Alternative pronunciations (besides nucular) that drive you crazy

Apparently this is Pet Peeve Night in Johnnyland.:) I appreciate that there are regional accents. I appreciate that some of these are the actual proper British pronunciations (or anyway popular ones) and that there's a reason that the language we speak is called English. Still, a) they annoy me anyway, not least because b) the people pronouncing the words this way in my hearing by and large aren't British.

These are largely from TV commercials; it's ever a thing of disbelief to me that people who ought to realize that we're already inclined ads per se can't figure out that it might be a good idea to hire people with unintrusive accents and diction.

It's "Detroyt", and "WimbleDon".

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=mischievous

Just fuckin' wrong, innit?

This is why I generally don't put Other on until the editing time has almost run out; I'll make changes up to the bitter end most times.

That just drives me nuts and a guy I've been friends with since elementary school says it all the time.

I'll probably be changing out all 9. (At least I didn't say, "I have no idear what you're talking about.")

n/t

It's a feature of his accent; Kerry says it, too (though not all the time), and Ted Kennedy, and anyone else with a New England accent.

The accent is "non-rhotic", which means that "R" sounds occuring in the middle or end of words are (usually) not pronounced unless followed by a vowel (think of a stereotypical Boston accent; "pahk the cah" for "park the car", etc). However, an "R" sound is sometimes inserted at the end of a word ending in a vowel sound if the next word also begins with a vowel, so someone with a non-rhotic accent will say "I have no IDEA what you're talking about", and then "That IDEAR is insane"; it's consistent, if you listen for it. That's called an "intrusive 'R'" or "linking 'R'". You'll hear the same thing if you watch BBC America...British "Received Pronunciation" (aka "the Queen's English") is a non-rhotic dialect.

(sorry...I'm a linguistics geek)

It's a linguistics geek!

:yoiks:

but you will find that if your parents weren't from the Boston area, you are not as likely to pick it up along the way. In my own case, my parents were both Canadian, and I never really got the Boston Brahmin accent. Of course, there are exceptions to the rule: nay-ba-hood, instead of neighbor-hood, and in words with two strong "t's," the second "t" is more of a "d" sound. Potato, is one of the strongest ones. Another regional difference is in spelling--many European English forms of words come up more as normally used--words like "centre" instead of "center," "theatre" instead of "theater," and other similar words. I spelled "realize" as "realise" for many years, for example.

When I came back to Mass. after 15 years in SoCal, it was amazing to hear people talking, because out there, the overall affect of the integration of many different groups of regional accents seemed to render the differences null and void.

Talking about "padadoes." :D

FSC

Per Dictionery.com

pre·rog·a·tive (pr-rg-tv) n.

1. An exclusive right or privilege held by a person or group, especially a hereditary or official right. See Synonyms at right.
2. The exclusive right and power to command, decide, rule, or judge: the principal's prerogative to suspend a student.
3. A special quality that confers superiority.

"pruh," even though the written version seems to be giving more "prih." I assume you're objecting to people dropping the first R; the way Pronunciation Man did it though, I could barely tell the difference and had to play it a dozen times. Might be a function of my tin ear, though.

I hear that all the time. I think it's sort of regional, but it sounds horrible.

wasn't and now time's run out. Guess folks will figure it out for themselves.

My Grandma said "warsh" and it drove me bonkers!

My grandma says it too. I just try very hard not to notice :P

I suspect it's one or the other!

I notice "warsh" a lot in the speech of older folks, people from the WWII-Depression generation (like my grandparents). It's basically become extinct with younger generations, though - never heard anyone under 60 say it.

But, you are correct. You don't see it much in the younger generations. Thank goodness for that!

I've always said forMIDable. :blush: Just started realizing that some people say FORmidable, which I thought was a mistake on their part because I'm not used to hearing it.

You're ready for Oxbridge!

:P

someone is reading something aloud and has no clue how to pronounce half the words they're reading, like they've never heard the words before.

Man, sunday morning's sacred scripture time... I have to get up and read it whenever I'm there because A SIGNIFICANT PORTION OF THE CONGREGATION reads like third graders. The pastor's wife actually thanked me for being a good reader... she said that as the pastor's wife she had had to sit through YEARS of awful reading.

You know, the other white meat....

One's Italian(musical - spelled Forte - pronounced ForTAY) One's French.(meaning strong point - properly spelled Fort/pronounced For)

People almost always use the Italian pronunciation when they mean the French meaning.


