Thicknesse: Question on Pronunciation - All and Oil in Texas

[Carol]

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
>
Carol responds:

I don't know any American who pronounces the "-ous" in "serious" with
any kind of "o" sound. It's just a schwa. And I think the Brits
distinguish between the accented vowels in the first syllables of
"serious" and "Sirius," not the unaccented final syllable. (I'm not
sure about the middle syllable, which for me is a long "e" sound, ee,
with a secondary accent in both words.) There's a shade of difference
in the pronunciation of the two words at Merriam-Webster Online, but,
for the life of me, I can't put my finger (or ear) on it.

As for "glacier," that's also a schwa for me--GLAY shur. No
recognizable vowel sound in the second syllable, just a kind of
space-holder vowel. (BTW, part of the confusion we're experiencing is
misinterpretation of the pronunciation keys in various dictionaries.
What Merriam-Webster, for example, renders as "sir" (for the first
syllable of both "serious" and "Sirius") is roughly "sihr" has no
relationship to the word "sir," in which the "i" is a schwa. The
effect of the "r" isn't accounted for in the symbols used, either.)

Speaking of U.S. Southern dialects (if Texas counts as Southern), I
spent about fifteen months many years ago in No'Ca'lina, where they
change tires with "tahr ahrns," so I'm familiar with "all" in a car
engine. While I was there, I encountered a little girl from Tennessee
who told me that her name was "Tur." When I asked her how to spell
that, she said "T-e-r-r-y." I said, "Oh, Terry! What a pretty name."

Carol, still shaking her head after all these years over poor little "Tur"