How do you pronounce "extraordinary" ?

I've been reading a lot of Rolad Dahl books with my daughter recently and this word come up a lot. I read it as Eggs-straw-dinary and I'm right.

Anyone who says it another way is wrong, unless we're playing opposites.
 
Castiel said:
It is a single word. It derives from 'extraordinarius' which means "Out of the usual order"



Iks-strawr-dn-er-ee, is how it is correctly pronounced.
Click to expand...

Well yeeeees, it is a single word, but it's a compund word, no? As you say, "extra" meaning "outside of" and ordinary(-rius) "Of or relating to order; orderly, usual, customary, regular, ordinary." So, outside of the norm, pretty much.

Having said that, I still say ek-straw-din-airy, but that's because I'm an oik.

Discussing pronunciation is one thing, arguing about "correct" pronunciation is never going to end well. We speak "the queen's English" - this from a woman who can rhyme "house" with "rice."



Oh, er - better bung in a smiley in case I've been accidentally inflammatory :D
 
How do you lot pronounce controversy? I know the correct way is emphasising the first syllable, CONtroversy, but I still prefer saying it by emphasising the second syllable, 'conTRAWversy'.
 
Snograt said:
Well yeeeees, it is a single word, but it's a compund word, no? As you say, "extra" meaning "outside of" and ordinary(-rius) "Of or relating to order; orderly, usual, customary, regular, ordinary." So, outside of the norm, pretty much.

Having said that, I still say ek-straw-din-airy, but that's because I'm an oik.

Discussing pronunciation is one thing, arguing about "correct" pronunciation is never going to end well. We speak "the queen's English" - this from a woman who can rhyme "house" with "rice."



Oh, er - better bung in a smiley in case I've been accidentally inflammatory :D
Click to expand...



You are right, It is a compound word in Latin, however in English the 'Extra' is an abreviation of 'Extraordinary' which makes it unusual in that regard as the prefix derives from the word to which it is prefixed (if you get what I mean). The original latin etymology was 'extra' (out)....'ordo' (order), which became extraordinarius like I said. The point I was trying to make is that you wouldn't hyphenate the prefix (Extra-Ordinary), or use it as an open compound (Extra Ordinary) or normally pronounce it as two words in those examples, other examples would be Supertanker, 'Infrastructure, Firefly and so on! As opposed to Post Office, Full Moon, or mass-produced, etc....:)


As for 'correct' pronunciation, this ignores regional and accented variations, all of which would be perfectly correct as well within those parameters, I was only giving the standardized pronunciation. :)
 
Last edited:
Merlin5 said:
How do you lot pronounce controversy? I know the correct way is emphasising the first syllable, CONtroversy, but I still prefer saying it by emphasising the second syllable, 'conTRAWversy'.
Click to expand...

I'm really bad with this word, switching between the two....it annoys me no end but still I do it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom