Midweek bonus poll!

08:21 am July 26th, 2007




			The Growlery - Midweek bonus poll! In girum imus nocte et consumimur igni

forthright

Midweek bonus poll!

Just for kicks, based on the interesting commentary on the latest poll on dour (and as a reminder to go and fill it out if you haven't already), here are some related questions to think about:

Poll #1028081 Our Words
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 118

For you, which of the following words rhyme (some or all of the time) with 'four'?

View Answers

your
0 (0.0%)
pour
1 (0.9%)
velour
0 (0.0%)
tour
0 (0.0%)
detour
0 (0.0%)
contour
0 (0.0%)
amour
0 (0.0%)
bore
0 (0.0%)
whore
0 (0.0%)
boor
0 (0.0%)
floor
0 (0.0%)
cure
0 (0.0%)
manure
0 (0.0%)

For you, which of the following words rhyme (some or all of the time) with 'boor'?

View Answers

your
0 (0.0%)
pour
1 (0.9%)
velour
0 (0.0%)
tour
2 (1.7%)
detour
0 (0.0%)
contour
0 (0.0%)
amour
1 (0.9%)
bore
0 (0.0%)
whore
0 (0.0%)
poor
1 (0.9%)
floor
0 (0.0%)
cure
0 (0.0%)
manure
0 (0.0%)

I sometimes pronounce 'our' as a homonym of 'are'

View Answers

Yes

68 (58.1%)

49 (41.9%)

Last 10 pronunciation polls || Pronunciation polls with analytical essays

Tags: language, word-polls, wp

27 comments or Leave a comment


	Comments

	From: eljuno	Date: July 26th, 2007 12:37 pm (UTC)		(Link)

For me, 'four' and 'boor' rhyme, so I'm not sure how much difference you'll get here?

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	From: forthright	Date: July 26th, 2007 02:19 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Indeed, and I'm sure that's true for some proportion of respondents. The purpose of this poll, generally, is to figure out where the differences lie for some people.

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	From: a_d_medievalist	Date: July 26th, 2007 12:43 pm (UTC)		(Link)

I think there might be a difference in how I pronounce things in sentences vs how I pronounce individual words. And possibly the differences in pronunciation are imperceptible to the ear, but I know my mouth moves differently, if that makes any sense.

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	From: owldaughter	Date: July 26th, 2007 01:13 pm (UTC)		(Link)

I know exactly what you mean, and really had a problem when it came to the bonus question. When I'm rattling on or tired, 'our' does come out sounding like 'are', although when I say it alone it doesn't. 'Our' seems to come from deeper in my throat and is almost two sounds, whereas 'are' is a single sound that originates higher.

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	From: forthright	Date: July 26th, 2007 02:20 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Yeah, I think for most people there is quite a continuum in terms of how they pronounce 'our', with one end being almost a two-syllable "ow-er" and the other end being a clipped "ar", with the particular realization depending on context.

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	From: forthright	Date: July 26th, 2007 02:18 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Absolutely, it makes perfect sense. With respect to this set of words, part of it has to do with the degree of lip rounding when pronouncing the vowel, and part of it has to to with the degree of 'schwa-ishness' in the diphthongs, but these are phonetic differences (real but not perceptible) as opposed to phonemic (perceptible) differences, that depend on context.

(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)

	From: marnanel	Date: July 26th, 2007 12:47 pm (UTC)		(Link)

I don't think I've ever pronounced "boor", so I can't really answer the second part.

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From: word_herder	Date: July 26th, 2007 01:13 pm (UTC)		(Link)

My initial reaction: Is this a trick question? They all rhyme...oh wait. Hee.

(Reply) (Thread)

	From: forthright	Date: July 26th, 2007 02:21 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Heh heh ... it is interesting to see just how much variability there is in the responses!

(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)

	From: swestrup	Date: July 26th, 2007 01:16 pm (UTC)		(Link)

I sometimes pronounce boor to rhyme with 'pure' and sometimes like it was spelled 'bore', so I ended up checking half the boxes in the second part due to one pronunciation, and the other half for the other pronunciation.

(Reply) (Thread)

	From: swestrup	Date: July 26th, 2007 01:18 pm (UTC)		(Link)

BTW this may have lead to, or been compounded by, my early belief that 'boor' and 'bore' were the same word, with two different spellings, and two pronunciations...

(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)

	From: rumor_esq	Date: July 26th, 2007 01:57 pm (UTC)		(Link)

I waffled on "amour" because I'm honestly not sure I've ever said it aloud or how I would pronounce it. I keep getting it confused with "armoire", in terms of pronunciation. My brain wants to follow a more familiar path.

Every time I pronounce "our" as a homonym of "are" I mentally kick myself in the nads, and yet I keep doing it.

(Reply) (Thread)

	From: forthright	Date: July 26th, 2007 02:22 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Every time I pronounce "our" as a homonym of "are" I mentally kick myself in the nads, and yet I keep doing it.

And you will keep doing it for the rest of your life ... ouch!

