(no subject)

[ladynox25]

[Poll #317397]

Comments

[panacea1.livejournal.com]

Or, 2.5 - rhymes with "on fire", "desire", "the choir", and almost "vampire" (the stress pattern's wrong).

All of which can behave either way, depending on what you need them to do.

[ex-cerebrate131.livejournal.com]

Now I just have to know how all-y'all three-syllablistas pronounce it.

[texas-tiger.livejournal.com]

"As-pie-er"

Or, to break it down, "ire" is a two syllable word, "asp" is one, so put them together and you have a 3 syllable word.

See also "fire", "liar", "friar"..."i-er" is two syllables that can be slurred to one.

[publius1.livejournal.com]

Huh.

"Fire": one syllable. "Liar": two syllables, obviously. "Friar": Two syllables, obviously.

[texas-tiger.livejournal.com]

No. "Fir" is one syllable. As in fir tree. "Fire" is "fie-er", two.

[thette.livejournal.com]

I think you're confusing diphtongs with two syllables.

[panacea1.livejournal.com]

In American English, a lot of dialect forms do strange things with diphthongs. This is one such example where both versions are common enough to be considered standard A.E.