7:45 there's something so funny to me about the phrase "he isn't even _named_ after a pool that's literally dead"

This segment immediately made me think of the actor Matt Berry who intentionally reverses the rule for the noun compound for the sake of humor. Example he will actually say dog-FOOD. Or super-MAN. It's hilarious and so distinctive. In a similar vein, Southerners will place the emphasis on the second word in the compound word "PEA-nut butter" so that it is "peanut BUT-ter". My dad pronounced it this way.

@atypicalgeek88

Жыл бұрын

I've noticed that reversal for fun catching on - the McElroys (podcast my brother my brother and me) and even a gaming YTer I watch do it sometimes! Really demonstrates how humour is about subverted expectations! Re: peanut BUTter, I guess for me (Canadian) it's a compound and for speakers like your dad, it's a noun phrase! I would only say it his way in something, like, "no, not the peanut BUT-ter, the peanut BRIT-tle!" Interesting how "brittle" is a noun here!

@defunkdafied

Жыл бұрын

What do you mean by Southerners? Southern US speakers? I have a Southern English accent and also say peanut BUTter

@Mixxie67

Жыл бұрын

@@defunkdafied US Southerners.

@Mixxie67

Жыл бұрын

@@defunkdafied That's interesting. I also find it funny how at least some Brits but the emphasis on "sauce" when they say "tomato sauce". Most people in the States say "TOMATO sauce". As far as "tomayto/tomahto" that's more of a regional thing and even then it's really a generational thing. Older Yankees will say "toMAHto". That's how my late MIL pronounced it. She as born in 1926. My FIL probably said it that way also because they grew up in the same affluent area of Rhode Island. I never knew him though. I'd have to ask my husband.

@Squatsheldon

Жыл бұрын

Peanut Whistle

GREENhouse vs green HOUSE is one of the few examples I can think of where changing the stress in English actually changes the meaning.

@rosiefay7283

Жыл бұрын

Light housekeeping.

@Brindlebrother

Жыл бұрын

Lighthouse keeping.

@musigalglo

Жыл бұрын

There are lots of examples of changed stress modifying the meaning of a sentence as a whole rather than within a single word e.g. "I didn't see HER" (I saw someone else) vs. "I didn't SEE her" (but maybe I heard her?) vs. "I DIDN'T see her" (I really really didn't) etc.

@henryfish

Жыл бұрын

Others like this are the White House and just a white house in your neighborhood. Or a hot dog on the grill vs a hot dog who has been out in the sun too long and should hydrate. You also have one word examples like rebel. A REbel is one who reBELS.

@thomaswilliams2273

Жыл бұрын

I was thinking about his example where a subMARiner would be either substitute or under mariner, while a submaRIner would be someone who works in a submarine.

I never really realized until now just how much the stress influences how we hear things. For example, you emphasize the syllables in subcontractor very differently from how we do here in the US and as a result, it sounds very “British” when you do it. I didn’t even realize that distinction was the result of emphasis until now, I just thought of it as a British accent.

@jgreen2015

Жыл бұрын

I came to the same realisation yesterday with the word 'garage'. In America is 'ga-rAAAje'. In British (ignoring the common 'garridge') it's 'gA-raaaje'

In Swedish, compounds are easily distinguished by lack of space between the words: eg "sjuksköterska" vs "sjuk sköterska" (sick-nurse vs sick nurse, ie nurse helping the sick vs nurse who is sick). In english this does not seem to be standardised: batman, spider-man, wonder woman are all compounds. Swedish way makes it easier to spot compounds, but also makes it harder to parse the individual words in long compounds. Hyphen is probably the best option in my view.

@Arkylie

Жыл бұрын

Actually, if I'm recalling right, they tend to start out as two words, take on a hyphen, then eventually become just one. Not sure how the stress varies along the process. As a writer who's moved a bit past my former slavish devotion to "The Rules" of English, I've found that I much prefer to combine words into single units if the concept isn't well covered by two separate words; it feels more like asserting an identity for the concept, instead of merely stringing words together. I suspect there's a little German-style compound preference in my head 😅

@davidadams2395

Жыл бұрын

I grew up with hyphens, so I prefer them, but we Americans have moved away from them except when needed for clarity or as compound modifiers; however, most Americans don't know how to use them, so these words have steadily become _closed_ compounds.

