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Pronounciation of: "to push the envelope" | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| tennisfan Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 5351 days ago 130 posts - 247 votes  Speaks: English*, Italian, Spanish Studies: German | Message 1 of 21 09 June 2012 at 12:23am | IP Logged | ||
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Today I heard this phrase on the radio, "to push the envelope."
I'm a native American English speaker. Whenever I talk about envelopes, I pronounce the first "e" as in the word "pen." "envelope." And yet today, the person on the radio said "push the envelope" and said it like that, "pen," and it sounded... odd. And I thought about it for a moment and realized---I have never heard anyone said "push the envelope" any other way than "on"-velope. Even I do that. I say "(p)envelope" normally but "(on)velope" for that phrase. Does anyone else do that? as in, use "pen"/envelope when talking about... envelopes, but use "on"/envelope only for that particular expression? Edited by Fasulye on 09 June 2012 at 3:47am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| lingua nova Newbie United States Joined 4546 days ago 25 posts - 39 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Indonesian, Tagalog, French | Message 2 of 21 09 June 2012 at 12:29am | IP Logged | ||
Native American English speaker here, too--New York City metro area, to be more specific. I would say "push the (on)envelope," if I were to say that phrase without deliberately thinking about which pronunciation to go with. "Push the (en)envelope" actually sounds pretty dissonant to me, for whatever reason. I think that I'd most likely pronounce the "on" variant of the word in the vast majority of cases, as well, though I'm certain I've used the "en" variant in my life. How about we tackle the "koo"-pon vs. "kyoo"-pon dilemma next! :P 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| sillygoose1 Tetraglot Senior Member United States Joined 4627 days ago 566 posts - 814 votes Speaks: English*, Italian, Spanish, French Studies: German, Latin | Message 3 of 21 09 June 2012 at 12:36am | IP Logged | ||
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Philadelphia.
I say (pen)velope and kyoo-pon. Edited by sillygoose1 on 09 June 2012 at 12:36am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| tennisfan Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 5351 days ago 130 posts - 247 votes Speaks: English*, Italian, Spanish Studies: German | Message 4 of 21 09 June 2012 at 12:43am | IP Logged | ||
it sounds dissonant to me, too! but that's rather bizarre---because in every other single situation, I would say (pen)velope, but only for that phrase I would say (on)velope. strange. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| tastyonions Triglot Senior Member United States goo.gl/UIdChYRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4656 days ago 1044 posts - 1823 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish Studies: Italian | Message 5 of 21 09 June 2012 at 1:41am | IP Logged | ||
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Texan here, though the Texas influence on my English is mostly idiomatic and lexical, rather than pronunciation.
I say "on"-velope and "enn"-velope interchangeably in normal speech, but in the idiom "push the envelope," the "on"-velope pronunciation definitely sounds more natural. Maybe it has something to do with the successive vowel sounds in "the" and "en?" Edited by tastyonions on 09 June 2012 at 1:42am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| beano Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4613 days ago 1049 posts - 2152 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Russian, Serbian, Hungarian | Message 6 of 21 09 June 2012 at 2:09am | IP Logged | ||
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In Scotland the word is always pronounced as (en)envelope.
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| rivere123 Senior Member United States Joined 4821 days ago 129 posts - 182 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 7 of 21 09 June 2012 at 3:27am | IP Logged | ||
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Another Southerner, Louisianan. I'm prone to say (on)velope in this phrase too, but everyone around me seems more of a fan of (pen)velope, ironically.
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| lingua nova Newbie United States Joined 4546 days ago 25 posts - 39 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Indonesian, Tagalog, French | Message 8 of 21 09 June 2012 at 4:48am | IP Logged | ||
That's what I'm thinking. Let's complicate, and simultaneously clarify, this more. How does everyone pronounce the preceding "the"? I'm assuming like "thee," as in "push thee on-velope," as opposed to "push thuh en-velope." For me, it's: th(ee) and (on)velope 1 person has voted this message useful |
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