Mispronunciations that annoy you

[Tim McG]

Dialectical and/or regional variations don't bother me so much. In fact, to these ears, they are actually fun for me to listen to...being a Speech teacher and all.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

This thread made me think of the way people from Brighton and Hove pronounce 'opposite' - 'opposight'. This isn't the way people from rural areas only a few miles away say it. But whether rural or urban, they all pronounce words like 'round' as (I'm not sure I can type this) 'reound'.

But I don't pronounce those words that way. Nor did my mother. She spoke proper standard English - not quite upper class, but nearly. And I don't know how she got that way. She was born in Paris, a kid in the East End then, at 14, apprenticed to her Aunt Alice, who affected an upper class drawl, and who owned a hairdresser's on the boundary between Brighton and Hove. In the thirties Mum worked for Raymond "Mr Teasy Weasy", a top hairdresser of the time, and I suspect she got her accent from him. Anyone who saw him in 'What's my line' and other TV programmes will remember his camp accent. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Bessone

Mum didn't speak with a camp accent, but I suspect Raymond didn't either, when he was just being himself.

Having been brought up in Brighton/Hove, Yorkshire and London, I picked up and dropped accents as easy as winking. Eventually I decided it was OK to pronounce words with any accent I liked

MG

[Ted O'Reilly]

I hate hearing *off-ten* when they mean offen...silent T. Would they say "Liss-ten to the new Mobley CD", or "Darling, your hair is gliss-tenning"?

Good one. That bugs me too.

Doesn't bug me. I put the t in there. Many dictionaries note that the original pronouciation included a t and that while the silent t is more standard, the other is also an acceptable variant, and indeed the t is making a strong comeback.

Let me know when you hear liss-ten or gliss-ten. Then I'll ha(i)s-ten to buy off-ten.

[BillF]

I say the 't' in often, I think!

Aside from regional variations in pronunciation there's a class thing of course - in the UK the most noticeable variant that confuses the two factors is the 'ar' or 'a' sound in bath, path, graph. In the south it's barth, in the north bath. But the 'ar' is also associated with a 'posh' accent. So if a southerner doesn't want to be accused of being posh when visiting the north, he has to make the 'th' a 'f' so you end up with barf

At college I had a film and theory lecturer who instead of saying 'film' said 'fillum' - don't know if it was regional but it was very pronounced and used to puzzle me, having the job he did he must have constantly heard people saying 'film' but continued saying fillum.

"Fillum" is typical of Geordie speech. I'll bet your lecturer came from somewhere within striking distance of Newcastle on Tyne.

[GA Russell]

I agree with Ted that the t in often should be silent. However, it is so common that I believe that that battle is lost.

Perhaps in the US as well as Britain the t is regional, as Bill suggests. I haven't noticed that, however.

[BillF]

Here's a typical Mancunian (i.e. from Manchester) one - sounding of the final 'g' as in "running gup the stairs".

[A Lark Ascending]

My dad, despite leaving Cornwall c. 1946, retains a strong Cornish accent (that's aaagxxx_cent).

He's always creased us up the way he pronounces 'eggs' - ay-ggs.

He also uses the strange Cornish term 'drekkly'. I assume it is a distortion of 'directly' but actually means something closer to 'mañana' as in 'Can you put the rubbish out?' 'Oh, I'll do it drekkly.'

Edited May 25, 2012 by A Lark Ascending

[cih]

People round here use the word 'while' in place of 'until' - as in "it lasts from 8 while 9" or "I'll be here while 10.30" which I thought was really odd when I first heard it (and still don't get it!)

[Chuck Nessa]

I do not think this is an issue for mispronunciations.

[cih]

i spose

[BillF]

People round here use the word 'while' in place of 'until' - as in "it lasts from 8 while 9" or "I'll be here while 10.30" which I thought was really odd when I first heard it (and still don't get it!)

I read somewhere that they changed the wording on level crossing warning signs in Yorkshire after a motorist drove into the path of a train on reading "Do not move while red light shows"

[Tim McG]

"Ta" in place of "to".

As in: I'm going ta school.

[Pete C]

Hey Tim, I use gonna all the time. Do you consider me an uneducated yahoo?

Not a pronunciation issue, but I'm driven crazy by people who say nauseous when they mean nauseated.

Why does that one in particular bother you so much? It's been so common for so long that it's bound to eventually become "acceptable" in the lexicon. In fact, I personally find that nauseated now sounds pretentious and prissy when someone uses it.

[A Lark Ascending]

'Awesome' is probably the one that grates on me more than any other.

The Grand Canyon is awesome. A new album by X, Y or Z rarely is.

Again more a misuse than a mispronunciation (though English kids tend to give it a bit of twang).

And, as Pete says, with use words do change their meaning and use. I overuse 'wonderful' in exactly the same context when what I'm talking about might well interest or excite me but doesn't really fill me with a sense of wonder.

The trouble is whenever I hear the term I immediately picture American college kids stuffing burgers down their throats. I'm sure its use carries a heavy fine in France.

Edited May 27, 2012 by A Lark Ascending

[JSngry]

This is awesome:

This is just weird:

[A Lark Ascending]

This is just weird:

No, that's art.

[Jazzmoose]

Hey Tim, I use gonna all the time. Do you consider me an uneducated yahoo?

Not a pronunciation issue, but I'm driven crazy by people who say nauseous when they mean nauseated.

Why does that one in particular bother you so much? It's been so common for so long that it's bound to eventually become "acceptable" in the lexicon. In fact, I personally find that nauseated now sounds pretentious and prissy when someone uses it.

That's why I just say "I'm gonna barf."

[JSngry]

This is just weird:

No, that's art.

This is art:

This is just silly:

Let's stick to awesome:

[BruceH]

This is awesome:

This is just weird:

I don't know...causes me to become a bit nauseated, actually.

[cih]

Uranus

and Bowie

and Boudica

Edited May 27, 2012 by cih

[Tim McG]

Hey Tim, I use gonna all the time. Do you consider me an uneducated yahoo?

Not taking the bait, Pete.

[Neal Pomea]

'Awesome' is probably the one that grates on me more than any other.

The Grand Canyon is awesome. A new album by X, Y or Z rarely is.

You might enjoy Maddox's take on the word "epic."

http://thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=epic

[Tim McG]

'Awesome' is probably the one that grates on me more than any other.

The Grand Canyon is awesome. A new album by X, Y or Z rarely is.

You might enjoy Maddox's take on the word "epic."

http://thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=epic

Over used, yes.

Mispronounciations....well, no.

Edited May 28, 2012 by GoodSpeak

[JSngry]

Who the hell is Maddox, and why is/are he/she and/or they so touchy about things?

[Jazzmoose]

Sounds like someone with an axe to grind. Or at least a handle.