English words beginning with <j> pronounced [Z]?

[James Harbeck]

>Does anybody whose name is Jacques pronounce his name as identical
>with "jock"?
>
>I doubt it. And Canada is full of Jacques and jocks.

I don't think so either. In Canada we're always conscious of the
correct pronunciation of French names like that. Sometimes we even
take for French names that in fact aren't. I can think of two right
OTOH -- Dufflet, a local pastry shop ([d at flIt]) and Blase, a name I
assumed was [blaze] but turned out to be [blez].

And Jacques is definitely a French name in Canada. If you meet an
Anglo named Jacques, you ask -- or think -- "What're you doing with
the French name?" Which means that we can't really take it, at least
around here, as an English word.

I have yet to think of any English word (as opposed to loans qua
loans and foreign names) that starts with a j as [Z] around here.

James Harbeck.

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