A pronunciation question....

[fajrdrako]

The phrase of the day on 'a word a day' today was "devil's advocate", a phrase I've always liked. But it surprised me by saying that "advocate" was pronounced "advo-kate". When "advocate" is a noun, I pronounce it "advo-cat".

Have I been wrong all these years?

(If so, won't be the first time, won't be the last.)

Comments

[xinef.livejournal.com]

I think this is a US/UK thing and both are right. I've certainly heard both over the years. I tend to use advo-cat as the noun and advo-cate as the verb.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Yes, that's what sounds right to me.

[trialia]

Not that I'm aware. I've always pronounced the noun 'advo-cat' with a short 'a' sound and the verb as 'advo-kate'.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

And it makes so much sense that way!

[lilithilien.livejournal.com]

I always thought the verb was advokate and the noun was advocut. I've never heard advocat before.

[trialia]

I think advocut is more or less what she meant... advocat with a short 'a' sound.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I don't think I've ever heard 'advocut'. Live and learn! Where are you geographically?

[cionaudha.livejournal.com]

I'm with everyone here.

Advo-kate is what you do.
Advo-cut is what you are.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Hmm, okay, if I flatten the vowel a teensy bit... yeah, that sounds right.

[louiex.livejournal.com]

*peeks out* I've always said it advo-kit, which I guess is close to the 'cat' pronunciation~

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Close enough! I suppose it's really a schwa, a vowel so shortened that it loses its main characteristics. Advokit sounds like the right word to me, more than advokut and a lot more than advocayte.

[itsaslashything.livejournal.com]

I pronounce them the same as you...

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

There you go!

[dameruth.livejournal.com]

Those are the respective noun/verb pronunciations I've always used, so it's not just you . . .

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Seems to me that the entry was... a little confused. Usually 'a word a day' is very trustworthy about that sort of thing.

[jkluge.livejournal.com]

AD-vo-cat as a noun, AD-vo-kate as a verb.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Yes!

[dargie.livejournal.com]

Have I been wrong all these years

Not in this girl's opinion. Ad-vo-kate = verb. Ad-vo-cat (or ct in my case)= noun. Just because someone is giving information doesn't mean it's correct. The other day I was watching MSNBC and was horrified to see the crawl report that the Pope had given the President a rare "peak" at the Vatican gardens.

No wonder I'm getting crankier as I get older.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

the Pope had given the President a rare "peak" at the Vatican gardens.

LOL! Mountains at the Vatican!

Things like that, I usually dismiss as mere typos (something to which I am not immune) but it can be very amusing - or annoying, especially in a professional context.

Yeah, crankiness increases with global warning or something. (I'm still not admitting to aging.

[gryphons-lair.livejournal.com]

If you're wrong, so am I.

I'm inclined to suspect whoever wrote that up plunked "advocate" into an online dictionary and copied down the pronunciation that popped up without bothering to check for such silly things as context.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

In other words, and oversight. Seems likely.

[idiotgrrl.livejournal.com]

If you pronounce the sort of advocate that you are as AD-vo-ket, you're probably closer to the pronunciation I hear around here. (The Southwestern US)

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I suspect our pronunciation is very close, though I'd have to hear it to be sure. I definitely accent the first syllable.

[janne-d.livejournal.com]

I would say that I advo-kate something. But an advocate as a person I would pronounce somewhere between advo-ket and advo-kit. And I'm Scottish.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Yes, that works for me.

[walkingowl.livejournal.com]

Been? Shone? Z?

You're not wrong.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Bin. Shon. Zed.

Happily right!

[halfspokenwords.livejournal.com]

From dictionary.com:

[v. ad-vuh-keyt; n. ad-vuh-kit, -keyt]

That's news to me, though. I have never heard the two pronounced the same.

I say advakate (v) and advakit (n).

[duncanmac.livejournal.com]

I too have always heard it pronounced that way (noun ad-vo-kut, verb ad-vo-kate), even in England, though I may have forgotten hearing it in other accents.

I have seen a few differences as to how the "schwa" sound is handled, but a lot of dictionaries (including, apparently, 'http://dictionary.reference.com/') always represent it as an "i." It always impressed me either as an "u" or as a complete absence (I'd be tempted to spell it "advoakt," if that makes any sense; I'd also refer to the first meal of the day as "brekfst"). YMMV, as usual.

[duncanmac.livejournal.com]

As for typos, I have seen some *real* howlers of late, though none come to mind that top the "peak" at the Vatican Gardens :-). I think several websites (including the CBC.ca and CNN.com ones) *really* need proof-readers to read over their articles before they publish them. [Reboot their clue server now (Y/N)? :-)]

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Yes, I've seen embarrassing typos on sites that really, really should do better.

{Gotta be careful here, or typos will creep into the Ottawa Little Theatre's website and it will be All My Fault.)

All typos are embarrassing, but some more than others.

[brashley46.livejournal.com]

Ad-vo-c't. (The apostrophe should really be a schwa.)

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I'll buy that explanation.

Sounds as if 'a word a day' just made a mistake.

firefox to the rescue

[(Anonymous)]

I installed Firefox 3's "Pronounce-1.1" "Add-on", and dang.

Now I can highlight a word on a web page, right click, and it *says* the word. Well, in the world according to Merriam-Webster. Who, I might add, agree with you about "advocate".

---
Don

Re: firefox to the rescue

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

My goodness - that sounds like a wonderful feature. "Pronounce-1.1", you say? I'll look into it.

[itsarift-thing.livejournal.com]

I've never heard the phrase used without it being said 'advo-kate' and I simply don't have occasion to use 'advocate' as a noun otherwise...

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Interesting!

...Could be a UK/US difference?