I found this article because I wanted to know if anyone shared this pet peeve with me!
James Dyer - 7 years ago
I hear "ne-go-see-ate" more and more on the news and in interviews on TV and radio, and it is intensely irritating. Along with "iss-ue" and "tiss-ue" instead of "ish-ue" and "tish-ue". I'm aware that Elizabethan English may have pronounced words in this way, but it really just sounds pretentious.
Juliet Fagan - 7 years ago
I agree with your complaint. It hurts my ears to hear negotiate pronounced as ne-go-see-ate, it is ne-go-she-ate. I can't believe it when I hear educated people pronounce it as ne-go-see-ate.
Keith Johnson - 9 years ago
I'm British and I HATE this fad of pronouncing it ne-go-SEE-ate that is currently pervading all our media and society. It's crass and ignorant, and has no precedent in any other English words. For "station" we say stay-shon, not stay-see-on. Similarly "nation", "rational" as Ian Symonds says above, and many other examples. By contrast, words such as "associate" have the "ci" which IS correctly pronounced "see". But then look at the word "association" which has both constructs - a-so-SEE-ay-SHON.
As a speaker of Spanish too I can see where the fad may have started, as there are many words in Spanish ending in "-cion" which are cognates of similar words in English ending in "-tion". The Spanish verb "negociar" means to do business, and is indeed pronounced with the "see" sound. But English isn't Spanish, and I cringe every time I hear a newsreader or announcer use this ridiculous pronunciation. Unfortunately I work for one of our national TV news stations, and it happens all too often.
Ian Symonds - 10 years ago
Pronouncing it "ne-go-see-ate" does not seem very "ra-see-onal" to me!
what next? train stacion?...please make it stop!
I found this article because I wanted to know if anyone shared this pet peeve with me!
I hear "ne-go-see-ate" more and more on the news and in interviews on TV and radio, and it is intensely irritating. Along with "iss-ue" and "tiss-ue" instead of "ish-ue" and "tish-ue". I'm aware that Elizabethan English may have pronounced words in this way, but it really just sounds pretentious.
I agree with your complaint. It hurts my ears to hear negotiate pronounced as ne-go-see-ate, it is ne-go-she-ate. I can't believe it when I hear educated people pronounce it as ne-go-see-ate.
I'm British and I HATE this fad of pronouncing it ne-go-SEE-ate that is currently pervading all our media and society. It's crass and ignorant, and has no precedent in any other English words. For "station" we say stay-shon, not stay-see-on. Similarly "nation", "rational" as Ian Symonds says above, and many other examples. By contrast, words such as "associate" have the "ci" which IS correctly pronounced "see". But then look at the word "association" which has both constructs - a-so-SEE-ay-SHON.
As a speaker of Spanish too I can see where the fad may have started, as there are many words in Spanish ending in "-cion" which are cognates of similar words in English ending in "-tion". The Spanish verb "negociar" means to do business, and is indeed pronounced with the "see" sound. But English isn't Spanish, and I cringe every time I hear a newsreader or announcer use this ridiculous pronunciation. Unfortunately I work for one of our national TV news stations, and it happens all too often.
Pronouncing it "ne-go-see-ate" does not seem very "ra-see-onal" to me!