How to pronounce J

[cullbucket]

This may sound daft, but I'm wondering if anyone else pronounces J as Jai (rhymes with pie). When teaching my kid the alphabet I get ridiculed by my wife for saying Jai instead of Jay, like the rest of the world, in her opinion. I know at least one of my Thurso mates does the same thing.... is this a Caithness or Thurso thing????

[trinkie]

I'd forgotten that - We certainly used to say Jie ( Pie) in Caithness
But most children now say Jay.... !

My pet dislike is when they say Haitch rather than Aitch ' H '

Then there's Zee rather than Zed

Where I help with Reading they have difficulty with the Wh words, and that in turn leads to difficulty with the spelling .

But then the Yoof of today will find a way whatever !

I really get cross with the BBC News Readers putting an R into words all over the place..... Drawring, I sawr the man steal the car .... etc etc.
All quite charming when used colloquially, I suppose.

[j4bberw0ck]

I really get cross with the BBC News Readers putting an R into words all over the place..... Drawring, I sawr the man steal the car .... etc etc.

My pet hate on this is "Lore and Order" (we have a legislature equipped with tall pointy hats and white horses called Shadowfax?).

But they also drop "r" as well - The Home Seccetry, Foreign Seccetry.

And then there's the "Pry Minister....." - spookily appropriate......

PS Sorry Cullbucket..... I was brought up with the "jay" version and first heard the "jai" version when working for a Scot down in Cheshire years ago. I think it's a wider usage than Caithness.

[unicorn]

I also say jai, but I am the only one in the house who does:)

[aileenmac]

Yes I was brought up with Jai in Glasgow. We also said Kenya as KEENYA, but my kids laugh and say it is KENYA.
In kent it annoyed me when they always said Brought instead of Bought, and vic e verca. So they BROUGHT a new house, and bought a friend along. I think that is local to Kent.

[willowbankbear]

We all say Jai in this house, but someone beat me to it, wheres the R in drawing?? Ive pulled a few of them up about it(tongue in cheek)after they told me I sounded like a paddy & the majority see the funny side

[golach]

"J" or "Chey"

'Iss pleice gies me 'e chandice wi' ids choy-rides an' ids chazz'
Ids Chezabels an' Chonahs, ids chewels an' ids braws;
Ma chints are cherked an' chotled wi' chookan cars and trams,
Ye'd need till ken chu-chitsu chist till chink 'e traffic chams.

this little verse comes from "Tatties an' Herreen" a collection of poems written by Donald Grant under the pename of Castlegreen

[garycs]

I thought all Scots said "Jai", certainly say it in Dumfries as well as Caithness.

If I could just ask a quickie, when did sixth (six-th) suddenly become sik-th? Really winds me up when I hear TV presenters saying it!

[MR J]

I thought all Scots said "Jai", certainly say it in Dumfries as well as Caithness.

If I could just ask a quickie, when did sixth (six-th) suddenly become sik-th? Really winds me up when I hear TV presenters saying it!

I have recently heard a few people from darn sarth saying aks instead of ask.

Also noticed in Thurso particularly that people finish their sentences with an upward tone like the Australians do. Like a question?

MR JAI

[kc]

I say jai and the kids tell me its jay. i was brought up in fife and the kids in Thurso.

What they found hard when first at school was spelling , and putting the sound ch for J chumper for jumper and cham for jam!

[weeboyagee]

Then there's Zee rather than Zed......and all the Canadians say "aaaargh" to that!!!!!

golach's got the answer - it's chigh with "ch" as in church!

WBG :cool:

[chaz]

I also say jai, but I am the only one in the house who does:)
SNAP im the only one in our house that does:lol:

[George Brims]

Here in California it's always Zee, but we have one professor who when he sends email to me or my boss (also Scottish) always signs himself "Dr Zed".

The "drawring" thing is simply the local dialect of southern Engerland just like we have all our Caithness words and pronunciation. I try to tell myself that when it annoys me!

The other one I notice along with "sik-th" is "fith" for fifth. I think it's a speech impediment actually as I have asked people to try to put in the middle "f" and they just can't do it.

KEENya/KENya - It was originally KEENya until Jomo KENyatta became the head of state. It is now officially KEENya again.

[lin]

I noticed in Caithness any word begining with j is pronounced ch. When you say jam, you say cham or John is chon any one else noticed this?? Saying that, I love the Caithness accent.

[Dali]

My oldest says Jamped instead of jumped realy anoys me along with how instead of why .

[garycs]

I lived in the East Midlands for a while where they use "brought" instead of "bought"

e.g. I brought a new car at the weekend.

I like the Caithness "ch" instead of "j", that's the way the accent has developed; similar to the lancashire accent pronouncing "the" as a very short "t" and Geordies saying "wor" instead of "our"

[dirdyweeker]

My oldest says Jamped instead of jumped realy anoys me along with how instead of why .


