People are judging you for the way you pronounce 'vase'

[mia]

Last edited Wed Jan 1, 2020, 04:10 PM - Edit history (1)

Hearing Trump ask Kim for a beautiful "vahs" made me think of some of my republican relatives. Maybe it's just a regional thing.

Do you put flowers in a vahz or a vayce?

Who cares, right? To-may-to, to-mah-to …

Well, actually, a lot of us seem to care about the way we pronounce words. As study after study has confirmed, the way we speak influences the way others perceive us. Linguists sometimes refer to this phenomenon as the accent prestige theory: the belief that certain types of accents, because of their historical associations with high society, are more prestigious than others. According to this theory, we attach social judgments to people's accents. And as research shows, these judgments can influence something as superficial as how physically attractive we find someone or something more substantial like hiring practices.

This week, more research came out to confirm that we attach judgments to accents. The company behind the study was eBay — yes, really — who, in addition to selling LeBron James' old underwear, also conducts studies. For example: how many of its users say vahz versus how many say vayse. eBay has a huge pottery and glass page, and some of the researchers attached to the company began to wonder about the accent divide among their audience.

The study was simple enough. Give about 1,000 people six words that are often pronounced in two different ways, and ask them to attach value judgments to the different pronunciations. As the results below show, language is a social indicator.Do you put flowers in a vahz or a vayce?

https://www.vox.com/2014/7/31/5952737/do-you-say-vahz-or-vayce

[muriel_volestrangler]

1. I had no idea anyone in the world pronounces 'roof' as 'ruff'

I'd have said you pronounce "chaise lounge" as "you've spelled that incorrectly - it should be 'chaise-longue'". Which you pronounce "shayz long". It's French for "long chair". American English has, in the past 30 years or so, favoured "chaise lounge", while British English has stuck with "chaise-longue", but the French have never used the "lounge" form (see https://books.google.com/ngrams ).

[Foolacious]

42. Me neither.

I used to get teased (good naturedly) by colleagues for my pronunciation of "roof" and "root", since they said "ruuf" and "ruut", and their mocking sounded like "ruff" and "rut". They claimed to hear no difference when I said "rut" versus "root". I asked them if they could hear the difference between "fut" and "foot". "Of course!" they would exclaim, as my point whizzed over their heads.

[GemState]

46. I also said "ruff".

Didn't know the rest of the country pronounced "roof" the way it's spelled until I joined the Air Force. Same thing with "root". I also discovered the difference in pronunciation of "aunt".

[Newest Reality]

77. I pronounce it ruff.

I think that is a more Midwestern thing, which is where I grew up. Of course the same with "root".

[Throck]

78. My dog says ruff.

I'm not understanding the problem?

[braddy]

2. I use the English pronunciation of valet. How about ungion for onion.

[marybourg]

3. What do they think of you

if you can’t make heads or tails of these charts? Asking for a friend.

[NRaleighLiberal]

9. this!

[dewsgirl]

28. GMTA

[MineralMan]

34. Exactly.

I gave up after a minute. I didn't care anyhow, though.

[malaise]

4. It's vahz because I was educated in British English

While I can spell in both British and American, I speak British English or Jamaican

[spooky3]

5. Hi malaise! When someone asked Miss Manners (Judith Martin)

When it should be pronounced “vahs”, she replied, “when it is filled with dahs-ies.”

Happy New Year! Tennis returns tomorrow!

[malaise]

8. What a great answer

I was going to send you a tennis PM later today.
Happy New Year to you and yours

[moriah]

22. Sounds like one of my mentors...

"Do you sofTen your hands as you do dishes?"

She *hated* people pronouncing the T in "often".

[spooky3]

33. That's a good one! Nt

[Leith]

50. My mother said she used to say to them

"Excuse me, I wasn't list-ening."

[3catwoman3]

61. My husbandband says "of-Ten," and I have to bite...

...my tongue not to correct him. Been biting it for 38 years.

He also says “acrosst.”

