Here in California, we grow the things. I can tell you they taste better when you pick them off the tree yourself, shell and blanch them, and Mom roasts them in the oven. There are two pronunciations I hear in use.
The general one is something like this commercial for Blue Diamond Almonds:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLzs37VfRqE
But most people don't sound out the L as much. More like this commercial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4gDIVIDOL8
Then there is a small percentage of people who use a short, hard A sound at the beginning, like in the word attitude. It comes out ammunds when these people say it. I don't hear this pronunciation very often. Usually these people are rural: farmers, hicks, hillbillies, whatever you want to call them. I hope none of them are almond growers, but you never can tell...
Yeah, the commercial makes more sense to me, you can hear the L. All I'd heard before were with the L fully silent. (You'd think I'd heard the word many times, but I lived for nearly forty years in Denmark, so no.) (In Danish it's "mandel" with the D silent.)
... Of course I meant "better than mine". See what I mean? In Danish a D after an N is normally silent. (Let's conveniently overlook that I was not supposed to write phonetically here...)
Phonetically, that's how it's pronounced in French (written "amande"). A lot of kinship between these two languages.
"There's no "r" in there for one thing." Queneau would disagree, considering the British accent. (Don't ask me WHICH one, tous ces Anglais parlent pareil pour moi, sacrebleu!)
"(Let's conveniently overlook that I was not supposed to write phonetically here...)" You're right: that DOES sound much more convenient. :o)
"Um... Little girl? Don't touch the squirrel's nuts, you'll make him mad." - Willie Wonka
10 comments:
(... By the way, how the heck did "almond" come to be pronounced "armand"?)
Must be the Lancashire accent :-)
WE speak proper, like!
I've checked two online dictionaries, and they pronounce it like that. Or at least that's my attempt at spelling how it's pronounced.
Here in California, we grow the things. I can tell you they taste better when you pick them off the tree yourself, shell and blanch them, and Mom roasts them in the oven. There are two pronunciations I hear in use.
The general one is something like this commercial for Blue Diamond Almonds:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLzs37VfRqE
But most people don't sound out the L as much. More like this commercial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4gDIVIDOL8
Then there is a small percentage of people who use a short, hard A sound at the beginning, like in the word attitude. It comes out ammunds when these people say it. I don't hear this pronunciation very often. Usually these people are rural: farmers, hicks, hillbillies, whatever you want to call them. I hope none of them are almond growers, but you never can tell...
:-)
Yeah, the commercial makes more sense to me, you can hear the L.
All I'd heard before were with the L fully silent.
(You'd think I'd heard the word many times, but I lived for nearly forty years in Denmark, so no.) (In Danish it's "mandel" with the D silent.)
(... By the way, how the heck did "almond" come to be pronounced "armand"?)
It never did. There's no "r" in there for one thing.
OK, let's spell it ah-mand then.
I'd probably try "awe-mund" or "awe-mind" but said quickly.
"Awe-mund", yes, much better than mind.
I guess my ideas in phonetic spelling are mixed up with Danish.
... Of course I meant "better than mine". See what I mean? In Danish a D after an N is normally silent. (Let's conveniently overlook that I was not supposed to write phonetically here...)
Phonetically, that's how it's pronounced in French (written "amande").
A lot of kinship between these two languages.
"There's no "r" in there for one thing."
Queneau would disagree, considering the British accent. (Don't ask me WHICH one, tous ces Anglais parlent pareil pour moi, sacrebleu!)
"(Let's conveniently overlook that I was not supposed to write phonetically here...)"
You're right: that DOES sound much more convenient. :o)
"Um... Little girl? Don't touch the squirrel's nuts, you'll make him mad." - Willie Wonka
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