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 ...
Pecan = pu-con. That’s how people in the Pecan Capital of the World pronounce it so they should know. Never ever pronounce it pee-can. A pee can is what you take with you on a long trip.
I’d bet they purposely spelled it as “Artic” in order to be trademarkable.
Actually, I do. It’s not very pronounced (no pun intended), but there is a definite, if slight “t” sound at the start of the second syllable.
Although I don’t have much issue with cotton as it sounds quite normal to my ear with just one “t” enunciated. It doesn’t sound as off to me as say, bat-el, especially since most folks that miss the second “t” tend to pronounce the remaining “el” as “ul”, bat-ul rather than bat-tel (yes, I know, it’s battle not battel)
Anyway, just more reason for me to be scoffed at. I have a public speaking and radio background so this is something I find interesting.
This author is just so worried about sounding like a hick, absolutely mortified at the thought. Ergo, he’s a hick himself, just giving pointers on how he hides it.
Can’t stand it when people pronounce taco as tack-o.
Can’t stand when they pronounce jalapeno as halo-pee-know.
Then there’s the newscasters who can’t learn how to pronounce local Texas towns.
Burnet is not Bur-nette. It’s mispronounced so often the townfolk have a saying, “It’s Burn It durn it, can’t you learn it.”
San Saba is pronounced with the emphasis on San SAba, not San SaBAAAAA.
San Saba is the Pecan Capital of the World. Pecan is definitely NOT pronounced pee-can.
Llano is Lan-o, not Yawn-o.
Oakalla - is pronounced Oak-alley. I was in Austin (spit, spit) one day when someone mispronounced it. I and three other people in the store immediately said, “It’s Oak-alley.”
Manchaca is pronounced Man-check.
Jimenez is Heh-men-ez, not Jim-in-ez.
Salazar is Sal-u-zar, not Sa-laaz-er.
;)
The annoying Michelle Obama speech impediment that half of all weathergirls and female pundits have picked up, i.e., changing the “st” sound to “sht”. (Guys don’t do it so much.)
strong = shtrong
extreme - ecshtreme
Drives me craaaazy!
It really is excellent. If we had an FR Book List “Albion’s Seed” would be on it.
Damn straight. North west Georgia it is Kahn... Pe Kahn. Of course now that I am in Denver now it really doesn’t matter cause there no regional identity. Everybody here is from somewhere else. I sometimes pretend to be Peter Sellers and misprounce words like Inspector Clouseau used to do just to see if any one is paying attention.
But some of the accents are virtually indecipherable. I was in London trying to get a ticket at Waterloo Station to go to Dover to catch the ferry to Calais. The woman at the window had such a thick East End slur I literally could not understand a single word. After she repeated her question three times, I just shrugged and moved to a different ticket window, while she shook her head in disgust at the stupid American "'oo coont grawsp the infants 'n' teens."
Mexia is Me-hey-a, not Mex-ee-a.
In Texas, soft drinks are cokes and pee-cans are what you take on long rides.
FYI, Kosciusko is pronounced ko-zoosh-ko, not koz-ee-osco or koz-ee-usco.
polemic -- pah LEH mihk, not poh LEE mihk
egregious -- ih GREH ee jahs, not egg GREE joos
(also means outstandingly bad, shocking; not superfluity, grossly overused, excessive as many wrongly misunderstand it to signify)
chastise -- CHAS teyez or chas tEYEz ("eye" as in eye)
chasten -- always CHAY sten
chastisement -- both chas tEYEz mehnt and/or CHAS tihz mehnt are permitted
FWIW
Nah, she was probably trained by a graduate of the Sturm Staffeln.
I recently moved to eastern PA and notice locals say “kaf” for cafe.
Everyone I know says “bay nyeys” and “bank ett”.
I can’t stand it when people call a Rottweiler, a Rockweiler.
I really thought the Stand Alone Complex was interesting stuff.
Best thing about Bebop though, is that the entire series is a story with a beginning, middle, and end. I like it when they do it right.
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