arse is 100% pronounced differently to "ass"
this post was submitted on 11 Jul 2023
82 points (98.8% liked)
Showerthoughts
29590 readers
846 users here now
A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The best ones are thoughts that many people can relate to and they find something funny or interesting in regular stuff.
Rules
- All posts must be showerthoughts
- The entire showerthought must be in the title
- Posts must be original/unique
- Be good to others - no bigotry - including racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, or xenophobia
- Adhere to Lemmy's Code of Conduct
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
That's what I said.
You said the complete opposite, that it's "spelling not pronunciation"
Yeah because arse just sounds like the British way of saying ass. Meaning it's not the pronunciation that's different it's the spelling. Arse sounds different because it is different.
Think of how the British accent sounds and which parts of the words are usually drawn out. If you didn't know they were too different words they should like every other word pronounced differently in British vs American English
Surely no one actually thinks that's how Brits pronounce ass. Surely?
Ass is pronounced ass and arse is pronounced arse
They are generally used differently at least in the bit of the UK I'm from
Ass is the body part/animal and rarely used as an insult
Arse is primarily used as an insult "I don't like him the man's an arse"
I have zero clue how it evolved this way beyond (to me at least) calling someone an ass just sounds wierd.
Ass is very rarely used to mean the body part in the UK
I see, better double check were I live.
In all seriousness though where at its pretty common in the parts I'm at along the length of the forth and clyde canal
It's one of the fun things of living on an island with such a wide range of taking
My first encounter with the word “arse” was when I played Conker’s Bad Fur Day on the N64 as a kid. I thought it was just a funny-sounding way to get around censors back then haha
I feel like parts of the UK have always said ass instead of arse. Like how some places say pants instead of trousers.
Isn't pants an American thing? Never heard that word used here to mean anything other than certain types of underwear
Its another local accent word from nearish Manchester iirc that got taken over when colonists went to America. Its be like if mostly Yorkshire people went over as colonists and Americans used keks/kegs instead of pants.
That I did not know. Always learning
I did just remember 1 innstane of pants as trousers
Trevor and Simon on Saturday morning tv heh
They can't be arsed
I used too 😅
Lmao. I love when Americans just make shit up about Europeans
We never do that. Now go back to driving around in your biscuit powered car.
Yeah these are two very different pronunciations in Standard American English. /æs/ versus /ɑrs/
As a result there is a difference in severity as well, akin to the difference between “damn” and “darn”.
From what I'm gathering, they have very different pronunciations in British English as well. I'm not sure about this shower thought, it seems like OP might be the one that's mistaken?
That's a fair assumption lol I didn't learn for a long time that it wasn't just the English way of pronouncing ass. It flows perfectly with the other differences in word pronunciation that it never even crossed my mind they could be different words.
/ɑrs/
I have never heard an American say /ɑrs/ for any reason if the were not hanging around with Brits or referring to/imitating some British thing.
Those words sound the same? I'm one of those Americans who did not know.
Those words do not sound the same
Not in the slightest in the UK. Source: in the UK.
Ass isn't really said, and more seen as an 'Americanism'. Arse is way more common.
Nope. They do not sound the same.
Not quite. Brits don’t pronounce the R before a consonant, but the vowel will be more similar to the vowel in “paw” than in “ash.”
To me arse just sounded like the British way of saying ass and I never really questioned it but I learned eventually
I've seen some Scottish and Irish comedians who lean into that 'r' like they're trying to kick a potato to Portugal.
can confirm, that is how we talk!