"No, there isn't anyone knows the pronunciation"

Of course there is. The English toffs called Cazalet for a start, and I've told you how they pronounce their name. That's also exactly the way the characters in 'The Cazalets' (the BBC adaptation of the books) did.

Talk about complicating a perfectly simple question.

I almost hate to ask but what about 'Lucia', as in E.F. Benson's 'Mapp & Lucia'. Soft 'c' or hard? (I'm giving a presentation at the local library on places in England associated with well-loved books. I've read the books and visited the places, but having been burned before have little confidence that I'll pronounce things right. And sure as heck there'll be an English person in the audience who'll correct me.)

"Yes, Christina's got it wrong, it would indeed be something that - in English - could be spelled like ---eh, a straight open non-bent (not a diphtong) e sound like the vowel sound in stem or bent or tent or bet (but silent ending t)."

I think that's right, but is -et ever pronounced like -é (other than in the word "et")?

hi rickmav,

whenever the BBC do Mapp and Lucia, they give LUCIA the italian pronounciation ie LuCIa, as in Chuff. which makes sense 'cos Lucia is always practising her italiano, cara mia!

you do know how to pronounce "RYE" [which is where the books are set]don't you?

:S-

regards, ann

Rickmav, after your crack about body parts I'd love to misdirect or otherwise misinform you. But the previous poster has it right. The pronunciation is meant to be Italian.

If I recall aright, "Lucia" is in fact an assumed name of the dreadful Italophile -- or an Italianization of her true Christian name.

RE: Correct pronunciation of Rye...

Huh? Is there sthg I didn't catch in my visits there?

Or was the poster just being puckish?

(Shd that be capital-P Puckish?????)

My post disappeared; so here goes again. It's LooCHEEah, as in the Italian...or at least, in Lucie's Italian. Dweffly diffie, isn't it?

Make that Lucia's Italian, not to be confused with my cat Lucie.

"... think that's right, but is -et ever pronounced like -é (other than in the word "et")? ..."

Can't think of one, the aigue é makes the sound be less open, closer to an I sound (ee for English), while the et is a more open sound, like the e in the English best or rest or test. And the t is silent in all these, et, complet, etc. -

The only exception I can think of is net (as in netto, not as in filet), net as opposed to brut, like in net weight - there in the French word net the ending t is not silent.

You'll hear the expression "clair et net" - totally clear, "tht's it period" etc.

Christina is right. The French "-et" rhymes with é, while "-eh" sound more like è.

"...The French "-et" rhymes with é,..."

Maybe in some regional dialect, but the é sound is more closed, more pinched than the -et ending. Listen to the e in the English bet or set ot wet, that's the sound of the -et ending (minus the silent t, of course).

flanneruk--now I've seen enough of your posts to know that you do have a sense of humor of sorts. You're pulling my leg, yes? I hope.

If Cazalet were French it would ba Caz-a-lay

Cigale, what i'm not sure about English/American writing is if you write "lay", wouldn't you pronounce le-i with i sound at the end ? or not? With Cazalet, there is no i sound. Isn't this correct?

If OP is talking definitely about an "English" character Cazalet, it doesn't mean anything but fyi, Googling gives 140,000 results in French page and 94,000 in English.

British/ American it would be Caz-a-lett

For heaven's sake, enough!

cigalechanta and flanner have it absolutely right. (My stepmother says so and she knew EJH)

In plain English it is pronounced CAZALETT

tedgale asks...
""Isn't there a moderately hot non-French actor called Cazalet -- he starred in The Count of Monte Cristo, a film to which I was once subjected on a transatlantic flight?""

There is a fairly well-known English actor named Christopher Cazenove - and I don't have the faintest idea how he would prefer his name pronounced, though I would think it CAZZenove... But he played Heath Ledger's blind father in A Knight's Tale and was in Dynasty back in the 80s.

Sorry, I'm thinking er not et

> British/ American it would be Caz-a-lett

You didn't answer my question but that's alright. Not everything can be answered.

Christopher Cazenove also had a major role in one of my favorites, "The Duchess of Duke Street."

no, it would be lai

Thanks everyone. I made my presentation and not one English person in the crowd corrected my pronounciations - although there were a few raised eyebrows when I said Gallipoli. (For some reason, we have a lot of English ex-pats living in this area.) Thank God there was no reason to say Van Gogh.