BS: Sloppy Pronunciation

Subject: BS: Sloppy Pronunciation
From: Leadfingers
Date: 09 Jul 11 - 03:42 PM

While we are talking 'Sloppy' , what about sloppy pronunciation ? And I DO NOT mean accent or dialect !

My first example - How many times have you heard someone with a (Supposedly) decent level of education on the radio talk about   'Joolery' when they really mean JEWELRY .

Subject: RE: BS: Sloppy Pronunciation
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 09 Jul 11 - 03:47 PM

I once had trouble with my prostate gland. Could hardly keep a straight face at the visiting nurse who would constantly call it my "prostrate" ~~ which was very near how it laid me.

~Michael~

Subject: RE: BS: Sloppy Pronunciation
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 09 Jul 11 - 04:11 PM

Ah, the hambag!

Used by the seccatry.

Both often the subject of incorrect pronounciation.

Subject: RE: BS: Sloppy Pronunciation
From: gnomad
Date: 09 Jul 11 - 04:11 PM

Ah yes, better break out the nucular weapons for this one.

Michael, my old Granny used to claim to have a problem with her prostate. Heaven knows what the problem really was but I am quite glad I was too young to be involved.

I've a feeling that ophthalmic specialists must get a high number of clients who get it wrong.

Subject: RE: BS: Sloppy Pronunciation
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 09 Jul 11 - 04:12 PM

Umbarella/Febuary/libary/wensday/nucular/

Subject: RE: BS: Sloppy Pronunciation
From: gnu
Date: 09 Jul 11 - 04:20 PM

MGM... hahahahaa.

gnomad... my buudy had a throat problem and had to have his vulva worked on. Asked him what he was talking about and he said, "You know, that little hangy thingy in the back of your throat." I said, if you have a vulva thingy hanging in the back of your throat you been ****ing on the wife too hard.

Subject: RE: BS: Sloppy Pronunciation
From: Jack Campin
Date: 09 Jul 11 - 04:22 PM

Erb and otel.

Most of the other examples in this thread are actually a bit tricky to pronounce and rather unlike most common English words. How hard is it to just pronounce an H?

Subject: RE: BS: Sloppy Pronunciation
From: artbrooks
Date: 09 Jul 11 - 04:23 PM

And someone (or is that Someone) was once lynched on the Hill of Cavalry.

Subject: RE: BS: Sloppy Pronunciation
From: gnu
Date: 09 Jul 11 - 04:25 PM

Jack... you mean a hatech?

Subject: RE: BS: Sloppy Pronunciation
From: Smokey.
Date: 09 Jul 11 - 04:27 PM

'Vunnerable' is one that annoys me.

Nowt wrong wi' 'otel, is there? I always thought that were proper.

Subject: RE: BS: Sloppy Pronunciation
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 09 Jul 11 - 04:30 PM

Yes, pronounciation has certainly deteriated recently.

Subject: RE: BS: Sloppy Pronunciation
From: gnomad
Date: 09 Jul 11 - 04:54 PM

"littley" when they mean to say "literally" (though of course they don't really mean literally, either)

Medical terms often seem to cause problems (see my earlier post, and gnu's mate) such as that of the husband of one of my customers: he apparently had "pancreas titus".

Subject: RE: BS: Sloppy Pronunciation
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 09 Jul 11 - 04:58 PM

Kay something or other, who does a morning programme on Radio Scotland. When asked by a caller how she is, says "I'm good" FFS, this is Scotland not fucking America
The correct answer, is, I'm well, or I'm very well, thank you!

Subject: RE: BS: Sloppy Pronunciation
From: GUEST, topsie
Date: 09 Jul 11 - 05:30 PM

impullment [implement]
dipplemat [diplomat]
curayte [create]
pliticle snario [political scenario]


And then there is the way teenagers speak - I heard one young man saying he had been given an "opper'uni'y"

Subject: RE: BS: Sloppy Pronunciation
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 09 Jul 11 - 05:50 PM

Laura Norder

Subject: RE: BS: Sloppy Pronunciation
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 09 Jul 11 - 06:09 PM

'Erb' is standard US for 'herb', for some reason.

