What's on your mind today?

[Dave]

Though I recognise that death is an everyday part of this world I still feel empathy for those left, even for those innocent ones whose family members go to support or fight for terrorist groups. The more needless and senseless the death the more it hits.

[Icarus]

I posted a rather loquacious bit in the history section.  One of the characters in the post was Edmond Halley. I have a question for you linguists. Are you there OG, Tank, Recusant or whomever?  Bluenose is disqualified. Americans love the Aussies but they talk funny. 

American verbal references to Halley almost always pronounce his name as  Hay-lee....Haleys comet and all that.  His name has a vowel followed by a pair of the same consonants.  I was under the impression that the vowel is never to have the long pronunciation when that word structure occurs.  Thus the mans name would be uttered Hah-lee. Soft "a".  My own surname has a similar vowel double consonant structure. It is often mispronounced with the long sound of the vowel.  (That pronunciation tends to change my presumed religion to Hebrew.)  How do the Brits pronounce the name of the famous Mr. Halley?

[Dave]

I posted a rather loquacious bit in the history section.  One of the characters in the post was Edmond Halley. I have a question for you linguists. Are you there OG, Tank, Recusant or whomever?  Bluenose is disqualified. Americans love the Aussies but they talk funny. 

American verbal references to Halley almost always pronounce his name as  Hay-lee....Haleys comet and all that.  His name has a vowel followed by a pair of the same consonants.  I was under the impression that the vowel is never to have the long pronunciation when that word structure occurs.  Thus the mans name would be uttered Hah-lee. Soft "a".  My own surname has a similar vowel double consonant structure. It is often mispronounced with the long sound of the vowel.  (That pronunciation tends to change my presumed religion to Hebrew.)  How do the Brits pronounce the name of the famous Mr. Halley?

I understand it is "Ha-" as in "Hal" (the diminuitive of "Henry") rather than "hale" or "hall".

[hermes2015]

I posted a rather loquacious bit in the history section.  One of the characters in the post was Edmond Halley. I have a question for you linguists. Are you there OG, Tank, Recusant or whomever?  Bluenose is disqualified. Americans love the Aussies but they talk funny. 

American verbal references to Halley almost always pronounce his name as  Hay-lee....Haleys comet and all that.  His name has a vowel followed by a pair of the same consonants.  I was under the impression that the vowel is never to have the long pronunciation when that word structure occurs.  Thus the mans name would be uttered Hah-lee. Soft "a".  My own surname has a similar vowel double consonant structure. It is often mispronounced with the long sound of the vowel.  (That pronunciation tends to change my presumed religion to Hebrew.)  How do the Brits pronounce the name of the famous Mr. Halley?

I understand it is "Ha-" as in "Hal" (the diminuitive of "Henry") rather than "hale" or "hall".

Yes, in this formerly British neck of the woods that is the way it would be pronounced as well.

[Dave]

I posted a rather loquacious bit in the history section.  One of the characters in the post was Edmond Halley. I have a question for you linguists. Are you there OG, Tank, Recusant or whomever?  Bluenose is disqualified. Americans love the Aussies but they talk funny. 

American verbal references to Halley almost always pronounce his name as  Hay-lee....Haleys comet and all that.  His name has a vowel followed by a pair of the same consonants.  I was under the impression that the vowel is never to have the long pronunciation when that word structure occurs.  Thus the mans name would be uttered Hah-lee. Soft "a".  My own surname has a similar vowel double consonant structure. It is often mispronounced with the long sound of the vowel.  (That pronunciation tends to change my presumed religion to Hebrew.)  How do the Brits pronounce the name of the famous Mr. Halley?

I understand it is "Ha-" as in "Hal" (the diminuitive of "Henry") rather than "hale" or "hall".

Yes, in this formerly British neck of the woods that is the way it would be pronounced as well.

Perhaps we should have retained the Anglo-Saxon æ digraph? Then we would have "Hælley". And "hæt", "hæd", "hæsh" etc.

