Mispronunciation

[Dennis R. Preston]

You know a quantitativist like me is countin. I've already heard from
several others that this was a common US "professional"
pronunciation, both with the motivation to avoid chuckles but also
simply with that of insider-outsider.

dInIs

>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>-----------------------
>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster:       Amy West <medievalist at W-STS.COM>
>Subject:      Re: Mispronunciation
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>your-uh-nus (the prudish pron) is the pronunciation that I learned
>from my professional astronomer father, so does that make 2?
>
>---Amy West
>
>>Date:    Tue, 12 Dec 2006 08:58:21 -0500
>>From:    "Dennis R. Preston" <preston at MSU.EDU>
>>Subject: Re: Mispronunciation
>>
>>I believe it was the late Carl Sagan's PBS 'Cosmos' series which
>>introduced the less well known (and previously, I believe, British
>>English) use of URanus, although professional astronomers in the US
>>had apparently used the form for some time (according to my extensive
>>survey of one US astronomer).
>
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Dennis R. Preston
University Distinguished Professor
Department of English
15-C Morrill Hall
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824-1036
Phone: (517) 353-4736
Fax: (517) 353-3755
preston at msu.edu

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