Why do we often misunderstand expressions?

[zoobyshoe]

What's a flat american u sound? I would have pronounced Duke as Dewk.

His transliteration of the British is pronounced according to how we pronounce ew in the word ewe:

ewe
yo͞o/
noun
1.a female sheep.

However, we ('merikins) don't pronounce ew that way in many other words. Dew, for instance. We say, "doo". "Duke" and "Dewk" would both be pronounced "Dook," here, in the USA.

Now, what's interesting is that the British traditionally made their famous long bows from the Yew tree. It takes a true Britain to be able to hear if you are properly pronouncing both y's: yyew tree, yyew wood, etc. During WWII, many Nazi spies were caught when they failed this pronunciation test.

 

[AlephZero]

Whether Brits would call the Queen's husband the Dewk or the Dyewk depends what part of the UK they come from. But none of them would call him the Dook.

As for female sheep, the old spelling was yowe (with the "ow" part like the noise you make when somebody hits you) - and that's still the dialect pronunciation, in some parts of the UK.

 

[Pythagorean]

Oh, right, of course, I always imagined Brits as saying du-uke. I guess I do say dook, I just saw dewk as duke, not du-uke :)

 

[reenmachine]

That one kills me, we actually had people in another thread trying to defend it's use.

Please link me that thread

 

[Borek]

Sigh. I don't speak English, I only write. I once made of mistake of trying to use what I heard in writing. I asked a Brit how many squids did he pay for something.

 

[Pythagorean]

Me either. At least not the biology dialect of English. When I gave a presentation on synaptogenesis, I pronounced bouton as button.