Anybody else noticed the trend among radio presenters and politicians of saying ‘ay’ instead of ‘a’ (traditionally pronounced ‘uh’)?
For example: ‘There will be ay debate in the House’, ‘There will be ay by-election’, ‘At ay meeting of the United Nations’.
I’ve even heard ‘ay-nother’.
‘Ay’ here is clearly not for emphasis (‘How many doughnuts?’ ���Oh, just ay doughnut’). And it’s clearly not to buy time to think (‘That’s… aaaay… difficult question to answer.’) Some people do it all the time (Boris Johnson, Amol Rajan, Evan Davies), while others never do it (Mishal Husain, Justin Webb).
So grating!
Radio presenters and politicians saying ‘ay’ instead of ‘a’
PotteringPondering · 30/06/2022 11:31
upinaballoon · 30/06/2022 16:44
Yes, I have noticed it, although I couldn't have said which people do it most. Sometimes on 'Countdown' a contestant will ask for ay vowel and aynother vowel and ay consonant and so on.
(Related, is the use of thuh in places where we always pronounced 'the' to sound like thee, e.g. thee EU, which Katya Adler calls 'thuh EU'.)
MiniMoosey · 30/06/2022 18:39
This is how I’ve been taught to speak as a child
WorkEventing · 30/06/2022 18:51
That’s not how it works. It’s ðə before a consonant sound and ði before a vowel sound. What probably happens on the radio is the people say the article and midflow change their mind about how they will continue the sentence.
MiniMoosey · 30/06/2022 18:39
This is how I’ve been taught to speak as a child
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Hardy1945 · 26/12/2023 22:02
To answer your question, without the need for an expletive, I suggest that this link may help. I know that the teacher is an American, but he explains things pretty well.
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