The way British people say Lieutenant - Eye in the Sky (2016) Discussion

[–] mylesag 9 years ago

Only when they salute with the left hand.

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[–] AgentBlue 9 years ago

No

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[–] JestersDead2 9 years ago

While giving the traditional "tosser" gesture with their other hand.

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[–] information_police 9 years ago

I don't understand why those English people can't speak English correctly!

"Smokey, this is not 'Nam, this is bowling. There are rules. "
-Walter Sobchak

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[–] AgentBlue 9 years ago

true

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[–] itz_theo 8 years ago

And you can? No offense but the British are the ones who speak English close to the actual English. Americans and all others speak the dumbed down form of it. Even the British are going that way. Today's modern English is so plain and simple with no originality.

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[–] 8 years ago

[deleted]

[–] simon359 8 years ago

It is because it is a French word, introduced into English, and modern French pronounces it the American way, but old French, and by that I mean going back a thousand years, pronounces it "left tenant". Dont forget England was conquered by the French speaking Normans a thousand years ago, and they spoke old French.

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[–] AgentBlue 8 years ago

cool story

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[–] agracier-574-436194 8 years ago

It's good to see someone knows their history.

Good for you!

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[–] Prismark10 8 years ago

'They pronounce it "Leftenant". '

The proper way to say it.

It's that man again!!

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[–] AgentBlue 8 years ago

cool

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[–] 8 years ago

[deleted]

[–] AgentBlue 8 years ago

Of course

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[–] puirt-a-beul 8 years ago

They pronounce it "Leftenant".

That's because that's how it *is* pronounced, based on where the word comes from.

Americans pronounce the first syllable as "loo", apparently on the assumption that it's somehow related to the Modern French word "lieu" in the phrase "in lieu of", meaning "instead of" or "in the place of", but that's incorrect.

The "u" actually used to be a "v", and it's related to the word "lief", as in the phrase "I'd as lief not ...", meaning "I'd rather not ..." or "I'd prefer not ...". Yeah, it's archaic, so you don't hear it much outside stories by people like Sir Walter Scott, but in Modern English it's also turned into the word "leave", meaning "permission", as in the phrase, "You have my leave to do what you think best", which has nothing to do with "leave" as in "depart".

So a "lieutenant" (or "lief-tenant") was actually the person who gave soldiers permission to do things. And yeah, the "f" sound is actually correct, and the "oo" sound is a simple misunderstanding of what the word really means.

You might very well think that. I couldn't possibly comment.

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[–] TheMouseShadow 8 years ago

almost as bad as those silly indians in dances with wolves...

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[–] AgentBlue 8 years ago

Loo Ten Ent

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[–] xundercoverxx 8 years ago

The Brits are a strange folk lol.

_____
The North remembers.

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[–] marlarkey 8 years ago

Lef-ten-ant

That's correct... they were British in the film

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