Amazhin

[onionsalad]

Some people write amazhin instead of the proper word "amazing". I noticed that kind of spelling on web sites and chats, in contexts where Internet lingo is largely used.
I would like to know what kind of pronunciation is implied, and how it is different from the old "informal spelling" amazin' without h.
According to the Urban Dictionary, with definitions contributed by users, amazin is "slang version of amazing", as in She really looks amazin.

 

[Andygc]

Presumably the implied pronunciation is as amazin' - amazing without the 'g' at the end. Many people, when speaking, drop the terminal 'g' from words ending in '-ing'. Amazin isn't a slang version of amazing, it's just a vernacular pronunciation. Amazhin is merely a strange spelling which, presumably, some people find fashionable.

 

[Beryl from Northallerton]

I'd like to see a little more context please, onion. Where have you seen this?
It's possible that something is implied by the choice of spelling, though I'm not sure what.

 

[onionsalad]

Thanks Andy!
Right, "amazin" is just a vernacular pronunciation, but I guess they say it's "slang" meaning that the spelling that convoys such pronunciation can be found in deliberately very informal writing.

 

[onionsalad]

@Beryl
Context example:

A: Hehe! I have to teach my best friend to rp tomorrow and I can't wait!
B: AWESOME!!!! lmao. this is soooo my life now!! I love it!!! talk about addicting....
A: Very! I'm going to try to get her to join here so I can teach her better and have help from all of you!
B: amazhin!!!

 

[sound shift]

Just to say that I have never heard an "h"-sound in any variant of "amazing" (but I don't have much contact with the generation that contributes to Urban Dictionary).

 

[onionsalad]

Actually Urban Dictionary has "amazin", not "amazhin", but you can find several occurrences if you google "amazhin" in quotes.

 

[ewie]

I'd pronounce it as in zhuzh. (Why it exists I've no idea ...)

 

[onionsalad]

@ewie
The Oxford Dictionary has Pronunciation: /ZHo͝oSH/
The Pronunciation guide gives

ZH

decision

So, you'd pronounce amazhin with the ZH sound as for the "s" in decision?

 

[ewie]

Yes, that's the one (Zhuzh was the only English word I could think of which actually spells that sound zh)

 

[sound shift]

Well ..... Practically all of the google occurrences of "amazhin" cry "Youth!!" to me, so I very much doubt that the people who clogged up the web bequeathed this stuff to the world know that the "zh" combination can stand for the sound we make when we pronounce the "s" in the word "decision", Mr E.

 

[ewie]

I'd pronounce it as in zhuzh.

Emphasis added, Mr S. I've no idea if that's how youngsters* say it.

(* "There's no better way of making yourself sound like an oldster than by using the word youngster.")

 

[onionsalad]

Other example:
"Tha size of mah laptop screen is amazhin"

 

[Silver_Biscuit]

Other example:
"Tha size of mah laptop screen is amazhin"

This looks like a classic example of that Internet subculture of English in which things are intentionally misspelled for comic effect (you will also see intentional bad grammar). It's basically a joke, I wouldn't pronounce it any differently from amazin'.