General / Off-Topic Help me solve a debate: Pronunciation of "Master"

[Arvel Yael]

Having a bit of a debate with a dude at college here in the UK.
I pronounce "Master" "Marster" as in mars, because in the UK that's how we pronounce it.
He pronounced it "Masster" as in massachusetts, because, well, who knows. I guess he watches a load of American youtubers or something.

It feels weird hearing it out of the mouth of someone within the UK, and yet he insists I'm the one in the wrong. It's a silly little thing but the debate's gone on for longer than it should have so I thought I'd settle it here.

 

[Don Alvarez]

You forgot option: "I'm from Middle Earth and I pronounce it "mahstir" like Gollum"

 

[bitstorm]

Well I mean accents vary throughout the UK.

Marster is a Southerner thing I suspect.

"Oh be a darling and run the barth will you..."

"Nah.. Run it yourself you lazy Southern..." etc.

 

[verminstar]

Second choice as in mass and not mars...its really only some the english who say it like mars, although with a thick belfast accent, its more like mosstor ^

 

[Arvel Yael]

Well I mean accents vary throughout the UK.

Marster is a Southerner thing I suspect.

"Oh be a darling and run the barth will you..."

"Nah.. Run it yourself you lazy Southern ponce..." etc.

True enough, but we're both from the same town .

 

[Deleted member 110222]

First option, as in Mars. Why?

It's the correct way to pronounce it.

 

[Frank]

Well I mean accents vary throughout the UK.

Marster is a Southerner thing I suspect.

"Oh be a darling and run the barth will you..."

"Nah.. Run it yourself you lazy Southern..." etc.

Up here in Scotland nobody knows how to pronounce it because nobody has to say it.

But it does look like it's a pronunciation that's particular to your region
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/master

 

[Asp Explorer]

Mahstir would be my closest approximation.

 

[AJW]

Definitive answer:
[video=youtube;ENsEenv8YyQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENsEenv8YyQ[/video]

 

[PigKiller]

I pronounce it maasteerrrr as in ' Saturn'.

 

[Caramel Clown]

Neither. I don't tend to stretch any of the sounds in this word. Where's a proper option in this poll?

 

[OnePercent]

I'm Australian, together with the accent and mostly we pronounce it Marster or sometimes Marsta

 

[lokvette]

Give him a slap and tell him to speak proper.

If hes english then its the first option, or like me ma, where it still sounds like there is a r on the end as the ma in master becomes mar...ster.

I have the same gripe with english youtubers prounceing the word beta as bata..your english its beta, and dont even get me started on the inproper use of the word bring over take that has slipped its way into comman use.

 

[Lianachan]

The great vowel shift has a lot to answer for. Including nonsense like "maaster".

 

[CMDR Moortz]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Received_Pronunciation

The English language has had many interruptions and additions over hundreds of years. It was only with the avent of Radio and the 'BBC' that a real attempt was made to define what official 'English' is, and even then it's not taken very seriously by hairy northerners like myself.

Simply put, there is no 'correct' way to say 'master'. The art of communication is not to be misunderstood.

Now, as they say around my way, gerrof t'internet and gerraat tha harse!

[edit for information purposes]

I'm not even from the north - I live in Nottingham and I'm originally from Birmingham, which just goes to show you don't have to go far from London to hear a proper northern accent - 70 miles or so and you are in 'The North'. They even have a sign on the M1 at Watford Gap services.

 

[Sir.Tj]

Funny thing accents and the north south divide.

North: Blue
Midlands: Green
South: Yellow

I'm in the east and they still regularly point at the moon around here....

Round this way it's pronounced. Maaaarster.

 

[Winterwalker]

Doesn't it depend .. on how you say 'Mars' and how you say 'Massachusetts' ??

(I'll get my coat Mayster)

Voted first option because I'm dead posh.

 

[Matt168]

Well I mean accents vary throughout the UK.

Marster is a Southerner thing I suspect.

"Oh be a darling and run the barth will you..."

"Nah.. Run it yourself you lazy Southern..." etc.

I never get the comment people make about there being no r in bath. Barth would be pronounced like hearth. Bath is more like laugh, which itself is definitely not to be said as laff. Ugh is a minefield all on its own, of course.

Our children are growing up Nothern and even their teachers don't know how to talk proper like what I do, so it's a bit of a struggle at times. My wife has lived practically all her life in the North and speaks correctly, despite her parents being afflicted with very broad Yorkshire accents - I had never heard of the use of "while" (said wahl) in place of "until", as in "he won't be back while Tuesday" before I met them. At least there is hope for the kids anyway. At the moment the main struggle is getting our five year old to understand the difference between f and th which isn't a regional thing and something I remember getting told off about when I was small too.

- - - Updated - - -

I'm in the east and they still regularly point at the moon around here....

Round this way it's pronounced. Maaaarster.

My mum's family are from Wiltshire and I would think most people with strong South West accents would also use that pronunciation.

 

[hairychris]

I grew up in south Hampshire and pronounce it like "Mars". I studies in Manchester and the vast majority of my northern mates pronounced it like "mass".

Definitely a dialect thing!

 

[CMDR Moortz]

the original (i.e pre norman) check of North v South was the boundary of the River Trent. the strong Viking settlements north of the river have given us some of the accents and colloquial phrases we hear today -

for example, not many people are aware that the East Midlands greeting 'Ay up mi aud duck' is directly related to a Viking greeting, with the root of the word 'duck' being related to where we get the english word 'Duke', i.e a person of renown or good standing.