One time in about 3rd grade or so, we all had just come back from lunch and our teacher was going to talk with us about… something or other. Probably something educational. We had placed our desks in a horseshoe setup, so she could see all of us (and we were all in the “front row,”) and she began to talk.
She told us about a vacation she had taken in the Caribbean. But something sounded odd: the way she pronounced “Caribbean.” She said, “Car – ih – be – un.” I had always thought it was, “Care – a – be – in.” So, being the industrious student I was, I raised my hand. This would naturally interrupt her story.
“Excuse me. Isn’t it Care – a – be – in?”
“No, Paul, it can be said either way,” she said, quite annoyed that a 3rd grader tried to correct her diction.
I felt a little embarrassed about it, but still felt I was in the right. So the question for the Pingers out there is this: how do you pronounce Caribbean?
Posted in Childhood Memories
moses February 6, 2007, 7:45 pm
I have a friend from the Caribbean who said that pronouncing it “Car-ih-be-un” made it sound too fancy and that mostly Americans said it like that. He said the way that he pronounced it, was “Care-a-be-in”.
caleb May 21, 2007, 9:15 pm
I am with Monica. I think it’s the adjective/noun determination!
BasTAVaZoolo September 28, 2010, 5:42 pm
Only an idiot or blue haired lady prononunce Caribbean the
hoitie toitie way Ka Ribb’ E In
The correct way is how they prononunce it: Ker A Bee In.