Grammar police... (1 Viewer)

[Stan]

Sorry about this, not very constructive, just time for a whine.

Worked with a woman who could not pronounce the word "moot", as in "the point is moot, no need to discuss it more". It always came out as "mute".

My own supervisor also couldn't say the word "portrait". Did a lot of programming for various reports, so the words portrait and landscape were often used. He always said "poi twait". even in big meetings with board members, VPs, etc. He was fine with everything else, not a speech impediment or anything like that, just a few words that he always got wrong.

I tried to make subtle corrections, hoping they'd catch on, but never worked out.

What's the best way to deal with people who make errors like that? Also happens with trying to pronounce foreign words, but a little easier to let those go. Studied French for several years, so maybe a bit snobby, but I pick up on a lot of these errors.

It's probably not embarrassing to the person, because they don't realize what they're saying, but everybody else in the room does. You want to support your fellow employees, but this is kind of a difficult subject, especially if it's your boss.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Correcting somebody is dependent on your relationship with that person as some people don't take such corrections in the way you intended it to be taken. Personally, I try not to correct adults I'm not close to for that vary reason.

 

[Dheiner]

I agree with Crawdaddy.

By the way, Police should be capitalized.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Download this sound effect to your cell phone:



Turn volume to max and blast this while yelling "You are pronouncing that incorrectly!"

My guess is you should have to do this no more than twice per word before they get the hint.

I think that would be the most subtle approach. They may actually give up speaking in front of you altogether.

 

[Stan]

I agree with Crawdaddy.

By the way, Police should be capitalized.

Crawdaddy should also know the proper word is "very"

I agree with you guys, it's probably better to just stay out of the situation.

I'm going to shut-up now before I get in trouble, but when you haven't slept in 52 hours, your mind tends to wander.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

I agree with you guys, it's probably better to just stay out of the situation.

What? Not at all. Always think "What would Conan do?"

 

[Stan]

What? Not at all. Always think "What would Conan do?"

Well I've been here since the early years, only one major argument and I think that guy is gone.

As I age, I get a little bit more snarky, but try to behave on the HTF, so far no problems. And now only 54 hours with no sleep, so I'm going to be careful.

Want to go outside and get a suntan, but just my luck, I'd probably finally fall asleep and wake up four hours later, completely fried. Instead, I'll be watching old reruns of TBBT. I'll stay as pasty white as Sheldon

 

[ChristopherG]

Why haven't you slept in 52 hours?

 

[Malcolm R]

It's pointless to try and correct pronunciation, as most people either don't care or it's so ingrained in their brain that they apparently cannot change. My father has many words he mispronounces. I've tried unsuccessfully for years to get him to change. A few of the ones that really bug me:

chimley, rather than chimney.
Philadelthia, rather than Philadelphia.
mold, rather than mole (referring to the brown spot on your skin)

He's also one of those people that add unnecessary S's to things, usually to names of stores he's visited (I went to Walmarts today. I also stopped at Hannafords to get some bananas.). Makes me crazy.

 

[Stan]

Why haven't you slept in 52 hours?

It just happens, 10-15 times a year, still no apparent reason. I do have a physical scheduled next month and will bring it up again, I don't think medication is the right way to deal with it.

Doctor put me on Ambien, which was a disaster. It puts you to sleep, but you might actually be awake, sleep-eating, cooking, shopping, driving, cleaning etc. with absolutely no memory of it. I could read a book or watch TV, and by the next day it vanished. Once we figured out what was going on, found out it was called "retrograde amnesia", immediate stop to that med.

Now I occasionally take a 0.5 Xanax, works great, puts me to sleep in a few hours, and I function like normal when I wake up. No goofy side effects.

Now up to 55 hours. Hasn't happened in a long time, so I let the prescription go. I've got a refill I'm getting later today.

The worst I ever experienced was four days, almost 100 hours until my body finally gave in.

Now we should go back to the original topic, which was of course caused by my non-sleeping topic

 

[dvdclon]

There appear to be conflicting opinions on whether pronunciation is a part of grammar. If not, then the title of this thread is incorrect.

I hear lots of mispronunciations in TV interviews that I think are people using words that have read, but never heard pronounced. I'm guilty of this myself. I got called out once for my hilarious pronunciation of "Stuyvesant."

 

[Steve_Pannell]

About all you can do, short of confronting them, is use the words correctly yourself and maybe they'll catch on.

 

[Stan]

About all you can do, short of confronting them, is use the words correctly yourself and maybe they'll catch on.

That's what I've done, use the word correctly, hoping they'll catch on. Confrontation would be very uncomfortable and possibly embarrassing for the person. Even better, hear and maybe question my pronunciation, then look the word up and find the correct way to say it.

Sounds a bit snobby, but I think people are hurting their own careers, little things like mispronouncing words makes them look uneducated. The best way is just use it correctly and hope they learn.

By the way, the thread title was just a common internet phrase, probably could have chosen better words.

 

[Stan]

Why haven't you slept in 52 hours?

Well, now approaching 60 hours, looks like my body wants to beat its old non-sleep record.

Haven't reached the stage where it feels like I've got grains of sand on my eyeballs, but unless this ends soon, it will happen. It's going to be dark soon, so maybe I'll get back to normal tonight.

 

[Jonathan Perregaux]

I knew someone with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome who used a speech-to-text program to write all of his E-mails. Before we knew this fact, his missives were the toast of our office due to all the grammatical hilarity therein. Apparently the guy was trying to get disability and refused to type anything. He was a bit of a dick about it, so none us felt bad about making fun of him after we found out the truth. Still, he could have at least spoken the sentences correctly.

I guess what I'm saying is, laugh at the person behind their back and snicker silently at them in person, but don't directly humiliate them.

Or not.

 

[Stan]

I knew someone with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome who used a speech-to-text program to write all of his E-mails. Before we knew this fact, his missives were the toast of our office due to all the grammatical hilarity therein. Apparently the guy was trying to get disability and refused to type anything. He was a bit of a dick about it, so none us felt bad about making fun of him after we found out the truth. Still, he could have at least spoken the sentences correctly.

I guess what I'm saying is, laugh at the person behind their back and snicker silently at them in person, but don't directly humiliate them.

Or not.

Oh, so evil. And so like me

 

[RMajidi]

...that I think are people using words that have read, but never heard pronounced."

This was certainly the case for me with the word 'dishevelled' (US 'disheveled').

Having only ever read it, I assumed it was pronounced 'dis-hevelled', and would proudly proclaim it at opportune points.

I might have even snickered condescendingly at the first person I heard pronounce the word (correctly) as 'de-shevelled'. Pride before a fall.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I have a coworker who constantly misprounces things. Figure I just gotta take it in the name of keeping the peace but it's not always easy.

 

[Tony Bensley]

I once had a coworker who pronounced rendezvous "ren" instead of "rawn", although he'd correctly pronounce the rest of the word, and just mangle the first syllable!

CHEERS!

 

[sidburyjr]

Ass-par-tuh-me (each syllable equally emphasized) rather than ass-per-tame. I just assumed that my friend was incorrect. But I never said anything.