On 31/01/2011 15:30, John Vertical wrote:
[snip]
>
> Finnish uses simply /joule/, but that's probably more of
> a spelling pronunciation than anything to do with a
> specific tradition.

Yes, I think it must be.
-----------------------------------
On 31/01/2011 17:29, David McCann wrote:
[snip]
>
> According to Daniel Jones (English pronouncing
> dictionary): "Dr Joule ... pronounced dʒuːl. His near
> relatives also pronounce this way. There are other
> people of this name who call themselves dʒəul and jaul."

Thanks, David, for finding that. Tho that last one should 
surely dʒaul, I think; and we ought to make clear that [əu] 
commonly denotes the RP pronunciation of English 'long o', 
i.e. [dʒəul] is meant to rhyme with 'bowl'

-----------------------------------------

On 31/01/2011 16:57, Douglas Koller wrote:
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "R A
> Brown"<[log in to unmask]> To:
[snip]
>
> "Do you pronounce it Joule's to rhyme with schools,
> Joule's to rhyme with Bowls, or Joule's to rhyme with
> Scowls? Whatever you call it, by Joule's or Joule's or
> Joule's, its GOOD!"
>
> The various regional pronunciations of 'school', 'bowl'
> and 'scowl' are, as far as I am concerned, irrelevant.
> _______________
>
> I have been on the list, off and on, for more than a
> decade, and as I interpret Ray, he would rather eat his
> own paw than open a Pandora's box of "here's how I say
> it" thread.

Spot on!    :)

> Of the 1/2/3 options above, I clearly would go for 1.
>
> 2 was never on the radar.
>
> 3 is something new, I shall have to accommodate.

Yep - it seems from all the replies coming through that 1, 
i.e. [u:] is by far the most common vocalization.

2. I think is a British peculiarity in a land where some 
families like to hold onto unintuitive pronunciations of 
surnames. I suspect, on reflection, the foreign [oʊ] or [ou] 
varieties may have rather more to do with the English 
spelling rather a foreigners knowing that some Brits with 
that surname make it rhyme with 'bowl'  :)

3. Yes, it is becoming clear that [aʊ] is a very uncommon 
pronunciation for the SI unit. It does makes me wonder how 
the [aʊ] pronunciation got into Italy, Bulgaria, Chine etc.
--------------------------------------------

Thanks to you all for the replies.

The only thing I'm rethinking is the use of δζ at the 
beginning a TAKE word. I suspect the combo cause those know 
modern Greek to shudder; it would certainly have caused any 
who know the ancient language to do so.

The TAKE form is likely to be ζοῦλ (zoûl) [zu:l]

-- 
Ray
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