Miss Pronunciation XX

Miss Pronunciation sits the Fence

This Miss Pronunciation is going out to one Gareth Trew who Tweeted “Thought of Miss P today -- what is the correct pronunciation for territory? Terreh-tawree, terreh-tree or terreh-chree?”

GT (and this is why I really admire you: your initials represent my favourite beverage) - The most accepted pronunciation in British English is ter ə təri . The second schwa is also often left behind in the movement from the tongue to lips in (t-r).......

HOWEVER

Straddling the fence between said territories is Miss P - she seems to be stuck in this predicament of late - who would like to add that you were also correct on the first count - ˈter ə tɔːrɪ (Terreh-tawree)

In saying this, under no circumstances should one resort to sloppy muscularity and promote the pronunciation (or rather the enunciation) of your latter suggestion. Get the lips out of the way of the ‘t’ and we should never have to endure a ‘tr’ sound as ‘chr’ - I'm beginning to sound like June Dally-Watkins....

My trusty Longman’s also informs me that in Gen. Am. one can go for ˈter ə toʊrɪ (terre-tao-ri) - which is fun, but not for use in our dialect.

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