@PC_Simo

Жыл бұрын

Same in Finnish. Except we use a hyphen, when the first part ends, and the second part start with the same letter; like: _”Linja-auto”_ (lit. ”Line Car”, but it means: ”Bus”); we don’t write: _”Linjaauto”,_ which would be pronounced with a long ”A” ([linjaːuto]), instead of a hiatus ([ˈlinjaʔˌauto]).

@smkh2890

Жыл бұрын

@@davidadams2395 It's the Germans who need hyphens!

@justinsayin3979

8 ай бұрын

Wish we could do like Swedish, but 'bookstore' and 'shoe store' have the same stress pattern.

Im studying phonetics and this topic in particular is a nightmare :) thank you for the video, it was very helpful and fun at the same time.

@DrGeoffLindsey

4 жыл бұрын

Thanks for letting me know!

I've noticed that stress patterns are among the most noticeable differences between American and British English, but nobody ever seems to talk about that. Would love to see an episode on that! (If you haven't already done it.)

@bolognamozart

Жыл бұрын

Definitely. He didn't mention but as an American I would definitely say subCONTRACTOR , not SUBcontractor

@woodfur00

Жыл бұрын

@@bolognamozart Interesting, because as an American I would put the stress on super- or sub- in every example he listed.

@shinobi-no-bueno

Жыл бұрын

@@woodfur00 really? I've never heard anyone say SUPERman

@woodfur00

Жыл бұрын

@@shinobi-no-bueno You… haven't heard anyone say SUPERman? Including Dr. Lindsey throughout this video?

@jgreen2015

Жыл бұрын

Garage is a good example that I was just talking about yesterday Ignore the 'common' English 'garridge' and focusing on the more upper/middle class form of 'garaaje' with the more french sound Americans say 'ga-rAAAje' where as English say ''gA-raaje"

I just realized that if you put the emphasis on "human" in Human Torch, that'd turn him into a very macabre villain.

@beeble2003

Жыл бұрын

Not if it's the sort of torch that an American would call a flashlight.

@sObad367

4 ай бұрын

@@beeble2003do brits call flashlight a torch??? in our country schools teach us british english. crazy thats after learning english for 9 years ive never picked up on this. for me torch was a wooden stick with a fire on the end

@beeble2003

4 ай бұрын

@@sObad367 Yep. We brought torches into the 20th century, baby!

By the way, this pattern helps you resolve the ambiguity in the phrase, English teacher, as I have just noticed :)

@DrGeoffLindsey

4 жыл бұрын

Great point. And examples like TOY shop (sells toys) and toy SHOP (it's a toy).

@derekmills5394

Жыл бұрын

I love how we instinctively know which of the English German Teacher and the German English Teacher was born in Hamburg and who in Hammersmith.

One of my favourite examples of stress differences is between sleeping bag and sleeping dog - but apparently some people don't hear a difference here!

@leeprice133

11 ай бұрын

How? To me it is very clearly *sleeping* bag for the first and sleeping *dog* for the second.

"joggraphy professor" this fits so well since your name is spelled "geoff" but pronounced "jeff"

Excellent video! This reminded me of Phoebe in Friends saying, "Why isn't it Spidermən? You know, Goldmən, Silvermən, Spidermən..." Chandler replies that it's not his last name, he's a "Spider... MAN" :)

In the same vein you mentioned "green house" vs "greenhouse", there's also "the white house" vs "the White House". And also "blackbird" and "black bird". As a native Spanish speaker, I tend to struggle with these. Spanish certainly has stressed syllables, but it doesn't quite work like English. English seems to have a 3-way contrast in syllable types (full stressed vowel, "BLÀCKbird", full unstressed vowel, "làTEX", reduced unstressed vowel, "bèttER) and completely disallows words starting with two reduced unstressed vowels, there's always some secondary stress, as in "cèleBRAtion", while Spanish has "esternocleidomastoidèo" (or "comunicación" for that matter) with a whole bunch of completely unstressed vowels and a single stressed one. There's something different in the way syllable stress works, because native Spanish speakers tend to confuse primary and secondary stress, so "HESitáting" will be routinely pronounced as "hésiTAting". I still find it hard to pronounce correctly because the strongest syllable is too far away from the end of the word. Spanish has /'ra.pi.do/, /'sa.ko/ and /sa'ko/, but no word of the form /'CV.CV.CV.CV/ Any insight on how exactly does stress compare in English vs Spanish and how to improve its correct perception?

