Do you find it funny when people pronounce "clerk" to rhyme with "work"?

@NorthernBear I don't use the word "nerd" at all, it's not a word people use round here. "Jerk" rhymes with "work", why do you ask?

Why wouldn't "clerk" rhyme with "jerk?" The only difference is the first letter.

Just a different perspective from the other side of the pond.

@NorthernBear Same reason as Derby is pronounced "Darby", I suppose. Maybe the first ever clerk was from Derby. Lol :)

@SW-User No, I don't. I pronounce it "clark".

@BijouPleasurette Clark rhymes with work. There's Assonance or end rhymes.

@Lostpoet You might say it like that, but I still think it's funny. The rest of us pronounce it "clark" because that's the way it is.

@SW-User There are plenty of them in my country too. There was the singer Petula Clark for a start. She's in her 80s now but her songs still get played on the radio.

@BijouPleasurette isn't she the lady that sings [i]Downtown?[/i]

@SW-User Yeah, that's the one that gets played most on the radio. It must be at least 50 years old but the radio DJs seem to like it.

@PhoenixPhail "Cleak" is pronounced "Clark"? How does he say "freak"? Lol :)

"Frark."

@PhoenixPhail I thought so. Lol :)

@NickiHijab Do you pronounce "work" as "wark" to rhyme with "shark"?

@BijouPleasurette Good choice 😉

I have heard it said that Americans do actually sometimes stick with a more original pronunciation, and it's actually ours in the UK that evolves. Don't know in this case here.

Here, by chance is an example...

https://similarworlds.com/4554883-I-Like-This-Poem/2481671-Percy-Shelleys-Ozymandias-I-met-a-traveller-from

From just this evening on here - nothing to do with Breaking Bad or The Watchmen - but the original poem from 1818.

Read it straight - with "received" English and it doesn't quite work. It's actually better with an American or, perhaps, a Yorkshire accent. In normal, southern, BBC English, the word "command" just doesn't quite sit right.

There are many, many examples on YouTube with both British and American versions. People must enjoy the challenge.

@AfternoonWine Since when has "southern, BBC English" been "normal"? Lol :)