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 ...
My parents never settled the issue. Since I was raised in CA, I say PeKAHN, but to his dying day they were PeCANS.
In SoCal, they say roDAYo for rodeo, and in NorCal they call it ROdeeo. I remember a few serious discussions about that with SoCal relatives.
How do YOU say “corpsman”?
Every book written by David Hackett Fischer is worth reading. The same with Forrest McDonald.
Then there's the whole "laboUr" and "coloUr" thing ... But don't get me started.
NevVAHda vs NevADDa................
As Twain said, Brits and Americans are separated by a common language.
Nooo-cue-lur.
Not for me.
Cant have salt....................
They did.
I heard it in a British movie about the Holy Grail.
It’s strangely disheartening when some OCD anal retentive writes a howto article and you realize you already do all of the things he talks about his way...Geeez.
I have read that. An excellent book. I believe that is where I found out about the use of ax for ask.
The controversies are endless.
On the other hand, the Brits *do* have some of the most impressive slang on the planet. Although, that "rhyming slang" thing that they do is often so cringe-inducing that it is difficult to accept that it is commonly used by adults.
Must depend on where you live in the state. I’ve lived in northern CO for 48 years and have never heard it pronounced as anything but Ark-an-saw.
These things go all the way back to the Old Testament times, even before King David.
Look up Shibboleth............
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shibboleth
One should never pronounce (or spell) “probably” as “prolly”.
Not so.
I’m a big fan of all kinds of music. I have an album by the Seatbelts that is mostly soundtrack for Cowboy Bebop (anime series). One of thr tracks is “Real Folk Blues”, and it is sung by someone who is obviously not a native speaker of English because her diction is just too darned good. (She is Japanese) It is kind of funny.
I was sure that one had been mocked already, so I didn't go there.
When I was in college, there was some big campus debate on the future of nuclear power. In advance of the debate, one of the informational handouts even had the pronunciation ("New-Clear") in large font, bold text. Up until that time, I'd only heard one person pronounce it incorrectly (one of my high school teachers!) He knew he wasn't getting it right, but that's just the way his brain and mouth were connected.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.