'Otel' is old-fashioned OK.

The letter is correctly spelt 'aitch'.

~M~

Subject: RE: BS: Sloppy Pronunciation
From: Smokey.
Date: 09 Jul 11 - 06:17 PM

Erb and otel was French, innit.

Subject: RE: BS: Sloppy Pronunciation
From: Gurney
Date: 09 Jul 11 - 06:19 PM

Leadfingers, jewellery, actually. Depending on your opinion of Mr. Webster's spelling. Another syllable.

Here, the talking heads are starting to add a bit between W and N, making words like 'grown' into 'growun.'

Subject: RE: BS: Sloppy Pronunciation
From: GUEST, topsie
Date: 09 Jul 11 - 06:27 PM

Using 'otel is an acknowledgement that it is a French word, as is pronouncing envelope as "onvelope", and garage as "garahzhe"; the same does not go for 'erb, which would need to be pronounced "airbe".

Subject: RE: BS: Sloppy Pronunciation
From: GUEST, topsie
Date: 09 Jul 11 - 06:30 PM

And it would make life a lot easier if English-speaking television chefs simply stopped using chorizo.

Subject: RE: BS: Sloppy Pronunciation
From: Michael
Date: 09 Jul 11 - 06:30 PM

One that annoys me is 'sudmarine'. Presumably it sails under the bubbles.

Mike

Subject: RE: BS: Sloppy Pronunciation
From: Smokey.
Date: 09 Jul 11 - 06:34 PM

I say garridge, but then I'm uncouth. Always said onvelope though, except when I was using it as a verb.

Subject: RE: BS: Sloppy Pronunciation
From: GUEST, topsie
Date: 09 Jul 11 - 06:38 PM

There is a weather forecaster who has trouble pronouncing 'r'. sometimes he tells us what the weather will be like in the West of England, and then says "and now for the 'w'est of England" - it is very confusing.

Subject: RE: BS: Sloppy Pronunciation
From: Smokey.
Date: 09 Jul 11 - 06:38 PM

I've heard adults say hospickle.

The various perversions of obstreperous really have to take the medal though..

Subject: RE: BS: Sloppy Pronunciation
From: Joe_F
Date: 09 Jul 11 - 06:49 PM

Beware! The people who say "asterik" (I think they are mostly from Texas) have not actually lost the s. They have merely moved it over to "stastistics".

Subject: RE: BS: Sloppy Pronunciation
From: JennieG
Date: 09 Jul 11 - 08:38 PM

I have heard radio announcers use "albun" instead of "album".

And don't get me started on "Ostraya" instead of Australia, I wouldn't like to think how many sports people and politicians use it. If you can't pronounce the name of your country correctly, you shouldn't be representing it.

Cheers
JennieG

Subject: RE: BS: Sloppy Pronunciation
From: Bill D
Date: 09 Jul 11 - 08:53 PM

Jeet?

No.

'Squeet!~


Translation: "Have you eaten yet?"

No.

"Then let us go eat."

---------------------------------------------

I knew a family whose 2 sons constantly referred to their grandfather plowing his 'filled'.

Subject: RE: BS: Sloppy Pronunciation
From: ranger1
Date: 09 Jul 11 - 09:15 PM

Spicket instead of spigot. That one really annoys me.

Subject: RE: BS: Sloppy Pronunciation
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 09 Jul 11 - 09:32 PM

Herb This from the Oxford English Dictionary-
".... the h was mute until the 19th century and is still so treated by many:...."

Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary gives the primary pronunciation as 'erb', "US also & Brit. usu. 'herb'"

Regionally in both U.S. and Britain, fil-um for film is heard.

Jewellery, jewelry; the Oxford English Dictionary give both spellings. And the ever-popular 'jools' which seems to be restricted to cant dictionaries.

Threads of this kind often exhibit examples of personal preference rather than correct vs. incorrect usage.

