Pronounciation of February

[l_h_kings]

As the title suggests, my question is what is the correct pronounciation of the word "February?"

People often just say Feb, but if i do that it will be too obvious that i'm trying to avoid saying it because I don't know how to.

Does one pronounce the first "r", and is it feb(r)uAry or feb(r)ury.

At least it's only for 28 days.

[RevShirls]

The correct pronunciation is Feb-roo-ary - although many people do pronounce it both ways that you have mentioned.

[Quizmonster]

RevShirls is correct as far as the elements of the word Feb/ru/a/ry are constructed. The stress comes on the first of the four syllables, as underlined above and not on the second-last as indicated by your capital 'A'.

Omitting the first 'r' is just laziness, but it is becoming more and more common, even among those who should know better. It's much the same as 'vun-ribble' - heard almost daily on news broadcasts - instead of 'vulnerable' in that one letter just disappears. Maybe that's how it's going to be, since language is constantly changing.

[Loosehead]

RevShirls is correct, but I believe in Essex it's Febry!

[bernardo]

Unusually, Quizmonster is incorrect this time.  The correct pronunciation is /'febjuri/, i.e. the first "r" is not pronounced.  The "a" does not provide a separate syllable.  I know this to be correct because this is how I pronounce it, and I am always right about everything.  The only people who incorrectly make an extra effort artificially to say "feb-rooooooooo-air-y" are the tiny minority of insufferably pompous and insane people.

[Quizmonster]

But, my dear fellow Bernardo, how can this be, given that you yourself recently claimed that I was a "know-it-all"? Not only that, but you said you meant it literally, as it were, rather than unkindly.
Both The Oxford English Dictionary and Chambers clearly indicate that the first 'r' and the 'a' sound are pronounced. I certainly pronounce them, which may well make me pompous and insane, but - with the OED and Chambers on my side - I am at least in good company. All 'puffed-up nutters' together, we three!

Seriously, this may conceivably be an age thing. I've been speaking English for all but seven decades and there are many changes I have refused to bow to. For instance, as I pointed out in my earlier response, I don't say ''vun-ribble', though nearly everyone else seems to and nor do I say/write 'could of' when I mean 'could've'.

I_h_kings, if you click http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=February&x=18&y=12 a link will take you to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary's website. On the page there are two red loudspeaker symbols. Clicking on each of these in turn will offer you two acceptable pronunciations. The one I believe in is the second. This is an American dictionary, as it happens, but it confirms the possibility of a 4-syllable pronunciation. Cheers

[Quizmonster]

Goodness knows where all that underlining came from. All I tried to emphasise was the word 'are' in line 6!

[bernardo]

Obviously the people who wrote the OED and Chambers dictionary didn't do their research properly.  It's not my fault if they get it wrong sometimes.  Of course, they could have avoided the error by checking with me first.

(Maybe you clicked on "are" three times instead of twice)

[smorodina]

Quizmonster - while you may have no effect on the other pronunciation changes you mentioned, surely we should all be resisting those that make no grammatic sense at all like "could of" - which I recently had in an official e-mail from out IS department (although it was actually 'may of').

[smudge]

I'm originally from Essex & I say Feb-u-ary! Never Febry as Loosehead suggests :0)

[Quizmonster]

Quite, Smorodina...I'm all for battling against barbarisms, but history shows that we'll probably be defeated in the end. I can't recall the title, but I read a novel from the library some time ago in which 'could of' was the standard way of expressing the 'could have' concept throughout. Presumably, therefore, not only the writer but also the editor, publisher and printer approved of or at least accepted the structure. If it's in print, it'll spread...there's nothing surer...as your 'may of' e-mail experience shows.

[smudge]

-Ditto- Smorodina!

[paddy_36]

Smorodina - shouldn't that be 'grammatical sense'? ;o)

[smorodina]

In British English it can be either, although American dictionaries appear to list it less commonly. There are quite a few other examples of this alternative ending for an adjective, e.g. lyric/lyrical, comic/comical, diabolic/diabolical, ironic/ironical, electric/electrical and so on. Some forms have fallen out of use in favour of the other, but I think this is not yet the case with 'grammatic'. Maybe Quizmonster can confirm this. I did, however, type 'out' for 'our'.

[Quizmonster]

Smorodina, after its description of 'grammatical', Chambers Dictionary says (quote): "also formerly grammatic". The italics are theirs, not mine. It would seem, therefore, that the latter is somewhat obsolescent. I certainly would not say it is 'wrong'; on the other hand, I would not myself use it.

The whole 'ic' and 'ical' thing is fraught with problems. Often, both forms existed side-by-side originally before one or other succumbed, but some went one way and some went the other! For example, 'domestical' was perfectly OK at one time, but now no longer exists. On the other hand 'economic' and 'economical' now no longer even mean the same thing. We speak of 'economic science' and an 'economical wife', for instance.

All-in-all, you're quite possibly right in believing 'grammatic' has "not yet fallen out of use". What the hey! After all, you just used it, so it's still about. Cheers

[smorodina]

Thanks for the input Quizmonster, I'll try to keep it alive for a little longer!

[jno]

Mostly a matter of how quickly you speak, isn't it? Ideally, you would pronounce it slowly and sonorously, as I shall when I enter the House of Lords. But words come out faster in ordinary conversation and letters or even whole syllables are sometimes elided. I pronounce all the Rs but I find the UA gets a bit slurred so it sounds like febr'ry. Obviously in Essex, where life is lived at a frantic pace, it's down to two syllables. (Perhaps they should remember that part of it is brewery.)

[ikefoona]

Well I come from Yorkshire so i'm afraid I pronounce it 'Febury'. Not grammatically correct but thats just how it is - local dialect and all : )

[toonmilo]

A few interesting discussions here!!!..............Roll on March!!

[Daniar]

I don't know what you're arguing about when both ways of pronunciation are perfectly correct! I've already checked this word in the Longman Dictionary and it's given as /'febjuri/. But, as others have said, the Oxford DDictionaryand the Macmillan Dictionary give the phonetix transcription of this word with all the 'r' sounds pronounced. Besides, you should be an absolute idiot to say your pronunciation is the only to be considered correct, especially in a language like English. Also note that 'the' is capitalised in the middle of a sentence when it's part of the name of a books and films, not with names of dictionaries!