Mispronunciations that annoy you

[BERIGAN]

Warsh when they mean wash. Man, that bugs me.

You probably don't need new reasons to dislike Newt Gingrich, but he says "Warshington."

My Dad is from Missouri (Missoura to some ) and he and his Mom always said Cincinnata and ....warsh. HATE Warsh! My Dad took a quarter away from me every time I said Ain't, so I wanted to take a quarter away from him every time he said Warsh. Didn't happen though. I stopped saying ain't, he never stopped saying Warsh, no matter how many times I said, how do you spell that???

A certain president has trouble with Corpsmen

[robertoart]

In Brooklyn, cauliflower is collie flower. Or collie flowah.

Exactly the same as Australia. I remember the achilles heel of the wrestler George 'the animal' Steele was his 'collie flower ear'.

In Melbourne, Melbournian's pronounce the name of our city 'Mal-bun', but Yanks always pronounce it 'Mal-booorrrnnn'. In the Queen's English, it is probably 'Mal-burrnnn'.

Our Prime Minister recently made an embarrassing faux pas when she pronounced the word hyperbole as hi-per-bowl

Obviously she had only ever read the word, and never heard it used in conversation. It was quickly forgotten about, more than likely because most of her constituency of 'ordinary oarstralians', had neither read, nor heard the word in question. I, of course, had already encountered the word via the Michael Cuscuna penned booklet accompanying 'The Complete Blue Note Recordings of Grant Green and Sonny Clarke', where Cuscuna calls the Leonard Feather liner notes for Grant Green's 'Greenstreet' session as, 'entirely justified hyperbole'.

Edited May 24, 2012 by freelancer

[cih]

...where Cuscuna calls the Leonard Feather liner notes for Grant Green's 'Greenstreet' session as, 'entirely justified hyperbole'.

for liner notes I prefer my hyperbole ragged right

[robertoart]

...where Cuscuna calls the Leonard Feather liner notes for Grant Green's 'Greenstreet' session as, 'entirely justified hyperbole'.

for liner notes I prefer my hyperbole ragged right

I 'just' looked up ragged. Very clever and quick

[cih]

a graphic designer's joke - if you were a typesetter or publisher you'd have been in stitches, if not perfect-bound (that's an attempt at another one - I'll stop now )

[Dan Gould]

I hate women who mispronounce "You're charming and funny and cute" as "get away from me, creep!"

[robertoart]

I hate women who mispronounce "You're charming and funny and cute" as "get away from me, creep!"

I hate it when they mispronounce 'go home and die you *******' as ' go home and die you *******' . Never happened when I was in my twenties

[Free For All]

"expresso"

"chipoltay"

[Pete C]

"expresso"

You just can't excape it. Even Earl Coleman couldn't.

[A Lark Ascending]

jazz

Everybody knows it should be 'jass'

[sidewinder]

Everything ever said by Lloyd Grossman

[Edward]

I cannot stand when people use the phrase "In regards to ...", which is never correct and whose use, unfortunately, is pervasive in both spoken and written English.

I also cannot stand words that were coined by idiots in human resources who were too lazy to consult a dictionary. Examples includes "incentivize" and "impactful" (the latter of which I have heard used by numerous sports commentators as well as the great Mitch McConnell).

[Big Wheel]

We could have a whole separate forum just for horrible corporate neologisms. Until then, I recommend http://unsuck-it.com/ .

[Pete C]

I also cannot stand words that were coined by idiots in human resources who were too lazy to consult a dictionary. Examples includes "incentivize" and "impactful" (the latter of which I have heard used by numerous sports commentators as well as the great Mitch McConnell).

However, the dictionary is full of words that were not there at one time, and these usages, if pervasive enough, might just get codified in the dictionaries too.

[Pete C]

Anyway, this is about pronunciation, not usage.

So, how about people who say "mere" for "mirror."

[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"?

[Tim McG]

ejp626 mentioned Jaguar. How anyone can coax Jag-wire out of that is beyond me.

But you're OK with Jag-you-uh?

I have also heard Jaguar pronounced "Jag-U-ar". No big...I still can't afford one

Strangely, a lot of people seem to have a hard time pronouncing my first name. Instead of "Hey, Jeff," many folks pronounce it "Hey, asshole!"

(I axed asked my wife if it would be okay to post this joke - she said to go ahead. If you're offended, blame her.)

Off topic but a few students over my 30 years in the teacher biz have called me #1, you know, by waving with at me with one finger.

I also cannot stand words that were coined by idiots in human resources who were too lazy to consult a dictionary. Examples includes "incentivize" and "impactful" (the latter of which I have heard used by numerous sports commentators as well as the great Mitch McConnell).

However, the dictionary is full of words that were not there at one time, and these usages, if pervasive enough, might just get codified in the dictionaries too.

The made-up word electronical when they mean electroniclly or electrical is one word I hope never makes the dictionary. Ugh.

Edited May 25, 2012 by GoodSpeak

[Pete C]

The made-up word electronical when they mean electroniclly or electrical is one word I hope never makes the dictionary. Ugh.

They might also mean electronic.

[Tim McG]

True dat.

Still bugs me, though.

[BruceH]

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.

[A Lark Ascending]

Pacific used for specific.

Amuses rather than annoys.

[ejp626]

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.

[Dan Gould]

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.

I'd say its my pet peeve ... about my wife.

I've never attempted to correct her, wouldn't think of it because I know its an alternative pronunciation and not automatically wrong.

Still grates though.

[BillF]

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.

Often is also regional. That's another one my Scottish father used to say.

[cih]

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.

Edited May 25, 2012 by cih