Ladies and gentlemen, the National Hurricane Center is confused.
NHC forecaster Stacy Stewart, 11:00 AM EDT: “THE CORRECT PRONUNCIATION OF TROPICAL STORM BERYL IS BERLE… LIKE THE LAST NAME OF MILTON BERLE.”
NHC forecaster James Franklin, 11:00 PM EDT: “REGARDING THE PRONUNCIATION OF BERYL…A REVIEW OF SEVERAL DICTIONARIES SHOWS THAT BOTH BER’-IL AND BURL ARE ACCEPTED PRONUNCIATIONS…AND IN FACT THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DIRECTIVE SPECIFIES THE FORMER…TWO SYLLABLE…PRONUNCIATION. THE ONLY BERYL I PERSONALLY KNOW ALSO PRONOUNCES IT BER’-IL. WE APOLOGIZE FOR ANY CONFUSION.”
Heh.
Blogger Alan Sullivan caught this error before Forecaster Franklin did, writing at 12:18 PM: “All I can say is berlesh*t. As a female name or a semi-precious stone, this word is pronounced with two syllables, accent on the first. BER-il, rhyming with peril, not BURL, rhyming with girl. NHC should stick to weather and leave words to the wordworkers.”
However the heck it’s pronounced, Beryl is now considered enough of a threat that Tropical Storm Watches have been issued for Cape Cod and the Islands, and the Tropical Storm Warnings are possible tomorrow. The closest approach to the Cape should be overnight tomorrow, according to the official forecast. “There could be some squally weather and gusty winds in portions of SE Massachusetts, but the effects should be minimal,” according to HurricaneTrack. More from The Storm Track.
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Categories: 2006 Hurricane Season
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July 20th, 2006 at 12:45:36 am
Was this Uncle Milty’s first mention in a NHC alert or discussion?
July 20th, 2006 at 10:08:00 am
The only times I’ve ever heard the name pronounced was first in the mini-series, then in the audiobook, of “Brideshead Revisited.” The character, who marries Sebastian Flyte’s older brother, never appears but is referred to. Her name is spoken in the audiobook by Jeremy Irons and in the mini-series by (among others) Laurence Olivier. Both of them pronounced it Ber-il. I think that settles it.
July 20th, 2006 at 12:39:25 pm
“I think that settles it.”
Not So Fast, texasyank :). I’d also want to hear that c-c-c-c-confirmed by Anthony Blanche ;}, and maybe evelyn by miniseries host William Fuhbuckley, waugh haugh haugh. :]
Now as for Uncle Miltie (”I remember you, you heckled me at this same club 20 years ago, I never forget a suit!” :), C Bassett you old Hound you :), that’s all very well but has anybody consulted Burl Ives? Seems to me this question has got us over a beryl, here. ;>
July 20th, 2006 at 7:53:04 pm
Ha. Blanche has left the novel–gone after insulting Charles’s jungle paintings–by the time Beryl appears (or, I suppose, is referred to: first by Bridey, then Lord Marchmain, then finally Julia, one ghastly portrait after another). What B-b-blanche would have made of her–Lord, that would be something. Seeing her as some sort of middle-class Catholic British prototype, he might have been fascinated.
No kidding–WFB hosted the mini-series? I came to it later, compelled to read it in grad school and just flipped for it, first the mini-series on rented videotape (no Buckley–should have included him), then the book itself, then the unabridged book on tape (Irons’ narration) which I listen to, straight through, once a year–in fact am now, which is why I smiled when I heard of potential hurricane BER-il.