[DavidDvorkin]

11. I say vahz for the same reason.

[pamela]

14. Gonna start calling you Malahz then.

[malaise]

17. NO - you must use the French pronunciation

Happy New Year!

[pamela]

19. Haha, ok, Malay.

Happy New Year to you, too!

[ecstatic]

6. My vase rhymes with space

I think I'd find it weird if someone insisted on pronouncing it the other way. It's one of those words that is rarely said out loud so you have no idea where people stand until the rare moment that it's brought up, which for me is when I'm surprised with flowers and I have to place them in the 1 vase I keep for that purpose.

Also, sorry, but for me, Nevada is pronounced neh VAH duh.

Other than that, it looks like my pronunciations are mostly mainstream. Lol. SMH

[shanti]

24. Are you from the East Coast originally?

The only people I know of that pronounce Nevada like you do are from the East Coast. I'm from the West Coast and have always pronounced it nuh-vad-uh. It's like when people say Or-e-gone instead of Or-e-gun for Oregon. It's actually the latter that is correct.

[ecstatic]

45. Yep. Born and partially raised in

NY, FL, and GA. It's good to know I pronounce Oregon correctly--but wait--who makes the determination of what's correct and incorrect? LOL! 🤔

[GemState]

47. I go with how the natives pronounce the name of their city or state.

Thus Boiseans say "Boy-See" while everyone else says "Boy-Zee". Except for the French, of course.

[DeminPennswoods]

71. Penn-sir-vania hurts my ears

when I hear my fellow keystone staters pronounce it that way.

[shanti]

48. Ha!

It's the native born Oregonians who will set you straight on that!

[The Genealogist]

79. There is a town in SW Missouri called Nevada

They is pronounced nuh VAY duh. But nobody around here I have heard pronounced the name of the state that way.

[Leith]

51. Well, the people who live here

say ne-VAD-uh.

Saying the "broad a" sounds a little like saying "vaahz" instead of "vace."

[Hortensis]

75. Yes. Ne-vah-da is a "never been there" indicator,

or maybe just never left the casino.

[Drahthaardogs]

60. Grew up on Colorado, and I can always tell who grew up out west

And who didn't.

Natives pronounce it Colo-rah-do, a nod to the Spanish

Eastern and Midwesterm folks tend to say Colo-raw-do,

My ears catch it every time.

[mopinko]

7. my automatic exception- misprononuciations

that are obviously because the person learned the word by reading it, not speaking it.
i usually gently correct those mistakes, letting the person know that i understand how that works.

but i'm from the midwest. we dont have accents here.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

25. Midwest? So, is it "soda" or "pop"? nt

[mopinko]

27. pop

tho in my case- coke. some say pepsi.

[greatauntoftriplets]

35. This Chicagoan calls them soft drinks.

If I drank them, I'd order by name.

[shanti]

49. Soda

I'm on the west coast.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

70. To me, "soda" is a clear fizzy drink, a bit salty, ...

... that heathens use to dilute the heavenly essence of scotch whisky.

It's on the shelf next to "tonic".

[shanti]

73. There's sparkling water (Arrowhead) and there's tonic water

as in vodka tonics, and then there's soda, as in sweet, flavored sparkling water, i.e. Coke. I can see where it can get confusing. BTW, my dad used to call it pop and he was from rural Washington (state). I never picked that term up though.

[area51]

76. In case anyone is interested,

here's a site with a map that shows regional usage of what people call a soft drink.

[NRaleighLiberal]

10. frankly, my dears, I don't give a damn....

what people think of me ( the advantage if growing older!)

Happy New year, DUers!

[JohnnyRingo]

12. Who are yuns to judge?

I spect a buncha poor people own a Tiffany vahs.

[Codeine]

13. Which one of you is saying "ruff"

when they mean “roof”, because that’s some crazy shit.

