Show TAKE MY WORD FOR IT By Frank Colby Youve You've noticed of course that some people though not most people pronounce suggest as suh Why do they not say sug JEST the prevailing prevailing prevailing pre pre- American pronunciation tion The answer I believe is that the elderly dictionary Funk and New Standard lists suh JEST as the only pronunciation pronunciation pronunciation pro pro- The New Standard has always leaned d decidedly to toward toward toward to- to ward British usage as has Appleton's Appleton's Appleton's Ap- Ap New Century The pronunciation pronunciation pronunciation pro pro- suh JEST is British British British Brit Brit- ish and has never gained more than a bare toe hold in the United States And there is good reason why the great majority of Americans Americans Americans Ameri Ameri- cans prefer sug If you will look in your dictionary dictionary- any dictionary you dictionary you will see that the word is syllabified thus sug Now in English g gH is usually hard when it ends a syllable and always hard when it ends a word as bug hug dug dug- jug lug mug pug rug slug tug Therefore the sug of sug sug-gest has both logic and analogy in its favor Out of eleven cleven dictionaries sug-JEST sug is the only choice of four and the first choice of six while suh-JEST suh is the only choice of one and the second choice of six The evidence unquestionably unquestionably unquestionably un un- questionably supports sug-JEST sug as best American usage My recommendation what It may be worth is sug-JEST sug since it is the only predominant American pronunciation Released by Bell Syndicate Inc |