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Posted Mar 7, 2002 by Bluebottle
Just wondering, how exactly do Americans pronounce "man"? How is it different from the Southern/West Country/Yorkshire/Birmingham/Dorset & Isle of Wight/Midlands/Geordie/Scouse/Scottish/Welsh/Irish/Australian/Canadian/South African etc. pronunciation of the word "man", and are there regional variations within America itself?
<BB<
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Posted Mar 7, 2002 by Gnomon [See A60420098 for details of new sign-in system]
Listing all those places together makes it sound like they all pronounce "man" in the same way! The broadest pronunciation of "a" in England is probably the North of England. This is the "a" sound of Anglo-Saxon. The southern pronunciation of "a" is more closed, part of the way towards being an "e" sound, particularly, the "upper class" way of saying it. This is similar to the American pronunciation. This is the ae sound of Anglo-Saxon.
I know this is not very clear, but it is very difficult to describe in words, because there is such a variation among English speakers.
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Posted Mar 7, 2002 by Steve K.
I don't think there is much variation of the pronunciation of "man" in the USA ... unless you happen to be a Reggae musician, in which case it is "mon". 
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Posted Mar 8, 2002 by Wand'rin star
<pedantic aside> i before e, except after c, in modern English </pedantic aside> 
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Posted Mar 8, 2002 by Gnomon [See A60420098 for details of new sign-in system]
We always used to say "I before E except after C, except in the case of C.I.E." CIE was the national transport company.
Many people know the rule but don't know where it should be applied. They get confused when they come across words like vein. The I before E rule only applies when the sound is "ee", so we have sieze, achieve and conceive.
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Posted Mar 10, 2002 by Steve K.
It is weird science that makes one want to forfeit caffeine. 
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Posted Mar 10, 2002 by Gnomon [See A60420098 for details of new sign-in system]
Not wanting to ever forfeit caffeine, I have to admit that the rule is of limited use, because of the large number of exceptions.
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Posted Mar 11, 2002 by Bluebottle
I was taught the rule was:
"i before e except after c, where the "ie" ryhme with d".
Hence exceptions like "weird" etc, where it doesn't rhyme.
<BB<
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Posted Jun 15, 2002 by SeedNotHerd
Did you mis-spell 'seize' deliberately? Was it a joke?
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Posted Nov 4, 2002 by Dazi
"I before E except after C, or when sounding like ay as in weighing or neigh."
"Man" is pronounced with the short a (or ä in German) sound found in words like "tan", "apple", "and," etc. in all the American English I've heard.
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Posted Nov 4, 2002 by Gnomon [See A60420098 for details of new sign-in system]
SeedNotHerd,
I misspelled seize by mistake. I confused seize and siege.
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