It causes me to snarl when I hear people say "Writing is her fortay"
FUCK NO!!!!!!...Writing is NOT her ForTAY...it's her For(T)...her FOR(T) dammit! Her fucking FOR(T)! but it's not now nor has it ever been her forTAY!!!!!

I don't give a rats ass what has become acceptable as common usage...it's still her god damn FOR(T)!!!!!!!!!!!

(T) cause the T is silent...when speaking in French, that is

but it's such a little thing in a world of bigger problems that I don't work myself up over it.

Course, I'd be happy if people said ForT instead of ForTay when speaking of another's strong point...they don't hafta say For like the French do.

and ya don't gotta believe me...look the words up

http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=19971114

http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/List-of-words-commonly-mispronounced

forte - (1)
The pronunciation of forte when it means one's strength or strong point, is disputed. M-W has this comment about usage: "In forte we have a word derived from French that in its 'strong point' sense has no entirely satisfactory pronunciation. Usage writers have denigrated (2) and (3) because they reflect the influence of the Italian-derived forte. Their recommended pronunciation (1), however, does not exactly reflect French either: the French would write the word le fort and would rhyme it with English for. So you can take your choice, knowing that someone somewhere will dislike whichever variant you choose. All are standard, however."

How's that for pretension? LMAO

:P

with the click click clickity-clack of the keys pounding out a symphony of nothingness?

:)

hehehehehehe

Oh, wait, wrong thread. Never mind. As you were....

The few times I've mentioned the pronunciation, the response is fear of ridicule, if not saying "for-tay.

Grrrr

Oh, and one of these answers was from a musician.

My high school Latin teacher, Mrs. Green, gave a five minute lecture on the correct pronunciation of forte. Apparently, it was one of her pet peeves. I do enjoy the confused stares I receive when I pronounce it correctly.

I have only encountered the French faction in this debate on DU. There are approximately zero people that use the French pronunciation. Additionally, the word is spelled forte, which is the Italian derivation. If the word was meant to be pronounced as it is in French, it would be spelled as fort.

Period.

End of discussion.

There is no French option here.

Forte has two syllables.

American Heritage Dictionary usage panel) go with you. See usage note here: http://www.bartleby.com/61/99/F0269900.html

PS: When you put your usage maven hat on, try not to split infinitives. It undercuts your credibility.:)

However, the French "forte" (fem) is pronounced "fort", i.e., the "t" is sounded because of the "e". The French "fort" (masc) is pronounced "forr", though, and perhaps logically we should refer to Her as having a forte and Him as having a fort. But the word (for this sense) has come into English with the "e", whether masculine or feminine.

... misusages, imaginary words. Of the latter, irregardless. Yup, lots of etymological logic in that one.

Consummate, with the accent on the first syllable, instead of the second.

Orientate, instead of orient. (Very common in the military.)

Silicone, for silicon

Liberry, for library.

aks, for ask.

Calvary, for cavalry.

Prostrate, for prostate.

but of course, we aren't in Britain.

Calvary for cavalry has come up a couple of times lately and drives me up a tree, too. I'll probably put it on if I can figure something to take off.

... and even good British linguists will say so. It's a back-formation from orientation. It should follow the same grammatical rules as, say, the word, interpret. It's misused in the same manner as is interpretate.

That it's colloquially common in the UK is merely evidence of the fact that the British have common mispronunciations, as well. :)

Cheers.


edit for clarity.

Irregardless of where the language originitated from.

... is prompted by some laziness (there are consonant-vowel combinations which are simply difficult to say cleanly and clearly); however, as George W. Bush amply illustrates, politicians are the principal offenders. Every politician wants his or her words to seem lofty and erudite and so embellishes them creatively, typically using far more syllables than necessary. They seem to say things of great gravity, but, with some analysis, it's all quite meaningless (in Bush's case, it's gibberish, such as misunderestimated). Political speech is the principal route of such misconstructions into colloquial use.

Those are not my ideas. George Orwell came up with them all many decades ago in his highly-recommended essay, "Politics and the English Language."

My point in saying this is that, as I recall, the British have their share of politicians, too. :)

Cheers.

And "acumen" is supposed to be "a-CU-men".

On the other hand, where and when the hell did "influence" come to be pronounced "in-FLU-ence"?

That really drives me nuts.

And I spent 2 years in the First Cavalry Division - we had Batallion and Brigade Commanders who could not pronounce it correcty.

