US Americans: help me answer a question please

[Laura Corin]

The "Die" part is very Texas/Southern.

 

I use 'Die' to begin 'diluted' but I use the T, so it's 'Die-LYOO-ted' (note the extra 'y'). I'm from the south of England.

 

Laura

[TranquilMind]

I would classify it as a "soft t." With a "d" would make it a completely different word (deluded).

This. Otherwise it is a different word. Unless you are from the deep south where no one can understand you anyway. ;)

[TranquilMind]

I use 'Die' to begin 'diluted' but I use the T, so it's 'Die-LYOO-ted' (note the extra 'y'). I'm from the south of England.

 

Laura

Ah, you Brits!

 

We don't say "Die", we say "di" as in "did".

[Laura Corin]

(and Laura, when I read your posts, I hear them read by Delia Smith, still)

 

I don't think I could find someone who sounds like me: after almost 25 years of living with an American all over the world it's a nowhere acccent really. As far as pitch: Delia Smith sounds like a soprano to me. I'm an alto: pitched more like Nigella Lawson, but Calvin and Husband say that her accent is wrong for me.

 

Laura

[jewellsmommy]

I'm east coast Va. I voted south. I use a soft T sound. I say deluded with a D sound and there is a definite difference in the pronunciations.

 

My dh on the other hand...:D but his vote doesn't count.

[8circles]

The difference between "diluted" and "deluded" in my pronunciation has to do with the vowel in the first syllable rather than the consonant beginning the third syllable.

 

"DIE-lu-ded" with a long i = watered down

"DEH-lu-ded" with a short e = crazy

 

I grew up in New England

 

:iagree:but I'm from the midwest.

[TheReader]

Texas, and -t tends to sound like -d, so I really can't tell! How's that for an answer?!

 

I said it out loud several times and actually can't tell. Something between the two, I guess???

 

I guess I'm not a help, am I?

[Embassy]

It's a flap. It's what people have described as between a t and a d. Some people think of it as being lazy. It is similar to the way many pronounce the "tt" in butter or flatter or the t in writer.

 

:iagree: I've lived in 11 states so I couldn't really vote. It sounds like a flap to me.

[LaxMom]

Diluted - watered down - definitely with a T sound.

 

Deluded - having a mistaken idea - that's the semi-homonym pronounced with the "D" sound.

 

That. I'm originally from Maine, now living in Maryland.

 

(and I think it's kind, your definition of deluded. ;) )

[Medieval Mom]

Diluted - watered down - definitely with a T sound.

 

Deluded - having a mistaken idea - that's the semi-homonym pronounced with the "D" sound.

 

:iagree: Midwest here. Pronouncing t as /d/ is a BIG pet peeve of mine. I could hardly STAND to hear one of my college acquaintances (from Colorado FWIW) say "bedder" for better. :banghead: She also said, "birdday" for birthday. :scared:

Edited May 11, 2012 by Medieval Mom

[kalanamak]

I don't think I could find someone who sounds like me: after almost 25 years of living with an American all over the world it's a nowhere acccent really. As far as pitch: Delia Smith sounds like a soprano to me. I'm an alto: pitched more like Nigella Lawson, but Calvin and Husband say that her accent is wrong for me.

 

I think I associate her sound with efficiency and clarity. Thus the association. ;)

[Laura Corin]

I think I associate her sound with efficiency and clarity. Thus the association. ;)

 

I'm flattered and bemused as I sit here in the kitchen. The table currently has my laptop, a colander of slightly grotty grapes, the remnants of breakfast (crumby plates, milk jug, butter dish, open jar of Marmite) plus the following:

 

roll of paper towel, cleaning spray, golf cap, two boxes of matches (newly bought and not put away), a tupperware of vitamins/medicines, Grim Tuesday by Garth Nix, a Julia Child cook book, a pencil, a piece of blank paper, the back page from a choral score that I printed at home, a fruit bowl, a Post-It block, another piece of blank paper, an old to-do list and driving directions to last weekend's scout camp.

 

Efficiency and clarity..... it's amazing the impression one can create on the internet.

 

Thanks again,

 

Laura