Wordie: Macabre: Comments

Comment by qroqqa, 2 months ago

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 09:58:02 +0000

The OED gives the two pronunciations /məˈkɑːbrə/ and /məˈkɑːb/ in that order for BrE, and the AmE equivalents in the same order. This seems to me to miss the natural third possibility, /məˈkɑːbə/, but I assume they've done some sort of quantitative research and found that few people pronounce it that way. I doubt that many people 'mispronounce' it.

Comment by seaghost, 2 months ago

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 08:06:10 +0000

I can't think of many words that are as often mispronounced as this one.

Comment by bilby, 10 months ago

Wed, 21 Nov 2007 20:35:23 +0000

Sounds like mu(h)-carb in Australia.

Comment by jenbug, 10 months ago

Wed, 21 Nov 2007 20:29:16 +0000

Somehow it sounds more enigmatic to pronounce it "-cawb."

Comment by reesetee, about 1 year ago

Sat, 22 Sep 2007 17:45:27 +0000

We won't tell anyone. ;-)

Comment by uselessness, about 1 year ago

Sat, 22 Sep 2007 16:06:11 +0000

It's one of those words I never say aloud. But I always assumed it was pronounced "MAC uh bree." Hmm, maybe I shouldn't be admitting that here. ;-)

Comment by herotuesday, about 1 year ago

Sat, 22 Sep 2007 13:27:22 +0000

I'm a big fan of it's when pronounced "muh-cawb" vs. "mu-ca-bruh".
The implied "re" on the end really sings to me.