Lingerie

Not an easy French word to pronounce well for Anglo-Saxons ;)

I've very rarely heard it pronounced it 'correctly' in either the UK or the US, I have to say.

I used to pronounce it lan-jerr-ee but thought I was wrong so have said lon-je-ray for years.

I stand corrected! Back to the old pronunciation!

Granjura, some US attempts at French words really grate whereas I find Licesstershire and Warwickshire endearing and understandable?

Featherstonehaugh aka Fanshaw !!

Edinborrow, which more often than not is situated in Inglaand

Our Home Counties satnav recording wanted to send us across Fife via Glen-rowths (harder to say than the right way) and I heard on the radio a request for a tune for someone in that upmarket area Bee-arse-den.

Of course these are Scottish towns, as alien as Milngarvie or Kilconquhar.

Best one near us is Cree-ann-la-RICH.

I agree about 'lon-jer-ay' Eirel. I don't see that 'lon-jer-ee' is any more difficult to say.

Another French word that I've heard so often on the BBC is the name of the artist 'Degas'. There's no accent on the 'e', so it's 'De-ga' - it isn't Day-ga, which is what I hear.

(I can't help visualising eyes rolling in understandable exasperation - after all, does it really matter?)

Mon Dieu Elrel, I'd never have thought of that and I'm a French teacher! I do always say "vin" correctly! But I am guilty of saying "longeray" to myself when in John Lewis or Selfridges.
How did they use to pronounce it in "Are you being served?" I wonder.

where do you get the 'lon' from???

No idea - my mum used to say longeray!

Our English SatNav keeps us very well entertained here in France. My favourite is Root Jean (English female pronunciation) d'Arcade. Ma Rachel Fotch, Gay-nay-ral der Gaul, Pa-ree and Row-en. The best one in Spain was the Autopista Radial 4 which was rendered as auto-pissed Radio Four.
But apparently French ones think the M in motorway in England is for Monsieur.

nobody knows like the locals know!

And being a down to earth sort 'undies' is fine with me!

LOL, I am NOT scolding don't worry- but there is no 'lon' in 'lingerie', honest.

GJ I think the poster was just saying it to remember how her Mum said it! My Granny would have said longeree too.
Mind you I am watching my favourite wedding programme on French where the pronunciation of weddeeng kek is hilarious.

On French TV....

It may not be 'lon' nut neither is it strictly 'lan', surely? Certainly not as pronounced in 'lanolin' for example!

Getting the French pronunciation right is tricky for people who are unfamiliar with the language and how it should sound.

You are right. Neither 'lon' nor 'lan' - now I would never ever criticise or mock an English speaker getting it wrong- as I said in post 2, it is a difficult word ad there is no equivalent in English. So I can't even write it as a correct alternative to 'lon' or 'lan' ....

it just makes me laugh that the OP get irritated and mentions 'apparently educated people'- sweet irony perhaps.

I think lange is pretty close Ana. Sort of lange-ree with the middle e there but a bit swallowed. Depends how far south you are too!
I think it is interesting though. If you borrow a word from another language and change the pronunciation, is that not OK?

I prefer the Anglo-Saxon 'underwear' to the French lingerie, which I do pronounce correctly if called upon to do so. In the window of Macy's in San Francisco, undies were referred to as 'intimate garments'. How coy can you get?

Is lainje better?

Or sous-vêtements.
Think you need to run classes for pronunciation of wedding cake though GJ.

The rules are different now. If you are speaking a language which is not your own Mother tongue then you can be forgiven for making a mistake. Its your second language after all and most British people can only speak one compared to other Europeans.

Yes I agree. But I think there is a difference between speaking a foreign language and adopting a foreign word into your own language. How far do you go back?
Wedding cake, weekend bling-bling, trop too much?
Lingerie, chic?