I hear the word 'jamped' used very frequently with primary and 2ndary school children these days. I am forever correcting my son and he seems to think he is right.

[lab]

say ji as in pie I also say fourty as in as pour not fort which every one laughs at but my pet hate is when people put a l in chimney and say chimnley

i

[Big G]

I have recently heard a few people from darn sarth saying aks instead of ask.

Also noticed in Thurso particularly that people finish their sentences with an upward tone like the Australians do. Like a question?

MR JAI

That annoys me like mad when people are using a 'question voice' for a statement!
and also young youths of today say 'like' or 'you know what i mean like' after EVERYTHING they say - that winds me up too!!

I also say Jai (pie)!

[cullbucket]

Och well, its not just me, I suppose I will try and teach my kids the way of Jai.... it will make up for them having Yankee accents....

[Lolabelle]

Also noticed in Thurso particularly that people finish their sentences with an upward tone like the Australians do. Like a question?

MR JAI[/quote]

Do we? I have never noticed that, most likely because it is the norm here.
But back to the Jai, Jay question. In Australia we say Jay, but we live in Dai Street and pronounce it Day. And always need to spell it out. If we say Dai as in Die, they will write Die as in dead. I also have to spell our last name and I had to with my maiden name too. Beavan and Harpur. I just automatically spell everything.
Bye for now.
That is B, for ball. Y. E. :Razz

[Angela]

I was brought up to say Jai (like Pie) in both Caithness and Leith, but somewhere along the way I seem to have started saying Jay.
I liked the Caithness "Ch" sound for J - Chimmy instead of Jimmy etc.
Can't stand people saying "I'm going to lay down" - instead of "lie down".
Hmm. But I say "lay the table" now and I'm sure I was brought up to "set the table"...

[pultneytooner]

I've always pronounced it as jai and one of my pet hates is zee instead of zed. Americans corrupting our language, they can't even spell the words properly.;)

[young]

:Razz I dont think the jai is just a caithness thing as i was brought up in Leith and niddrie in edinburgh and i have always said jai but when i moved up here a few years ago i also noticed that people up her do say ch instead of j (i.e chohn instead of john

[Errogie]

I was brought up with jai and still use it. When I went all the way to Dorset from Caithness used to get pulled up for saying "Book" with a long "o" rather than "buk".

But my pet hate has to be Caith-ness with the second part stretched out and this can come from incomers who have been resident for many years.
From the poemby Castle green I think, it should go with "peaceful bliss and quaitness"
Usually a good idea if in doubt to give more weight to the first part of any word in Scots and Gaelic pronounciation.

[mccaugm]

This may sound daft, but I'm wondering if anyone else pronounces J as Jai (rhymes with pie). When teaching my kid the alphabet I get ridiculed by my wife for saying Jai instead of Jay, like the rest of the world, in her opinion. I know at least one of my Thurso mates does the same thing.... is this a Caithness or Thurso thing????

In Ross-Shire we say Jay but if reciting the alphabet it is said Ji (pie). Never figured out why???

[futurelegends]

I have always prounced it 'Jay' (well from the age of 2 (ish) I suppose.

I was raised in the West of Scotland.

[htwood]

hey cullbucket...yankee accents are from the northeastern states of Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire. You won't find a yankee accent on the west coast! More likely to catch a bit of Inuit or Canuck in Alaska.

[Sporran]

hey cullbucket...yankee accents are from the northeastern states of Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire. You won't find a yankee accent on the west coast! More likely to catch a bit of Inuit or Canuck in Alaska.

Hey htwood...don't forget the other New England states, lol! My husband's from Massachusetts, and would be miffed if he knew you left him out! ;) He's a proud Yankee, and says that all New Englanders are Yankees. So that would be Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont.

[mischief]

well i find this really funny. when i moved up here i did not know what people were sayin because instead of sayin jug some say chug, or jelly its chelly i say j but i quite like the jai way! lolx:)

[peedie]

when just saying the letter i say jai, but when using it in a word it turns into a ch sound...make sense of that :Razz

[Through]

It is most definitely Jai and that's what my kids say. That way makes it more distinctive from Gee and in my personal opinion, less wimpy.

What I hate is, "That curtains." This is not a local accent, just a grammatical error.

I also hate all of the Americanisms that are flourishing. It is not one time, it is once. It is not an intersection, it is a junction. You do not make a right, you turn right. Ad infinitum.

[scotsboy]

What about the letter "H"

HAYTCH
ITCH

or something else.

I can never get my head around "an istoric" etc as the BBC contunually say.

[Angela]

Surely H is aitch but an H (? a HAITCH) seems to be creeping in especially on TV these days....
or disappearing, like "an otel" for your holiday?/oliday?

[Through]

Aitch. For sure.

[newlabeluk]

Definately a JAI for me. and my pet hate.... Borrow me that pencil,will ya?
drives me round the twist.