It’s yours and it’s not free

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Heeeey bastard Dutch is rearing its ugly head at those expensive record stores! How do you like this mangled homonym that only the Dutch can pronounce properly? Yours and yource (rhymes with source) is just not pronounced the same in English. It reminds of Dutch speakers who voice their ‘z’ at the end of words (instead of making it sound like a ‘s’), which sounds like a snake is trying to converse with you. I swear, I often use to feel like drinking water after hearing such a conversation like my mouth went dry by proxy. Someone please explain to them that they are working way too hard with those ‘z’.

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6 Responses to “It’s yours and it’s not free”

  1. Anonymous says:

    My mother-in-law. I love her! However, she does something which drives me crazy. She pronounes the “s” in any English word as a “z” or a “sh.” She doesn’t speak English, so the effort I can appreciate. But when she uses those words or catch-phrases the Dutch use which are English, like “smile” or “simple,” she pronounces the “s” perfectly.

  2. Frank Gerace says:

    Why do some people conquer their accent and others hang on to it throughout their life no matter how much and at what level they use their new language?

  3. Kevin says:

    >>It reminds of Dutch speakers who voice their ‘z’ at the end of words (instead of making it sound like a ’s’)<<

    Hmm. That should be:

    It reminds *me/one* of Dutch speakers who *de*voice the Z-sound at the end of their words (making it sound like an S).

    Sounding a Z like an S is devoicing, not voicing. Swedish speakers do it too, which is why Abba, despite their otherwise excellent English pronunciation can alway “see it in your ice” — it’s a “rich man swirled”.

  4. Eric says:

    You’re just living in the wrong part of the country. Try and get *any* Amsterdammer to pronounce a Z sound properly, be it in english or in dutch! “Sal me een salege sorreg sijn sou me tante Saartje seggen”

  5. MB says:

    Well, many Dutch people may not have a perfect pronunciation in English, but at least they try. It’s better to have a conversation that ‘makes your mouth go dry’ than no conversation at all. If English people don’t want to be annoyed by mispronounced z-sounds, I suggest they learn Dutch before they talk to a Dutch person. Faultlessly of course; otherwise we’ll be annoyed.

  6. Cathy says:

    It is so cool! I am trying to do that

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