fluffy 💜
Okay time for another pronunciation poll: Longitude vs. Longitudinal, do you use a hard G (like Gift) or a soft G (like Giraffe)?
Both use hard G
39.1%
Both use soft G
55.2%
Longitude hard, Longitudinal soft
2.8%
Longitude soft, Longitudinal hard
2.8%
Poll ended at .
Apr 6 at 3:21amWeb
Show threadfluffy 💜4d ago

Every pronunciation guide I see has a soft G for "longitude" (with some differences between UK and US for whether the "tu" is like 'tube' vs. 'choob') but they only get into the UK pronunciation of "longitudinal" where it's a hard G

And it seems weird to me that you'd pronounce the G differently between those two different words, since they're, like, the same root?

Show threadDeborah Pickett4d ago
@fluffy OED lists both, hard first then soft, for both words. Pronouncing the two differently is indefensible. I use soft G because I trained myself to; the norm in my country is hard G.
Show threadDeborah Pickett4d ago

@fluffy Merriam-Webster lists both for both, soft then (British) hard.

Collins (print dictionary) lists both for both, soft then hard.

Prisma English/Dutch (print dictionary) lists both for both, hard then soft.

I have a number of other foreign language dictionaries but they’re either all also Collins, or don’t have English pronunciations in them at all.

Show threadTim Richards3d ago
@fluffy Seems odd to go for a J sound when the root word is LONG
Show threadfluffy 💜3d ago
@timrichards I don't make the US English pronunciation rules, I just live within them
Show threadfluffy 💜4d ago

Context: a lot of YouTubers I follow seem to use soft G for "Longitude" and hard G for "Longitudinal" and that seems to be the minority position

Notable examples of this are Nikki and Kate of Transport Evolved (who are both of British origin) and Dave Plummer of Dave's Garage (who is Canadian)

Show threadfluffy 💜4d ago
well okay to be fair I don't think I've ever heard any of them say just "longitude" so maybe they also say it with a hard G
Show threadfluffy 💜4d ago
How do you pronounce it?
like the G in "longitudinal"
20%
like the G in "gif"
33.3%
like the TL in "axolotl"
33.3%
like the E in "cute"
13.3%
Poll ended at .
Show threadJimmy4d ago
@fluffy Hard 'G' for both. No latitude from me!!!
Show threadGubbins4d ago
@fluffy Not sure if it counts as a hard G (that's what I voted, because it seemed closest), but because of the "ng" I usually pronounce it more like longboat - long-itude, rather than lon-gitude.
Show threadfluffy 💜4d ago
@ambimist Yeah that’s a hard G
Show threadDeborah Pickett4d ago
@fluffy @ambimist Next poll, let’s distinguish /ˈlɒŋɡɪˌtjuːd/ and /ˈlɒŋɪˌtjuːd/, because I think there’s a few of the latter.
Show threadFull Metal Archaeopteryx4d ago

@fluffy
I wanted to vote for hard because in my mind hard feels like what a 'dgh' sound should be

But, according to a quick web search that sound is considered soft and hard is an 'ngh'

... or smth, I don't even know what I just said

Show threadfluffy 💜4d ago
@DelilahTech Do you pronounce it like the G in “long” or like the G in “lunge”?
Show threadFull Metal Archaeopteryx4d ago
@fluffy
Lunge
Show threadfluffy 💜4d ago
@DelilahTech that’s a soft G
Show threadSami Kelsh is a tired bear4d ago

@fluffy nuance button: I think I use a soft G for both (Canadian born, British resident) but I also think I kind of interchange with a hard G (though more like the ng that Gubbins mentions elsewhere in thread) at random, probably if I've recently heard it that way and it's stuck in my memory, but it's not my default I don't think?

I might be an outlier because while I spent my first 3 decades a Canadian, I've definitely inadvertently picked up a lilt on a lot of words in the 12-ish years I've lived in England.

Show threadfood in training4d ago
@fluffy I learned the mnemonic that latitude circles are different sizes but long-itude circles meet at the poles and have the same *length*, so I say long-itude. /ˈlɐːŋ.ɪ.tuːd/
Show threadfluffy 💜4d ago
@taq I learned the mnemonic that longitude measures “the long way around” but still with a soft G.
Show threadMalcolm Herbert3d ago
@fluffy ... now that I come to see the results of this and I'm again rehearsing how I pronounce these words ... I think I swap from one to the other on an almost random basis ...