Is it "sais" or "says"?
- Thread starter Bebelina
- Start date
says...far as i know.
In American-English it's "says", but hard telling with the whole favor/favour thing and all.
Personally, I've never seen anyone spell it "sais" before. I could imagine using it in a story with some heavy dialect or something.
Cletus McBride: "I sais, getcha ass ova here!"
Personally, I've never seen anyone spell it "sais" before. I could imagine using it in a story with some heavy dialect or something.
Cletus McBride: "I sais, getcha ass ova here!"
It's "says".This is horrible. I looked it up at an online dictionary, several actually and discovered I was wrong. It can't be, I'm never wrong....I was best in my class at english... !
But this is what "sais" stands for( except for the french word "sais" as in "je ne sais quoi", maybe I confused that with "says"....) :
SAIS Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (Johns Hopkins University)
SAIS School of Advanced International Studies (Johns Hopkins University)
SAIS Science & Application Information System
SAIS Secretary of the Army, Information Systems
SAIS South African Institute of Security
SAIS South African Intelligence Service
SAIS Sportscotland Avalanche Information Service
But this is what "sais" stands for( except for the french word "sais" as in "je ne sais quoi", maybe I confused that with "says"....) :
SAIS Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (Johns Hopkins University)
SAIS School of Advanced International Studies (Johns Hopkins University)
SAIS Science & Application Information System
SAIS Secretary of the Army, Information Systems
SAIS South African Institute of Security
SAIS South African Intelligence Service
SAIS Sportscotland Avalanche Information Service
I've been spelling it sais all my life too! Only until I looked it up a few months ago I realised I must of been wrong! I'm sure I learnt sais at school.. I'm from Wales in uk and I see someone from Canada learnt the same. They did say before the 80s though and I wasn't born till 82... Must of picked it up from someone or reading old books I suppose.
Says is English; sais is a French form of the verb "to be" (i.e. Je sais is "I am.")
"said" is third person singular and plural of "to say" (which may cause confusion)
Of course "sais" is incorrect.
But try looking up "he sais" on google .
https://www.google.ie/search?q="he sais"&oq="he sais"&aqs=chrome..69i57&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#q="he sais"&start=10
and there seem to be many(93 thousand!) returns.I am not sure what is the reason,whether is is simple illiteracy or some kind of a literary device.
Of course "sais" is incorrect.
But try looking up "he sais" on google .
https://www.google.ie/search?q="he sais"&oq="he sais"&aqs=chrome..69i57&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#q="he sais"&start=10
and there seem to be many(93 thousand!) returns.I am not sure what is the reason,whether is is simple illiteracy or some kind of a literary device.
Some people do actually pronounce it as "says" rather then "sez" . So it would presumably look "right" to them
DaveC426913
Valued Senior Member
"sais"?? Really?
It's "says".
Though, informally, I tend to go with "sez".
It's "says".
Though, informally, I tend to go with "sez".
There's a continuum of pronunciation of 'ays - in my neighborhood, anyway. To my ear, it runs like this: Ways - days - assays - always - says. Physically, it's moving back down the tongue starting at the hard palate. That's a common pattern of change in a language, iirc. I don't think it's quite reached "sez" yet, in my local Scando flavored lingo. Ymmv.
It looks like the middle phase of one of those vowel shifts, the kind of hiccup we find when we read older poetry and the guy has rhymed "rain" with "again". Many poems rhyme "say" and "way", very few rhyme "says" and "ways".
I've never seen or heard of anyone spelling it "sais", until now. That would read as two syllables, in my town - like "dais" compared with "days". Although if that showed up in a French-influenced area, say eastern Canada, it wouldn't be as odd - Calais, palais, etc.
It looks like the middle phase of one of those vowel shifts, the kind of hiccup we find when we read older poetry and the guy has rhymed "rain" with "again". Many poems rhyme "say" and "way", very few rhyme "says" and "ways".
I've never seen or heard of anyone spelling it "sais", until now. That would read as two syllables, in my town - like "dais" compared with "days". Although if that showed up in a French-influenced area, say eastern Canada, it wouldn't be as odd - Calais, palais, etc.
DaveC426913
Valued Senior Member
Counterintutively, it's actually pronouced 'callous' (CAHL-uss), according to both Wiki and the locals, who will make no bones about correcting you.
If I had to guess, I'd say they are a little resentful of living cheek-by-jowl with their French neighbors, and have - some time in the distant past - deliberately chosen a distinctly un-French pronunciation.
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Which fits perfectly with "says" - single syllable, blurred schwa-tending noise; unlike the English two syllable, long "a" take, as in "dais".Ironically, the locals pronouce it 'callous' (CAHL-uss), and make no bones about correcting you if you pronounce it any other way.
It's the verb "to know" (savoir, not être).
I am is Je suis. Je sais is "I know".
"Sais" is only correct when you're talking about the paired weapons that Elektra (Natchios) uses ...
DaveC426913
Valued Senior Member
And there, it's pronounced 'sighs'.
Given the wide range of accents in the UK alone, you will find people manage to rhyme many words that you personally may not think rhyme.
"Rain" and "again" do rhyme in many parts of the UK, possibly only in the SE or the official Received Pronunciation would they be different.
Do you rhyme "scone" with "gone" or "cone"?
Do you pronounce "pass" with a short "a" (as in 'passage') or with a long "a" as in 'car' etc.
As for the spelling in question, it is "says".
And personally I pronounce it "sez", although some of my friends pronounce it "say-z"
D'oh! You are correct. Teaches me to try to use a language I learned 20 years ago.