Tuesday 26 March 2013

Flautist

My favourite snippet of conversation this week was what our drummer said when we corrected his pronunciation of the word for somebody who plays the flute. I present it here using the IPA pronunciation symbols. He's confident, concise, and he seems to reject the whole system of recieved pronunciation:

əʊfʌkɒf. lu:tenənt. leftenənt. ɪts fʌkɪŋ flu:tɪst.

However some people agree with how I say it. The Flight Of The Conchords use the word in a rhyme in their song "Inner City Pressure" (a song and style which the Pet Shop Boys ripped off for their entire career):

Inner
Inner city
Inner city pressure (pressure)
So you think maybe you'll be a prostitute
Just to pay for your lessons and you're learning the flute
Ladies wouldn't pay you very much for this
Looks like you'll never be a concert flautist

Richard "RP" B

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