Chile

[David Wake]

"Chile" is still mostly pronounced "chilly" in Britain, although the
faux-Spanish pronounciation seems to be starting to making inroads
ther.  Another one is Uruguay, which is traditionally pronounced with
an initial  /j/: Yuragway.  I've heard some US commentators say
Ooragway (no initial /j/), and the last syllable may have the FACE
vowel instead of the traditional PRICE.  And Colombia sometimes has
LOT instead of STRUT in its stressed syllable.

I have yet to hear any English-speaker pronounce "Brazil" as Bra-zee-oo, though.

David



On Wed, Oct 6, 2010 at 6:21 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Chile
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Back in my day (1950s), "Chile" was pronounced like "Chilly."
>
> "Chilean" was pronounced as "chillyin." But since then "ChilAYan" has become
> the media standard because it sounds more Spanishy. Sort of.
>
> Similarly "Chilly" has become the media "Chee Lay" because it sounds more
> Spanishy.
>
> However, today I heard Tony Harris on CNN utter a new pronunciation that
> sounds like an American trying to sound Spanishy no matter what: "ChillAY."
>
> Like _Ole_!
>
> JL
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
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