BOO!

[Gregg]

I say toe-may-toe, you say toe-mah-toe....

Around here, all the TV reporters, anchors, weather, sports guys and ladies say

Hal-o-ween

But, is it really

Hol-o-ween?

I wonder if it's a regional thing....

How do you say "hall"??

(actually, I say ta-mate-o)

[krissel]

If I speak slowly I sometimes say a soft "a" like "all". But if I'm talking fast it often sounds more like an 'o'.

[Xairbusdriver]

You actually listen to what you are saying?! Wow! Wish I could do that! Maybe, even better, I could know what I was going to say before I say it! I can hardly do that when 'writing!'

Pronunciations used to be highly influenced by our parents. Now, many children hear the teacher/TV/radio much more than any parent. Even the mobility of modern people has an influence on the way we talk.

There have always been variations in most larger countries/regions. The study of these dialects/variations can be very interesting. I suspect that such studies will become much more difficult with faster and wider means of verbal communications.

I say, "Y'all come back, now!" but I've heard others (less educated, of course) say, "You'ins come back, ya heer!"

As for tomatoes, I'd rather eat them than 'say' them. Especially with some crisp, warm bacon and cool, crisp lettuce!

[kimmer]

I say Hal-o-ween (Hal as in the computer from 2001: A Space Odyssey); but hall (as in you walk down the hall is h-all).

QUOTE

BOO!, how do you pronounce it?

To answer your original question: I pronounce BOO as BOO and IT as IT.



PS: We had 8 little trick-or-treaters last night. Next year, we'll only buy one bag of candy.

[Gregg]

QUOTE(kimmer @ Nov 1 2008, 12:10 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

We had 8 little trick-or-treaters last night. Next year, we'll only buy one bag of candy.

Round these parts, the kids just say "tricker treat"!

[kimmer]

LOL! Last night I looked at 2 kids that were at the door, smiled and said, "Okay, I'll take a trick!"

They gave me this blank look and just stood there waiting for a treat. They had no clue. None.

[tacit]

It's most correctly pronounced with an initial "hall;" the word isn't derived from "hollow." instead, it's a corruption of "all hallows' even," literally meaning "the evening before all hallows' day."

The word "hallows" means "something sacred." In early Christianity, saints were "hallowed," or declared sacred, by the Church. All hallows' day was the day set aside for the reverence of the saints; today, it's called All Saints Day." "All hallows' even" originally meant "the evening before All Saints Day;" at the time, during the Middle Ages, All Saints Day, or All Hallows' Day, was November 1st, so October 31 was "All Hallows' Even."

The various traditions associated with Halloween, such as wearing costumes and masks, come from a much earlier Pagan tradition called Samhain.

[Gregg]

Tacit, near as I can tell, you and I agree on the "correct" pronunciation. It's difficult to convey with just letters, and I don't know how to use all the pronunciation marks were they available. Clearly, the first four letters are "hall" and one pronunciation is to just tack on the "oween" and call it a day. However, since some people pronounce it as "hal" I tried to come up with a different letter combination to capture the alternate pronunciation, thus, "hol-o-ween" to distinguish it from "hal-o-ween" rather than "hall-o-ween" which we've already established is pronounced two different ways...

I spoke to my sister, who lives in southern Illinois, over the weekend, and she mentioned Halloween. I noticed that she used the "hal" version. So, if it's regional, maybe most of the Midwest has it "wrong".

[Xairbusdriver]

I've never heard Halloween or hallowed, pronounced as the "a" in hall is. But I've not quite travelled all the way around this globe. As I said before, pronunciations are often varied from one location to another in most countries. But the wide spread availability of verbal communications is making that less common. And just to throw in another 'expert,' or perhaps to help differentiate how to mark characters in a 'standard' way, here's a link to <how Answers.com hears and says> the word.

Of course, spelin is allwayz thsaim!

"Y'all come back!"

[Paddy]

Methinks perhaps maybe tacit meant "hal" as opposed to hall which is pronounced as "hawl" - since he correctly differentiates it from "hollow" which has the same sound as "hall"

Hal·low·een    [hal-uh-ween, -oh-een, hol-] (dictionary.com)

See also:
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Hallow
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hallows

Can't see any reason why anyone would pronounce it as if it were "hollowe'en" quite frankly. (and no, it's not some proper British pronunciation either )

[krissel]

Notice that Jim's link gave you two options...  

QUOTE

(hăl'ə-wēn', hŏl'-)

The more I think about it, the more I pronounce it... "sugar binge".  

[Gregg]

QUOTE(Xairbusdriver @ Nov 3 2008, 04:38 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

here's a link to <how Answers.com hears and says> the word.

It goes by pretty quickly, but what I hear is something in between "hal" and "hol". It's that fancy pronunciation mark over the "a". Not sure if the characters will "translate" but here's what the OSX Dictionary gives you: Halloween |ˌhaləˈwēn; ˌhälə-; -ōˈēn| neither of which matches the above link.

QUOTE(Paddy @ Nov 3 2008, 05:54 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Methinks perhaps maybe tacit meant "hal" as opposed to hall which is pronounced as "hawl" - since he correctly differentiates it from "hollow" which has the same sound as "hall"

Maybe you're right, but read his first comment again. One of your dictionary links to "hallow" would make Hal smile.
The other one presents a twist: 'ha-(")-lO even though the entry is written as hal-low, but the audio seems to be closer to Hal.

I'm glad it's so clear-cut.

[Xairbusdriver]

What? I didn't understand that last comment.

[Highmac]

Over here it's pronounced with a short 'a' like 'hat' or 'cat' (or indeed Hal).
We had trouble a while back working out whether Las Vegas was pronounced Loss Vegas, and decided that some Americans pronounced it with the longer 'a', as a southern Brit would say 'glass' which can sound a bit like an 'o'. It was settled a few weeks ago when one American on TV mentioned Las Vegas and Los Angeles in the same sentence and we recognised that long 'a' for Las while it was quite definitely an 'o' in Los.

Strange things married couples argue about....

Sorry - it's just been pointed out to me that we don't argue... .we discuss  

[Gregg]

Neil, almost everyone in the States pronounces Las Vegas (the first part of it anyway) like Los Angeles. That's clearly wrong. According to the OSX Dictionary:

Los Angeles  lôs ˈanjələs

Las Vegas  läs ˈvāgəs
:snake eyes:

But I think Emmy Lou Harris gets it right in the song.

From Wikipedia:

Los Angeles was founded September 4, 1781, by Spanish governor Felipe de Neve as El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles de la Porciúncula (The Village of Our Lady, the Queen of the Angels of Porziuncola). [They would've had trouble fitting all that on a baseball cap!]

Las Vegas (Spanish: "The Meadows") ...
[someone should open a hotel there with that name]

And I'm slowly coming around to the "Hal" version of Halloween. If I can remember that for a year, I might try to train myself to say it that way!

We all have words that we've mispronounced our whole lives. It seems that most people don't ever try to change that habit. First you have to notice that others say it differently. It is the inability to do so which is why we say a word incorrectly in the first place. I get the biggest kick out of hearing well educated people trying to say something will be a moot point, and they say mute instead. Can't they hear that??!!!!