UK English pronunciation question?

Question

I'm from Tony Soprano land in the NYC area (US). I have a somewhat silly question - but where is a better place to ask?

In the Beatles song "Girl," John Lennon pronounces the word leisure as "leh-sure." I always pronounced it "LEE-sure," as in leisure suit (ecch!). (Yes, I'm doing the best I can with the phonetic spellings.)

So, is Lennon's pronunciation the way it is said in England? Or is it a way to make the words rhyme?

Yes, It is one of the silliest questions you will ever read here. But I'm in good company.

Thanks.

PS I have always pronounced migrane, as in migrane headache, as "MY-grain," not "MEE-grain." Is the second the "English English" pronunciation?

Answer 1

This is not a silly question at all. In fact, I congratulate you on your observtion. British pronunciation is very different from American pronunciation...you already know that. To further complicate matters, even in the UK, pronunciation differs from one place to another. The standard, therefore, is taken as the BBC English. Specifically to your questions....Leisure in British English is pronounced the way Lennon does. In American English it is pronounced both in the manner that Lennon does and the way you say it. Here, I must mention that in both British and American English, many words have more than one acceptable form of pronunciation. One of these is preferred over all others, but all are correct and in usage. Moving on to Migraine, the "preferred" British pronunciation is Meegrein. The second pronunciation is Maigrein and the third accepted pronunciation is Migrein (shorter e). The same word, however, has only one accepted pronunciation in American English and that is Maigrain. (notice my final "ain" for American English and "ein" for British English). There is a pronunciation dictionary by Daniel Jones that gives all these nuances. It is indispensible for broadcasters (or at least I believe it is). If languages interest you, you should buy this dictionary.

Answer 2

Much sopelling of words in English became fixed before "the Great Vowel Shift" of approx the 1500s, which is why our spelling sometimes does noty closekly resemble modern pronunciation. In modern times there are many variants, some of which you have noted. Many differ across the country, especially from north to south. What is 'acceptable' at any one time is always a matter of opinion, sometimes driven by class. Indeed RP has softened since it was based on "The Kings's English", and even Queen Elizabeth has been noted as modifying her speech over the years. As a foreign learner it would be good to follow the people are with!

Answer 3

I personally think migraine is a localised thing in England there are many words people pronounce differently depending on which part of the country we are in. I for one would never say fink instead of think!
I say "mygrain" my mother always calls them "meegrain"
As for Leisure - I do not know of any other pronunciation in England for the word apart from the one that sounds like "pleasure"
There are quite a few Americanisms which make me wince :)
Saying that migth cause controversy - now how do you say that one!!

Answer 4

This is the correct English way of pronounceing the word. Leh-sure

Answer 5

The way John pronounces it is the way it pronounced in England and basically everywhere else...and so 'MEE-grain' is how we, the rest of the world say migraine.

Answer 6

Yeah over in England we pronounce leisure as "leh-sure". and you've pretty much perfected migraine, as we also pronounce it "my-graine"

Answer 7

I'm Irish and i pronounce it "ley-sure", i also say my-grain too!! I dont think you should follow English pronunciation cos they dont really pronounce stuff right, they say "fink" for think, and someink for something, and also they dont pronounce their R's at the end of words, they say "rida" instead of rider...

Some English that is...

Answer 8

I use the Lennon style pronounciation.

Answer 9

yes , the pronounciation is the british type of english, and american english is somewhat different , ,
yes the correct pronounciation is MY-graine.
bye!!!