Like the french tu?
Bud-Wize-Er ;D ;D
When I found out that Pliny comes from Plinius it made a lot more sense. Otherwise I would have thought it was PLY-knee myself.
I guess education just isn’t what it used to be. I learned it as “Plinny” way back in 1968.
I’m suprised you can remember 1968. 
Being the volcano groupie that I am, I’ve spent quite a bit of time studying the 79 AD eruption of Vesuvius. Pliny the Younger gives an eyewitness account of the eruption, which includes a description of the death of his uncle, Pliny the Elder.
Until today, I never have heard of it being pronounced “ply knee.” I’ve always heard it spoken as rhyming with Vinnie.
I mean, come on guys… Can you really hear some Italian guy saying, “Yo, Ply Knee!”
I say Apelila. (ah pay LEE la)
I’m with you Carl.
Shin, win, fin, thin. Logically, the pronunciation of Plin follows.
It’s not spelled Pliney, after all.
And Vesuvius erupted on August 24th, which just happens to be my birthday. So I’ve spent a bit of time reading about it, too.
I appreciate the pronunciation correction and the middle school history refresher, but the grammar police are sure writing lots of tickets today. They’d lead you to believe the English language has consistent pronunciation rules!
Vinnie is short for Vincent or Vicenzo and gets an extra ‘n.’ Why not Pliny?
Guess you need to jump into the TARDIS, go back in time and ask the Plinys for yourself. A two millenium old traditon is pretty hard to refute. And I believe Pliny comes from Latin, not English.
piny, while it also can be spelled piney, even without the e its still pronouced py-knee. i’ll guarantee there are hundreds of other examples for both sides.
In any case, I, for one, even if its wrong, call it ply-knee because it sounds better to my ears.
I’m not a huge gallagher fan but this routine about the english language is epic.
In whose calendar?
How do you pronounce the “sauvin” in Nelson Sauvin? I say ply-knee too, but only because other people pronounced it first, and I just went along with it. I’m such a conformist.
With a bit of basic research you can figure that out for yourself.
Also, why is “wort” pronounced “wert” and not “vert?” I barely remember high school Deutsch, but I’m pretty sure w’s make a v sound.
I’m watching the Cubs at SF. Melky Cabrera is at bat. How do you suppose he pronounces his first name?
FWIW Melky got a base hit.
Based on Latin pronunciations, it makes more sense that Pliny would be pronounced plee knee rather than ply knee.
Well, the beer is named Ply-nee according to Vinnie and the ancient writer is named Plinny. I think I can live with the discrepancy.
+1 Latin pronunciation (and Italian for that matter) does not have the “ih” vowel or the “ei” diphthong at all. At least that is what my diction professors have all instructed. It only has a pure “ee” sound for the i or an i modifying a consonant, such is the case with the proper pronunciation of the name Giovanni (hint not djeeovanni). Consequently, the correct pronunciation would be Pleenee.
Edit: ;D
As for that example, it’s a standard British colloquial pronunciation. It is similar to the spelling differences from “gray” to “grey”…both correct. We in America have terrible pronunciation for several words including aluminum and jaguar.
Indeed, we even have a President who likes to sing the praises of Navy Corpse Man Christian Bouchard… :o
The “Aluminum / Aluminium” thing is a remnant from early American history. I don’t have the dates exactly, but aluminum was discovered around colonial times. It was called “aluminum.” The US became independent, then the British Royal Society decided to go through their element names and standardize the ending. Aluminum was just one of the elements that was changed from a “um” to “ium” ending. Since Americans no longer cared about the Royal Society, we kept our spelling and pronunciation the same.