Pronunciation: 'Forty-Ann' Or 'Fort-Ian'?

[Mythopoeika]

now I'm wondering what a computer program or language called FORTLAN might actually do. My guess is that it would function absolutely normally for about 95% of the time - and for the remaining 5%, it would throw in things which are randomly odd, strange, non-sequeterial and otherwise inexplicable. It would cause no harm to the computer whatsoever and impede no vital functions. The weird things would be over and done swiftly while leaving no trace they'd ever happened (or better, an ambiguous and barely-there trace) and any attempt to investigate the oddity will be unresolvable.

So... just like any other app that runs on a computer, then?

 

[Steven]

Surely it's 'fortyun', spoken in a glancing, rapid manner befitting a snobby upper-class gonk who believes that practically everything is unworthy of his notice?

 

[AgProv]

So... just like any other app that runs on a computer, then?

I was looking to be clever and to retrieve artwork from one of the more excitable American religious sides, about how your PC and the Internet are a gateway to Hell and how unwholesome things manifest via your screen and Godless intentions. (This has to be a Fortean thing in itself?) I found this... you can imagine FORTLAN randomly doing things like this according to its inner dictates. https://www.forbes.com/sites/paulta...erated-demon-currently-haunting-the-internet/

 

[kesavaross]

I thought it was pronounce forty-two.

 

[pandacracker]

To prevent arguments over pronunciation may I suggest "fortish" or "fortesque"

 

[Ogdred Weary]

Anyone pronouncing it "forty-ann" should be hanged by the neck until they be dead, then gibbetted at a cross roads as a warning to passing Forteans should they utter the same blasphemy.

 

[Aydee_Aitchdee]

I just realized.

If I'm talking about the magazine (FT) I say "For-TEA-an Times.

But when referring to the subject, I say "that's definitely fort-ian!" or the like

Also, this site- Forty Anna dot Ork

 

[Shady]

Forty-un. :?

This is about the nearest as well as forteeun

 

[Shady]

You can self-assemble the letters anyway you like.

You can, but the bottom halves will fall off in six months.

This is so darn funny roflmfao

 

[Swifty]

I've always pronounced it 'four-tea-un' but I'm from Birmingham so I could be wrong?.

 

[Steven]

 

[Frideswide]

For TEE un

I'd say we were right @Swifty . No change there then!

 

[Stormkhan]

How about the more classy 'For-teh-ann'? Just joking.
Really, I think it depends on how Herculean is meant to be pronounced.

 

[James_H]

Can anyone read IPA? It's hopeless trying to get an accurate phonetic transcription using the normal alphabet considering English spelling.

/'fɔː.tiː.ən/ (in my accent, in which 'r' sounds aren't pronounced except at the beginning of words. So the first syllable rhymes with 'awe' and the last vowel sound is a schwa, i.e. an unstressed 'uh' sound.

(searching 'Fortean IPA' yields not only this rendition: /ˈfɔː.tɪ.ən/, but also this beer: Fortean IPA)

 

[Tim451]

I've always pronounced it 'For-tee-un' so

 

[Xanatic*]

Where do you all get the letter U from?

 

[Steven]

Bizarrely, I feel like I have several ways of pronouncing the word.
*worries*

 

[Stormkhan]

Can anyone read IPA? It's hopeless trying to get an accurate phonetic transcription using the normal alphabet considering English spelling.

/'fɔː.tiː.ən/ (in my accent, in which 'r' sounds aren't pronounced except at the beginning of words. So the first syllable rhymes with 'awe' and the last vowel sound is a schwa, i.e. an unstressed 'uh' sound.

(searching 'Fortean IPA' yields not only this rendition: /ˈfɔː.tɪ.ən/, but also this beer: Fortean IPA)

Doing a degree in English Language studies and it's not required reading. However, it's pointed out that you can always look it up with examples and cobble together a meaning.

 

[Ringo]

Four-tee-an (emphasis on the tee). My Swedish freinds often think I'm saying Fourteen

And as for Ikea, it's i-Kee-a. (i pronounced as a child would learn the sound of an I, like the start of Idris Elbas name and the a the same, as a child would sound it out).

 

[James_H]

Doing a degree in English Language studies and it's not required reading. However, it's pointed out that you can always look it up with examples and cobble together a meaning.

I teach English and found learning IPA incredibly helpful in my life - I only wish my adult students would bother to do the same, because pronunciation and even apparently the way people (language-learners) hear spoken words is very easily misled by spelling.

 

[Zographos]

I was pronouncing it For-tea-an but I believe the correct pronunciation is Fort-e-an.

 

[Ogdred Weary]

Four-tee-an (emphasis on the tee). My Swedish freinds often think I'm saying Fourteen

And as for Ikea, it's i-Kee-a. (i pronounced as a child would learn the sound of an I, like the start of Idris Elbas name and the a the same, as a child would sound it out).

Tell those bastards to pay us reparations for the Danelaw.

...

 

[Steven]

I was pronouncing it For-tea-an but I believe the correct pronunciation is Fort-e-an.

View attachment 73454

Pah! I refuse to take orders from a dinosaur on a mug.

 

[Zographos]

Pah! I refuse to take orders from a dinosaur on a mug.

Not to mention an official Fortean Times product.

 

[AnonyJ]

I'm one of those tireless and very annoying centrist advocates for finding a third or even fourth way - binary choices or yes/no camps being very limiting.

I also propose For-Tean (for-teen) as a candidate, and For-Te-An (for-Tay-an)

 

[Zographos]

That will muddy the waters! Perhaps there is no right or wrong way of saying it then?

 

[Stormkhan]

It might be a zen.
"What is the correct way of pronouncing 'Fortean'?"
"What is ... correct?"

 

[Zographos]

I can see this heading into a discussion on deconstruction worthy of Jacques Derrida if we're not careful!

 

[Stormkhan]

*boke*

 

[Steven]

And now for our thoughts on how to pronounce 'Times'...