(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)

	From: shanmonster	Date: July 26th, 2007 02:18 pm (UTC)		(Link)

I ticked off all of them, because you said "some of the time," and when I'm making puns or poetry, I force rhymes.

(Reply) (Thread)

	From: rosencrantz	Date: July 26th, 2007 02:36 pm (UTC)		(Link)

"Manure?" I've never even heard it pronounced any other way than "Man-ooh("eww") er!"

(Reply) (Thread)

	From: a_d_medievalist	Date: July 26th, 2007 04:03 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Er .. this is assuming you mean the actual vowel sound, and not any 'y'/'j' sound in front of the vowel? Because I think I said boor rhymed with pure -- but not if you count the 'y'/'j' in front of the 'u'. Sorry -- we were actually supposed to have learnt what these different sounds were called in about the 5th grade, but I never did.

(Reply) (Thread)

	From: forthright	Date: July 27th, 2007 02:59 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Yeah, it all depends on your definition of 'rhyme'. I was mostly looking for the vowel sound, but that can be affected by the preceding [j].

(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)

	From: q_pheevr	Date: July 26th, 2007 07:11 pm (UTC)		(Link)

For me, detour /ˈdiˌtʊɹ/, contour /ˈkɑnˌtʊɹ/, and manure /məˈn(j)uəɹ/ can't rhyme with any monosyllabic words.

(Reply) (Thread)

	From: pr1ss	Date: July 26th, 2007 09:01 pm (UTC)		(Link)

They ALL rhyme.
Pretty much.

(Reply) (Thread)

	From: snow_fall	Date: July 27th, 2007 12:40 am (UTC)		(Link)

There are different...'subcultures' within the city that I live and work. Pronunciations differ widely between where I live and where I work. In order to be non-offensive, I must sometimes alter not only my pronunciations, but my tone, vocabulary, grammar, etc. Does anyone else find this true? It is very frustrating because it does have an affect on my writing.

Snow

(Reply) (Thread)

	From: forthright	Date: July 27th, 2007 03:01 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Absolutely. I have known people who deny that they alter their linguistic behaviour in different contexts, but I believe these people to be mistaken. I used to work in an office where I had a lot of contact with warehouse workers, and that certainly required a great deal of linguistic shifting. The same is true, I find, these days, when I deal with students whose first language is not English - I have to alter the tone and vocabulary to suit their linguistic abilities, or else I will not be understood.

(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)

	From: mr_josh	Date: July 27th, 2007 02:31 am (UTC)		(Link)

My answers emphasized the "some of the time".

I rarely say the word "boor" out loud, but when I do, I vary between what seems to me to be a more conservative /ur/ and a more casual /ɔr/. (I haven't looked into the history of these pronunciations, so my impression may not reflect reality.) So, what are for me minimal pairs like "tour" and "tore" both sometimes rhyme with "boor" because my pronunciation of that word varies.

I always pronounce "four" as /ɔr/, however, as seems standard for my dialect and the dialects of those around me.

(Reply) (Thread)

	From: forthright	Date: July 27th, 2007 03:03 pm (UTC)		(Link)

I think your reaction is quite normal. The number of words in the poll for which the total of 'four' and 'boor' responses is greater than 100% confirms this.

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	From: jinni_x	Date: July 27th, 2007 03:37 am (UTC)		(Link)

I have never said the word 'boor' out loud.
However, in the spirit of perversity, I now want to pronounce it so it rhymes well with 'tour.'
Now I'm wondering if I assumed that people said 'bore' but really meant 'boor.'
Argh, this is impacting my worldview! Make it stop!

(Reply) (Thread)

	From: forthright	Date: July 27th, 2007 01:44 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Bwahahaha! Never! The pronunciation madness will never cease!!!

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From: overfloaterx	Date: August 6th, 2007 10:40 pm (UTC)		(Link)

Interesting poll. With an accent from central southern England (boringly middle-class), some words would always rhyme with "four" (your, pour, poor, floor... same sound as "or"); some words would be distinct (pure, manure); and some would only rhyme with "four" out of laziness (tour, detour).

Tour/detour would have a third "blended" sound, somewhere between "poor" and "pure", if I was paying attention to speaking more slowly and properly. (They would always have that distinct blended sound coming from my grandparents' generation!) Technically I should follow the same habit for "velour" and "contour" (again, my grandparents would!), though the poll made me realize that I can't bring myself to do that: "Velour" always has the blended sound for me, lazy or not, while "contour" always rhymes with "four", even when speaking properly.

More than you wanted to know but a strange realization for me!

(Reply) (Thread)

	From: forthright	Date: August 7th, 2007 12:05 am (UTC)		(Link)

I think a lot of people, including myself, were truly surprised at how much variability there is in these words. For me I was generally aware that some people pronounce 'tour' and 'four' with the same vowel, but stunned to learn that other people consider that some or all of 'four', 'floor', 'your', and/or 'pour' don't rhyme. I find it very hard to conceive how exactly they pronounce them!

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	27 comments or Leave a comment