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thee or tha?

Posted: Wed Aug 09, 2006 2:44 pm
by Bailey
I got into an argument last night about the two pronunciations of the; I tried to explain it's the way they are used if it's Thee or tha. but the other persoin insisted it was regional, I know she was wrong.

mark trying-to-keep-the-peace-but-correct Bailey

Re: thee or tha?

Posted: Wed Aug 09, 2006 3:06 pm
by sluggo
I got into an argument last night about the two pronunciations of the; I tried to explain it's the way they are used if it's Thee or tha. but the other persoin insisted it was regional, I know she was wrong.

mark trying-to-keep-the-peace-but-correct Bailey
We know too :P Seems to me it's "thƏ" (that's spozta be a schwa off the AAaccented character list but not working)
-unless singularity is stressed, then "thee".

Posted: Wed Aug 09, 2006 4:45 pm
by Bailey
OooooooooooooKay, I'm sure she'll understand that.

mark not-too-sure-what-with-the-boxes-and-all Bailey

Posted: Wed Aug 09, 2006 4:58 pm
by sluggo
OooooooooooooKay, I'm sure she'll understand that.

mark not-too-sure-what-with-the-boxes-and-all Bailey
The box is supposed to come out as a schwa, looking like e upside down, representing a nonspecific and very unstressed (remember that?) vowel-grunt. I tried to paste it from the "More Emoticons and Accented Characters" bank but it doesn't work and shows as a box. Almost equivalent to what you first wrote as tha but with no stress (remember that?). :lol:

Just give 'er the link, that'll keep her busy. Or else she might expand for us on regional dialects?

Posted: Wed Aug 09, 2006 5:08 pm
by Palewriter
If we're only talking about the definite article, then as far as I know, it's /ðə/ unless it's followed by a vowel. Then it's /ði:/.

It's not regional unless, of course, the person you were arguing with was a) your spouse and/or b) extremely attractive in which case all rules default to the "you're absolutely right, dear"-rule.

-- PW

Re: thee or tha?

Posted: Wed Aug 09, 2006 6:09 pm
by Huny
I got into an argument last night about the two pronunciations of the; I tried to explain it's the way they are used if it's Thee or tha. but the other persoin insisted it was regional, I know she was wrong.

mark trying-to-keep-the-peace-but-correct Bailey
With me, it just depends on the word that follows "the" that determines how I pronounce it. Of course I can't think of any examples right now because my brain had suddenly developed a severe case of gridlock. :roll:

Posted: Wed Aug 09, 2006 7:00 pm
by Bailey
With me, it just depends on the word that follows "the" that determines how I pronounce it. Of course I can't think of any examples right now because my brain had suddenly developed a severe case of gridlock.
exactly, I had that same problem last night.
:oops:

mark can't-think-of-the-right-word Bailey

Posted: Wed Aug 09, 2006 9:27 pm
by Perry
See pronounciation here. I tried to just copy the entry here, but the pronounciation characters didn't paste.

Posted: Wed Aug 09, 2006 10:40 pm
by Palewriter
See pronounciation here. I tried to just copy the entry here, but the pronounciation characters didn't paste.
Jeez, Perry, save yourself the bother of pasting. I made the same point in one sentence about three posts ago. :D

Of course, my characters didn't really come across that well either, but then I've always suspected that I had a serious character flaw.

-- PW

Posted: Wed Aug 09, 2006 11:10 pm
by Bailey
Dang, PW, you are right again, she was also right, I had to give in, even though I knew I was correct.

mark never-can-win-one Bailey

Posted: Fri Aug 11, 2006 9:48 am
by Perry
See pronounciation here. I tried to just copy the entry here, but the pronounciation characters didn't paste.
Jeez, Perry, save yourself the bother of pasting. I made the same point in one sentence about three posts ago. :D

Of course, my characters didn't really come across that well either, but then I've always suspected that I had a serious character flaw.

-- PW
Yes you did. But I thought that a bit of corroboration was in order.

Posted: Fri Aug 11, 2006 12:18 pm
by Palewriter


Yes you did. But I thought that a bit of corroboration was in order.


Totally.

-- PW