XPost: alt.usage.english, alt.english.usage   
   From: hayesstw@telkomsa.net   
      
   On Tue, 30 Jul 2024 10:08:44 +1000, Peter Moylan    
   wrote:   
      
   >On 29/07/24 21:40, Phil wrote:   
   >> On 29/07/2024 12:25, Peter Moylan wrote:   
   >>> On 29/07/24 19:25, Steve Hayes wrote:   
   >>>> On Mon, 29 Jul 2024 17:08:29 +1000, Peter Moylan   
   >>>>  wrote:   
   >>>>   
   >>>>> There used to be a low-calorie Australian beer called Dietale.   
   >>>>> My uncles used to pronounce it as if it were an Italian word.   
   >>>>   
   >>>> So did I when I first saw it.   
   >>>>   
   >>>> I've discovered that "biopic" is pronounced "BI-o-pic", but I   
   >>>> still tend to pronounce it as "bi-Opic".   
   >>>   
   >>> So do I. So, I imagine, do many people, because the word looks as   
   >>> if it's supposed tp rhyme with myopic.   
   >>   
   >> Yes, I'm one of those many. I also firmly believe it's possible to   
   >> misle people, having encountered 'misled' in print at a tender age. A   
   >> poster here a while back also brought us 'skipants'.   
   >>   
   >> I have the same confusion, in my head, with Dutch 'tegelijk', which   
   >> I'm prone to think rhymes with 'degelijk'.   
   >   
   >I won't comment on the Dutch examples, because I'm not sure what rhymes   
   >with what. But in English, at least, anyone who invents a new word needs   
   >to have a good feel for the spelling rules, which among other things   
   >indicate how to pronounce the word.   
   >   
   >Some people will claim that English has no consistent spelling rules,   
   >but it does. (With, admittedly, some exceptions.) When faced with an   
   >unknown word, most English speakers will agree on how to pronounce it.   
   >The basic rule is "if it looks similar to a known word, then it probably   
   >has a similar pronunciation".   
   >   
   >It was a mistake to coin a word ending in -pic. We don't have many such   
   >words, but for all the ones I can think of there is a simple   
   >pronunciation rule: the stress falls on the penultimate syllable.   
      
   I suppose whoever coined "biopic" was thinking of "biopsy" rather than   
   "myopic". But I've also seen, in writing, people using "optics" in   
   peculiar ways that suggest that they are not talking about lens   
   construction.   
      
      
      
   --   
   Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa   
   Web:  http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm   
   Blog: http://khanya.wordpress.com   
   E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
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