Malar/Milne name changes

[SarahND]

To SarahND: speleo (cave) bat My husband and I are cavers--mostly the rocking chair type now!

I thought it must have something to do with caves Sooner you than me-- I will go way out of my way to avoid a tunnel even on the highway. A consequence of having grown up in earthquake country and of having folk-singing older siblings who never tired of singing about mining disasters Don't fancy being buried alive
Regards,
Sarah

[Susan]

Hi Carol

Think I qualify as an Aberdonian lol - born there and lived there 42 years before moving to Montrose 5 years ago. Milne is as often as not pronouced with a silent "ne" - that is - simply as Mil. When the "ne" is pronouced it is usually quite soft spoken - just a slight "n" sound at the end of the name.
However there are times when it is pronounced by those who think they are "Posh" lol - when it sounds like Mill-EN, but that is the exception.
I cannot really get it to sound anything like Malar no matter how hard I try

Hope this helps
Susan.

[speleobat2]

Thanks Susan,

I've been pronouncing Milne as Mil-knee! If the second syllable is silent, then I can easily see how a person working at a funeral home could have misunderstood my great uncle John when he was giving information for the funeral arrangements. I'm finding that I'm having trouble understanding people with soft voices these days. Guess the lower range of my hearing is going along with my knees.

Carol

[SarahND]

I cannot really get it to sound anything like Malar no matter how hard I try

Hi Susan! This is a case of people with several different accents getting different things from a written word-- I love it! I'm sure the way you say "Malar" is quite different from what Carol was thinking when she read the word. She recognized right away that it would be an easy mistake to make in America. Two syllable words that end in /r/ or /n/ often become one syllable (or 1 1/4 syllables as my students used to claim). So, for instance, "mirror" and "mere" are often pronounced identically. If you only hear the first syllable, then "Malar" and "Milne" are only a vowel away from each other and that vowel could easily end up the same one.
Thanks so much for your Aberdonian perspective!
All the best,
Sarah

[LesleyB]

Hi Sarah

So, for instance, "mirror" and "mere" are often pronounced identically.

Reminds me of the time I was totally puzzled by part of a Joni Mitchell lyric..."...a room full of meers"..... eh? Took a few moments to work out what she was on about!

Best wishes
Lesley