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How is "bass" pronounced, or why does Creative pronounce it as "base"?

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It's confusing, but I think pronouncing it 'base' is generally accepted.

II'm not sure about treble. I've heard 'treb-el' and 'tree-bol' and am not so sure which is right

It's the first pronunciation. "treh - bul".

I am so lucky to be a native English speaker, if I had to learn this shit as a second language I'm pretty sure I would just give up. Spanish was easy to learn in comparison.
 
For years I never knew this myself until I learned about it a decade or so ago when I was in my mid 20s.

Probably would've learned earlier if I played Mega Man 7. I only knew little of the character Bass but I always pronounced his name like the fish.

Hell, I still make the mistake every so often since I'm not used to it.
 
It's the first pronunciation. "treh - bul".

I am so lucky to be a native English speaker, if I had to learn this shit as a second language I'm pretty sure I would just give up. Spanish was easy to learn in comparison.
I am a native speaker as well and I wasn't even sure lol
 
Cr-ace?

I thought crass was pronounced as is.

it is, either people didn't understand the question or they pronounce words very differently, especially the person above who said, "grass".

I don't think there is any other word ending in -ass. Cutlass<cut-luss> and compass<cum-pus> are slightly softer.
 
Doesn't make much sense to native English speakers, either.

Actually, is there some reason for the different pronunciations that someone here knows? Some weird etymological quirk?

I'd like to know this too. Pronouncing it as "Base" has never made sense to me. Whenever I read it I always think it reads like the fish.
 
For years I never knew this myself until I learned about it a decade or so ago when I was in my mid 20s.

Probably would've learned earlier if I played Mega Man 7. I only knew little of the character Bass but I always pronounced his name like the fish.

Hell, I still make the mistake every so often since I'm not used to it.
Wait, would it apply to the Mega Man character too!? That's it, I'm calling him Forte from now on.
 
all-your-bass-fender.jpg
 
There is an Irish beer called Bass. Its name rhymes with ass. I saw an ad from the 70's for it where a guy is blindfolded and is testing various stouts and proclaims "Thats Bass!". Whenever I think the phrase "Thats ass!" I always think about that commercial. Very amusing to me.
 

Wow, that is fun to read. We had to learn the International Phonetic Alphabet for a Speech and Movement class when I was working on an acting degree. Learning to fake a dialect required reading based on sounds rather than proper spellings. Transcribing foreign languages for accurate representation on stage was saved for the advanced class, so we did all our work transcribing English. Being in the southern portion of the Midwest US, a lot of people would fail tests due to their local dialects causing an error in their transcription. I almost want to email that link to the professor. It would make a good midterm exam.
 
I think the origin of the word goes straight back to Latin. I assume the pronounciation changed over time, but the way the word's being written didn't.

I'd like to know this too. Pronouncing it as "Base" has never made sense to me. Whenever I read it I always think it reads like the fish.

Yeah, looks like it does go back to the routes. "Bass" the musical term is from Latin and "bass" the fish is from the German. English is crazy.
 
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