English Language Discussion Forums

Lenka · #1 04-Oct-2006, 19:27

In the Cambridge Dictionary I found out that word "camomile" is read with "ai". http://dictionary.cambridge.org/defi...ey=10988&ph=on

Anyway, I listened to the fairy tale on the following site (click on "read to me")
http://lightupyourbrain.com/the-tale...er-rabbit.html
and there the narrator read it with "i:".

Is it pronounced differently in the USA? Why did he proounce it with "i:"?

(by the way, could you please correct my English?)

Lenka · #2 04-Oct-2006, 19:30

By the way, what does that "lippity" in the fairy tale mean? I can't find it in a dictionary.

Quote:

Peter sat down to rest; he was out of breath and trembling with fright, and he had not the least idea which way to go. Also he was very damp with sitting in that can. After a time he began to wander about, going lippity-- lippity-- not very fast and looking all around. He found a door in a wall; but it was locked and there was no room for a fat little rabbit to squeeze underneath. An old mouse was running in and out over the stone doorstep, carrying peas and beans to her family in the wood. Peter asked her the way to the gate but she had such a large pea in her mouth she could not answer. She only shook her head at him.

http://lightupyourbrain.com/the-tale...er-rabbit.html

**BobK** · #3 05-Oct-2006, 09:10

/ai/ in BE. In the context of cosmopolitan tea drinking, some people pronounce it with four syllables and an /i:/, but this is an affectation.

"lippity" is a word - perhaps invented by Beatrix Potter (?) - to refer to a rabbit's normal gait.

b

ps - I've now listened to that story (read by Chuck Brown - definitely not BE). My 'normal gait' was misleading, I think. The normal gait is traditionally represented as 'lippity-lop' (maybe on the analogy of "clippety-clop" for horses). The repetition of "lippity" suggests a reduced bounciness - maybe Peter is even limping with tiredness.

And I overlooked your last request; your English is generally fine

though the first sentence should be "I found [omit this "out"] that the word "camomile" is pronounced with an "ai" [I'd have clarified a bit here - maybe "with an /ai/ in the last syllable"; otherwise, the word "pronounced" (without 'an') suggests you're going to give the pronunciation of the whole word.]

Lenka · #4 05-Oct-2006, 17:36

Thank you very much, BobK!!
Especially for the correction (and also explanation, then) of the mistakes made :). I know this wasn't the "target" of this thread, but this is actually the thing that teaches me the most :).
(Could you correct this as well, if you read it, please?)

As to the pronunciation of "camomile", do you mean that the narrator pronounced it in a bad way?

**BobK** · #5 06-Oct-2006, 10:25

You're welcome, and the English in your post was fine; I'd have said "subject" rather than "target", but "target" isn't wrong. It just suggests to me a more precise objective.

And the reader didn't pronounce 'in a bad way' - just in an American way The BE pronunciation of "camomile" has /ai/ in the last syllable.

b

MikeNewYork · #6 08-Oct-2006, 17:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lenka

Thank you very much, BobK!!
Especially for the correction (and also explanation, then) of the mistakes made :). I know this wasn't the "target" of this thread, but this is actually the thing that teaches me the most :).
(Could you correct this as well, if you read it, please?)

As to the pronunciation of "camomile", do you mean that the narrator pronounced it in a bad way?

In AmE, camomile is pronounced KAM (short A) e (schwa) mil (long I) or KAM (short A) e (schwa) mel (long E) or KAM (short A) e (schwa) mil (short I)