What words that people mis-pronounce that drive you nuts? (1 Viewer)

[Philip_G]

Glisan should be pronounced "glisten"

I NEVER heard it pronounces any way other than GLEE-SAN when I lived there.

Now willamette I heard a few different ways.

 

[Dana Fillhart]

That one's easy -- as far as I know I've only heard one correct pronunciation: wil-LAM-it. Those that pronounce it wil-uh-MET (or, as I idiotically did the first time I visited my sister in Eugene, "William-ette" ) are incorrect.

 

[Citizen87645]

Now willamette I heard a few different ways.

As far as I know there is only one acceptable way of pronouncing it (unless you find jeers and finger pointing acceptable)

 

[Philip_G]

That one's easy -- as far as I know I've only heard one correct pronunciation: wil-LAM-it. Those that pronounce it wil-uh-MET (or, as I idiotically did the first time I visited my sister in Eugene, "William-ette" ) are incorrect.

it is.... if you've been there awhile.

it was always the non locals butchering it.. then intel named a CPU core after it and it was all downhill.

Hell, even tualatin gave a few people fits

 

[Ricardo C]

Must try to refrain from political...trying...trying... O what the hell - IT WAS the bullshit revolution!!!

 

[Jeff Gatie]

How about "Houston"? In Texas it's "HYOO-ston"; anywhere else it's "HOW-ston" (just try and "aks" someone in Manhattan where "HYOO-ston" street is -- you'll never find it).

That's because the city in Texas is "HYOO-ston" and the street in New York City is "HOW-ston". Nobody in New York says "HOW-ston", Texas. It's just two different pronounciations for the same word, like "lead" ('led' for the dense metal that is used for bullets and 'leed' for the word that means 'to be first').

 

[MarkHastings]

Ok, this isn't exactly on topic, but I was thinking of this thread while I was at the gas station this morning and the pump was broken.
The sign said "OUT OFF ORDER"

 

[Dave Poehlman]

How about "Houston"? In Texas it's "HYOO-ston"

Well, my sister-in-law from Texas pronounces it "yoo-ston". In fact, I think she is physically unable to pronounce the letter "H".

 

[Bill Williams]

The one that really gets to me is "road". Some of the people I've heard talking screw it up all the time and say "ro-ed". Gets me frazzled to want to say, "It's pronounced "road"!!!!!"
Of course the funniest mis-pronunciation I ever saw was in "Under the Cherry Moon": Prince and Jerome Benton getting the snooty Kristin Scott-Thomas to say "wrecka stow".
Prince: Read this. (holding up the napkin saying "wrecka stow")
Kristin: "Wrecka stow"? "Wrecka stow" means nothing.
(Prince and Jerome bowling over in laughter.)
Prince: Sure it does.
Jerome: Right!!!
Prince: Say it again.
Kristin: "Wrecka stow".
(Prince and Jerome howling now.)
Prince: If you wanted to buy a Sam Cooke a-bum, where would you go?
Kristin: Wrecka stow.
Prince: Louder!
Kristin: WRECKA STOW!
Just had to throw that one in. Classic!

 

[Bill Williams]

Of course, Zod always pronounces Houston "Hoo-ston".

 

[Charles J P]

I love reading threads like this. Not for the words, but to see people who are so sure their way is right. English is a flexible language. It is also one that has been built from many other languages and many words have multiple pronunciations or are not pronounced consistently with their native origin. This doesnt necessarily make them wrong though. Any English linquist would tell you that the English language is not static. Words are added to the dictionary all the time. Additionally, there is no single source for the entire vocabulary and pronunciation of the English language. There are usually many, and often the disagree. Also, foriegn words in English are fair game in my opinion.

It might be fine to say "cans" in the states, but in French-speaking areas you'll be saying "I went to the "15" film festival."

No, in France you would be saying "blah blah blah blah '15' blah blah blah" so what difference does it make how you pronounce it. The french speaking person would know that you are not speaking french and would not try to decipher individual words as potential french words.
Also, there are lots of silent letters in English, which is relatively uncommon. I dont know a lot of languages, but I did take four years of Spanish, and in many languages, there are hard and fast pronunciation rules. In English there are not. In addition to silent letters, there are "added" letters that are acceptable as well. For example, someone said it bugs them that people say Skeh-jool instead of skeh-dule, when most dictionaries either list both or only list the "j" pronunciation. So you are bugged about someone pronouncing something differently than you, not wrong. http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=schedule
There are definately words that people truly pronounce wrong, but there are many words with multiple accepted pronunciations as well. I know some people who say warsh, and kwier-practer as well. These are not accepted pronunciations, so dont get me wrong... I dont think you can pronounce words however you want, but just keep in mind that with the English language, today's slang is tomorrows accepted lexicon.

 

[MarkHastings]

I am we Todd did.
I am sofa king we Todd did.
My dixie wrecked.
Gotta love the English Language!

 

[Johnny_M]

WOW!

you guys are really bothered by the littlest things AINT ya.

Johnny

 

[MarkHastings]

Johnny, it's "Ain't" not "Aint"
Get it right!

 

[Ricardo C]

Well, my sister-in-law from Texas pronounces it "yoo-ston". In fact, I think she is physically unable to pronounce the letter "H".

That happens here in Venezuela A LOT. Usually among yuppies who think people will be impressed they traveled to the US. And I'm like "dude, come on". It's the most popular tourist destination in this country. I'm not impressed by their visit to "Yooston" anymore than I am with their latest trip to "mee-ah-mee"

 

[Citizen87645]

The french speaking person would know that you are not speaking french and would not try to decipher individual words as potential french words.

The scene I was envisioning was a person speaking the sentence "I went to the Cannes Film Festival" in French and mispronouncing "Cannes" (and possibly the rest of the words). And my point was not so much the native French speaker would not be able to figure out what you meant to say, but that you would not be immediately understood.

One of the classic lessons when learning Mandarin is the warning to be careful with ones tones because you could accidentally say "horse" when you meant to say "mother." Again, it's not like people won't know what you meant, but they would get a nice chuckle at your expense.

 

[Charles J P]

Cameron, We may be in agreement about the issue. I'm saying that what is considered mispronunciation of a foriegn root word might not be "wrong" in an English context. Of course if you are speaking the native language, I agree that you should pronounce based on that language's rules. For example, there are many words in English with a double L that come from Spanish, we almost always have changed the pronunciation to make it an L sound instead of the Y (also we usually change the pronunciation of RR in spanish words). And we also tend to drop a tilde N (n-yay?) for a reguarlar N. This doesnt mean that we are pronouncing the word wrong, just the American English pronunciation.

 

[Citizen87645]

Yes, we are in agreement (see Post #64). Did you see the SNL sketch with Jimmy Smits in which all the Spanish words (and eventually words that weren't necessarily Spanish) were spoken with an over-the-top accent? Hilarious.

 

[Dana Fillhart]

I think quite a few examples given here fall directly into the "laziness" category, and I shudder to think if they ever become canonical. Please never let "aks" become a legitimate (i.e., regognized by an authority like Webster's) pronunciation of "ask"!!!

 

[Johnny_M]

you do realize that shortening words and phrases is a form of intelligence right? abbreviating something into a smaller form makes it easier and quicker to get your point acrost and if the other person understands exactly what you are saying then you have helped humans evolve into more efficient comunicators. its going to happen whether you like it or not, so you might as well join the revolution!! then again, there will always be those human dictionaries walking around correcting everybody. i have never understood why some people are so aggravated by the way other people speak.

Johnny