randallsquared comments on What truths are actually taboo? - Less Wrong

5 Post author: sunflowers 16 April 2013 11:40PM

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Comment author: randallsquared 17 April 2013 03:06:48PM 4 points [-]

...but people (around me, at least, in the DC area) do say "Er..." literally, sometimes. It appears to be pronounced that way when the speaker wants to emphasize the pause, as far as I can tell.

Comment author: amacfie 17 April 2013 06:40:15PM 2 points [-]

I hear "er", literally (rhotically), quite infrequently and I always assumed that people said it that way because of seeing "er" in written English and not knowing that it was intended to be pronounced "uh"; similarly, I've heard "arg" spoken by people who thought "argh" from written English was pronounced that way.

Comment author: arundelo 17 April 2013 06:57:46PM *  2 points [-]

In my previous commented I restrained myself from linking to Ant Phillips's Um & Aargh but now you've given me sufficient excuse. (The chorus sounds to my American ears like "um and ah".)

Edit: Grumble grumble Markdown parser bug grumble grumble.

Comment author: randallsquared 17 April 2013 07:53:12PM 1 point [-]

...but "argh" is pronounced that way... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOlKRMXvTiA :) Since the late 90s, at least.