It seems to be Jersey/Long Island thing. It annoys me, but I also find it interesting, because I would have GUESSED that pronouncing it "foe-ward" would be kinda more "southern" or "country", but it is DEFINITELY a characteristic of Jersey/Long Island talk. It's especially annoying as the word is often used these days in a particular corporate-speak way in the phrase "going forward."

the "ng" sound at the end of one word to the beginning of another. I went to Penn. Twenty-odd years ago, but my ears are just beginning to recover.

I believe he is from Queens, but I'm not certain.

He also says "idear" instead of idea; "Sheeler" instead of Sheila.

imporDant instead of imporTant

One of my high school teachers. Drove me NUTS.

transaction is PRO-cessing in this annoying high british accent


It's like bamboo until the fingernails:rant:

Funny, you must bank at BB&T. I find that nerve-racking too :)

of course:eyes:

PRO-cess and PRO-gress are the norm here.

~ sheesh .... send em back to school .... :wtf: elementary school

That one drives me nuts.

Makes me nuts!

Drives me nuts that one.

i had a boss who said this. auuuuuuuuuuuugh.

or... libary instead of library

:silly:

:argh:

and not LAH-VA, the way it should be said, but La-VA, with a short "a". It drives me crazy.

It's not 'axe' someone something, it's 'ask' someone something. It is not pronounced with an x in it.
It's ambulance, not am-buh-lance.

An entire generation is growing up thinking this is the correct way to say it. Also, "joolery" instead of jewelry, and "fith" instead of fifth.

It's not a pronunciation problem. Believe it or not, I used to be an English teacher!

Its' "hear hear" you fucking idiot.

heard in the South regularly. Arrrrgh.

Very Archie Bunkeresque. Believe it or not, I know a few people that pronounce it this way.

"oooh Awwchie!"

n/t

I used to work in the Film Library at Yale New Haven Hospital and it drove me crazy when people would answer the phone, "Film Libary."

I know ADULTS who still say "Valentime" as well.

I want to rip off my ears.

axed instead of asked

acrosst instead of across

heigth instead of height (the former is pronounced (incorrectly, of course, as "hithe")

for the center divider in a road, medium instead of median

Hear it all the time.

Feb-U-ary ..... don't get me started.

I know that's usage or grammar vs. pronunciation, but ...

Also, joolery, heighth, nucular, orientated, pacifically instead of specifically (wtf?)!

Flustrated...ugh

There are so many. I can tolerate the regional ones, in fact, I hate the idea that we are losing our regional accents, but the ignorant ones drive me right up the wall.

That and "medium" for "median". "I had to pull over to the medium."

LIE-berry instead of library, Febyooary instead of February, EX-presso instead of espresso, and of course, Goofy-ass frat-boys from Maine who put on a Texas accent just to sound more personable.

Picksburgh (instead of Pittsburgh)

Eye-talian

:headbang:
rocknation

It's EScape, you idiotic fucksticks!

More from my world o' restaurant fun:

frap-PAY

MER-lut

FA-jit-uh and fah-JYE-tuh (I'm not kidding)

bru-SHET-uh (okay, so that's become acceptable; I still don't have to like it.)

(filet) MING-yun

Brak-ee-O-lee (back me up, my Italian brothers and sisters)

NACK-in

par-MEES-ee-un


Unusual and imported varietals can be especially hilarious.

A combo of Flustered and Frustrated.

the phrase "one of the only....."...folks, if it is an only , then it is
ONE. If there is a remote possibility of there being a second or third then the phrase should be "one of the few...."

Crystual for Crystal

EYE talian

I noted another poster added the phrase "on accident" which made me smile. ...when my daughter was very small, if she made a mistake it was "on accident"..her words not ours. It just seemed to her the natural way for that to be expressed; never mind that I would say "You mean by accident?" No, on accident.
(I got her logic, kid logic of course: on purpose means I meant to do it; on accident means I didn't mean to do it)

worse than nails on a chalkboard.

ESPECIALLY when it comes from a radio or TV announcer.

makes me wanna barf, somehow.

though I'll agree that it sounds very odd, and doesn't make a lot of sense on its face (pun unintentional): http://www.bartleby.com/61/20/B0352000.html

and a super- successful realtor would mispronounce it this way

it was ideal. "I have an ideal, guys." They always meant "idea."

I'm "fixin'" to whoop ya!

Seriously, though, I've not heard "ideal" in lieu of "idea".

What part of Texas?

