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.

[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'.

[lilithilien.livejournal.com]

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

[cionaudha.livejournal.com]

I'm with everyone here.

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

[louiex.livejournal.com]

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

[itsaslashything.livejournal.com]

I pronounce them the same as you...

[trialia]

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

[dameruth.livejournal.com]

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

[lilithilien.livejournal.com]

I dunno ... Canadians talk funny! ;)

[trialia]

Lol... I'm constantly being accused of having a Canadian accent...

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Yes, that's what sounds right to me.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

And it makes so much sense that way!

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

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

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

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

[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.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

There you go!

[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.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Yes, that would be it. Though my ear still reads it as an 'a'.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Don't we just!

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I'm constantly being accused of having a Canadian accent...

Nothing wrong with that! Some of the finest people I've known have Canadian accents.

[lilithilien.livejournal.com]

Centretown. :) But I grew up in the U.S. (Dallas and Seattle).

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Centretown.

Yeah, I mean, where'd your accent come from? [g]

Dallas and Seattle

Great combination!

[jkluge.livejournal.com]

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

[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.

[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.