@wilhelmseleorningcniht9410

Жыл бұрын

English also has secondary stresses, which can play a role in this. There are definitely irregular situations with unstressed and unreduced vowels other than secondary stresses though. Oh on second reading, you did mention that lol. I think there are dialectal differences with secondary stresses, as an example when dr. Lindsey says in the video "subcontractor" he doesn't seem to be including a secondary stress on the 'con' of 'contractor,' whereas in my American English I would place a secondary stress on that same syllable, which prevents it from reducing like he had in the video. Another thing is timing. Different languages have different beats if you will and English is pretty strongly 'stress-timed' where stressed syllables come at roughly the same interval, with syllables in between getting squished in order to fit that. Spanish, though this probably depends on the variety, is often described as being 'syllable-timed' which means that the syllables relatively occur at the same speed or rate as when compared to languages like English. To be honest with the confusing of primary and secondary stresses, though it may depend on where you are, in my experience American English in particular seems to flip primary and secondary stresses as well sometimes depending on the context the word finds itself in. I'm not sure if there's actually that much of a difference in the first place in the level of stress between primary and secondary stresses, though that's just a hunch of mine.

@davidadams2395

Жыл бұрын

Which vowel is unstressed in latex? It looks as if you are showing the _ā_ as fully unstressed. Also, not all blackbirds are black. Go figure.

@wilhelmseleorningcniht9410

Жыл бұрын

@@davidadams2395 The E in Ex I presumed was the one they were talking about, since they were talking about non-reduced vowels in unstressed positions

@davidadams2395

Жыл бұрын

@@wilhelmseleorningcniht9410 Ah. He said full unstressed, so I was trying to understand why he used it.

@radadadadee

11 ай бұрын

I had trouble with the words "monastery" because it's doubly stressed as MOnas-TEry. Spanish doesn't have that.

that was a pretty exhaustive list! after watching this i would be shocked to find out he isn't a legitimate comic fan.

9:52 : When he says "as you might have thought", it matches the music of the Superman theme almost to a T.

Your videos are so fun to watch (and listen to). As a non-native speaker, I never realised all of this and I probably pronounce all of those words wrong 😂

I remember Andy Capp from the newspaper comic strips in the 80's. I was today years old when I finally recognized the wordplay.

Interesting as always! A couple notes, I'm pretty sure in standard American we don't stress the sub in subcontractor. Also, super as an adjective is (anecdotally) alive and well among some midwesterners. Lastly, and this doesn't fit thematically, the compound Taco Bell varies literally from speaker to speaker in the same age group, region and family according to an informal study conducted when I was 20. Thanks!

@radadadadee

11 ай бұрын

I say TACO bell

not a word wasted. I love your presentation

One to think about that was missed was the Highlander. Normal People: Highlander/Highl'nder with reduced emphasis on the a in lander. Others: Two separate words High + Lander. - Emphasis 1: HIGH + Lander. - Emphasis 2: High + LANDER.

8:23 Daredevil has the construction V O where V is a transitive verb and O is its object. Like breakfast, killjoy, spoilsport. So, like each of those nouns, it is stressed on the first element.

@beeble2003

Жыл бұрын

No, it's verb + _subject._ The OED gives the etymology of "daredevil" to be the _intransitive_ verb "dare" plus the noun "devil". This is dare meaning "To have boldness or courage (to do something); to be so bold as". And presumably "devil" as in "A person who is enthusiastic, fanatical, or renowned for (also at, about) a specified activity, habit, etc." A daredevil is somebody who is fanatically courageous, not somebody who dares (transitive) Satan.

So cool to finally know, which rules the accentuation of the names of the superheroes like Batman, Spiderman, Dr. Lindsey or Superman follows!

