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I remain a bit confused - Tanya Harrington's Blog

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I remain a bit confused

Blog Posted:7/13/2012 3:02:00 PM
       Ok, I dislike words that are ambiguous about their syllable counts!!!  With that said, does Prisms have one or two syll.  I went to Howmanysyllables.com and it says 1.  I hear two.  I know this is like a repeat of the fire question, but I do hate to use a word for a certain count and then be wrong about it.  Can anyone help decipher this for me? 


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Harrington Avatar
Tanya
Harrington
Date: 7/16/2012 1:40:00 PM
I think on questionalbe words I will add a note at the bottom of my poem. I don't want to be counted out for having the wrong syll. count. And sometimes you just need that word! Have a splendid day everyone!!
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Harrington Avatar
Tanya
Harrington
Date: 7/16/2012 1:37:00 PM
Hahaha, some say 1, some say 2. Sounds like we're all a little confused! By syll. counters it is 1, to hear it pronounced it is 2. Thank you all for your comments.
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Grisetti Avatar
Joann
Grisetti
Date: 7/15/2012 2:57:00 PM
Webster says 2 (pri zem) and I usually rely on Webster. He's American, so British may be different.
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Jones Avatar
Nancy
Jones
Date: 7/14/2012 3:51:00 PM
Wow, interesting! Around where I hang, people pronouce "prism" the same as the do "prison" with a different consonant sound on the end. To me, both have two syllables. I was taught that syllables have to do with how words sound when they're spoken, not how they look when they're written, and that's how I roll. Depending on accent and dialect, many words can have varying syllables depending on who is saying them. (We here in the Southeast US have a tendency to add syllables in our pronunciation. For instance, up north people consistently addressed me as "nant-see whereas down here I'm sometimes called "nay-un-see") Sometimes I'll add a note at the end of a poem explaining how a certain word is pronounced where i come from.
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Kash
Poet
Date: 7/14/2012 4:59:00 AM
I think Prism has 1 syllable.
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Williams Avatar
David
Williams
Date: 7/14/2012 2:12:00 AM
Tanya, I would also say 1syl..
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Beck Avatar
Sidney
Beck
Date: 7/14/2012 1:27:00 AM
Charles says it all for me...there's only one syll in "prisms".....lots of words are like this, e.g., "Wednesday" has only 2 syll, but most people pronounce it with 3(even though the middle e is silent)....something to do with consonants like m and n and some others which are too close to others like d or s. Sometimes people insert a completely new vowel just to make the word easier to pronounce, e.g., "mischievous" become "mischievious".....hope this adds clarity to the puzzle
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Charles
Henderson
Date: 7/13/2012 8:52:00 PM
I don't think anything can have two syllables with one vowel. So, I'd say one. It really is no different from ming----pronounced "min guh" and that is one syllable.
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Richards Avatar
Carrie
Richards
Date: 7/13/2012 6:13:00 PM
I have pondered this too with different words....so if at all possible, I will avoid them when syllables matter in a format.
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Campi Avatar
Jancarl
Campi
Date: 7/13/2012 5:42:00 PM
Hi Tanya, the more you read poetry, the more you will be able to write poems. I have been writing poems since 1972. The words just came flowing out my pen. I believe my Muse had lots to do with it. THere are quite a few good poets here and many will help you. If you can do as many writing exercises you can. Good luck and Carpe diem
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Merryman Avatar
Kim
Merryman
Date: 7/13/2012 4:57:00 PM
In my opinion it has 2. I definitely hear two syll. However, when I went to the syllable counter here on the soup, it said one. Now I'm confused!
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