Shocking Revelation: You know asphalt, that stuff they make roads out of? Well, we were watching Worst Jobs in History the other night and Tony Robinson kept pronouncing it “ash-felt.” I was like, “WHAT is WITH that whack pronunciation? It’s making me CRAZY!” And Rodd said, “That’s how you say it.” Say what? So I had to confirm with the Aussies here at work. People, THEY ALL SAY ASH-FELT. They’re also incredibly amused by the fact that I say “ass-fault.” Me, I’m still reeling from the fact that I am married to a person who says “ash-felt.” How could I not have known that?
SlythErin
August 1, 2007 — 4:04 pm
It’s so totally ashfelt! Even my Yank mother now says ashfelt.
Rose Red
August 1, 2007 — 4:42 pm
This is just about the funniest thing I’ve read all day!! I think I’m going to have to pronounce it ass-faut from now on just because it’s so wrong!
Kris
August 1, 2007 — 4:59 pm
Whose fault is it? It’s the ASS FAULT! 🙂
(As God as my witness, I will NEVER say ash-felt. I’ve capitulated on spelling words like “colour” and “neighbour”, but for ASH-FELT I will not compromise!)
Danielle
August 1, 2007 — 5:07 pm
A girl in my office from northern Queensland says “ass-fault”… but she also says “bitch-men” (bitumen).
Kris
August 1, 2007 — 5:10 pm
Hmm. I don’t think I’ve ever used the word bitumen in conversation, but if I did, I’d probably say “bitch-oo-men”. This is an enlightening conversation!
Amy
August 1, 2007 — 10:11 pm
It’s all ASS-fault at my house. We only start using ‘bitumen’ since we moved here
Barb
August 1, 2007 — 11:47 pm
I’m laughing my assfault off here. Cracking up. Bitumen doesn’t really solve the problem, does it — bit-you-menn or bitch-oo-men?
Kris
August 2, 2007 — 8:27 am
I probably would have said the latter in the States, Barb, but the “you” sound has crept into my voice since I’ve been here. So it’d probably be “bitch-you-men”. 🙂
Rachel
August 2, 2007 — 2:35 pm
mmm this is the kind of thing that ruins marriages. My husband never fails to take the royal piss when I say yoghurt as ” yog-urt” and he insists it’s pronounced “yo!-gurt”. I refuse to change on this point. I already feel like an idiot when I say doona rather than duvet. It just feels so wrong to me.
doona, really.
Jenny
August 3, 2007 — 12:21 am
Nothing so fun as different pronunciation, but I still get grief on the North Shore for saying musk melon instead of cantaloupe.
Tricia
August 3, 2007 — 12:56 am
ash-felt? it’s like al-u-minium or zed; I couldn’t believe that people could really pronounce things so differently.
We have a few pronounciation differences in our marriage, but we knew about them before tying the knot: roof vs. “ruff” and coupon vs. Q-pon are two of the bigger ones.
Kris
August 3, 2007 — 5:38 pm
*shudder* I think “Q-pon” would have been a bigger dealbreaker for me than “ash-felt.”
The worst mispronunciation being, of course, “noo-kyoo-ler.” Such speakers are DEAD TO ME.
ADB
August 3, 2007 — 10:00 pm
Ha! It’s ash-felt! And aluminium!
And Mel-bun! And Lon-ceston!
These are the correct pronunications. Anything else is wrong wrong wrong.
Ass-fault. Hilarious!
Kris
August 3, 2007 — 11:31 pm
I say Mel-bun and Lon-ceston! I even say “Woosster-sheer” sauce! But “ash-felt” is just nonsense. Where does the “ash” come from? The AS is separate from the PH!
crumpet
August 4, 2007 — 7:25 pm
From Merriam-Webster…
Main Entry: 1 as·phalt
Pronunciation: ‘as-“folt also ‘ash-, especially British -“falt
So they’re both right. Except “ash-felt” is… righter.
Kris
August 5, 2007 — 12:13 am
Really? I can’t believe it says that.
ADB
August 7, 2007 — 11:08 pm
Oh you know what else is crazy?
That people from NSW say “Kewl” and “Pewl” instead of “cool” and “pool”.
Seriously, we can’t watch the weather report in winter here because it bugs us so much! “Tomorrow will be kewl.” Gargh!
ADB
August 7, 2007 — 11:08 pm
Sorry, just had to get that off my chest.