonderful language.

Spoken like a true Irishman!

[Lucky Star]

Isn't English a wonderful language.

Spoken like a true Irishman!

[70s-child]

Nice to see this thread again. It was one of the first few I posted in when I joined the forums. I spent sometime going over all the responses this time.

On Fatty's last name, I have always pronounced it as Trot-ville, rather like Twit the baker. I also always pronounced Claudine as Claw-deen, but the French people I know pronounce it as "Clodeen". The 'd' is a soft 'd'. I can't think of any English parallels, but it is the same as the 'd' in the French 'deux', as opposed to the hard 'd' in the English "Dean". Also there seems to be a slight (very slight) 'uh' sound at the end of the name.

[221b]

I have always pronounced Fatty's surname, Trotteville as Trotter-vil However, Duncan McLaren pronounced it as Trot-vil.

How do you pronounce it?

Definitely TROT-uh-ville with three syllables. The middle one being a neutral ə - like the a in comma or afraid.

I’m just listening to some audiobook versions of the FFOs, and while they’re pretty well done, the repeated pronunciation “TROT-ville” is bringing me out in a rash.

The name sounds of French derivation to me.

[John Pickup]

Whether it is right or wrong, I have always pronounced the surname Trot-vil and will continue to do so.