Herb - Now Aluminum

[Steve]

---  "thekrenz" <thekrenz at ...> wrote:
>
> ...
> 
> Now I have a question for our British friends:  I 
> have heard the word "disoriented" spoken by 
> different people while watching BBCAmerica and the
> pronounciation baffles me.  ...  Aluminum is another
> case in which I have heard British people add,in this
> case only one extra letter...aluminIum.  
> 
> Just things I have been curious about...no offense
> intended.
> 
> Cyndi
>

bboyminn:

Oddly enough, they pronounce it differently because
they spell it differently.

Concise Oxford Dictionary -11th Ed. -
aluminIum - al-you-min-ee-um

American Heritage -
aluminum - al-loo-min-um

American Heritage show that 'erb' and 'herb' are both 
correct pronunciations. 
 
Dan and Jay Leno discussed this last night on the 
Tonight Show, when they were talking about the 
differences between American and British versions of
the books.

How about -

Jaguar

British - jag-you-are

American - jag-warr

Though Dan said some people try to sound pretensions by
saying 'hag-you-are'. 'J' sounding like 'H' (or 'y') 
as in Spanish.

As to 'Herb' or 'erb', being good little boys and girls
we do what our parents and teachers tell us, and they
tell us 'erb', so who are we to argue, even though I'm
sure we would all readily admit, it never made sense to
us.

...ain't life strange.

Steve/bboyminn