This video is informative educational and entertaining at the same time. Thank you Dr. LINSEY for such a wonderful session! It makes me re-think about my stress.

Interesting! And loving the snippet of John William's score. :-)

This is gold, Geoff. Thanks a lot again.

Simply delightful! Excellent job. Many thanks!

Wow! I never thought of this. Eye-opening

Excellent! This topic is usually so intricate in the bibliography about it. Thank you!

@DrGeoffLindsey

4 жыл бұрын

Thank YOU! I hope it helps.

There is always something new to learn! Wonderful

What a fun video! Thanks, Dr. Lindsey!

Thank you for explaining this feature of English. I've often wondered how the stress was determined.

So clear!!! Thank you professor Lindsey!

@DrGeoffLindsey

4 жыл бұрын

You're very welcome!

Excellent! Having learned this in my elective linguistics course years ago, I have often tried to explain it and not been understood. Next time I will just forward this video.

Phenomenal content. Thank you!

@DrGeoffLindsey

2 жыл бұрын

You're welcome!

5:10 omg I used to read my grandma's Andy Capp comics when I was a kid, I never realised it was a pun 🤯 I guess Flo should have taken his name as a warning 😂

6:12 I always wondered why Americans say "Happy NEWyear" rather than "Happy New YEAR". This explains so much! And at some point Australians started doing this too, influenced by all the Hollywood Christmas specials. Oh well, c'est la vie.

@notwithouttext

11 ай бұрын

interesting how i say "happy NEW year" but "~ we WISH you a merry CHRISTmas and a HAPpy new YEAR ~", because the second is an english song

Hats off to the editor, making Dr. Lindsey speak in time with the music at the end

That we do this so naturally without thinking is so bizzare

@Unknown-jt1jo

5 күн бұрын

Yes, it's bizarre. Human consciousness is an iceberg; we're only aware of a small fraction of our behaviors.

great video! also, as you mentioned with Daredevil --Superman, Submariner, and Batman were all words with their own meanings before they became the names of specific characters

@tulliusexmisc2191

Жыл бұрын

That also applies to Watchmen - most frequently used in the phrase 'night watchmen' . However, I always interpreted Moore's costumed adventurers as watchmen in the other sense: as members of a watch. That makes Watch a noun rather than a verb.

@MrRizeAG

11 ай бұрын

@@tulliusexmisc2191 It's also a pun on watches (as in clocks) which are an important repeated symbol in the story.

@Zzyzzyx

8 ай бұрын

Really? Batman?

@MegaBunnyd

8 ай бұрын

@@Zzyzzyx in the British army a batman was an officer's personal servant or assistant

Very interesting, Dr Lindsey. Thank you

@DrGeoffLindsey

4 жыл бұрын

Glad you liked it, Roxana

When I was a kid an Irish kid came to our class and started talking about the post OFFICE and the dry CLEANERS. I imagine he liked eating ice CREAM too.

@baerlauchstal

Жыл бұрын

Dry CLEANERS throughout these islands. Post OFFICE isn’t often used in England, but you hear it in some Scottish varieties well as Irish ones. Maybe in South Wales too, though stress works very differently in Welsh English.

@peterdowden7694

Жыл бұрын

@@baerlauchstal btw I am in New Zealand

@stephendaly3517

Жыл бұрын

Depends what part of Ireland he was from. I’m from Dublin (east) and we would laugh at the western pronunciation like your old classmate. Ireland has a surprising number of accents and dialects… I always ate ICE cream.

@Isitshiyagalombili

11 ай бұрын

How long would you put up with being a cleaner in damp conditions? Lol Is it also a dry GOODS store?

@peterdowden7694

11 ай бұрын

@Isitshiyagalombili Kevin McCloud on Grand Designs always says "retaining WALL" which sounds odd.

Very fun episode!

Never realized this. Blew my mind.

Things you're unlikely to learn from your English teacher

Thanks for this video!

What a marvelous channel!

@DrGeoffLindsey

Жыл бұрын

Thank you!

I'd never even noticed this. Brilliant.

