Meet the Fockers

^   Wednesday, January 12, 2005, 02:43 GMT

''By comparison the only difference between an Aussie's "fuckers" and their "farkers" would be vowel length (the shape of the mouth is the same).''

Jim, the American [^] and the Aussie [^] are not the same. The American [^] is [V].

Here's the American pronunciation,

fockers-[fAk@`z]
fuckers-[fVk@`z]
farkers-[fAr\k@`z]

''fuckers'' and ''fockers'' are distinguished by more than just vowel length in America, they are distinguished in vowel position aswell.

By the way, why would someone be so stupid to not know that ''fu*kers'' means ''fuckers''. Only an idiot would think that they meant ''funkers'' instead.''

''Make it passible with Canon?''

Jim, ''passible'' is not a word so you should be able to understand what they mean when they say ''possible'' because there's no word ''passible''.

If ''passible'' were a word though I think I'd pronounce it [pæs@b@5] not [pAs@b@5] unless it were a foreign lone word in which then I'd probably pronounce it [pAs@b@5]. I pronounced ''possible'' as [pAs@b@5].

''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

''This vowel, /o/, is a short open to open-mid rounded back vowel. It's only nasalised before /N/, /n/ and /m/ but this is the same for any vowel in English.''

Jim, is it impossible (or should that be ''impassible''?) to pronounce a non-nasalized vowel before a nasal consonant?

The vowel /o/ is only nasalized before /N/, /n/, and /m/ except in some foreign loan words like ''contretemps''.
Jenny   Wednesday, January 12, 2005, 03:53 GMT
>>Well, I can tell you one joke I read about a New Yorker with an Italian accent. He went to a restaurant in some other state and said "I wanna fock on the table"; "fock" meaning "fork". And the waitress kicked him out of the place.

Ed,

I'd probably sound like that Italian so I'll definitely avoid Americanising my accent when in America :-)
Jenny   Wednesday, January 12, 2005, 04:05 GMT
Jim made a simple typo. It's clearly "passable" or was that as tricky to see as funkers?
Rob   Wednesday, January 12, 2005, 05:37 GMT
Is there any accent in which ''fockers'' and ''fuckers'' would be pronounced the same way? Americans seem to pronounce them the same way.
Someone   Wednesday, January 12, 2005, 05:39 GMT
Really? I'm an American, and I don't pronounce them the same way, nor do i know anyone who does.
mjd   Wednesday, January 12, 2005, 05:41 GMT
While they sound similar in the American accent, they don't rhyme...otherwise they couldn't have named the movie as they did.
Tiffany   Wednesday, January 12, 2005, 07:24 GMT
">>Well, I can tell you one joke I read about a New Yorker with an Italian accent. He went to a restaurant in some other state and said "I wanna fock on the table"; "fock" meaning "fork". And the waitress kicked him out of the place.

Ed,

I'd probably sound like that Italian so I'll definitely avoid Americanising my accent when in America :-) "

I find that joke very off-base, seeing as Italians have no trouble pronouncing r's. It is a rhotic language. In fact "forchetta" is "fork" in Italian, pronounced "fork-et-ta" I'm pretty sure his accent was not Italian.

And of course we don't pronounce "fockers" and "fuckers" alike.
Ed   Friday, January 14, 2005, 03:16 GMT
<<I find that joke very off-base, seeing as Italians have no trouble pronouncing r's. It is a rhotic language. In fact "forchetta" is "fork" in Italian, pronounced "fork-et-ta" I'm pretty sure his accent was not Italian. >>

I was talking about a New Yorker of Italian origin. ;-) So, please, don't take that as an insult to your Italian boyfriend :-P
Jim   Friday, January 14, 2005, 04:43 GMT
Jenny,

Be careful of what you mean by "Americans often ignore vowel length ..." They may not always be conciously aware of it but I suspect that long vowels are still long and short vowels are still short even when someone from the USA propnounces them.

^,

Thanks for pointing out my mistake. As Jenny points out, it was was a spelling mistake. I'd meant "passable" not "passible".

"Make it possible with Cannon." ==<American accent>==>> /meikitpa:s..b.lwithk@n.n/
/meikitpa:s..b.lwithk@n.n/ ==<Australian accent>==>> "Make it passable with Cannon."

A ringing endorsement to be sure: "Using our Cannon products you can make anything adequate."

I know that the American /^/ is phonetically different from the Aussie /^/ just as our /a:/s are different too. I'm not saying otherwise.

It's not impossible to pronounce a non-nasalised vowel before a nasal consonant. However, nasalisation is non-phonemic in English (with the possible exception of a few words we've "borrowed" from the French) hence nasalisation tends to be a product of coarticulation in English. I guess a French person would find it easy enough to pronounce a non-nasalised vowel before a nasal consonant.
Tiffany   Friday, January 14, 2005, 04:54 GMT
Ok, truce Ed :)
Ed   Friday, January 14, 2005, 18:52 GMT
<<Ok, truce Ed :) >>

I don't think we were ever fighting :-P