how to pronounce asphalt

[charliealphabravo]

Hi all,
I am working in canada currently as an engineer and am hearing the word "asphalt" pronounced as "ash-falt".
Is that typical among engineers here or is that just a folksy use of the word sort of like "rebarb" and "masonary"?
Thanks in advance.

 

[Ron]

It is a colloquialism for the area. Almost anywhere around the northern Great Lakes area and in Canada, "ash-falt" is common. It is not from the non-learned vernacular...I have friends from there who are consultants (two of whom are PhD's) in that field of engineering and they pronounce it "ash-falt" as well.

 

[hokie66]

I don't think it is colloquial, unless Canada and Australia are in the same locale. It is just wrong.

 

[bridgebuster]

I've heard plently of people in NYC area say it the same way.

 

[Ron]

Canada/Oz...parallel universe?

 

[MiketheEngineer]

Its ASS-FAULT

 

[tomwalz]

One of the true marks of experience is the ability to recognize regional variations whether words or pronunciation.

Macadam threw me for a while as did Vizqueen.

Thomas J. Walz
Carbide Processors, Inc.

http://www.carbideprocessors.com

Good engineering starts with a Grainger Catalog.

 

[msquared48]

It is proper to say ash-fault if there is flyash in the mix. Otherwiss, it's ass-fault.

Mike McCann
MMC Engineering

 

[chicopee]

The Canadians get their jaws, tongues and lips frozen most of the time so they can not articulate too well.

 

[concretemasonry]

chicopee -

Some people have a different way of saying things and other just have loose lips that have others have regional forms of speech or lip freezing that can be easily identified.

My wife is from Pa and CT. She can clearly identify people with pronunciation difficulties/difference, such a Bastan and the other more correct parts of MA. She can pick out the differences between Bronx, Queen and the difference between NJ and Philadelphia, so there is no "island".

Is asphalt made from oil or "ahl"?

I can easily pick out the difference between my Indian and Pakistani doctors, even though they were born in Bastan. It is not worth worrying about, is entertaining, and it is just a matter of expanding exposure.

Amazingly, most of the differences are spelled correctly in standards and specifications even though the writers are not provincial.

Engineer and international traveler interested in construction techniques, problems and proper design.

 

[bridgebuster]

concretemasonry -

It's "Queens" (pronounced "Queeenz") not "Queen", . Of course my Queeenz-born, PA-raised daughter criticizes my accent.


In Brooklyn, ashfault is made from earl. In Queeenz we make it from oy-ull.

 

[msquared48]

And in Texas, it's all.

Mike McCann
MMC Engineering

 

[Debaser]

"...Why can't the Americans teach their children how to speak?"

After Prof. Higgins H.

 

[Zambo]

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/asphalt

as·phalt noun

ˈas-ˌfȯlt also ˈash-, especially British -ˌfalt

 

[Debaser]

Blacktop, aka black.

 

[bimr]

“Asphalt? That sounds like your butt made a mistake” to which the Canadian replied, “So a fart is an asphalt ‘eh?”


A guy walks into a bar with a chunk of asphalt under his arm and says,. “I'd like a beer please, and one for the road.”

 

[beej67]

I'd like a bowl of asphalt soup please.

Asphalt soup? We don't serve asphalt soup here!

Then I guess I'll have to go eat up the road.

Hydrology, Drainage Analysis, Flood Studies, and Complex Stormwater Litigation for Atlanta and the South East -

http://www.campbellcivil.com

 

[francesca]

It's Ash-fault in South Africa, too. I can't see how it's correct to mispronounce something because of an ingredient. Surely if you're mixing in flyash and want to call it ashphalt, you should spell it that way?

 

[bridgebuster]

I have a client who pronounces "ee" as "I". It's hard to keep from laughing when he says sheet piles and sheeting.

 

[concretemasonry]

Pronunciation is just a minor personal or regional thing.

The important item is the word and the way it is used in the standards or codes to be enforced.

dick

Engineer and international traveler interested in construction techniques, problems and proper design.