Posted on 11/18/2016 12:35:53 PM PST by EveningStar
Fred Astaire drew laughs back in the Thirties with his song "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off" in which the lovers can't agree on the pronunciation of words like either, neither, and tomato.
On a personal level, I cringe when I hear someone sound the "t" in often or pronounce pecan with a short "a," but I have to acknowledge that both these pronunciations are widely accepted alternate pronunciations that can be justified by the spelling.
Alternate pronunciations, however, are a different matter from out-and-out mispronunciations. The latter, no matter how common, are incorrect, either because of the spelling that indicates another pronunciation, or because of what is widely agreed upon to be conventional usage. Word of caution: I'm writing from an American perspective.
Here are 50 frequently mispronounced words. The list is by no means exhaustive, but provides a good start.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailywritingtips.com ...
I also hate the use of "steep learning curve" to mean just the opposite, but I think fixing that is a hopeless task.
Had a Belgian intern who pronounced
Michigan ··· mitch-chikan
Buffalo ··· Boo-follow
"Because it's the correct pronunciation.--Nomad, London England"
Who dat?.....................
Oh, and by the way, the word is "alright", "awright".
To be or not to be, THAT is the question..................
To our Secretary of State, it's "Jenjus." In Ulan Bator, it's pronounced "Ching-gus" and spelled Chinggis, Çingis or Чингис.
I’ll have Been yahs on the bank it.
Thanks-that makes sense, since a lot of Brits settled the deep south-now I know where ask/axe came from-but it still makes my teeth itch to hear it...
I live in/grew up in a remote rural area-”bob-wire” or “bob-wahr” is what everyone says...
What is the point of putting an apostrophe in “ain’t”. Even spell-checker puts it there. I remember when it was true that “ain’t ain’t in the dictionary”.
Apparently some of what we think of as hillybilly or black Southern dialect is actually an old form of English that was current in the 1700s. It’s been carried forward by a few groups who haven’t had it beaten out of them by grammar Nazis.
..coming right up..
I’ve got to get a new copy of A Confederacy of Dunces, greatest book on New Orleans ever...
Heh, I found two or three I get lazy on!
I was born and raised in the Deep South and never heard any White person say “axe” for ask, however it is near universal with Blacks.
“Alternate pronunciations, however, are a different matter from out-and-out mispronunciations. The latter, no matter how common, are incorrect, either because of the spelling that indicates another pronunciation, or because of what is widely agreed upon to be conventional usage.”
Typical grammar elitist attitude. Grammarians do not get to set the rules of a language, their job is merely to document them. The rules are always in flux, and the general populace are the ones who actually determine the rules.
Therefore, if a large number of people continue to “mispronounce” a word, it will eventually become an accepted alternate pronunciation. Sooner or later the grammarians will be forced to acknowledge it, because they don’t have any other choice once something becomes entrenched in usage.
When the outgoing resident says *ta* instead of *to*.
Lazy@ss speech.
Cringeworthy. Goodbye, good riddance to the Lazy@ss residency.
Oh,I get it...you're from flyover country!
Only kidding!
I’ve only heard Blacks say “axe” in parts of Texas, but practically everyone of all ethnic groups I’ve met from rural Louisiana says it-I’ve had to grit my teeth to keep from being an ass**** by correcting them...
Loozeeanna doesn’t count. They are sometimes not even intelligible.
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