In fact, the Oxford English Dictionary, in its etymology of “bona fide,” says that even “classical scholars sometimes preserve the Latin quantity of the vowels … without the Latin vowel sounds.” (We doubt that your friend pronounces “Caesar” as KYE-zar or “vice versa” as WEE-keh WARE-sah, as the Romans once did.) Your friend’s pronunciation, boh-nuh-FEE-day, roughly corresponds to the Latin, but we’re talking about English here. Garner writes in Garner’s Modern English Usage (4th ed.), it’s “pedantic outside the law and precious even in legal contexts.” And the final vowel in the four-syllable version can sound like the “e” in “the.”īut while boh-nuh-FYE-dee is accepted by American dictionaries, it may not be advisable.Īs Bryan A. The first vowel can also sound like the “o” in “bonnet,” for example. To hear it, go to the UK English version of Oxford Dictionaries online.Īlthough the three-syllable pronunciation is more common in the US, American dictionaries also accept the four-syllable version, as well as some less common variations. The four-syllable pronunciation is standard in the UK, according to all the British dictionaries we’ve checked. To hear it, go to their sites and click on the little loudspeaker icons. In fact, it’s the default audible pronunciation given online by The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (5th ed.) and Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (11th ed.). The three-syllable version is more common in the US. The two most common English pronunciations of “bona fide,” according to the six standard dictionaries we’ve consulted, are BOH-nuh-fied (the end rhymes with “fried”), and boh-nuh-FYE-dee (the end rhymes with “tidy”).
Your snooty friend’s pronunciation may be heard in Latin classes, but it isn’t found in English dictionaries in either the US or the UK. How would YOU pronounce it?Ī: Like you, we say BOH-nuh-fied, as do most Americans. He says the authentic pronunciation of this phrase borrowed from Latin should be boh-nuh-FEE-day. It was a reminder that when you wear Versace, the world talks.Q: A supercilious acquaintance looked down his nose at me when I pronounced “bona fide” as BOH-nuh-fied. Nothing short of noticeable, the Versace man - and woman too because this was a star cast co-ed showcase with Kendall, Bella, Adut and co afterall - is the centre of all the attention.
It was all about bringing sexy back, not that it ever left Versace. With this in mind, Donatella and her team turned the Versace dial up to 11 with powersuits, florecore, printed python, lace, silk pyjamas, neon tailoring, IT bags and that tabloid print. These are men who do not care about the rules and that is exactly what I love: they have an opinion and make their own style choices.” Under a roof of wisteria in Casa Versace, the message was: whoever he is and whatever he does, the Versace man is never ordinary, but rather, he is looked at, talked about, and always turning heads. I conceived these clothes thinking that each of them could find something that perfectly fits his personal style. “What I put on the runway was inspired by many different kinds of men: the street-style star, the high fashion man, the boardroom executive. “This collection was born from the different emotions I felt in different moments during the creation process,” Donatella explained in the show notes.