Short-lived... or is it?
OK, folks. Question of pronunciation.
When I say something is short-lived, I say it as if it had a short life. So when I pronounce it, I say a long vowel sound in "lived." The 'i' sounds like "eye."
I just brought this topic up among a few of my colleagues at school and I'm encountering resistance, but I'm sticking to my guns here. If someone has long hair, he/she is long-haired. If a guy has big ears, he is big-eared. The connection is that these are all nouns. You are joining an adjective and a noun into a compound modifier (big-eared guy, long-haired girl). You would not, however, combine an adjective and a verb to create a compound modifier because you don't live something shortly.
Now, I am not a grammarian or an expert on the English language (I just figured out the difference between who and whom a year ago), so I'm not prepared to argue to the death here. Anyone else have an opinion?
When I say something is short-lived, I say it as if it had a short life. So when I pronounce it, I say a long vowel sound in "lived." The 'i' sounds like "eye."
I just brought this topic up among a few of my colleagues at school and I'm encountering resistance, but I'm sticking to my guns here. If someone has long hair, he/she is long-haired. If a guy has big ears, he is big-eared. The connection is that these are all nouns. You are joining an adjective and a noun into a compound modifier (big-eared guy, long-haired girl). You would not, however, combine an adjective and a verb to create a compound modifier because you don't live something shortly.
Now, I am not a grammarian or an expert on the English language (I just figured out the difference between who and whom a year ago), so I'm not prepared to argue to the death here. Anyone else have an opinion?
7 Comments:
My opinion is you're wrong. I can't back that up. I just think it's pronounced the other way. Sometimes (often) the English language makes no sense and that's just how it is.
I agree with Michele. I also can't back it up.
Awesome. This is like a political discussion...
"I think you're wrong."
"Why?"
"Because."
Chris is actually right on both accounts. According the Oxford English Dictionary, the etymology of short-lived is short + live (LIFE + ED, 2nd definition)and is pronounced with a long vowel sound: laIvd (the I is subscripted). However, the OED notes that it is often apprehended as lived, past participle of the verb live, and pronounced with a short vowel: lIvd (I is subscripted). As an interesting footnote, the OED quotes Dr. Johnson and Samuel Coleridge decrying the addition of the -ed suffix to a noun in order to create an adjective. Johnson regretted the formation of "honied" (honeyed) and Coleridge regretted the formation of talented.
"Scientia potentia est." -Michel Foucault ... I mean -Francis Bacon ... or is it the -Information Awareness Office?
Well, if we're talking about politics, I think Joe's wrong and Michelle's too moderate, and I've been meaning to ask you what you think about the surge, which will likely influence me to some degree.
If we're talking about the pronunciation of short-lived, you're just wrong, just because.
The American Heritage Dictionary says Chris is right, originally, but we're all right in general:
"Usage Note: The pronunciation (-līvd) is etymologically correct since the compound is derived from the noun life, rather than from the verb live. But the pronunciation (-lĭvd) is by now so common that it cannot be considered an error. In the most recent survey 43 percent of the Usage Panel preferred (-lĭvd), 39 percent preferred (-līvd), and 18 percent found both pronunciations equally acceptable."
On an unrelated note, Kat, I took being called "too moderate" as a compliment. :)
Gotta love that. "Everyone is incorrect, which makes it correct." Awesome.
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