Pronunciation of Sirius

[Geoff Bannister]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "Marti L." <marti.lewis at ...> wrote:
>
> 
> Hi everyone.  I just joined this group yesterday and saw some notes
> about Sirius and that it should have a short "i" sound after the first
> letter S.  Someone here was going to watch HP Prisoner movie again to
> check.
> 
> I was listening to Stephen Fry on the British audiobook (HPHBP #6) on
> the way home from work last night, and he says it just the way we say
> "serious" -- long e sound for both of the i's, as in C (cee), seek,
> sleet, see.  It came up in an Chapter 4 when Harry meets Horace Slughorn
> and HS brings up the fact that Sirius is dead.
> 
> I'm American (northeast) and had never heard of the short "i"
> pronunciation, but when I read the posts here, I figured it was from one
> of the English accents.  Now that I've heard Stephen Fry say Sirius with
> the long ee sound, I don't think it is.

Geoff:
I think I was the member concerned with the POA check and I think that 
Daniel Radcliffe certainly uses a short 'i' - like I do.

Stephen Fry, bless him, speaks with what is usually called an 'Oxford' 
accent, i.e. a posh accent. ;-) You also need to remember that there is 
a wide range of English accents anyway. I've been told that I use an 
'educated' South-east accent whatever that may mean!