Et Alii
Great heads-up over at Bladewriter Blog regarding the pronunciation of short-lived. (The real meat is here.) Honestly, it’s not something I’ve ever thought about (I’m a short “i” person myself), but there are definitely some compelling points to the contrary. I might just have to change my ways.
How do you pronounce it?
with a short ‘i’. To be honest, I’ve never heard anyone pronounce it the way this guy suggests; therefore, I’ll continue to be ignorant and wrong in this instance. It just doesn’t infuriate me enough.
lenina
2006 Dec 5 at 08:53
Decisions, decisions…
nosugrefneb
2006 Dec 6 at 08:31
The expression ’short-lived’ was actually used in the new Bond movie; it was part of a line by Daniel Craig right at the start of the film. I thought of your post and it made me giggle. He too pronounced it with a short ‘i’.
lenina
2006 Dec 21 at 14:23
I know that I’m definitely in the minority here, but the short “i” pronunciation never made sense to me. Something doesn’t have a short “used to live”, it has a short LIFE. If a cat really had nine lives, it would be a nine-LIEved creature, not a nine-LIHved creature. I’m not trying to be pretentious or anything, just never made sense to me.
Bren
2007 Jan 3 at 14:47