How do you pronounce “Milk?”

[Moliphino]

It's usually "melk" in NE Ohio, plus we do long short a sounds too. Apple will sound like aapple with the vowel stretched out a bit.

Is that where bagel is pronounced like baggle? I had a friend in college from Ohio who did that.

 

[sarahann77]

Milk. DH and his sister say melk so I've asked him about it. He didn't really notice except it's hard for him to say it properly. We're both from NE Ohio but I've had some PA influences too and paid attention to which words rhymed in school ha.

 

[TipsyTraveler]

Yes - like talc! Having little kids must really up your rhyming game! I couldn’t for the life of me come up with a word.

It’s all thanks to my illustrious rap career.

 

[georgina]

It's usually "melk" in NE Ohio, plus we do long short a sounds too. Apple will sound like aapple with the vowel stretched out a bit.

Um, I grew up in Cleveland and Ashtabula and never heard anyone say it like melk.

 

[stitch'sgirl]

Melk!

 

[Meriweather]

milk rhymes with silk

 

[Lilsia]

I honestly don't think that I have heard anyone call it anything other then the rhymes with silk way. Why would you pronounce it melk?

 

[AnnaS]

Yes, rhymes with silk - - but if you come from another state/country and accent is different - could sound like Melk......

Just for fun/my own curiosity

just for conversation and I am clueless - why is the "L" pronounced in Milk and not in Salmon? Who decides/decided -

Coming from another country many years ago - it was a bit tough to learn not to read the word exactly the way it is spelled/letters are pronounced.

PH - sounds like an F (phone)
Kn - sounds like n (knee)
Pneumonia (can't even spell it) - no P sound
CH - sound of Chair or can be Qu/Ki - like Chianti
etc etc.

In Italian, the alphabet is/was read one way, no long/short vowel - so easy to remember and spell

 

[Moliphino]

Yes, rhymes with silk - - but if you come from another state/country and accent is different - could sound like Melk......

Just for fun/my own curiosity

just for conversation and I am clueless - why is the "L" pronounced in Milk and not in Salmon? Who decides/decided -

Coming from another country many years ago - it was a bit tough to learn not to read the word exactly the way it is spelled/letters are pronounced.

PH - sounds like an F (phone)
Kn - sounds like n (knee)
Pneumonia (can't even spell it) - no P sound
CH - sound of Chair or can be Qu/Ki - like Chianti
etc etc.

In Italian, the alphabet is/was read one way, no long/short vowel - so easy to remember and spell

Frequently it depends on which language the word comes from, English steals A LOT from other languages. So chianti has the hard K sound because it's from Italian, chaos and chasm have the hard K sound because they come from Greek.

 

[AnnaS]

Frequently it depends on which language the word comes from, English steals A LOT from other languages. So chianti has the hard K sound because it's from Italian, chaos and chasm have the hard K sound because they come from Greek.

Yes - Latin comes to mind too

I think I was pretty good at spelling in school here (USA) because I would memorize the word/read it in my mind as if it was an Italian word and spelled it the same way I pronounced it/saw it. It was so hard remembering all these rules/words -

Just gets my mind wondering with pronunciations - thank you

 

[unrequited23]

Is that where bagel is pronounced like baggle? I had a friend in college from Ohio who did that.

Don't think so, bagel usually is said with a long A where I'm at in OH. But that vowel sound you describe can sometimes be heard in cabin or apple.

 

[Kitty 34]

milk rhymes with silk

Not if you're from my "region" LOL It's melk

 

[unrequited23]

Um, I grew up in Cleveland and Ashtabula and never heard anyone say it like melk.

Cleveland or one of the suburbs? I grew up in Parma. I'm really curious as to how language shifts regionally. The pop/soda line fascinates me.

 

[torene03]

I refuse to answer the poll on the grounds that I get really annoyed by nitpicking pronunciations. I think I say "milk" but others might hear it as "melk" on occasion I'd guess. I had a roommate whose boyfriend was named Ken. She used to correct me constantly because apparently I often said something close to "Kin" instead of "Ken."

This is an example of the Pin-Pen Merger! It’s very common.

Don’t know where you’re from, but it reminds me of this!