Why can't Americans spell Caribbean ?

caaahyoko wrote: [quote=jeffrey]Alright, then.

Well, somebody please hook me up with the right pronunciation, then.

Is it actually "Ca-rib-BE'-an" (as per the aforementioned Disney of youth) then, instead of "Ca-RIB'-be-an" (as Jimmy B. and myself have used) ?

My lovely Haitian husband says you can pronounce it either way. No one in his rather large family, as far as he can remember, has corrected someone for saying it one way or the other.

In other words, a lot of people have better things to worry about.

EDIT: 1000th post! Wheee!
Regardless it is spelled with one r and 2 b's and we pronounce it one way and you pronounce it the other. Why we gonna correct you when we takin your $ ?

sweet tea wrote: why can't non-southerners* spell y'all?

you all = y'all

not yall
not ya'll

y'all
apostrophe goes in place of the missing letters, y'all.

related: "y'all" is plural.


*i'd say yankees, except it's not just yankees.

you a yankee to me. all of you yankees to me and my people.

JAH wrote: you a yankee to me. all of you yankees to me and my people.

For someone so particular about spelling, there's a remarkable paucity of verbs in your sentences.

Carnivore wrote: [quote=JAH]you a yankee to me. all of you yankees to me and my people.

For someone so particular about spelling, there's a remarkable paucity of verbs in your sentences.
I speak my dialect, you speak yours. So what yankee bwoy? Yuh dedin me wit dis.

JAH wrote: [quote=Carnivore][quote=JAH]you a yankee to me. all of you yankees to me and my people.

For someone so particular about spelling, there's a remarkable paucity of verbs in your sentences.
I speak my dialect, you speak yours. So what yankee bwoy? Yuh dedin me wit dis.
That must be the Carribean dialect.

Subject: Re: Why can't Americans spell "Caribbean" ?

JAH wrote: [quote=jeffrey][quote=modsquad]Where does the accent fall

My vote's for "Ca-RIB'-bean" (where caps and ' denote the accent/emphasis)


WRONG! Only tourists say it that way.

Isn't the emphasis on the 'CARIB' part? I thought it was called the Caribbean because of the Carib people of the West Indies and South America? That's how I remember to emphasize the 'Carib' part and not the 'Ribbean' part....

Correct? yay or nay?

Oh and I always misspell Caribbean.... just b/c I don't know how to spell "Carib" correctly... I also frequency misspell Chinese... and I sometimes misspell my middle name...

Subject: Re: Why can't Americans spell "Caribbean" ?

StuyGal wrote: [quote=JAH][quote=jeffrey][quote=modsquad]Where does the accent fall

My vote's for "Ca-RIB'-bean" (where caps and ' denote the accent/emphasis)


WRONG! Only tourists say it that way.

Isn't the emphasis on the 'CARIB' part? I thought it was called the Caribbean because of the Carib people of the West Indies and South America? That's how I remember to emphasize the 'Carib' part and not the 'Ribbean' part....

Correct? yay or nay?

FWIW...

this logic does not work for

japanESE
chinESE
pakiSTANi

to name a few

FWIW

Subject: Re: Why can't Americans spell "Caribbean" ?

StuyGal wrote: [quote=JAH][quote=jeffrey][quote=modsquad]Where does the accent fall

My vote's for "Ca-RIB'-bean" (where caps and ' denote the accent/emphasis)


WRONG! Only tourists say it that way.

Isn't the emphasis on the 'CARIB' part? I thought it was called the Caribbean because of the Carib people of the West Indies and South America? That's how I remember to emphasize the 'Carib' part and not the 'Ribbean' part....

Correct? yay or nay?

Non-withstanding Sweet-tea's point, yes. The Carib and Taino tribes were the main inhabitants of the area before the Europeans came and almost totally wiped them out.

Subject: Re: Why can't Americans spell "Caribbean" ?

sweet tea wrote: [quote=StuyGal][quote=JAH][quote=jeffrey][quote=modsquad]Where does the accent fall

My vote's for "Ca-RIB'-bean" (where caps and ' denote the accent/emphasis)


WRONG! Only tourists say it that way.

Isn't the emphasis on the 'CARIB' part? I thought it was called the Caribbean because of the Carib people of the West Indies and South America? That's how I remember to emphasize the 'Carib' part and not the 'Ribbean' part....

Correct? yay or nay?

FWIW...

this logic does not work for

japanESE
chinESE
pakiSTANi

to name a few

FWIW

Hmm... i don't usually need help remembering how to pronounce those nationalities.... but yes, if you can't remember how to correctly pronounce Japanese or Chinese then this method won't work for you... but honestly if you can't pronounce Japanese or Chinese you may have large issues to contend with....

ok, if that's just your mnemonic -- whatever works for you. i just didn't know if you were suggesting there was an external logic to it.