Another Grammar Question: Pronunciation

[BlueJazz]

How do you pronounce "Herb" (As in a Seasoning)


I pronounce it as it's spelled... Herb (My Parents are English)
Most Americans say Erb.

[Arkansas Granny]

1. I was taught to pronounce it "erb". (My parents aren't English, they

just spoke it.)

[knitter4democracy]

2. It depends on where you're from.

Both pronunciations are considered correct. It's really a regional difference.

[BlueJazz]

6. Yep///Several times I've ask salespeople "Where are the Herbs..

...and they say (with a smile) "Sir ..it's pronounced ERB not HERB".

I don't bother to correct them....

[spoony]

24. I've gotten that, lol.

I've also gotten it for saying "maths" and "zed" for z. :D

[nealmhughes]

3. Here is a better one: can you differentiate pen from pin or ten from tin except by context?

If you cant', then you are a Southerner! It is the same vowel to us, and as I once told a Yankee, "If you can't determine whether I need one more than nine or something with which to write, then you are in sad shape!"

[Glorfindel]

10. *heheh* I know what you mean!

I'm afraid I tend to pronounce them as "peeyun" and "teeyun." But if you pronounce "hock" and "hawk" exactly alike, then you're definitely NOT a southerner. The same goes for "cot" and "caught."

[nealmhughes]

12. Yes, the cot/caught is a dialect differential. So is the pronunciation

of root and roof and crick and creek...

But the main one is the of "right" as a modifier! As in "It is meet and right so to do" in the Book of Common Prayer or "Rt. Hon." as a Brit title. I think it makes perfect sense and is pleasant on the ears to declare "It's right hot today!"

[cwydro]

LOL

I remember in school in NC, classmates asking for an "ink peeyun" or a "straight peeyun". My parents are English too....they say "herb" and I say "erb".

[rock]

23. In my neck of the woods

We do not differentiate shore E from short I before a nasal. (Lower Appalachia).

[Igel]

25. The e/i merger before n is also found in parts of the

NW US.

The open-o/a merger (caught vs. cot) pops up in originally Pennsylvania, but is common in the Western half of the US. There's a bit of speculation that it's a result of immigrants not having the distinction in the 1800s because of some distributional and age-related data.

[YOY]

4. I would say with the 'H'

and I'm technically a midwesterner.

[SpiralHawk]

5. I pronounce it 'oib' -- standard Brooklynese pronounciation

pass the oib ovah here

[Eurobabe]

8. LOL, my best friend in HS's mom was from Brooklyn

she said, ferl, terlet and erl. We thought that was hysterical. :D

[madokie]

9. yea I had me a friend in the service, sargent oib

he was one of those brooklynese. Me being from ok with a drawl like you wouldn't believe and him being a brooklynese speaker don't you know it had to be comical for someone from californa say to listen to us talk. yea he prk hs ca in tha yrd, whereas I parrrik mi caaar in the geeraughhh

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

7. I pronounce it Herb

and I have a friend Herb who has a greenhouse where he raises open pollenated plants. Sort of honors him and his work to sound the "h".

[Lilith Velkor]

20. I used to know this weird old guy with that name

The local hippies would address him as, "Erb." He took it as a compliment of sorts once the context was explained to him.

[RebelOne]

11. According to the American Heritage Dictionary,

it can be pronounced either way, but "erb" is the preferred version.

[valerief]

13. I get the biggest kick out of how people on the Ohio/Kentucky line

pronounce "measure" as "maaaaaaysure" and "Gulf of Mexico" as "Golf of Mexico."

[Goblinmonger]

14. This is America, pal

speak American. It's "erb."

[valerief]

15. Is it pronounced "Herb" in another country? nt

[Goblinmonger]

18. I believe that is the British pronunciation.

Though what do they know about English pronunciation?

[Igel]

26. British Commonwealth.

Americans have an h-ful pronunciation: We tend to not drop h at the beginning of words, and have no uncertainty about where it's to be found. Some British dialects preserved h, and we inherited that trait (just as we inherited pronunciation r as a rhotic, not as a schwa).

Many British dialects lost the h. There was a tendency to hypercorrection, where pronuncing h connoted prestige (the prestige value of 'h' flipped a few times, sometimes vulgar, sometimes valued). Since 'h' was lost in the standard dialect, they looked to spelling in cases of uncertainty. 'Herb' has an 'h', so it must be pronounced. But we got it from French after they had lost their initial consonantal 'h'. Historically Americans are correct in not having an 'h' there.

They did the same thing with 'filet'.

Hypercorrection (in this case a spelling-pronunciation) also accounts for the 't' being pronounced in 'often'. It was missing in pronunciation for centuries; I'm not sure, but I suppose it's because so many words with non-initial 't' had it replaced by a glottal stop in less prestigious dialects (boh-'ul for bottle).

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

30. Britons keep the "h" sound?

Seems I remember some dropped "h" sounds, like

"Take off that 'at in the 'ouse."

Or, "Your president's a bit pig 'eaded, ennee?"

[in_cog_ni_to]

16. erb..silent H as in H-onor...H-onestly...n/t

[Richard D]

17. I compromise

erb and herbal.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

19. My mother was from England - hence Herb.

[unpossibles]

21. do the English also pronounce the 'h' in 'hour'?

just curious, not trying to be a smartass.

[rock]

22. Diction, not grammar

Strictly speaking.

[BlueJazz]

27. Yep...excuse my ignorance.

:)

[MissMillie]

28. and basil (the herb)

is a long a sound

versus Basil, a man's name, has a short a sound.

[Hugin]

29. 'Huh-erb'

[Shakespeare]

31. As Eddie Izzard says, it's "herb" because...

..."there's a fucking H in it."

[cmkramer]

32. I say "erb"

unless it's the man's name, then I say "Herb".

However, I've also heard it pronounced "Yarb".