Pronouncing "Iron Ion": An English Quandary

[Gruxg]

"Iron ion"

If the question is too silly for this forum you can move it elsewhere, but after reading about this in a linguistic forum, I would like get the answer from anyone with some Chemistry background.

How do people from England or from places with similar accent pronounce "iron ion"?. According to most dictionaries, both words are pronounced the same way. But if that is true, when you talk about an "iron ion" it must sound as if you were stuttering!. Isn't it confusing?





(As you have guessed, I'm not a native English speaker)

 

[PeroK]

It's always been a mystery to me why some English people pronounce an "r" where it's not and don't pronounce one when it's there.

So, yes, many English people say "ion" instead of "iron", but they also tend to say "drawring" instead of "drawing".

 

[SteamKing]

If the question is too silly for this forum you can move it elsewhere, but after reading about this in a linguistic forum, I would like get the answer from anyone with some Chemistry background.

How do people from England or from places with similar accent pronounce "iron ion"?. According to most dictionaries, both words are pronounced the same way. But if that is true, when you talk about an "iron ion" it must sound as if you were stuttering!. Isn't it confusing?

(As you have guessed, I'm not a native English speaker)

If you think it's confusing listening to someone from the UK saying 'iron ion', try asking someone form Boston, MA to say the same thing (as in 'Bahstan, Mass') or anyone living down east in Maine.

 

[AlephZero]

So, yes, many English people say "ion" instead of "iron", but they also tend to say "drawring" instead of "drawing".

As a native British Engilish speaker, I think "ion" for "iron" is the standard British English pronunciation. The two are not quite identical, but it's hard to notate the difference. "iron" is maybe closer to "iun" than "ion".

Pronouncing the r in iron is more of a Scottish accent (and also in some parts of the USA). There is a popular carbonated drink made in Scotland called Irn Bru, which is a pun on the Scottish pronunciation of "Iron Brew".

On the other hand "drawring" and similar things like a hard g sound in "singing" or "fillum" for "film" are not standard British English, though they are part of some regional accents.

Similar things have come from the Indian sub-continent, where people tend to follow the principle of their native language and pronounce every letter in English, leading to extra vowels breaking up groups of consonants and pronunciations like "electericity".

 

[PeroK]

As a native British Engilish speaker, I think "ion" for "iron" is the standard British English pronunciation.

What was that you were saying about adding extra vowels? As in Engilish?

 

[AlephZero]

What was that you were saying about adding extra vowels? As in Engilish?

You win

 

[Vanadium 50]

Irn Bru

Mmmm...made with real girders.

 

[PeroK]

Lewis Carroll came up with the pun "the tortoise taught us", because the English tend to pronounce "tortoise" like "tautus". It doesn't work if you're Scottish.

My favourite English-Scottish difference is "raspberry". The English say "raazbri", whereas I pronounce every letter "rasp-berry", with a glottal stop in the middle!