While watching Paramount’s 4K-restored, wire-free War of the Worlds, I was again perplexed by that vaguely obnoxious Colonel character (played by the late Vernon Rich) pronouncing “hill three” as “hill thuh-ree“. This always struck me as an excessive application of military-speak. Obviously “thuh-ree” is about verbal clarification over a possibly squawky military radio, but what other other number sounds even a little bit similar? Saying “thuh-ree” for emphasis is like saying “fi-yi five” or “ay-yay-eight” or “ni-yi-nine.” Again, the mp3.
