Well, we do say LABoratory here, though

Posted by GPP on August 13, 2003

In Reply to: Well, we do say LABoratory here, though posted by R. Berg on August 13, 2003

: : : Does anyone other than me still say EXquisite (rather than exQUISite), HOSpitable, PREparatory, etc? Americans, at least, are seemingly incapable of accenting the first syllable of any multisyllabic word. I cringe whenever I hear forMIDable or apPLICable.

: : Or preFERably.

: This American here says EXquisite, hosPITable, prePARatory, FORmidable, and APplicable. I believe all five pronunciations are correct.

Well, both Collegiate "9th" and SOED agree with you about prePARatory--I stand corrected (actually, I had meant to type 'PREParatory, with the second 'p' also in uppercase), but they both disagree with hosPITable, offering no alternative to HOSpitable. Oops--M-W2 does say "Brit. also hosPITable". Now that's interesting to me--I would have guessed that hosPITable was more an Americanism.