Oct 29, 2006

how to pronounce "decorabilia"

I wasn't aware that my blog name is difficult to pronounce correctly, but apparently confusion exists.
“Deck-urabilia” or “Day-core-abilia”? I don’t know the correct way to type out the phonics, but you get the point. Can we get a ruling on this?
We certainly can.

Etymologically, the word is a portmanteau, as I explained when starting out.
The title: a word I've coined (at least, I think it's original to me--but one never knows, with memes). You know those chain restaurants--Red Robin, Chili's, Applebee's, whatever--that plaster their walls with fake old-timey posters, photos, and knickknacks? Decorative memorabilia. Decorabilia.
As such, it should be pronounced "deh-cor-a-bil-ee-uh," or, as an acceptable variant, "deh-cor-a-bil-yuh."

(As it turns out, the word wasn't original to me, even though I'd never heard of its use before I "invented" it. No attorneys have sent threatening letters, so it's my title and I'll use it in perpetuity.)

Pronounce in peace.

Update: A cousin, who will not be named unless self-identified, sends along these helpful phonetic renderings. (Helpful if you're an amateur linguist.)
ˌdɛkɔrəˈbɪliə

ˌdɛkɔrəˈbɪljə
There. No excuses.

2 comments:

  1. I always wondered about that word. I thought it was some reference to art deco-- that your blog would bring together schools of thought like art deco brought together schools of art. Guess I was wrong. I always pronounced it right however.

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  2. This means that I have always pronouned it in the most correct way. Serbo-Croatian language helps...

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