Talk:Valet

Pronunciation

"The word is an English one and is correctly pronounced "Vall - ett", although mispronunciation as "Val-ay" is common." according to http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=valet , "[Middle English valette, from Old French vaslet, valet, servant, squire, from Vulgar Latin *vassellitus, diminutive of *vassus, vassal. See vassal.]" So which is right? I have always pronounced it "Val-ay" as well as everyone around me. I know people who have been corrected from saying it "Vall-ett" Also, the dictionary.com pronunciation includes both "Vall-ett" and "Val-ay". Yet another regional difference?

I am going to delete that line for now, unless someone has something contrary to the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. Arilakon 12:38, 10 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

AFAIK, according to etiquette, the person valet is correctly pronouced VAL-ett. This is the pronunciaion you would find in Mrs Post's book. In American English, the implements (and the fellow who parks the cars) is val-LAY. Americans who would call Jeeves a val-Lay are looked down upon, even by other Americans. Quill 21:54, 10 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

That seems not to be the case. American Heritage (a generally conservative dictionary) lists "val--ay'" and "val'-ay" as the primary pronunciations, followed by "val-it", without comment (the 4th edition is peppered with notes regarding nonstandard and "disparaged" uses and pronunciations). This may well be a British/American divergence, but to simply say that "val-ay" is "not considered correct" (as the article still does), is incorrect or at least incomplete. Elmo iscariot (talk) 14:26, 30 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

As noted by others on this page, the explanation is that the pronunciation of the word valet is class-based in British and U.S. English (see U and non-U English). Upper-class people use pallet, others chalet. Since there are more of the latter than of the former, Bartleby's statement that the pronunciation chalet is "common" is true in more than one sense of that word. Xxanthippe (talk) 01:39, 2 November 2008 (UTC).[reply]

Is Alfred, servant of Bruce Wayne (Batman), considered a valet?

When I first read “personification of the perfect valet” I laughed because I had read that before. Ben Weider once used exactly the same words to describe Louis Joseph Marchand who was Napoléon I Bonapartes favourite personal servant. I don’t think personifications exists in the real world bur Louis was probably as close to the perfect valet as anyone can get.

2008-12-30 Lena Synnerholm, Märsta, Sweden. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.229.19.102 (talk) 21:28, 30 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Murder by Death

Charlessir Bensonmum —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.158.99.174 (talk) 04:25, 16 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Move

I think this should be moved to Valet (Car Movers) --128.107.239.233 (talk) 03:48, 7 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Valet vs Butler

"Traditionally, a valet did much more than merely lay out clothes and take care of personal items. He was also responsible for making travel arrangements, dealing with any bills and handling all money matters concerning his master or his master's household" - from what I know, at least in Victorian (and perhaps slightly earlier) times this was only true of households not having a butler, who would be the one in charge of money (not sure about travel arrangements) if present. I'll try to dig up a reference, but some of mine are packed (recent move). Allens (talk) 21:51, 24 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I think they should be kept separate, as they are functionally different. Though as Wooster says "If push comes to shove, Jeeves can buttle with the best of them."