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 hate when people correct me for mispronouncing a word, and they slowly mouth the “proper” way....
Send these folks to Islamic nations to teach English please.
You don’t need to pronounce the first “c” in arctic.
Who says it 'OFFEN' ? That would make me cringe.
DEEtroit really seems to p*ss-off the locals.
re 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.
Lost me here. Easy enough to find out it was Astaire singing Gershwin. Astaire was not a songwriter. At all. He was a great dancer.
Wipped cream...or Whipped cream?
I could agree with some, and disagree with some. The fact is that there are regional and cultural variations. “Pecan” is a major one, and I am keeping my short “a”, thank you. I will also say “fudge-ickle” instead of “Fudge-sickle”, notwithstanding that the manufacturer decrees. I will also say “cran” for “cray-on” and “dror” for “drawer” regardless of what my wife thinks.
The language is full of words that are pronounced differently than they are spelled, as one can find on Worcester on Wednesday.
This is hyperbole from a grammer Nazi epigone.
I have never washed a squash.
——”Westconsin” for “Wisconsin” just about sets my teeth on edge-—
Ask is not Axe
Only those of us with roots in Dixie know how to say pecan properly.
I say PE-CAN, rhymes with ‘American’..............
What about regional differences?
The word Pecan in his first paragraph for example, it’s pronounced that way in Louisiana and texas
Why is everyone Pecan on me
pe-CAN not pekahn...............
4. arctic Note the C after the R. Say /ARK-TIK/, not /ar-tik/.
Coors actually makes a beer they call "Artic Ice".
Is there a reason or are their marketing people morons?
Indeed.
For example, I frequently hear people mispronounce "Obama" as "horse's ass".
I have a dear friend who say mis-CHEE-vee-us (mischievous) and AHN-ree (ornery). Makes me crazy.
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