Just curious, since pronunciations of other words are being discussed in another thread... Can someone from England please tell me how you, in your part of the country, pronounce the word ALUMINUM please?
My late mother-in-law (from Ashford Kent) used to say A-lu-MIN-ium. She is the only person I (or my parents) had ever heard pronounce it this way. The first time she said it, we honestly had no clue as to what she was talking about. She kept asking if we had any, and we thought she might have been talking about some sort of medication (like Tylenol for headaches, or Pepto-Bismal for stomach problems) that we don't have here in Canada, so we said "No, we don't have that... what is it used for, maybe we have something similar." That was when she said that it is silver coloured and shiny and you cover food with it. The light went on over all of our heads and we said almost in unison "Ohhhh, aLUminum foil, yes we have that!" She became very agitated and indignant and said "In England it is pronounced A-lu-MIN-ium, and since we speak *proper* English that is the correct way of saying it, NOT the way you say it here in Canada."
Peace! Gemini