[CTyankee]

15. I have heard it here in Connecticut. Maybe a New England thing, I dunno, I'm from Texas.

[pamela]

21. I've heard it in Maryland.

I moved to Md from Virginia when I was around six and thought they were speaking another language.

[dweller]

16. i say vaze

rhymes with phase


✌🏼

[Brother Buzz]

41. She who Must be Obeyed, from the Boston area, says vaze too

I'm a fifth generation Californian and say vase - Rhymes with face.

We both agree 'vahz' is mostly a Boston Brahmins thingy.

[a la izquierda]

69. Born and raised in NJ

We say vaze.
So I imagine it’s a north eastern thing.

[aikoaiko]

18. 6 Degrees of Separation had a great scene about pronunciation.

About how pronouncing words a certain way or choosing certain words (sofa not couch) was essential to being accepted by a certain ingroup.

[Hekate]

20. Vase? I have a few. But last week when I brought in an abundance of narcissus, I used...

...a blue glass pitcher for most of them, a blue glass Perrier bottle for a few stems, and a blue glass Nivea hand cream bottle for another several stems. (I have some pretty glass jars gathered just before everything went to plastic.)

The only actual vayse I used for the narcissi was a small blown-glass affair my daughter in law gave me some years ago.

No matter what the original cost (which some folks apparently use as a means to decide whether it's a vahz) this Californian uses vayses.

Too funny.

[nolabear]

23. An old Sophie Tucker joke.

I was talking to my good friend Elaine and I says, "Elaine, my boyfriend Ernie gave me a big bouquet of roses today. Now I guess I'll have to have my legs in the air for a week." Elaine says to me, she says, "Whatsa matter, Soph, aint you got on vaaaaahse?"

[LakeArenal]

26. I have noticed a small quirk...

WARM

Do you say War with an m. Or
Do you say Arm with a w?

A good friend says wARM
I say WARm

[mia]

30. I say WARm, too!

[dewsgirl]

29. I loathe the way he says, industry.🙄

[MineralMan]

31. I don't care. Let them judge me.

Those differences in pronunciation are more regional than class-based.

I say vace, foyay, rewf, shez lounge, dayCOR, and neesh.

Why? Because that's what I heard growing up. I understand the words, regardless of how they are said, and don't give a damn, either way.

[underpants]

32. Vace

[yewberry]

36. I actually struggle to this day with pronunciation.

I'm originally from just north of Boston. My mom has a fairly strong Brahmin accent, as did my grandparents. My dad had a less-strong Boston accent, and his later wife had a strong downcast accent.

I've got 'vase' securely as rhyming with 'space' but grew up with vahs. These are the words I have to think about almost every time I say them:
basil (BA-sil, not BAY-sil)
tomato (to-MAH-to)
bath (bahth)
laugh (laahf)

I still can't talk about the stuff they make boxes out of. I could fall over and hurt myself.

[mia]

37. I know what you mean.

We lived in the DC area and visited our Baltimore grandparents and extended family every Christmas. They all seemed to pronounce "water" in different ways. As a young child, during the drive back home, I remember repeating the different ways to myself: "WARter, WALLter, wAWEter, wAAHda, WHUTer, WEREter, WATTer". I still wonder about how to say 'it' to this day.

[MaryMagdaline]

38. When I lived in Maryland as a child I heard

Wuter and redio. My vowels all started to sound the same: “neio” for no used to drive my Michigan born mother crazy. Heiou neiou breioun ceiou instead of how now brown cow.

[mia]

39. Thanks for the laugh!

[spooky3]

82. Another MD pronunciation I have noticed

is: Put that book OWEN the table.

[MaryMagdaline]

84. Yes!

[Ilsa]

40. Isn't "nitch" properly spelled as "niche,"

which brings us to the pronunciation "neesh?"

[marybourg]

44. Yes.

[Foolacious]

43. I just like accents.

Don't care what accent you have... don't judge you on it... I just enjoy the differences.

[Kurt V.]

52. i say yeet

[thucythucy]

53. Lenny Bruce did a whole routine on how people

assumed you were dumb if you spoke with a Southern accent.