A related example of the “boy scout” shift would be “all-star”. The word originates from “all star TEAM”, meaning a team of only stars. But it got backformed so that each member of the team is individually an “all-star”, and the stress shifted to the “all” as a result. Even though the same process happened with the term “all-American” (such that individual members of the all-American team receiving this distinction are now called “all-Americans”), the primary stress is still on the “mer”.

“…with the correct stress-“ Good one!

very interesting lesson. As a non native speaker, stressing a word at the right place is exceedingly difficult and haphazard...

All of the bosses in the NES Megaman series are some adjective or noun plus the word "man", and they all put the emphasis on the first part. METALman, BRIGHTman, QUICKman, PHAROAHman, BUBBLEman, BOMBman

This video was quite eye opening.

Dr Lindsay, please do a video on the dark L and the vocalised L. How do you say the name of the letter w, besides "double u"? Do people say "dubby-u"?

@carultch

Жыл бұрын

President Bush was known for calling it "dubbya".

@wilhelmseleorningcniht9410

Жыл бұрын

Dubby-u? I doubt, but 'dubb-you' maybe, unless that was what you were meaning originally. I can't imagine anybody turning the double of double U into 'dubby' L vocalization would make it sound more like 'dubbo/dubbu' than dubby, unless there's some variety out there I'm unaware of. Hm, actually on second thought, with L vocalization and vowel reduction, it could sound potentially like 'dubby' I guess if one could imagine a posh RP speaker saying 'dubby' Namely, that vowel reduction of the 'le' of double in a compound could potentially sound like the 'I' of the word "bit" (albeit centralized and shorter in length) in, say, American English (one that has L vocalization at least) This'd be different from 'dubby' alone, as -y is normally pronounced [i:] like in 'beat' word finally (and this is why I mentioned a posh RP speaker saying it, as word final -y's can be pronounced more like the vowel of 'bit' than 'beat' in that context, though this is rather uncommon nowadays in most English varieties I'm aware of) I think I'd say it as [ˈdʌ̈bɫ̩ˌjɪ̯ʏ] or [ˈdʌ̈bɪ̈̆ˌjɪ̯ʏ] if I'm speaking more quickly.

Thank you, Dr Lindsey, for explaining this rather intricate topic in such a clear and pedagogical way. A breath of fresh air indeed!

superb video, thanks!

@DrGeoffLindsey

4 жыл бұрын

Glad you liked it!

Forgive me, but I was half-expecting you to pronounce it "Syuperman," based on another of your videos. I've heard several British people say "syuper" for "super," and I must confess, I pronounce it "syuper" for effect; it makes some Americans smile, because they're not expecting that pronunciation from me (I'm a native speaker, born and raised in the USA).

Loved this. The ENTIRE video, after every rule, i was like but... how does Superman fit into all this? 😅

Brilliant!

You are the Compound Superhero Geoff!! Thank you for this video !! I am the villian teacher who is stealing your work and posting it on her Facebook wall. (metaphorically speaking LOL) Thank you!!

@DrGeoffLindsey

4 жыл бұрын

Thank you Stella! Steal away!

@traal

Жыл бұрын

GRAMMAR Jeff 😊

Great video. One question, why do we say Mr Men (with the stress on ‘Mister’) but Mr Tickle (with the stress on ‘Tickle’)?

Dr Lindsay, please do a video on the dark L and the vocalised L. How do you say the name of the letter w, besides "double u"?

@columbus8myhw

Жыл бұрын

I suppose I've heard "dubya", in particular as a nickname for former US president George W. Bush (not to be confused with his father, George H. W. Bush, who was also a president) There's also a dorm building here at Yale called Lanman-Wright Hall or LW for short, but most people call it "L-Dub" I know some languages call the letter "wee" or "weh" to fit the pattern of other letters being named after their sounds, but I've never heard this in English.

I found this video fascinating, so much so that I looked up several videos of people saying full names. When David Attenborough says “this is David Attenborough”, the stress is on his first name, “DAvid”. Videos from many Americans, Australians and New Zealanders also stress the first syllable of their first names. Stephen Fry does a mix, he stresses “HUgh” in “Hugh Laurie”, but “BArt” in “Ross Bart”. Is there some hidden pattern to this?

this video has actually taught me how to pronounce some of the names correctly 💀 never thought "winter soldier" was supposed to be read that way

Most EXCELLENT content! Or is it MOST excellent?

