Leotards and leopards (Herb (Was Re: Harry and Hairy - The Difference.)

[sistermagpie]

> Kemper now:
> > > > 
> > > > How is 'leotard' pronounced?
> > > 
> > > Magpie:
> <snip>
> > > LEP-erd
> > > LEE-uh-tard
> > 
> > Geoff:
> > In my Brit experience, I pronounce it:
> > 
> > lee-oh-tard - the 'o' longer than Magpie's I think. <snip>
> 
> Carol:
> I'm American, but it's LEE oh tard for me, too, though the long "o" 
is
> only lightly accented. At any rate, "leotard" and "leopard" are 
sight
> rhymes, but they don't rhyme when they're spoken. But I'm guessing
> that "leopard" ("leo" meaning lion and "pard" meaning leopard) was
> once pronounced as LEE oh pard).
> 
> Carol, for whom "leopard" rhymes with "shepherd" and "leotard" 
doesn't
> rhyme with anything


I actually almost wrote it as LEE-oh-tard and then I said it to 
myself over and over and went with the 'uh.' So LEE-oh-tard sounds 
right to me too.

-m