Re: USAGE: Verse, was: Re: Thorn vs Eth

 --- Roger Mills <romilly@...> wrote: > Tristan
wrote:

> >I actually mentioned 'verse' < 'versus' in my
> initial post on the
> >matter.
> Apologies; I must have skimmed over that.
>
> >And the how and why is clear: /v8:s@z/ sounds like
> >/v8:s/+/{s,z,@z}/.
>
>
>  However, in all my roughly 25,000 days I've never
> heard it pronounced with
> final /z/, as if it were "verses"; the final /s/ is
> always voiceless, even
> from dum-dum sports commentators (amazingly).
Surely you jest. By far the most common pronunciation
I'm familiar with *is* /v8:s@z/. In fact, I'm not sure
that I've heard it with /s/.

> Aside
> from academese (it's
> one of my favorite words), about the only other
> frequent context is
> discussions of legal matters--
It's in sports stuff *all* the time. This would
probably be close to the most common use of the word!

> "[US] v. Enron" (as it is abbreviated nowadays, for
> reasons unknown to me).
I'm pretty sure it's normally 'vs' in Oz.

> Curiously, newsreaders for the past 15 years or so
> have been referring to
> such cases as "United States _vee_ Enron"-- to save
> a syllable's worth of
> breath, I guess. Prior to that, it was "versus", and
> IIRC, was abbreviated
> "vs." in court papers.
Can't say I'm familiar with that pronunciation,
myself.

> Sorry to rant, but I do after all qualify for
> curmudgeonhood, and have
> always been a bit of a language snob. :-)))
I'm one too. Really gets on my brother's nerves. 'More
easier', he'll say, and I'll say 'easier'. And then
he'll say 'Who cares?' and I'll remind him he's a
footballer :)

Tristan

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