[PW] Re: ? pronunciation of "lieutenant"

[Lois Fundis]

Peter asked
> 
> Why is it that "lieutenant" is pronounced
"leftenant" on one side of
> the Atlantic, and "lootenant" on the other?  I find
the explanation
> at Wikipedia less than authoritative.

I don't think it's "less than authoritative." I just
think it's confusing. 

"Lieu" is pronounced "loo". "Tenant" is pronounced
"tenant". Thus "lieutenant" is pronounced "loo
tenant". I really can't see any reason for confusion.
:-)

It might be that the American pronunciation is more
directly influenced by French, although I'm not sure
whether it's from book-learning French (i.e. what
officers learned in college) or whether it comes from
the time when the French were our allies in the
Revolution or what, whereas the British/Canadian/etc.
pronunciation is more directly influenced by English
"received speech", i.e. "this is the way we've always
said it." 

Of course, if the "tenant" part were pronounced in the
French way, as the "lieu" is, it would be something
more like "loo tenohn".

More likely, I think, is this:  American English --
since the time of Noah Webster, at least, so that's
200 years -- has always had a tendency to pronounce
words as they are spelled (or to spell them as they
are pronounced) rather than use "traditional" British
spellings and pronunciations. I suspect "lieutenant"
is part of this trend. "Lieu" (pronounced "loo") is,
among other things, a Perfectly Good American Word,
such as in the phrase "in lieu of", and one many
people would be likely to know. Pronouncing it "lef"
or "left" or "loot", with an extraneous consonant at
the end, would seem Just Plain Wrong. 

And this brings us back to what I said above: "Lieu"
is pronounced "loo". "Tenant" is pronounced "tenant".
Thus "lieutenant" is pronounced "loo tenant". 

--
Lois Fundis lfundis at weir.net or lfundis at verizon.net