I hated Houston.
Damn, did I live up to my name again?

it's my hometown.

But too damn hot and humid.

It may not be the word you want them to use, but a bedroom suit is accurate, and in fact, the word "suite" in that case may be derived from a mispronunciation of "suit."

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

quote:

Suit \Suit\, n. suivre to follow, OF. sivre; perhaps influenced by L. secta.
See Sue to follow, and cf. Sect, Suite.]

7. A number of things used together, and generally necessary
to be united in order to answer their purpose; a number of
things ordinarily classed or used together; a set; as, a
suit of curtains; a suit of armor; a suit of clothes.
``Two rogues in buckram suits.'' --Shak.

both pronunciations for that meaning, though the French one is preferred.) http://www.bartleby.com/61/17/S0871700.html

:-) Don't you love nitpicking over a nitpicking issue!

:D Agreed!

A Smurf might give burf, but not my mother.

It's mispronounced so much that it's now acceptable!

The usage note here is interesting: http://www.bartleby.com/61/39/O0043900.html
(By the way, I'm with you.)

And the t helps avoid confusion with the word "offin'," as in "I'm offin' this crazy punk!"

He played on the pun between "often" and "orphan" in The Pirates of Penzance.

makes my ass sick :grr:

The etymology is crazy mad insane: http://www.bartleby.com/61/11/A0411100.html

But I find myself using it just to annoy others. TV's "Raymond Barone" used to say "aks"... but I wonder if the actor, Ray Romano, actually said it in real life.

That sort of halfway reminds me of Bill Maher (for one) who can't say "Bill Clinton", but comes out with something that rhymes with "mitten", but with a glottal stop in the middle like your wife's pronunciation.

And speaking of pronunciation, if I hear "proNOUNciation" one more time....

Instead of "orient"

Let me orient-tate you to this facility.

Instead of "let me orient you to the map"

pronounced tor-till-ya

gawd.

unfortunately, i've dated too many people who can't even pronounce tortilla correctly. ugh..

because they might tape a duck.

You know God gave them dominion - and they like it.

Chicargo (I've heard this a lot), rurnt (for ruin), Massa-tu-setts (for Massachusetts), Illi-noise (for Illinois) and so many more!

I wonder if the yobs who pronounce February this way go down to the local sports bar to quaff some bews while cheering for the Boston Bewins and indulging in bewtish behaviour. It's not as if "bru" is so hard to say, is it? Ugh! It makes me long for March, so I don't have to hear it so much.

The E is NOT silent!!!!

Redstone

Related to a fool who says delated when she means ELATED.

Makes me feel so deflated.

I don't know if she does it on purpose.

However, I feel fine saying "crick" for "creek," even though my kids laugh at me. I correct it when I'm outside of South Buffalo.

I also have a hard time with certain names of Italian foods, having grown up with my grandmother and large Italian family saying them according to the dialect of Grandma's family. MANN-IH-KOTT-EEE just kills me, but, on the other hand, Grandma's version wouldn't be recognized by many Italians.

There's no excuse for it. :)

:grr:

:mad:

It is "regardless"

and it's becoming more and more mainstream-i heard mehlman doing it the other day on meet the press.

i don't understand the point of this one. is it supposed to prove something. maybe it's supposed to be clever, but it just sounds uneducated to me.

the gop wants to 'git the DEMOCRAT PARTY out of WARSHington DC."

good thing, so naturally, they have to take it away from us. Of course, "Democrat Party" sounds clumsy, childish and idiotic; hopefully, most people will see them for the playground bullies they are.

Almost everyone says "CON-suh-mitt" when it's supposed to be "con-SUM-mit (though the former, being so much in the vernakyoolerr, has been added to dictionaries as the second tier pronunciation)."

Another one is "cli-TOR-is." Egads, sounds like some kind of antique furniture. "Oh, Winifred? Do mind the cli-TOR-is when you are dusting; it almost fell last time."

Finally, Vy-EE-nuh sausages. please...

:hide:

Man, that really gets under my fucking skin.

Missouri, miss-zur-ee, you flippin' morans.

:dunce:

instead of ahmbiahnce.

It's CA-ramel (short A), not CAR-a-mel
It's, Ro-BAHT, not ro-BUHT
It's Don-key, not dunk-ey

When I watched CBC news in Canada a few weeks ago, they all said tsun-A-mi (short A again), not tsun-AH-mi.

And my grandmother says "url", "turlet", and "silvenir" for oil, toilet, and souvenir.