English thread. Why not?

[Reactor]

Excellent answers! So it's a scraper and a masonry pot! Thank you very much I was kinda stumped when no English books I read had mentioned these tools, it was fascinating to hear that they indeed have a proper name under which they can be labeled in a supermarket

[Project Shadowcat]

What is the English word for these tools? Can you tell me?

I know the second item was identified as a masonry pot, but it looks a hell of a lot like my wok in the kitchen, which I use to cook chicken in.

[Reactor]

Yes, woks and masonry pots are quite alike. Hell, you could actually use a wok as a masonry pot if you really want to.

[Ravick]

What other words could I use for "guinea pigs" (in the sense of an animal people make experiments with)?

It seems strange when you use mices, rabbits or other animals as guinea pigs, but not, well, actual guinea pigs.

[Enjay]

Lab rat or (less often) laboratory mouse can be used instead of guinea pig (if you mean in the sense of someone or something being used as a trial or test) but guinea pig is by far the most common expression and used far more widely context-wise too.

[Project Shadowcat]

What other words could I use for "guinea pigs" (in the sense of an animal people make experiments with)?

It seems strange when you use mices, rabbits or other animals as guinea pigs, but not, well, actual guinea pigs.

When I'm trying new recipes in the kitchen, "victim" is among my more sadistic suggestions.

[NeuralStunner]

How about astronaut, war hero, and/or Olympian? (Or simply "test subject".)

[Ravick]

Hi there.

I'm watching 'One Strange Rock' series, and I've seen that Will Smith usually pronounces the article word "a" just like the name of the letter (witch, for a Portuguese speaker just like me, sounds as "ei" (I'm ignorant about phonetic symbols...)). However, in almost everywhere else, I hear people pronouncing it as it would sound in Portuguese, well, sounding as "a".

I mean, he says "a" in the way this letter sounds in "name", and not as it sounds in "car", witch is the way I've always heard people saying it.

Are there rules for the use of this (for me, totally) different ways of pronounce the article "a"? I mean, does he say this word in that way just to sound cooler, or is it a legit way to say that?
(I know that linguists hate the idea of "legit ways" to say things, but... uh... let this one pass, please. )

_____

(BTW, thanks for the answers about the guinea pig thing. It cleared things, despite I still find it sounds a little absurd to call a lab mice or a fruit fly "guinea pig". )

[MFG38]

While it's not common to hear "a" pronounced in that way, it is a legitimate pronunciation of it. I think pretty much the only place you'd hear it pronounced in that way outside regular speech, though, is in music and poetry.

[Enjay]

Yeah, it is a legitimate pronunciation, but definitely a lesser used one. Music, poetry (as said) are more common places to hear it but it could sometimes be used to add emphasis or add strength or formality to what is being said (perhaps accompanied by a more formal or deliberate delivery of the whole sentence around the "a"). It's difficult to identify any specific rules for doing that though. If you were using the nAme-sounding version every time you said "a" though, your speech would sound a bit weird.

[NeuralStunner]

I rarely hear the long A unless it's the stressed syllable for whatever reason, usually involving emphasis. E.G. "I said 'have a doughnut,' not freakin' six!"

If not for the usage of "an", it would probably be in a similar position as "the" ("thuh" before a consonant, "thee" before a vowel).

[Darkcrafter]

I assume this article indeed has this alphabetical sound to it but not always, probably depends on the accent.

[Ravick]

Thank you for clarifying the question, pals.

If not for the usage of "an", it would probably be in a similar position as "the" ("thuh" before a consonant, "thee" before a vowel).

Hum... so, I could say 'Thanks for claryifing DA questions"!

[Gez]

In the sentence "a tame cat", all three 'a' are pronounced differently AFAIK. I'm not a native English speaker and pronunciation is probably my weak point for English, but the way I've been taught, the first a (the article) is a mid-central vowel or mid-front rounded vowel, the second (in tame) is the close mid-front unrounded vowel gliding to the near-close front unrounded vowel, and that last (in cat) is the near-open front unrounded vowel.

[Darkcrafter]

Yeah I learned to pronounce evey "a" very different in this example. English is not a phonetic language and that's ok.