Isn’t the difference not “first word stressed” or “second word stressed”, but rather that both elements in the non-compounds can align 9:56 with pitch-accents, the second optionally aligning with an utterance-final contour, lending it more prominence? The compounds and non-compounds are not simple mirror images of each other, are they? Very much enjoying your videos, which I discovered only recently. Great examples.

@brucebirch2790

11 ай бұрын

Sorry that time code got inserted unintentionally.

8:13 I see "She" in "She-Hulk" as designating or specifying which Hulk she is, so She gets stressed. 8:16 Watchmen could be said to have the suffix -men, as in the common noun "watchmen".

Thanks much.💜

I remember seeing an interview with Dave Grohl talking about his time on SNL(?) with Christopher Walken. He came up to the band and said something like “I’m about to introduce you guys, is it Foo FIGHTERS or FOO Fighters? I can’t remember if it was the first time the band had really contemplated it or not, but they all unanimously agreed it was Foo FIGHTERS lol. Wonderful to see another discussion about something like this because I’d love to see if there’s more that can be said with band names. The rolling STONES, the BEATles, Herman’s HERmits, Pink FLOYD, etc

Thanks!

Iron Fist's name is derived from the general lexicon of 1970s kung fu films, in particular I think it probably came from 1971's "The Duel" which was released in the US under the title "Duel of the Iron Fist". I've always thought of it as "iron FIST". In-story it's a title that goes along with the supernatural power of the "Iron Fist" which is a literal fist of metaphorical iron (ie, very hard and strong). The Iron Fist is the man who has the power to wield the Iron Fist - which can get a little confusing.

I always wondered about the British TV show 'Top Gear'. I grew up treating it like a noun-phrase 'top GEAR', but it seems as if most people are actually inclined toward 'TOP gear'.

We French don’t use accentuation much - hence the comic mistakes we often make when speaking English

@coryjorgensen622

Жыл бұрын

I had a French colleague in graduate school and to me it sounded funny/cute/strange? (I liked it, but I'm not expressing it very well!) to hear her speak English. Her English was perfect with a bit of a French accent, but she seemed to say words without stressing them at all, which sounds really bizarre in English.

@bobbuethe1477

Жыл бұрын

Japanese also tends to put equal stress on all syllables.

you sound like terry deary and i love that

what I find most fascinating is that without having to be told we know where to put the stress instictively.

Deez days “literally” might also fit the compound category

Enlightening. Thank you. Apologies if this question is a disconnect from the subject but have you addressed the word "extraordinary"? I've always pronounced it as a single word but hear some pronounce it as two as in "extra ordinary".

@bbnn5621

Жыл бұрын

I think it’s similar to what he is discussing with “extra ordinary” being similar to the noun phrase and more literal while extraordinary is more suggestive Compound. So something out of the ordinary is 0extra ordinary”, something that is spectacular is “extraordinary”

@nicolab2075

Жыл бұрын

@@bbnn5621 In fact, if I heard someone really separate the two and emphasise the 'ordinary', I might think they meant it was the opposite of amazing, and actually incredibly ordinary 😄

@stiofanmacamhalghaidhau765

Жыл бұрын

@@nicolab2075 I wrote an article a few years back using that very word-play to good effect :-)

@SarahlovesSerge

Жыл бұрын

@@nicolab2075 I agree, I feel like people separate the two words to make sure we don't think it's a compliment

Interestingly, it's actually fairly common for the stress on the Invisible Woman to be flipped the other way around (regardless of whether you include "the" at the beginning), as in INVISIBLE Woman rather than Invisible WOMAN. I can't exactly pinpoint why, but that's how I say it, and I've heard a handful of comictubers say it like that as well (though not all of them!).

@beeble2003

Жыл бұрын

That sounds more like it's trying to contrast this woman, who is invisible, with that woman, who is not.

What about "lineup" "checkout" "handout" "kickoff" "break-in" or "upgrade" "update" "outgrowth" "outhouse" or "outcome" "output" "outcast" or "blowtorch" "swimsuit" "scarecrow" etc...

