-lived

[Peter Richardson]

This morning on NPR Bob Edwards said "long-lived" with a diphthong [ai] in
the second element rather than what one usually hears as [I] (woops:
that's not an ell, but a small capital eye). In doing so, he won my
gratitude as an ally in a lonely (and perhaps futile or even utterly
misguided) battle for the understanding of what "-lived" means. I take it
to mean 'having a life,' i.e. 'having a long life,' which would justify
the [ai] pronunciation. When I was a tad I always pronounced the _-lived_
as I did _lived_, but then one day I changed forever when I heard my
father say "short-lived" to rhyme with, um, "multi-wived" (for lack
of a better example). Did anyone else hear this pronunciation by Bob
Edwards and thus resolve to renew immediately that NPR membership during
this nagging, money-hustling week?

Peter R.