[LMB] re HH ch 23

[Carol Cooper]

>Peter H. Granzeau

>At 01:42 PM 8/31/2006, Elizabeth Holden wrote:

>>At 01:04 PM 8/31/2006, sekhmet wrote:
>> >
>> > >Irene
>>
>>Pete asked:
>> > Do you pronounce that the British way or the
>> > American way?
>>
>>What is the difference?  Is it three syllables vs 2
>>syllables, or is the the "I" that comes out different?

>I was recently listening to a British radio show (very old--it was 
>"My Word!", if you must know), and one of the resident funny men 
>pronounced it "eye-ree-nee".  I didn't know if that was how the 
>British pronounced it or not.

Ooh - I used to love 'My Word'!  I do remember hearing that pronunciation on
the BBC series of the Forsyte Saga - Irene Heron was an "eye-ree-nee" - but
that's definitely not the most common pronunciation, at least these days.
Given James's reminder about the name's Greek roots I would suspect that it
may be a rather grand and old-fashioned version - Irene Heron was from the
upper middle class in Edwardian times. Interesting.

Carol