[jumbojak]

I got very shaken up this morning. As I was driving to the store, on the side of the road, there were tons of cop cars, the frontage road was totally blocked, so I slowed down and looked, because I didn't see any crashed cars or anything. I wish I would have just minded my own business.
There was a black screen put up, but it didn't cover anything. There were two dead bodies laying on the grass together. Nobody was doing anything with them. I found out later that they had been there for at least 2 1/2 hours. They had been killed when someone ran into them, as they were putting gas in one of their cars that had run out.
I am kind of a crybaby anyway, but this really bothered me. I don't have a problem with death itself,  but I do have a problem with a human being maimed and crushed to death. I just keep wondering why it bothers me so much to have just glimpsed this? Is it their families my heart hurts for? Is it simply the strangeness of seeing dead people? Maybe the fact that they were just laying all alone on the side of the road? I don't know. But it has bothered me all day and made me quite sad.

I think part of these types of reactions is because the same thing could happen to anyone. You, me, the stranger down the street. Anyone. Kind of like hearing about someone being killed or seriously injured doing something you have done in the past.

A few weeks ago I read a story about a young girl who was horrifically burned while trying to pour gasoline on a campfire. It really hit home because Ive done just that. I even managed to set my arm on fire once. Fortunately there were no serious burns and I didn't panic and make things worse but that sickly feeling stays with you for a while.

[hermes2015]

I posted a rather loquacious bit in the history section.  One of the characters in the post was Edmond Halley. I have a question for you linguists. Are you there OG, Tank, Recusant or whomever?  Bluenose is disqualified. Americans love the Aussies but they talk funny. 

American verbal references to Halley almost always pronounce his name as  Hay-lee....Haleys comet and all that.  His name has a vowel followed by a pair of the same consonants.  I was under the impression that the vowel is never to have the long pronunciation when that word structure occurs.  Thus the mans name would be uttered Hah-lee. Soft "a".  My own surname has a similar vowel double consonant structure. It is often mispronounced with the long sound of the vowel.  (That pronunciation tends to change my presumed religion to Hebrew.)  How do the Brits pronounce the name of the famous Mr. Halley?

I understand it is "Ha-" as in "Hal" (the diminuitive of "Henry") rather than "hale" or "hall".

Yes, in this formerly British neck of the woods that is the way it would be pronounced as well.

Perhaps we should have retained the Anglo-Saxon æ digraph? Then we would have "Hælley". And "hæt", "hæd", "hæsh" etc.

Probably too late now to do anything about it. Just remembered now, I've also heard it pronounced Hawley (this person was referring to Hawley's comet).

Another American habit is to lengthen the short o in words like Costa Rica or cosmos, so that they become Coasta Rica and cosmohs.

[Dave]

I posted a rather loquacious bit in the history section.  One of the characters in the post was Edmond Halley. I have a question for you linguists. Are you there OG, Tank, Recusant or whomever?  Bluenose is disqualified. Americans love the Aussies but they talk funny. 

American verbal references to Halley almost always pronounce his name as  Hay-lee....Haleys comet and all that.  His name has a vowel followed by a pair of the same consonants.  I was under the impression that the vowel is never to have the long pronunciation when that word structure occurs.  Thus the mans name would be uttered Hah-lee. Soft "a".  My own surname has a similar vowel double consonant structure. It is often mispronounced with the long sound of the vowel.  (That pronunciation tends to change my presumed religion to Hebrew.)  How do the Brits pronounce the name of the famous Mr. Halley?

I understand it is "Ha-" as in "Hal" (the diminuitive of "Henry") rather than "hale" or "hall".

Yes, in this formerly British neck of the woods that is the way it would be pronounced as well.

Perhaps we should have retained the Anglo-Saxon æ digraph? Then we would have "Hælley". And "hæt", "hæd", "hæsh" etc.

Probably too late now to do anything about it. Just remembered now, I've also heard it pronounced Hawley (this person was referring to Hawley's comet).

Another American habit is to lengthen the short o in words like Costa Rica or cosmos, so that they become Coasta Rica and cosmohs.

Æ had a brief new life in the Initial Teaching Alphabet in the 60s.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Initial_Teaching_Alphabet. I often wonder what Shaw would have thought of the ITA.

[Dragonia]

Sorry you had this experience.  It's probably your empathy that caused the reaction - those were real people with real families and real dreams, and now they are gone.  I would have felt the same way.

Thanks, and YES, exactly.

I think part of these types of reactions is because the same thing could happen to anyone. You, me, the stranger down the street. Anyone. Kind of like hearing about someone being killed or seriously injured doing something you have done in the past.

.....but that sickly feeling stays with you for a while.

Yes, exactly!

Also, as I hear, these poor deceased men laid on the ground on the side of the highway for OVER SIX FUCKING HOURS! I can't fathom why that is necessary. I can't imagine being a family member. I'd lose my mind.

