jeesh shtyure

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That is what it sounded like when the New Zealand doctor said it on CBC radio and I went What!?.

Fortunately, he repeated it a few times and I worked it was actually gesture. I consider myself pretty good at working out what people are saying in various accented English, but, man, that pronunciation was way off.

The way I say it, it sounds something like: jess chure.

Word of the day

uxorial: adj relating to or characteristic of a wife. From the Latin uxor meaning wife.

Got to love The Economist for using obscure snobbish words.

Comments

Mother of Invention said…
I heard him this morning too and couldn't figure out what he was saying till the host repeated it the way we say it. Not only did he have a thick accent, I'm not sure he knew how it was pronounced.
July 13, 2007 8:01 PM
tin-tin said…
hehehehe. we often heard something like that most of the time. hehehe. they don't mean to say it that way, but they can't just really say it properly. ;p
July 14, 2007 11:05 PM
B said…
Will "word of the day" be a new feature on your blog, Richard? You know I would love that! :)
July 15, 2007 10:22 PM
Richard said…
MOI: I thought his English was quite understandable - at least until that word. And he did not just say it once, but maybe six times or so, and I kept wondering how he got that particular pronunciation. It was really annoying.

tin-tin: really? It is the first time I have heard it so badly mispronounced.

breal: nope. I don't blog everyday and besides, I only intend to do it when I come across a word that I don't know and is pretty odd (like horripilation a little while back).
July 17, 2007 9:34 AM
Tena Russ said…
"jeesh shtyure..."
Dean Martin after a few cocktails?

A good friend always expresses her appreciation by saying "thin yew."
July 17, 2007 12:46 PM
Richard said…
tena: He doesn't slur it, he just really, really badly pronounces it. The first E is long rather than short, then she does something horrible with the STURE part of the word. It sounds like he clamps he mouth shut, makes the SH sound, appends a T to it and then glides his tongue over the roof of his mouth from front to back (this would change the Y sound into an R).

I am sure we all have words we mispronounce. For example, I prefer to say AWE - REE instead of A – RYE for awry.

Thin yew for your input.
July 18, 2007 9:15 AM
Tena Russ said…
"It sounds like he clamps he mouth shut, makes the SH sound, appends a T to it and then glides his tongue over the roof of his mouth from front to back (this would change the Y sound into an R)."

I'm trying to do all that and I'm making myself slobber. But thin kew for the instructions.

Word verification: duwii =
the first sip of the second martini.
July 18, 2007 11:20 PM
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