How to pronounce marshmallow

[Some Gump]

Hi guys,

Please can you help settle a pub argument? Sat with a couple.

She reckons you pronounce marshmallow “marsh mello”
He reckons that’s retarded and it’s “marsh mallow”.

I sided with him, lady from the couple next to us sided with her. Bloke from next table doesn’t want to get involved, he only came here for a pint of landlord not an arguement.

So I thought I’d ask PH, the official barometer of what is right*

• excluding NP+E and the watch forum, that’s the official barometer of who is a tt

[TorqueDirty]

Tell them the word was originally coined to describe the environment of an ancient French bog dwelling tribe and is actually "marsh milieu"

Then leave.

[Esceptico]

In Britain it is “mellow” in the US “mallow”.

Listen to pronunciation from dictionary:

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/engli...

[Wheatsheaf]

Esceptico said:

In Britain it is “mellow” in the US “mallow”.

Listen to pronunciation from dictionary:

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/engli...

Sounds like "mallow" to me and that makes sense, seeing as how it's spelt. "Mellow" is clearly wrong and sounds like something people pronounce incorrectly their whole lives without realising how dippy they sound e.g. brought/bought.

[csd19]

Esceptico said:

In Britain it is “mellow” in the US “mallow”.

Listen to pronunciation from dictionary:

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/engli...

You've got that the wrong way round, it's 'mallow' in Britain and 'mellow' in the US.

It even says "US -mel- " on your link

[Esceptico]

Wheatsheaf said:

Esceptico said:

In Britain it is “mellow” in the US “mallow”.

Listen to pronunciation from dictionary:

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/engli...

Sounds like "mallow" to me and that makes sense, seeing as how it's spelt. "Mellow" is clearly wrong and sounds like something people pronounce incorrectly their whole lives without realising how dippy they sound e.g. brought/bought.

English is not a phonetic language and a large percentage of English words are not pronounced as they are written.

It is irrelevant how you spell Marshmallow. People in Britain say Marshmellow. Or at least they did in the South when I was growing up. Languages change so it could transform to Marshmallow to match the Americans.

If you are speaking your native language you are not pronouncing words wrongly if you are saying them the same as the other people around you.

Of course people can pronounce words incorrectly eg over the years I’ve learnt lots of new words from reading so I’ve been unsure of how to say them and have said them wrongly.

Meanings of words change - take “literally” as an example. It’s is ironic that its current use is almost the opposite to its old usage.

[Huff]

'texture and taste for babies' is the right answer. I can be considerably cruder if reqd.

HTH

[FreeLitres]

Most people voted "Mallow"?

What's wrong with you people?

[Trenchard]

FreeLitres said:

Most people voted "Mallow"?

What's wrong with you people?

Not a thing,that's how the word is spelt.

[Sheets Tabuer]

Trenchard said:

FreeLitres said:

Most people voted "Mallow"?

What's wrong with you people?

Not a thing,that's how the word is spelt.

But labour voter is spelled like that but pronounced bell end, it's marshmellow.

[Trenchard]

Sheets Tabuer said:

But labour voter is spelled like that but pronounced bell end, it's marshmellow.

In the good old US of A some cars say J A G U A R on them but the Yanks still can't say it right.

[kambites]

I don't think I've ever heard anyone pronounce it "mEllow".

[Sheets Tabuer]

kambites said:

I don't think I've ever heard anyone pronounce it "mEllow". Is that a northern thing? Or an Americanism?

No it's an English thing, remember the rest of the country speaks English, London speaks London.

[kambites]

Sheets Tabuer said:

kambites said:

I don't think I've ever heard anyone pronounce it "mEllow". Is that a northern thing? Or an Americanism?

No it's an English thing, remember the rest of the country speaks English, London speaks London.

I do not, nor have I ever, lived in London.

I've lived in the Cotswolds, Nottingham and Southampton... definitely all mAllow!

[Sheets Tabuer]

Hmm Warks and south Leics say marsh mellow, mind you the feckers here say cob (liecs) and not batch (warks) when referring to a bread roll so who knows.

Edited by Sheets Tabuer on Thursday 27th January 22:40

[Common Porpoise]

it's derived from the Marsh Mallow plant, Althaea officinalis, the root of which was originally used to make a medicinal confectionary
(I think i remember something about it also being used to clean Persian rugs)
no one calls it a mellow plant. I always thought people who said marshmellow where just a bit, you know...

[Digger]

It probably should be mallow but mellow is easier to get your mouth around so to speak.

[Esceptico]

csd19 said:

Esceptico said:

In Britain it is “mellow” in the US “mallow”.

Listen to pronunciation from dictionary:

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/engli...

You've got that the wrong way round, it's 'mallow' in Britain and 'mellow' in the US.

It even says "US -mel- " on your link

Ok I admit to being confused. If you look at the first tab there is an English person saying mellow and an American voice saying mallow. Then yes on subsequent tabs you have an English person saying mallow and an American saying mellow. So now I’m not sure. It’s possible that I have been infected by too much American TV or just spent too many years living outside the UK.

[HTP99]

Esceptico said:

csd19 said:

Esceptico said:

In Britain it is “mellow” in the US “mallow”.

Listen to pronunciation from dictionary:

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/engli...

You've got that the wrong way round, it's 'mallow' in Britain and 'mellow' in the US.

It even says "US -mel- " on your link

Ok I admit to being confused. If you look at the first tab there is an English person saying mellow and an American voice saying mallow. Then yes on subsequent tabs you have an English person saying mallow and an American saying mellow. So now I’m not sure. It’s possible that I have been infected by too much American TV or just spent too many years living outside the UK.

Showed a picture of one to the wife, she said "mellow", she asked asked why, I explained there is a discussion about the pronunciation on the forum, she said straightaway. "mallow" is the American way, then repeated "mallow" in an American accent.

[Evoluzione]

I learned something new, I have never heard it pronounced Mellow in my life. Asked the O/H for a different perspective, she hasn't either.
We're both Northern monkeys, she's lived in the US.