Pronounciation
Jul. 2nd, 2006 06:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jofish22Some of you may have seen my struggles at trying to ask for water at a restaurant in the United States. I have eventually adopted a strong accent for that one word of my order, in which I leave out the 't' altogether. "Can I have some warda, please?"
I found a worse word at Lowes the other day. Caulk. First he directed me to the cork. Then he looked shocked. (I think he thought I was asking for cock.) Then I eventually spelled it out, letter by letter. It's just not a word that I can find any acceptable pronounciation of with vowels that exist in my idiolect.
Perhaps slowly I will build up my own American practice sentences ("I need some caulk to stop the water from the faucet.."), my own private "Drinkin' Cutty Sark in the park in Harvard Yard I spilled chowder on Marky Mark's trousers." or some such thing.
I found a worse word at Lowes the other day. Caulk. First he directed me to the cork. Then he looked shocked. (I think he thought I was asking for cock.) Then I eventually spelled it out, letter by letter. It's just not a word that I can find any acceptable pronounciation of with vowels that exist in my idiolect.
Perhaps slowly I will build up my own American practice sentences ("I need some caulk to stop the water from the faucet.."), my own private "Drinkin' Cutty Sark in the park in Harvard Yard I spilled chowder on Marky Mark's trousers." or some such thing.
no subject
Date: 2006-07-03 01:49 am (UTC)The simplest thing is probably to do what the Boy did when I was trying to elicit the word from him without saying it first, and call it "caulking". ;) M-W says that's also correct, and guys at hardware stores will probably not think you're asking for a good hard shag. Probably. ;)
Do you like ice in your water? I always ask for "a glass of ice water with a straw" and the Boy generally asks for "a glass of water without ice". Not that anyone in the US or Canada has trouble with our very boring accents, but the context of the glass and ice ought to clear it up for anyone. ;) ::thinks about it:: Mine seems to come out "wahder" with the d-ish sound from my tongue just touching the very back-bottom of that ridge in the mouth behind the teeth, which I have just forgotten the name of. *^_^* Which is odd, as a normal d-sound is from the middle-bottom of that. It's more like using that ridge as a stand-in for the teeth to make a t farther back in the mouth. How strange...
Sorry to ramble. Always been fascinated by idiolects. And words. *^_^*