How to Pronounce Christmas in American English Happy Holidays
In this video, we’re going to talk about how
to pronounce the word ‘Christmas,’ and you’ll
see some scenes from my Christmas party and
from Christmastime in New York.
The word ‘Christmas.’
First, let’s point out that the T is silent.
Christmas, Christmas. So it’s the first syllable
that’s accented. And the CH here represents
the K consonant sound. So the first sound
is the KR consonant cluster, Chr-, Chr-.
The vowel in the first syllable is the ‘ih’
as in ‘sit’ vowel. Chri-, Chri-. This syllable
ends with the S sound. Chris-, Chris-. The
second syllable, unaccented, has the M consonant
sound, schwa, S sound. -mes, -mes. It will
be lower in pitch than the first syllable,
which is stressed. Christmas, Christmas. As
I’ve been discussing Christmas and Christmas
plans with my students this week, I noticed
that several of them have a misconception
about the schwa-S sound. A lot of my current
students have a native language of Mandarin.
And I’ve noticed not just with this word,
but with others, that the schwa-S sometimes
sounds like it has an R in it. So, Christmas
becomes Christmers, er, er, ers. And focus
becomes focurs. Famous becomes famours, rs.
So to prevent this from happening, make sure
the tongue does not pull back. The er sound
is made when the tongue pulls back some. So,
in this second syllable, -mas, -mas, -mas,
the tongue can stay forward the whole time
for the schwa and the S sound. Christmas,
Christmas. At our holiday party this year,
we had a wonderful meal followed by a gift
exchange and cookie decorating. In our gift
exchange, we each brought one gift. Then we
drew numbers to determine the order in which
to open gifts. When it was your turn, you
could either steal a gift that had already
been opened, or open a new gift yourself.
OK, so I draw my number. I want to make
sure I get the best one. Now, no one else
can see, except for my Rachel’s English users.
K, Tim has drawn number one, the lucky duck.
Lucky duck is an idiom you can use for someone
who has good fortune. In our gift exchange,
whoever drew number one got to go first, but
then take his choice of all the open gifts at
the end. Lucky duck. Both words have the ‘uh’
as in ‘butter’ sound followed by the K sound.
Uk, uk. Lucky duck. Listen again.
K, Tim has drawn number one, the lucky
duck.
Tim, I feel like you rigged that somehow.
I hope that you don’t need a scissors.
Just tear the paper.
That is some tea that I brought back from
Africa in May.
Whoa! That’s an awesome gift.
Oh wow! I love how excited you are about
it!
Who’s number 7? I am! I steal!
NO!
Pinkberry! This is a delicious frozen yogurt–uh–place
that’s not so far from the house. Sorry Janae.
Janae!
Yes?
That cookie is so adorable!
Thank you.
How long did it take you?
Approximately 30 seconds.
You know that we have 5,000 more to do,
right?
Yes.
K.
Did you notice? I reduced the word ‘okay’
to simply ‘k’, k. Listen again.
You know that we have 5,000 more to do,
right?
Yes.
K.
Jovon, that’s also some excellent handy
work.
Tell her about the dots.
Tell her about the dots. Did you notice the
dropped H? It’s not uncommon to drop the beginning
H in unaccented words like her, him, and his.
If you do this, always link it to the word
before. Tell her, tell her. Tell her about
the dots. Listen again.
Tell her about the dots [x3]
The dots. This is actually braille for
‘cookie’.
Oh, you’re really gifted.
Linds, can I show you my cookies?
Mm-hmm. Please do. Let me zoom in, it looks
good.
Thanks. It’s very colorful.
Are you going to bite its head off?
Here’s a sampling of some of the cookies we
ended up with at the end of the night. I tried
to make a Rachel’s English cookie but I ran
out of room.
I’m going to close with a hymn that some friends
and I sang a few nights ago. It’s the first
verse of The First Noel. I’m standing in the
middle of the back row.
Then I’ll switch to some footage of Christmas
cheer in New York. I think New York does December
very well. A lot of restaurants and shops
put out really lovely decorations, and it
does help to get me in the Christmas spirit.
Happy holidays everyone.
The First Noel, the angels did say,
was to certain poor shepherds
in fields as they lay. In fields where they
lay keeping their sheep on a cold winter’s
night that was so deep. Noel, noel noel, noel,
born is the King of Israel.
To all my users, no matter what holiday you
celebrate if you celebrate at all, I wish
you a very joyous December and all the best
in the New Year.