Talk:homage

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Latest comment: 2 years ago by Mahagaja
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this is in response to a fascinating trend of the pronunciation of homage in the minneapolis/st. paul area. At least one radio dj, along with some of my grad student friends, pronounce it, ō-mäj' (emphasizing the second syllable). Is this correct? From where did this pronunciation come?

i found that pronunciation particularly curious as well. I've always heard it as "ah'-mej." when I heard a user speak "ō-mäj'," i was somewhat disturbed.
It is French, and Americans do not know how to pronounce it.
"Americans do not know how to pronounce it"? There's a counter-example sitting at the top of this section. The real problem is that no one appears to know how to spell it -- the French sense (number 3) should have a double 'm'. -- Elphion 02:03, 2 October 2010 (UTC)Reply
Perhaps we should say that nobody really 'knows how to pronounce it' - the fact the completely standard English spelling is not the same as the French makes the use of French-style (or half-French-style) pronunciation a little odd, to say the least, especially since its use in something like its modern sense goes back to at least 1585. Here's NYT on its various pronunciations; I'd be very curious to see a wider-ranging survey. The IPA transcriptions given in the current version of this entry are almost certainly wrong; not sure why someone thought a schwa was appropriate there. Wikipedia gives /ˈhɒmɨdʒ/ or /ˈɒmɨdʒ/. --Oolong (talk) 23:06, 13 March 2012 (UTC)Reply
Chambers (major British dictionary) only gives the "hommidge" pronunciation. I've heard the French-ish one quite often. Compare similar words that do sound French in English (camouflage, mirage) and garage, which varies from "garaaj" to "garridge" more or less by social class. Equinox 23:14, 13 March 2012 (UTC)Reply
Indeed. I've swapped the pronunciations with schwas for the versions used by Wikipedia (hommidge, ommidge, more or less). Left the Frenchesque one in place, though I'm not convinced that 'oʊˈmɑːʒ' is quite right. French Wiktionary has /ɔ.maʒ/ which is probably more like it... but then again, if we're mainly talking about Americans attempting to sound French, maybe what's there now is closer to the truth? --Oolong (talk) 10:58, 1 April 2012 (UTC)Reply

Personally, I (an American) pronounce senses 1 & 3 /ˈhɑmɪd͡ʒ/ and sense 2 /oʊˈmɑʒ/. —Mahāgaja · talk 08:52, 15 October 2021 (UTC)Reply