Thicknesse: Question on Pronunciation - All and Oil in Texas

[Steve]

--- I "Carol" <justcarol67 at ...> wrote:
...
> 
> Carol, who would agrees with a previous poster that
> an American pronouncing "serious" as "SEE ree us" 
> would sound affected and doesn't know anyone who 
> would do so..
>

bboyminn:

I'm surprised this conversation is still going on since
the answer seems obvious.

The original question, How do you pronounce 'Thicknesse',
as been answered from a variety of sources including
JKR and from Jim Dale and Stephen Fry.

As to Sirius vs Serious, I think we are running into
a conflict between Common pronunciation, or pronunciation
in the vernacular, and technically correct pronunciation.

In common speech, they are virtually the same. I think
most people would pronounce then exactly the same, and
make no distinction at all.

However, I do think there is a very minor and subtle
technical difference, that is difficult to explain. 

The best I can show is -

sear-ee-us (Sirius)

and

sear-ee-os (serious)

There is a microscopic hint of the 'O' in Serious,
that would technically not be present in 'Sirius'.

Diverging off onto a tangent- 

If you are ever in Texas, ask a native speaker to
say these two words - ALL and OIL. They both sound
the same to an outsider, but Texans can tell the
difference. Next ask them to say - SEX and SAX, 
again, the same to an outsider, but distinctly 
different to a Texan. 

"Why don't you ALL come to Texan and we'll ALL each
other up and have SAX while my friend watches and
plays his SAX."

To a Texan, that makes sense.

I say technically there is a subtle difference between
Serious and Sirius, but from the perspective of 
common everyday speech, they are essentially the same.

British - glacier - glah-see-ear

American - glacier - glay-shear

Lots of talking...said nothing.

Steve/bboyminn