Friday, August 1, 2008

Sundy, etc. (for Sunday, etc.)

Thank God it's Friday. And, while Ol' Blue Eyes might've disagreed, Friday does not rhyme with "My Way." The preferred pronunciation for the last syllable of Friday and other days of the week is DEE. Look it up if you don't believe me. Or, better yet, check it out in one of those online dictionaries that provide audio. David Feldman, author of the Imponderables series, writes: "We went to the Merriam-Webster Web site and listened to the disembodied voice pronounce Fri'DEE, and what came back sounded like nothing we've ever heard." Actually, M-W wavers a bit on this point, sometimes favoring one pronunciation and sometimes the other, both in the written and spoken forms. I recommend the American Heritage site instead, which not only gives the right pronunciation (it consistently lists the DAY one second, except for Saturday—maybe that guy just didn't get the memo), but keeps repeating it over and over again until you close out of it. We got a dee-lightful dozen hits in OhioLINK—namely three on Sundy, one on Mondy, four on Wednesdy, one on Thursdy, and three on Saturdy.

(Picture of Sandra Dee from the Biography.com website.)

Carol Reid

2 comments:

Deb said...

And don't forget Tuesday Weld...g0ld3n01dY

casemusic said...

Too bad about "Wednesdy" -- they got through the hard part of the word OK and then lost their concentration?