[Recusant]

I posted a rather loquacious bit in the history section.  One of the characters in the post was Edmond Halley. I have a question for you linguists. Are you there OG, Tank, Recusant or whomever?  Bluenose is disqualified. Americans love the Aussies but they talk funny. 

American verbal references to Halley almost always pronounce his name as  Hay-lee....Haleys comet and all that.  His name has a vowel followed by a pair of the same consonants.  I was under the impression that the vowel is never to have the long pronunciation when that word structure occurs.  Thus the mans name would be uttered Hah-lee. Soft "a".  My own surname has a similar vowel double consonant structure. It is often mispronounced with the long sound of the vowel.  (That pronunciation tends to change my presumed religion to Hebrew.)  How do the Brits pronounce the name of the famous Mr. Halley?

The British (and former Empire) here who've weighed in have already made their case, and I wouldn't dispute that. The New York Times in 1985 had an interesting little bit about this quoted in full below, to save from adding an unnecessary paywall-inducing cookie to people's browsers, but in the interest of providing a reference here's a link.

Q. So which is it? How does one pronounce correctly the name of the comet now hurtling sunward? Is it Halley's (hail-eez), as I have always been led to believe, or Halley's (hal-eez)?

A. In Edmond Halley's time (1656-1742), comets were more predictable than spellings of his name. Contemporary accounts refer to him as Hailey, Haley, Halley, Haly, Hawley, Hawly and Hayley, and presumably pronunciations varied as widely. Nigel Calder, in his 1980 book ''The Comet Is Coming,'' discussed the three most common pronunciations: ''Ha-li, rhyming with alley, the obvious one for anyone accustomed to the peculiarities of English spelling. Ha-li, rhyming with bailey, often preferred by those who grew up with the pop group known as Bill Haley and the Comets. Ho-li rhyming with bawley, favoured by Colin Ronan, one of Halley's biographers. . . . We telephoned 16 Halleys living in London to ask them what they called themselves. Three declined to say but every one of the remainder admitted to ha-li (rhyming with alley). With such an overwhelming verdict about the present pronunciation of the name there was no point in continuing the survey.''

[Dave]

Yup, every thing I have found so far, including as a female name, has it rhyming with "valley", "alley" etc.

Since Halley preceded Samuel Johnson perhaps spelling was rather a personal choice if you had only heard a word, not seen it wtitten.

But in a nation where the surname Pontefract is pronounced Pomfret and Cholmondeley as Chumley perhaps anything goes . . .

(Edited to add last two sentences)

[hermes2015]

Yup, every thing I have found so far, including as a female name, has it rhyming with "valley", "alley" etc.

Since Halley preceded Samuel Johnson perhaps spelling was rather a personal choice if you had only heard a word, not seen it wtitten.

But in a nation where the surname Pontefract is pronounced Pomfret and Cholmondeley as Chumley perhaps anything goes . . .

(Edited to add last two sentences)

You have always been a good cholmonde.

[Dave]

Yup, every thing I have found so far, including as a female name, has it rhyming with "valley", "alley" etc.

Since Halley preceded Samuel Johnson perhaps spelling was rather a personal choice if you had only heard a word, not seen it wtitten.

But in a nation where the surname Pontefract is pronounced Pomfret and Cholmondeley as Chumley perhaps anything goes . . .

(Edited to add last two sentences)

You have always been a good cholmonde.

Er, not sure how to take that, hope it's not something nasty in Polari! 

OK! I got it now! 

Just don't feed me to the sharks please! 

[hermes2015]

Yup, every thing I have found so far, including as a female name, has it rhyming with "valley", "alley" etc.

Since Halley preceded Samuel Johnson perhaps spelling was rather a personal choice if you had only heard a word, not seen it wtitten.

But in a nation where the surname Pontefract is pronounced Pomfret and Cholmondeley as Chumley perhaps anything goes . . .

(Edited to add last two sentences)

You have always been a good cholmonde.

Er, not sure how to take that, hope it's not something nasty in Polari! 

OK! I got it now! 

Just don't feed me to the sharks please! 

No, I don't think you're a Polari bear.

[jumbojak]

I'm taking up an interest in rapier fencing. Not sure why the rapier, my research indicates it's one of the most physically demanding weapons to learn due to its heavy blade and one handed use. Might be as good an excuse as any to get into shape.