It’s actually even worse than that.
Kansas = CAN-zus
Arkansas = ARE-kin-saw
With headwaters in the Colorado Rockies, the Arkansas River = are-CAN-zus River
Don’t know why that is. Maybe it’s because Arkansas was CSA, Kansas was Union in the Civil War.
I just figured it became this way because all the hicks couldn’t figure out how to pronounce Arkansas properly.
I was well into my 40s before I ever heard anyone say “detritus” out loud, I’d been (mis-reading and) mentally pronouncing it up until then as “DEE-tree-us”.
I also clearly remember seeing Dan Rather many years ago use the term “debacle” and being amazed it wasn’t “DEB-a-cull” as I’d always thought.
We’re going down a pronunciation rabbit hole if we start looking at proper nouns. ICRT newsreaders are great fun with those.
French/English difference. The French got to Arkansas first
This explanation makes too much sense.
What’s the possessive?
Had to look them up!
In 2007, the state legislature passed a non-binding resolution declaring that the possessive form of the state’s name is Arkansas’s, which has been followed increasingly by the state government.
Apparently their adjective is Arkansan
It’s not surprising its most famous son is Bill Clinton. That place is a bit of a mouth full.
Sean Bean.
How’s it not either Seen Been or Shawn Bawn
Kephalos. Greek for head.
Pod. Greek for foot. (Pes/pedes in Latin…)
Kephalopod: that animal that’s all either head or foot.
I’ve always liked the range of through, sough, plough, rough, ought. and cough, and dough…
I’m just wondering what the alternative spelling to “Arkansas’s” would be.
Thanks for “sough.” Just added it to my vocabulary.
Sometimes when looking up pronunciations of words, all the online dictionaries have different pronunciations. According to an article on the internet, most people are pronouncing “siege” incorrectly, yet most the online dictionaries either say that /siːdʒ/ is correct. Only one dictionary I could find had the French-sounding pronunciation as an alternative.
The “correct pronunciation” or choice of words is usually determined by the person wielding the most power in a certain situation, it seems.
I don’t follow. Is somebody on the internet seriously suggesting that we should pronounce words of French origin in their original French form? Because there are a lot of them. It could logically be argued to go one step further back and pronounce them in their Latin* form.
EDIT: * more likely old French
Only certain words. Come to think of it, “penchant” is a very difficult word, because the original French seems too French, and the /ˈpen.tʃənt/ seems a bit uneducated. I could still niche [/nɪtʃ/] a pass.
I had to look up desultory.
Aikali, I’m just wondering. If you came across the word, how would you have pronounced it without a dictionary?
Just like you. Then i’d have to ask what it means.