Dear Carl and All, The word kilometre is pronounced both ways in Australia. I wouldn't like to guess the proportions but it's probably close to half and half. One of the big influences here is the media especially the government broadcaster � the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC). Other commercial media outlets are also influenced by the ABC.
The ABC has a 'Standing Committee on Spoken English (SCOSE)', who have a pronunciation guide and who also issue daily pronunciation bulletins of names in the news. SCOSE recommends KILometre and this is almost universally used by ABC radio and television broadcasters. This has a great effect on the Australian communities use of the correct pronunciation. In contrast to the ABC in Australia, I sometimes listen to the BBC World Service � they almost always use the incorrect pronunciation kiLOMetre. Cheers, Pat Naughtin Geelong, Australia on 2002-10-02 12.18, Carl Sorenson at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > About Bush's use of kilometers in his speech to the UN, Carleton wrote: >> I wonder how he pronounced it. > > He pronounced it the way that the USMA website says to: KILL-oh-meet-ur. He > mispronounced "nuclear" though. > > About the pronunciation of "kilometer", I've been trying to say it the way > the website says, but it sounds a little weird to most people (including me, > sometimes). I think most people in the U.S. would probably say it the other > way (because that's how they have heard it). A Canadian I know also says > that most people say kill-AHM-it-ur in Canada. A Namibian, though, says > they say it KILL-oh-meet-ur. > > Is it going to get standardized? What do people say in other countries? I > bet that when the UK finally changes their road signs, they will use it a > lot more and that will help standardize a pronunciation (since they have as > many people as Canada, New Zealand, and Australia put together). In my > view, I am just happy to hear people use it, so I don't make a big deal > about it (and I do hear it occasionally). > > Carl >
