Talk:dilettante

Wikipedia edit history

 * 15:29, 2005 Mar 15 Kevin Rector (Already exists in Wiktionary)
 * 09:20, 2004 Oct 14 NetBot m (Netoholic - Robot: Automated text replacement)
 * 09:39, 2004 Oct 7 JTN
 * 18:22, 2004 May 24 Krotos
 * 19:04, 2004 Mar 10 Jacquerie27 m
 * 19:03, 2004 Mar 10 Jacquerie27

Pronunciation
If it's from Italian why isn't it pronounced like the Italian word but like the French female word?87.162.29.223 05:47, 25 January 2010 (UTC)


 * Because we’re (Americans at least) much more familiar with French spelling and pseudo-French pronunciations than we are with Italian ones. We make the best sense we can of foreign words as a severely monolingual, monocultural society. Italian is too exotic unless we are eating it. —Stephen 08:15, 25 January 2010 (UTC)

Here's a bizarre statement. Americans are hardly unfamiliar with Italy or the Italian language, given that Italians were one of the largest immigrant groups until the dramatic increase in Hispanics of various nationalities during the late 20th century. Italians played a major part in popular culture during the mid-late 20th century, due to the influence of New York writers and other artists.

A correct answer would refer to the fact that Americans typically encounter the word in print rather than speech, and thus have to figure it out for themselves. And as one guess is as good as another once a word enters the language, they settled on one out of consensus. I seriously doubt Swedes would guess any better than Americans. How many Swedes do you think have any knowledge of Italian? What we've got here is petty d*ckisness masquerading as cultural superiority. 72.93.178.225 00:08, 11 December 2012 (UTC)


 * Or playing it! :) 71.66.97.228 08:18, 25 January 2010 (UTC)


 * To my knowledge, the “pseudo-French” pronunciation is just wrong. I’ve commented it out until someone can back it up with a reference. I’ve corrected the entry in that respect. †  ﴾(u):Raifʻhār (t):Doremítzwr﴿ 15:19, 25 January 2010 (UTC)


 * That’s because your knowledge is so lacking when it comes to American usage. /'dɪl.ə.tant/ is what we say here. It’s the only pronunciation I’ve ever heard, and it is shown in our Random House Dictionary of the English Language. Here your Italianate pronunciation is considered pedantic and effete. —Stephen 23:52, 25 January 2010 (UTC)


 * If it’s given by an authority, then feel free to readd it with the reference. Note that the entry originally gave IPA(Aus)/dılə'tɔnt/, not, which, besides using and  in place of the correct  and , as well as being badly formatted (omitting  and  &c.), was marked as being an Australian — not an American — pronunciation, and is a different pronunciation at that (with an  instead of an  in the last syllable and with a different stress). †  ﴾(u):Raifʻhār (t):Doremítzwr﴿ 01:05, 26 January 2010 (UTC)

I've added the EN_UK pronunciation /dɪlɪˈtænti/ because as a native speaker it's what I use and hear, plus it's what's listed in Daniel Jones's An English Pronouncing Dictionary - Anonymous.

Correction to meaning
The primary meaning of dilettante has a negative connotation. It implies that the person is a "wanna-be", or a "poseur". Dogweather (talk) 00:49, 16 December 2014 (UTC)

Offensive?
Perhaps the second definition should be marked as “derogatory” rather than as outright “offensive”? 93.100.194.188 08:46, 23 May 2023 (UTC)


 * ✅ Equinox ◑ 14:23, 23 May 2023 (UTC)