The line I remember most was, "If Albert Einstein had talked like that we never would have made the bomb."

[wendyb-NC]

54. How about creek? A small stream of naturally flowing water.

Is it "creek", pronounced like creak, like the high pitched sound when you open a door with a rusty hinge.
Or is it "crick", rhymes with tick.

[FuzzyRabbit]

64. It's proper pronunciation is CRICK

My dad grew up in eastern Washington pronouncing it CRICK and I learned from him.

And my state is pronounced Wush-ington, not Wah-shington nor War-shington.

[gladium et scutum]

81. You mentioned Washington

I was born in Longview and raised in Vancouver. Grew up hearing an r sound in Washington. Had to work many years to break myself of that pronunciation

[Hortensis]

55. I'm from California, and we know that what we think and say

is always the right way if you're in California. I never heard anyone call a vase a vahs except in old movies.

Here in deep south Georgia, people don't say bedroom sweets, they say bedroom soots. I had no idea what it meant when I first heard it, but it was on a fundraising tour of homes for an arboretum and I figured that, since the soot probably cost more than our car, chortling in some California conceit over pronunciation would be inappropriate. Still sounds silly. You can take the girl out of California...

[mia]

59. Speaking of bedrooms, in Miami real estate ads large closets are often called "walking closets".

I grew up calling them "walk-in" closets.

[ManiacJoe]

68. Walk-in would be correct.

"walking" seems like a simple auto-correct problem, or simply folks not knowing what correct word is in the first place often due to slurred speech.

[Hortensis]

74. Lol, lit by "tract" lights, perhaps?

Bless their hearts, as we say in Georgia.

[guillaumeb]

56. The word niche is from the French verb nicher.

To nest.

And it is pronounced neesh, in French.

[rickyhall]

57. Aunt a good one, too

Is it "ant" or "awnt" or "aint"? I've heard all three ways in Texas.

Oh, yeah, is it can't or is cain't?

I grew up in Ft. Worth. Mom's parents were from the Southside while Dad's parents were from the Northside. Going from one to the other was like changing countries.

[Polybius]

58. Even stranger are words that change pronunciation over time

Take caramel for example. Up until the 80's, everyone pronounced at car-mell. Now, everyone says carra-mell, unless they are older and were used to the old pronunciation.

[3catwoman3]

62. My dad grew up on the south side of...

...Chicago, and spoke of window seels and warter. By the time I was 8, we had gone thru several moves, and ended up in Rochester NY. It always sounded to me like he said “Rock-chester.”

I have seen and heard many instances of people not knowing how to say or spell voila. The most common bastardization seems to be “wallah, “ when spelled, and pronounced WAH-lah.” The first time I saw it in writing, it took me ages to figure out what the hell the writers was trying to say. I’ve also heard it in a commercial.

My older son’s 8th grade language arts teacher pronounced poignant as “poyg-nant.” It made my teeth hurt from clenching my jaw so tight to keep from correcting her.

What an entertaining thread!

[The Wizard]

63. If it's

over twenty dollars ait's vahz. If it's below $20 it's vase.

[Archive Hunter]

65. I pronounce it like base

More natural.

[BlueSpot]

66. What do the blue and yellow colors even stand for?

Am I the only one to be confused by this? Because, if it's the people who pronounce it one way or the other, isn't their a bias right there in the poll? But it doesn't explain the color coding either. This seems highly suspect to me.

[DeminPennswoods]

72. Blue represents the more common pronunciation,

yellow, the less common one.

[BlueSpot]

85. Thanks. n/t

[oasis]

67. Trump can kiss my ahz. nt

[OhZone]

80. You pronounce it Trump -

I pronounce it tiny fingered, Cheeto-faced, ferret wearing shitgibbon! Ha

Also - Happy New Year, oasis!

[oasis]

83. He's certainly all of that.

Have a wonderful 2020, OhZone.

[Iggo]

86. Good!