OT: How do you pronounce this? | Page 2 | The Boneyard

OT: How do you pronounce this?

How do you pronounce the word Aunt?

  • "Ant"

    Votes: 38 46.9%

  • "Ahnt"

    Votes: 41 50.6%

  • Another way

    Votes: 2 2.5%
  • Total voters
    81
HuskyNan said:
My husband is originally from the Midwest and insists on pronouncing the word Aunt as though his father's sister is a bug ("Ant"). My mother's sister is my Ahnt. So, is that a New England thing? How do you pronounce Aunt?
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In the South, most people say "ahnt"; I'm from NJ originally (parents from NYC) and I say "ant".
 
KnightBridgeAZ said:
OK, not fair. I got Yonkers, Jersey City (where I worked a couple of years) and Newark/Patterson (Newark is less than 30 minutes from where I grew up). If you blow up the map, my most likely area is 100% correct - north/central eastern NJ. With a lot of additional blurring into central mid eastern NJ - where I lived for most of my life.
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I got the same result, also having grown up in central NJ.
 
My Great Aunt Kathryn was an Irish old-maid school teacher from Worcester. As she was born in the early 1890's, married women were not permitted to teach in those days. She came to visit us once, after we'd moved to Louisville, KY. One of our little neighborhood child friends, upon meeting my Great Aunt, shyly drawled, "oh, this must be yore Ant Kathryn." My most dignified Great Aunt drew herself up and stiffly replied, "An ant is a bug what walks!"

As you can imagine, that reply has been part of the family lore for, oh, 50+ years now....
 
In Milford, we said “ant.”

I have a friend in Hawaii who refers to his aunt as simple “Auntie” (pronounced “anty”) without her name.
 
.-.
KnightBridgeAZ said:
OK, not fair. I got Yonkers, Jersey City (where I worked a couple of years) and Newark/Patterson (Newark is less than 30 minutes from where I grew up). If you blow up the map, my most likely area is 100% correct - north/central eastern NJ. With a lot of additional blurring into central mid eastern NJ - where I lived for most of my life.
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Paterson, New Jersey has only one "t". New York's version has two "t"s. Sorry, had to correct it cause I'm from Paterson.
 
I grew up in IL (mostly) but have lived out here in MA/CT for more than half my life now. So I grew up with ant. But now say ahnt.

I got Oklahoma City, Wichita and Springfield MO. A bit west of where I grew up. But I've lived in GA, FL, VA, ID also. I've picked up stuff from all over.
 
It is "ahnt" all over the British commonwealth,
Fowler gives one pronounciation "ahnt" in COD.
 
My family, from Norwalk, always said Ant and Antie.
My wife's family, from Tolland with her parents originally from Boston suburbs, says Ahnt and Ahntie.
Our son calls each side of the family accordingly.
 
.-.
I got Wichita, Springfield, MO and Overland Park, KS (Kansas City). Not too far off - Ponca City, OK, 90 miles south of Wichita. Definitely "Ant".
 
HoopsHoppy said:
I got no couth - and no ear either - but what I say sounds more like “ont” than either of the two choices
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I wondered if anyone would unveil the third choice.
I brought "ant" east with me from Ohio when I attended college in Connecticut, and encountered "ahnt."
But then some nose-in-the-air snobs from Bauston laid "on-t" on me.
Unfortunately, I slipped into "ahnt," brought it on visits home and caught uncommon grief: "Oh gawd, he says "ahnt."
 
f1f1ferrari said:
Paterson, New Jersey has only one "t". New York's version has two "t"s. Sorry, had to correct it cause I'm from Paterson.
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Sorry. I can't say I ever thought about how it was spelled. I am originally from and grew up in Union (the one in Union County, next to Elizabeth). That whole area around Newark (including the Oranges) - other than the Elizabeth / Hillside "side", is just a closed book to me. Never did much of anything in the area. Don't know much about the Southwest part of the state, either. The rest of the state - whether for work or pleasure - was pretty well known to me.
 
So..... What did the Pink panther say when he stepped on an insect?
Dead ant, dead ant, dead ant, dead ant, dead ant, da-da-da dead annnnnnt,



Or was it dead aunt?
Going back on my meds tomorrow, I promise.
 
How about "ain't" like Andy Griffith's Ain't Bee. As Charles Barkley says, "If Ain't Bee ain't be the best Ain't I don't know who it be."
 
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If one has a British spouse, one grows used to hearing awnt (vowel sound like faun). Back under the awning I go, the better to hide from brickbats.
 
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