John McIntyre, whom James Wolcott called "the Dave Brubeck of the art and craft of copy editing," writes on language, editing, journalism, and random topics. Identifying his errors relieves him of the burden of omniscience. Write to jemcintyre@gmail.com, befriend at Facebook, or follow at Twitter: @johnemcintyre. His original "You Don't Say" blog at The Baltimore Sun ran from 2005 to 2021, and posts on it can sometimes be found at baltimoresun.com through Google searches.
Interesting. I think you're wrong on niche and forte. But I'm English, so we have different rules: your pronounciation of both words is too far from the French to be really annoying to them. I think this is a major influence in British English.
Bob O'H, the French do not pronounce the ‘e’ in “forte”. It's not “fortè” or “forté”. However, I would pronounce “niche” /nitʃ/ or /niʃ/, not /nɪtʃ/; and I'm very much an American.
You made this a happy day, Professor McIntyre, by getting your videos posted here. I hope you'll be able to keep producing them periodically.
ReplyDeleteInteresting. I think you're wrong on niche and forte. But I'm English, so we have different rules: your pronounciation of both words is too far from the French to be really annoying to them. I think this is a major influence in British English.
ReplyDeleteYour videos are all hilarious. Surely you are at least a 23rd-generation aristocrat. Your choice of music is superb.
ReplyDeleteBob O'H, the French do not pronounce the ‘e’ in “forte”. It's not “fortè” or “forté”. However, I would pronounce “niche” /nitʃ/ or /niʃ/, not /nɪtʃ/; and I'm very much an American.
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