So don't get uptight about langwidge.
Wrong today, right tomorrow.

Subject: RE: BS: Sloppy Pronunciation
From: Ebbie
Date: 09 Jul 11 - 10:16 PM

Leadfinger: 'Joolery' when they really mean JEWELRY Leadfingers

Terry, I was/am under the impression that in the UK you spell it 'jewellery' while in the US we spell it jewelry, with the appropriate pronunciation.


John/Giok,how should Wednesday be pronounced? I know a woman who pronounces it 'wed ness day' and it sounds wildly contrived.

Another woman I know pronounces 'usually' "yoos you lly".

And a man who says "supposably".

When I was a kid, my family said 'colyum' and shudder I think we said 'fil um' too. I don't know when we stopped.

Subject: RE: BS: Sloppy Pronunciation
From: Bill D
Date: 09 Jul 11 - 10:49 PM

The country in Central America is not Nick-uh-RAG-you-uh.

Subject: RE: BS: Sloppy Pronunciation
From: Maryrrf
Date: 09 Jul 11 - 11:00 PM

"Samwich" instead of sandwich.

Subject: RE: BS: Sloppy Pronunciation
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 10 Jul 11 - 01:24 AM

Is the country Niger correctly pronounced, in the context of an English sentence, as "Nigh-jer' or 'Nijh-air'? I hate the latter as an affectation, but many insist it is correct.

The argument as to how it is pronounced within the country itself is not necessarily a knock-down one; and we are far from consistent over such matters anyhow: I remember when the French cities were pronounced by the English as 'Mar-sales' & 'Lions', but of late years approximations of the French pronunciation have become standard, tho with the final 's' often retained in their spelling; but still only the affected or facetious say 'Paree'. The same inconsistency applies to other foreign words like 'Beaujolais" [conventionally pronounced French-style] & 'Champagne' [anglicised]. And do you, yourself, say 'mayo-naze' or my-o-nezz'?

All v mysterious ~~ & possibly a drift, in which case apologies; but I think relevant to this thread ~~ one man's avoidance of 'sloppiness' is another's pernicketiness or pedantry ·· ness-pa?

~Michael~

Subject: RE: BS: Sloppy Pronunciation
From: JennieG
Date: 10 Jul 11 - 02:15 AM

And slither instead of sliver....as in, "just a little slither of cake please".....I can imagine that cake slithering all over her frock.

Snakes slither. A sliver is a fine thin piece of something.

Terry, you do realise what you have started here, don't you? *grin*

Cheers
JennieG

Subject: RE: BS: Sloppy Pronunciation
From: GUEST, topsie
Date: 10 Jul 11 - 03:06 AM

Only when something is in a sump, is it a sumpthing.

I thought "fil-um" was the Irish pronunciation.

Subject: RE: BS: Sloppy Pronunciation
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 10 Jul 11 - 03:20 AM

Maryrrf ~ There used many years ago [1950s] to be a sandwich bar v popular with London folkies called "Sam Widges".

~M~

Subject: RE: BS: Sloppy Pronunciation
From: Dave MacKenzie
Date: 10 Jul 11 - 03:21 AM

No, fil-um is the Scottish pronunciation. Words with a 'r' are also pronounced with an extra syllable, eg farm.

Subject: RE: BS: Sloppy Pronunciation
From: Kit Griffiths
Date: 10 Jul 11 - 03:48 AM

"How hard is it just to pronounce an H?". As implied by gnu and MtheGM, it appears that it is VERY hard, judging by the increasing number of people (including BBC announcers) who pronounce the letter itself as "haitch" ("and now on BBC1 and BBC haitch dee"...). I'm thinking of having a T-shirt made, saying "There is only one H in H, and it's at the end."

Subject: RE: BS: Sloppy Pronunciation
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 10 Jul 11 - 04:17 AM

I have had a fair amount to do with bits of the Irish film industry over that last dozen years, and it's definitely pronounced "fillum" in that industry, so much so that some Irish professionals take the mickey out of themselves (when speaking to real anglophones) when saying it.

