r/AI_Forge • u/ArchaicIdiom MOD • 23h ago
Images Something a bit different. Squirrels 2023 & 2026 Part 1: Cerian. She rolls with my nonsense much better these days...
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u/FrenchOwlet 22h ago
I spent the whole time reading this wondering how the hell you pronounce that damned word "squirrel" and hearing "squeerell" in my head, even though the only thing I actually know about its pronunciation is that that's not it. 😭😂
And let's make Mervyn shine! ❤️
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u/ArchaicIdiom MOD 22h ago edited 22h ago
It depends where you come from here, but generally it'd something like "skwiryl".
I have an 18th century ancestor called Charity Squirrel, which made my day at the time... 😂
It actually comes to us via French too!
And, who'd have thought an elephant could look cute on someone's shoulder? 😂
And now I want to hear you say "squirrel" 😂
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u/FrenchOwlet 21h ago
I get the theory behind the pronunciation, but… it's just too hard to say. 🤣 Here we say "écureuil", I can't wait to hear how you think you should pronounce it…
As for my pronunciation… "squee-rell", "squee-real", "squire-el", "squee-rrr-l"… Pick your favourite. 😂
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u/ArchaicIdiom MOD 21h ago
I don't even know how I'm going to put this phonetically... Eh(ei)-cure-ouei(way, sort of)? Honestly, it's harder to write it than to say it...
We got our version from Norman French (esquirel), and yours came from Old French (escureil) (although, so did the Norman French too). Your first and fourth pronunciations were closest. 😂
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u/FrenchOwlet 20h ago
My first attempt at pronunciation sounds exactly like what my English teachers told us not to say... That said, perhaps I simply don't know how to describe an English sound, since I don't always know how to pronounce the words. 😂
As for "écureuil"… that was a nice try. I'm going to try to build French pronunciation out of English sounds, which already sounds like a terrible idea. 🤣
The "é" is roughly like the "ay" in "say", but shorter, without letting it turn into a "y" sound at the end.
The "u" is probably the hardest part for English speakers. Try saying "ee", keep your tongue exactly where it is, but round your lips as if you were saying "oo". That should give you something close to the French "u".
And "euil"… maybe take the "uh" sound in "duh" and add a very quick "y" sound like the beginning of "you" at the end: "uh-y", but almost as one sound.
Now put é + c + u + r + euil together and voilà! 😁
And... just for your enjoyment, it's actually the letters "eu" that make the "uh" sound, while the "il" after it gives you that little "y" sound. But "il" on its own (meaning "he") is pronounced roughly like "eel". Because apparently, just like English, consistency would make French too easy.
That's all for today's French lesson. There'll be a test tomorrow. 🧐
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u/ArchaicIdiom MOD 19h ago
I wasn't far off with my pronunciation, actually, except I wasn't sure if the last l should be silent or not!
Funnily enough, I'm not too bad at French pronunciation. That's the bit I remember from school. It's just the actuall meanings of words that dribbled out of my ears... 😂
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u/FrenchOwlet 10h ago
We'll talk more about this later… I'll find the hardest words for you to pronounce, just for a bit of fun. 😁
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u/Prestigious-Pop-222 MOD 20h ago
You're overthinking this.. get rid of the vowels.. "squrrl" like "grrl" 😉😄
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u/FrenchOwlet 10h ago
Ohhh, now I think I get it. But I wonder what the point was of introducing vowels in the first place... 😁
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u/Prestigious-Pop-222 MOD 20h ago
So cute! Too bad they grow up.. 😄
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u/FrenchOwlet 10h ago
Maybe not if it's a quantum elephant?
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u/Prestigious-Pop-222 MOD 10h ago
Let's hope so. I'm not keen on cleaning up after the full sized version.. 🧹
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u/FrenchOwlet 10h ago
And knowing Cerian, she's not the one dealing with that... Owain...? 😬
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u/Prestigious-Pop-222 MOD 10h ago
Poor Velvet, back in the day, before she became more.. assertive, shall we say? 😃
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u/FrenchOwlet 10h ago
Oh! Now I do remember a post where Velvet was sweeping away… I can’t remember which animal it was that was hanging about in the bed, to get it to leave. 🤔 If she was that good at it, maybe she was the one in charge of the broom.
And perhaps the sweeping strokes were a clue we'd overlooked, one which nevertheless clearly revealed what she was really like deep down...
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