American language as an English "dialect"…

Dont get me started on the dumbing down of English for Americans. I am still shaking my head over "Aluminum" (Its Aluminium.. Look at the periodic table..)😷

I usually don't pronounce the R unless I'm feeling fancy.

American english has such a wide range it's a whole subject in and of itself with so many blurred and varied dialects.

It is strange.

It's as if Americans find the middle syllables or even single letter of long words hard to enunciate, so they drop them. Then invent horrors that make the original word longer still, like "inspirational" ( = inspiring) and even "burglarise" (= burgle - and they'd spell it with a 'z').

No respect for etymology: a "pedophile" actually has an unhealthy craving for feet, not children; while, I was told by a science teacher, US geologists insisting changing the time called the Cainozoic, "Cenozoic" have actually reversed its meaning.

Also why do Americans adopting things or concepts invented in Britain using English words, change the names or technical terms? Is it to disguise the fact of being adopted? Lord Baden-Powell and his wife Olivia invented the Boy Scouts and the Girl Guides; the first words were dropped in the 1960s; but the females were never "Girl Scouts"!

Sometimes it's due to the original being changed into something totally different anyway: Baseball was originally Rounders, Ten-pin Bowling is a highly-mechanised, glittery version of Skittles (once, a.k.a. Nine Pins). While what the Americans call "Football" is nothing like Football. it is a rather gladiatorial version of Rugby Football which they don't play; so they invented the odd word "Soccer" (of what etymology?) for ordinary football!,

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It works the other way, to be fair.

A lot of Britons think it clever to affect Americanisms simply for being American; but sometimes fail to understand them. Hence, for example, sometimes calling congestion on a motorway, "gridlock". Or using as metaphors, arcane colloquialisms from American sports, like "curved ball" (it wouldn't be a ball if it is not curved!). And slang they think are the proper terms, like "fracking" - coined by drilling-rig labourers unable to say "fracturing": too many syllables!

Whilst the British dialects and accents are so richly varied, that in some areas the differences are noticeable across only several tens of miles, and regional proper-noun pronunciations a study of their own. Spell "Aptwick" or "Sinjen-Steven" fully! (Respectively, a village in Yorkshire and a former politician's surname).

There is not even A "London" accent - there are subtly different native accents across Greater London, though you'd probably need be a Greater London native and resident to discern and identify them. I am not, so they all sound much the same to me. I think though I can just about discern between Southern Yorkshire and NW Yorkshire / Lancashire, accents!

If I’m speaking slowly and deliberately I will pronounce the r.

In everyday speech I do not.

I always pronounce the word as you do. It's not necessarily wrong, even if some hardcore grammarians disagree. Folks like that seem to think language--including the pronunciation of words--is stuck in the distant past and unchanging over time, when it clearly is not.

While "Feb-RU-ary" is still considered the standard pronunciation, most dictionaries recognize the pronunciation of February without the first "r" ("Feb-U-ary") as an acceptable variant.

https://www.thoughtco.com/correct-pronunciation-of-february-1691019

My english is getting gooder and gooder...

I was trying to remember what example of this bugs me here in Canada. It is "arctic". The Arctic is a very large part of our land mass, but many people pronounce it "artic" without the first C. ~~

However, it turns out I shouldn't be annoyed; I just checked this word in the Oxford English Dictonary, and not only is "artic" a recognized pronunciation both in British and American English, but it was spelled for centuries without that first C.

So now I looked up "February" in the OED and same result! Both in British and American English, pronunciations without the first R are recognized; and in spelling, that R has come and gone over the centuries.

Probably people from countries like Nigeria where English does not have as long a local history are more likely to take the standard spelling seriously...!

I say Febuary

I believe the pronunciation is now widely considered by linguists to be a matter of choice rather than correctness.
But I believe American English is gradually drifting further away from its British roots. There is ever increasing slang that becomes everyday idiom, and there are gradual shifts in the meanings of specific words, and in the way grammar is used. I notice in films that there are whole phases I don't understand, and some words are pronounced so weirdly that I can't even guess the meaning. I often wish that American films and TV serials had English subtitles.

I was born in February, and perhaps that is why I am a stickler for pronouncing it Feb-ru-ary.

But I was taught in school that both pronunciations are correct.

I (Canadian) always pronounce that R, but even I do not pronounce both D's in Wednesday :D

most often without the 'r', but sometimes i make the extra effort to pronounce the 'r'. it depends who i'm talking to and how often i have to repeat the word.

@bijouxbroussard I haven't studied much about English dialects. I do know what we consider Appalacian ( West Virginia) is a very old form of ancient English and the influence of other old southern english slang.

Since my gram greatly influenced my own speech I sometimes use German slang like "Ich Liebe diche" ( I love you") Mostly it was "Ach no Dadie" which usually turned into a "Yes Davey" cause my gram spoiled me something terrible.

I pretty much just say "Feb-ree"in conversation - but "Feb-uary" is common here in Australia.When I was very young,I can recall a schoolteacher telling us that the first "r" shouldn't be dropped out of the pronunciation of "February" - but it's easier to skip over it without anyone misunderstanding what month you said. I also tend to say "lib-ree" - which admittedly is a somewhat lazy way of saying it.

I pronounce the 1st “R” in February, so I’d pronounce it Feh-brew-ary.

my tongue won't acknowledge or roll that r

I've never pronounced that first "r".

I don't think anyone clearly enunciates the first r unless they are s p e a k i n g v e r y s l o w l y.

We don't pronounce that r in the UK.

Only Noah Webster ever thought that all the letters in an English word had to be pronounced separately.

When I'm reading aloud, yes, otherwise probably not.
Anyway, I've been told that English buggered itself so badly during the Tudor period that there is no longer any possibility of any of us taking any honest pride in the way we speak.

I usually pronounce it Feb-U-ary, unless maybe I've just recently written it or something. Much like Wednesday which I also know perfectly well how to spell, but pronounce as Wends-day. 🥴

The United States and Great Britain are two countries separated by a common language. GB Shaw


I admit to saying Feb-u-ary until someone called my attention to it.....I also used to say LI-berry😀

There's no way my particular way of speaking will allow me to pronounce 2 r sounds in the middle of one word. That's too much.

How to pronounce former Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski's name:
sh shef ski...nicknamed Coach K...lol

Always mispelled that one as a kid, so had to say 'bru' to get it right.

But if Library was spelt libruary. I bet your 1st 'r' will be silent too.

If I speak to an American I always speak slower 😜

With the first r.

I think it’s fairly common not to pronounce the first “r”.

I don't pronounce the first "r" in February. I DO pronounce it in library. It bothers me when people pronounce photography as "Fur-tography. It also puzzled me when my black friend, (RIP Willy Taylor) pronounced "Ask" as "Axed"

I never pronounce the r either

I do say the whole word, but if I'm in a rush, I'll default to the Network Standard "Feb-oo-ary".

I do say Feb - brew - wary
well, maybe about 50/50 I say it both ways haha

I guess I never enunciate the first r now that you mention it

This reminds me of a clip I wish I could find but I don't remember enough detail to even know what to search for ... I just remember some comedian (?) trying to say "February" in a French accent (maybe as Jacques Cousteau?) ... they made 2 or 3 attempts, then gave up and just said "early March ..."