Subject: RE: BS: Sloppy Pronunciation
From: Darowyn
Date: 10 Jul 11 - 04:47 AM

Probably everyone on here is too appalled by "prolly" to be able to bear seeing it in this list.
Cheers
Dave

Subject: RE: BS: Sloppy Pronunciation
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 10 Jul 11 - 04:58 AM

If "haitch" becomes accepted as an alternative to "aitch", how long will it be before we have the letters feff, lel, mem, nen, rar and ses?

DC

Subject: RE: BS: Sloppy Pronunciation
From: Wolfhound person
Date: 10 Jul 11 - 05:04 AM

Never ask an NZ-er about his wet deck.

Paws

Subject: RE: BS: Sloppy Pronunciation
From: Newport Boy
Date: 10 Jul 11 - 05:33 AM

Dave - I don't hear an extra syllable in the Scottish pronunciation of 'farm'. I just hear the 'r', which you never hear in Southern England, where there's no difference in sound between 'farm' and 'bath'.

Phil

Subject: RE: BS: Sloppy Pronunciation
From: GUEST,Steamin' Willie
Date: 10 Jul 11 - 06:22 AM

I suppose my pedant side gets most frustrated with the use of American pronunciations, not because I don't like them but because the British pronunciation isn't difficult and hasn't reached the end of the shelf life yet.

As a bit of a disk jockey in the '70s I first introduced ZZ Top as Zed Zed Top and to be fair, I only started using Zee Zee Top when I heard John Peel use it.

But what makes me get all agitated is people, especially younger women who go up at the end of sentences. Regardless of what they are saying or how they pronounce it.

Must be turning into an old fart. Live and let live normally but those two above won't get you a job if I'm interviewing.

Irish film industry? What did you work on, Schindlers Pissed?

I take it you weren't the director or producer. I can't see you being the fluff either.....

Subject: RE: BS: Sloppy Pronunciation
From: GUEST, topsie
Date: 10 Jul 11 - 06:27 AM

Even when things are pronounced reasonably well there is room for confusion. I wondered for a while what the "grey neck sports" were that the Rusians had banned.

Subject: RE: BS: Sloppy Pronunciation
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 10 Jul 11 - 06:50 AM

Oh, that quaint liddle island !

Subject: RE: BS: Sloppy Pronunciation
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 10 Jul 11 - 06:52 AM

The one that curls my toes, and tickles my chuckle muscles at the same time is the common.

Caravan for sale 4 Birth.

Subject: RE: BS: Sloppy Pronunciation
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 10 Jul 11 - 06:55 AM

Often, of course, there are alternatives which, tho sometimes disputed, are equally correct. My late mother-in-law insisted she lived in Gloucester-sheer; my wives [both] & I prefer[red] to think we live[d] in Cambridge-shɘ {the indefinite vowel}; though the Scots tend to lengthen the vowel ~~ Magnus Magnusson once announced me on Mastermind as being from Cambridge-shyer. I think all these are perfectly acceptable, though all have their denigrators who insist that only the one they favour is "correct" {a very dodgy concept when it comes to anything to do with English usage!}.

~M~

Subject: RE: BS: Sloppy Pronunciation
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 10 Jul 11 - 07:19 AM

Fluids - mostly stuff to do with the now defunct Don Bluth ripoff of state subsidy - some stuff to do with a band with revenues bigger than some medium sized sovereign states - lawyering, you may be surprised to know, so I must not say more.

I'm a bit surprised you DJ'd in the 70s too. It paid my way through my law degree mostly but I started mobiling in probably 68 or 69. I still have about 700 7 inch singles but alas I sold many of the valuable ones with one operation "Unsound" when I formed a new one "Universal Joint".

Subject: RE: BS: Sloppy Pronunciation
From: Leadfingers
Date: 10 Jul 11 - 07:29 AM

Sam Widges was still trading in The Greys Inn Road in the late seventies

And I deliberately used the common American spelling of Jewelry