Serious or Sirius (was Re: CHAPDISC: HBP1, The Other Minister)

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 141856

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "kiricat4001" <zarleycat at s...> 
wrote:

Marianne:
 
> The pronunciation of Sirius has come up for discussion on some Potter 
> fanfic sites I visit.  From comments I've seen there, Sirius 
> and "serious" are homonyms for Americans, while there is a slight 
> difference in pronunciation for Brits, "Sirius" being pronounced with 
> a somewhat longer "E" sound than in "serious."  

Geoff:
You surely don't mean a /longer/ "e"? You can't really get a longer 
sound than that in "serious". Anyway, you usually have a short "i" as 
in "win" or a long "i" as in "wine".

Most people I know here in the UK pronounce it with a short "i" as in 
lizard, Miriam or pit.