"Fung guy"

[Victor]

Color me unconvinced--equally by Wilson's original as much as James's reply.

I wasn't around in 1955, so I can't _argue_ the point with Wilson. And I
am not a native speaker either, so my judgment may be skewed once in a
while. But what I hear now is that there has been an evolution in
pronunciation of "fungi" from [f^nd3ai] to [f^Ngai]. If we are to
believe both extremes, this is a complete reversal.

I have a reference point circa 1984--at a fine Eastern institution with
a solid mix of students from all regions of the country. (Not Ivy
League--we would have had to resort to authority had that been the
case.) I distinctly recall an actual debate that some of us had back
then, specifically on the subject of pronunciation of "fungi", with the
two relevant options being strongly advocated as "correct" by opposing
camps, with at least one or two dissenters suggesting that it does not
matter or we would have to use the Italian version. My memory is not
good enough as to who held which position--as for me, I walked out of
that debate with what I thought, at the time, an original pun. ("He's
such a fun guy, he kinda grows on you.") Let me be clear that I am NOT
claiming any sort of primacy on this pun and am simply citing it as
evidence that this debate did take place. (In fact, when I ended up in
Berkeley a few years later, a friend of a friend greeted me with, "Oh,
I've heard about you--you're the guy who came up with the "fun guy"
joke!") I am actually quite certain that the pun itself--even in this
particular version--predates the events in question, possibly by several
decades (as Laurence Horn has attested), although, for those who were
there, it was quite new. (What do you want from college students?!)

Now, there are some possibilities. If we assume the hypothesis of
gradual transformation from one extreme to the other, then my story
provides a midpoint. On the other hand, it does not disprove a regional
hypothesis either.

For my part, I would not be too quick dismissing the influence of Latin
lessons--there are more people walking around with memories of the
experience than you might think. And I know several people who continue
defy both camps and pronounce the word just as it is spelled--sort of
([f^Ngi]--no diphthong). And not all of them get it from culinary lore
("authentic" Italian dish names).

There is more, of course--what about "algae"? I know adherents of both
camps in this instance as well. And, at least one pronunciation guide on
the net makes both suggestions:

http://www.howjsay.com/index.php?word=algae&submit=Submit

Or, should I say, three camps: [aLgi] vs. [ald3i] vs. [aLgai]? Or four:
[ald3ai]?? I may be weird--I prefer [d3] in algae and [g] in fungi.
Perhaps it's that non-native influence. (And, no, I don't like [ai] in
either word...)

    VS-)

James Harbeck wrote:
> I'm used to hearing "fung guy" and not used to hearing "fun jye", and
> I'm inclined to believe the joke adverted to ("What did the mushroom
> say to his date? -- How d'you like going out with such a fun guy?"
> and variations) is quite responsible for it. I don't imagine the
> Italian (funghi) has any real effect, or people would be saying it
> "foong-gee". But I suspect -- though I'd need to actually try this on
> people -- that most people I know would react to "fun jye" as a
> mistake.
>
> But nearly nobody takes Latin anymore in school, either, and people
> seem in general to be pretty damn uncertain about all sorts of things
> about it. (At least those too young to have had concerted exposure to
> it.) Those who _do_ take it learn the classical pronunciation, too,
> which is "foong gee", just to muddy the waters.
>
> James Harbeck.
>

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