Since Dr Phil is, as noted phonetician Daffy Duck used to say, “one of our boys” (an Aussie), I’m sticking with Oh Vid.

The IPA for the word “open” is /ˈoʊpən/ (from dictionary.com). Now, although I’m no phonological expert, I know those first two characters are vowel sounds.

The “o” followed by a consonant in Latin was always a monophthong, or possessing only one vowel sound and therefore not rounded.

Have a look here:

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Latin/Phonology

English once upon a time had a vowel system reasonably similar to those of the European languages, but the Great Vowel Shift happened and, amongst other things, a diphthongisation took place which made English spelling even more pictorial than it once was and a nightmare for foreigners to pronounce.

More info at Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Vowel_Shift

A: Aaaahhh, almost like the pirate Arrrrrrr
E: mostly “ay” or ‘eh’, as if you were The Fonz
I: ‘eee”
O: “owe” – ie quite a rounded oh
U: as per the “ou” in would or could

I’m having visions of the “Romanes eunt domus” scene from Life of Brian now …

I just assumed my pronunciation, O-vid, was the lone correct one, but it seems that Ov-id is another pronunciation which might even be more common than my own.

Also, philologists generally don’t know much about pronunciation. What we need is a phonetician or a phonologist, or perhaps a more general-purpose linguist.

By the way, does anyone know how to read the phonetic alphabet? They abound in dictionaries, yet I’ve never met anyone, including people with linguistics degrees, who could read them comfortably and be sure of what sound is being referred to.

Look: ˈä-vəd. Say ahhhhh.

Listen: and listen. Say ahhhhh.

Look & listen: Ov-id. Say id.

When I start speaking American, then I’ll accept American pronunciations. Until then, I’ll continue to employ the English pronunciation – “O-vid” – expressed by six years worth of Latin teachers. And every single British actor who ever said O-vid.

Titus Andronicus: “Lucius, what book is that she tosseth so?”
Lucius: “Grandsire, ’tis Ohhhhh-vid’s Metamorphoses”

See.

I know, I know. Even Dr Johnson, while compiling his dictionary, discovered that it was pointless to try to hold back changes in language. But it’s my protest, and I’m sticking to it.

And anyway, to my ear none of those three above look/sound completely like ov-erred, as in hov-erred.