Talk:Lingerie/Archives/2015

Latest comment: 9 years ago by Macdonald-ross in topic Use of the word


Pronunciation

I'm surprised to find no mention here of the fake-French pronunciation of 'lingerie' that's become so common in the USA and is apparently spreading to the UK (though probably not to Canada, since Anglophone Canadians tend to have a better idea of how French should sound). I guess we may have to accept that the normal US pronunciation is now 'lawn-zhuh-RAY', though that would be a more accurate pronunciation of a French word spelled 'longerée' (which doesn't exist). But I reckon it would still be worth mentioning the correct original pronunciation, which is more or less 'lan-zhuh-ree' or even just 'lanzh-ree', with no stress on any of the syllables.213.127.210.95 (talk) 14:03, 17 August 2015 (UTC)

Dig back into the edit history and you'll find this was a bone of contention some years back. You are absolutely correct -- Americans mis-pronounce the word in two different ways. I'd like to see a section on pronunciation but I was outnumbered in the original discussion. Stu (talk) 18:12, 17 August 2015 (UTC)
Specifically, see this edit. Stu (talk) 23:36, 17 August 2015 (UTC)

Use of the word

The notion that lingerie is used as a term for male underwear ("is increasingly used for either gender") is ridiculous. A typical definition (OED) is "women's underclothes". Macdonald-ross (talk) 16:31, 7 April 2014 (UTC)

Well, I allowed time for a reply, so now I'll change the wording. Macdonald-ross (talk) 11:17, 15 April 2014 (UTC)
It's not ridiculous at all! In French the word refers to both male and female undergarments and it is being used quite commonly now, in English, to refer to male underwear. Just do a search for male lingerie and see how many hits you get. Please change the article back to include "is increasingly used for either gender", as that is clearly correct.FillsHerTease (talk) 13:10, 24 May 2014 (UTC)
You don't understand. This is not based on opinion, it is based on the authority of the Oxford English Dictionary, which has a huge database of examples of word usage. And what the French do is up to them. Macdonald-ross (talk) 15:44, 22 August 2015 (UTC)