Tentacle, barnacle, manacle: all words that are stressed on the first syllable.
But now, in a Today programme interview on BBC Radio 4, our erstwhile Foreign Secretary, brother of the current leader of Her Majesty’s loyal opposition, has brought us a new one in all seriousness: debacle /ˈdebəkl/. He was referring to the current situation in the eurozone , and it took me a few seconds to decipher what he was actually saying.
Can David Miliband really have gone through his life never having heard this word pronounced?
July 2, 2012 at 12:23 pm
A spectacular mumpsimus.
July 3, 2012 at 12:15 pm
I he·rd it too but I ‘cdn b·lieve my ears’. My g·ess is that it was an accidental throwback under the stress of a public interview to a childhood mistaken habit normally now long since avoided.
Rather painf·l thing to ask ·im about.
July 3, 2012 at 12:48 pm
Limey – Surely he must be used to public interviews by now?