Interestingly, I never thought much about the stress syllable in these names. Who knew that superheroes could teach us something like this? ;-) I have to wonder about Detective Chimp, though. Is that *really* the character's name, or is it just the title of the character's series? I suppose it could be his nickname.

Is there a difference between US and British English with proper nouns? I have noticed that there are a number that I, as a Londoner, stress on the second element, and Americans stress on the first. Oxbridge Colleges: Jesus College, Pembroke College, Trinity College (although I would stress the first element if it were 'Jesus College, Cambridge', pronounced without any real pause at the comma); Champions League, Football Manager (a videogame, where I would stress 'Manager'. A possible minimal pair with football manager, the job title, where I think I would stress 'football'). Can we interpret it as British/English English assimilating them to the pattern of human personal names (Harley Quinn), and American English treating them as normal noun+noun compounds (Batman)? Or is there something else going on?

@nicolab2075

Жыл бұрын

I remember a programme once explaining that US English has a tendency to push the stress to earlier in the word/phrase (like ICE cream, when I in the UK would say ice CREAM)

In my mind "IRON fist" would be a superhero whose fists are devices for flattening clothing (or maybe a pornstar in a very small and strange niche related to such devices). "iron FIST" is a superhero defined by his fists, which are metaphorically iron-like.

@rosiefay7283

Жыл бұрын

'"iron FIST" is a superhero defined by his fists, which are metaphorically iron-like.' But if you think of the name in that way, it's a bahuvrihi compound. Such compounds are typically stressed on the first element. For example sabretooth, bigfoot, tenderfoot, greenhorn, butterfingers, Bluebeard. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bahuvrihi

My mom's (grand?)mother would do a bit where she would say "I put the emPHAsis on the wrong syLLAble". It still makes me chuckle 😂

:33 the way you said the word 'stress' sent me, you're so clearly screwing w us

I never thought I'd learn about superheroes from an English professor.

The Andy Capp example is funny, especially as some one who's name is Anna Kapp

Amazing video. What about Big Foot?!

@DrGeoffLindsey

Жыл бұрын

Thank you. BIG Foot is like GREENhouse and IRON Man. They get compound stress because they have a new unitary meaning that isn't literal/transparent. We can still say literal non-compounds "I have a big FOOT", "they live in that green HOUSE", "he sculpted an iron MAN". I think Americans can start to use compound stress more readily than Brits. I hear Americans saying "STRANGER things" for the show, but I (and I think many/most Brits) still call it Stranger THINGS.

I'd seen Andy Capp comic strips since I was a little kid . . . never realized the pun until today.

@derekmills5394

Жыл бұрын

Try the German version - ask Bradley Walsh kzread.info/dash/bejne/l6tkr9WBmZzfXc4.html

1:27 - “cell” is short for “cellular”, which makes it an adjective, no?

I want to see a British version of the Human Torch where instead of being on fire he runs around with a flashlight.

I was reaaaaally waiting for Superman

Is "watch" in "watchmen" a verb? Arent' they actually the men of the watch (as in, period in which somebody is stationed as a lookout). So it's just a regular compound.

it's coming up to that time of year when beloved americans will say "happy *NEW* year" with giant emphasis on 'new' as if "new year" is a compound noun

It was at about 8:20 that I noticed that if you walked into the room right now and interpreted what you see on my screen as movie credits, youd be VERY confused. Like, how was this guy on the screen made by such a long list of superheros?

Super teacher....

But can you explain the appropriate stress difference between "Sausage roll" as in the pastry with minced meat in it, vs "Sausage roll" as in a sandwich made using a bread bun and a typical sausage.

I'm a native English speaker with a BA in linguistics, and my kids were always telling me I didn't put the stress in the right place for the band One Direction (and I still trip up long after that band split and became Five Directions).

It's amazing how we've learned things we never knew we learned from people who never knew they were teaching us.

7:04 "orange JUICE" sounds a little suspicious; as if it gets its colour from food dye, rather than fruit.

Iron Fist being said without stressing either word is honestly the cooler way to say it, to me anyway

Neat, neat, neat!!!!