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Jim Lane

(11,175 posts)
18. There are numerous examples
Wed Aug 15, 2012, 12:38 AM
Aug 2012

I don't think the age of the usage matters -- if your criterion for pronouncing something "correctly" is its pronunciation in the language where it originated, it's clear how "Paris" is pronounced today in Paris.

If you don't like that example, though, consider how many can be found in Spanish. Do you consider "MECKS-i-ko" to be the incorrect pronunciation in the English language because it's not pronounced that way in the country itself? In English we pronounce the second syllable of "Barcelona" like our word "sell", instead of using the Spanish pronunciation of the "c" (a pronunciation that, to our ears, sounds somewhat like a lisp).

Of course, loan words go both ways. Our word "hamburger" is used in French, Portuguese, and Turkish, but in each case with its own pronunciation (at least according to this entry in Wiktionary). I don't think those pronunciations are incorrect and I wouldn't list "hamburger" as a word that French, Portuguese, and Turks can't pronounce. They say it their way, we say it ours. Vive la différence.

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