thy thigh etc.

[John Freeman]

Larry Trask wrote:

>> Larry Trask mentions the revival of the properly buried "albeit". He may
>> be amused that I have heard this resurrected word pronounced as if it
>> were German, riming with "Arbeit".

> Not so much amused as flabbergasted.  However, I guess I shouldn't be
> surprised.  This word must have been resurrected via reading, and I guess
> it's not unusual for a reader who is eager to collect fancy-looking words
> to see this as [indigestible glob], and to assign a pronunciation
> accordingly.

As it happens, my partner, who was brought up in Munich but has lived in
London for over thirty years and so speaks almost faultless English, was
reading out a passage from the (London) Times to me in the car last
weekend. At one point she enunciated what appeared to me to be the
phrase "all-bite" in an adverbial context. When I twigged and explained
what it was, I was left in no doubt as to (a) my own pedantry (rather
unreasonably, I thought) and (b) the pretentiousness of Times journalists
(more justifiably, perhaps).

Incidentally, I once heard [maizld] for 'misled'.

John Freeman
London