Pronunciation Errors That Drive Me Nuts

internet skeptic wrote:

I'm super intrigued by this. Here is a list of guests from this week, would you recognize the name or topic?

http://espn.go.com/espnradio/show?showId=mikeandmike

Maybe Bruce Bowen from Wednesday's show? I'm not certain.

"for all intensive purposes.." (should be "for all intents and purposes")

holding my ears wrote:

I second the pronunciation (by roughly the same age cohort) of "s" as "sh" as in "shtructure."

Anchor on the local news last night pronounced 'construction,' as 'conSHtruction.'

Does anyone know when the 'statue of limitations' expires for that crime?

A-sept-able for acceptable

Su-sess-ful for successful

I am reading the great novel "The Go-Between" by L.P. Hartley, which is NOT a comic novel, but there is a recurring joke about the fact that one character always pronounces "Hugh" as "YOU" and everyone gets confused. Many people do this, in fact. It's not supposed to be "You" but you also can't give it too much H and make it sound like "Huhyou."

It has to have just a subtle amount of H. The only guy I ever knew who got it right was a basketball coach I had when I was 14, who knew how to address my teammate Hugh. I was impressed.

Thanks for your patience on this matter.

except irregardless is actually a word, it's just nonstandard

Yanqui wrote:

I am reading the great novel "The Go-Between" by L.P. Hartley, which is NOT a comic novel, but there is a recurring joke about the fact that one character always pronounces "Hugh" as "YOU" and everyone gets confused. Many people do this, in fact. It's not supposed to be "You" but you also can't give it too much H and make it sound like "Huhyou."

It has to have just a subtle amount of H. The only guy I ever knew who got it right was a basketball coach I had when I was 14, who knew how to address my teammate Hugh. I was impressed.

Thanks for your patience on this matter.

...unless you're from You-ston, Texas, like I am. People aspirate there less than Bill Clinton inhaled.

...unless you're from You-ston, Texas, like I am. People aspirate there less than Bill Clinton inhaled.[/quote]

I've lived my whole long life in Houston and we don't say You-ston. We do pronounce bayou as bye-oh, however.

preacherman wrote:

...unless you're from You-ston, Texas, like I am. People aspirate there less than Bill Clinton inhaled.

I've lived my whole long life in Houston and we don't say You-ston. We do pronounce bayou as bye-oh, however.[/quote]

Hmm, I wonder if it's an age thing. When I grew up there 50 years ago I think people said You-ston. But maybe I'm wrong. Or maybe I'm just less educated. I have heard non-Houstonians comment on the lack of aspiration, though.

Yanqui wrote:

I am reading the great novel "The Go-Between" by L.P. Hartley, which is NOT a comic novel, but there is a recurring joke about the fact that one character always pronounces "Hugh" as "YOU" and everyone gets confused. Many people do this, in fact. It's not supposed to be "You" but you also can't give it too much H and make it sound like "Huhyou."

It has to have just a subtle amount of H. The only guy I ever knew who got it right was a basketball coach I had when I was 14, who knew how to address my teammate Hugh. I was impressed.

Thanks for your patience on this matter.

I see people write 'hugh' when they mean 'huge' all the time.

These people are morons.

Pterodactyl Rexing wrote:

Irregardless.

Not really a pronunciation error, more of a common misuse or the prefix irr-. irr- + -less = double negative.

Bugs the heck out of me.

irregardless is a word. nothing wrong with it.

The word is regardless. You can go on saying the word irregardless, because yes it is a word, in the sense that you can say it if you please. But it just makes you look like a bumbling idiot.

So what! I hear Americans mispronounce German names all the time. For instance Americans say Weisz, Waltz, and Nowitzki with the "W" when it is clearly a "V" sound in German.

People often say or write "Time Square" instead of "Times Square." Do these people think that that the square's namesake is called the New York Time?

idiot tourists wrote:

People often say or write "Time Square" instead of "Times Square." Do these people think that that the square's namesake is called the New York Time?

It's probably many of the same people who pronounce "Grand Central Terminal" as "Grand Central Station."

Anyway, kudos to the poster who gave the correct pronunciation of "short-lived." It does indeed rhyme with "hived" (or "well-wived," for that matter).

As to the "forte" thing: if you mean "strength" or "strong point," it gets one syllable (French). If you mean "loud," it gets two (Italian). I think it was George Carlin who proposed the correct mnemonic: "Her forte [one syllable] is playing the skin flute--and she plays it forte [two syllables]!"

But yeah, I tell my students never to use "forte" in an interview situation. Even if you prounounce it correctly, about half the people who hear you will think you're ign'ant.

I moved to Europe to study languages and become a cunning linguist.

kartelite wrote:

Tout d'abord je parle français couramment, du coup si tu parles français j'attends à ce que tu répondes aussi en français si t'arrives à t'en débrouiller pdv. Marrant que tu parles tellement de langues mais ne sais pas maîtriser ta langue maternelle. Aucun besoin pour moi de me vanter de mes "qualifications" en tant que linguiste (en même temps que je fais les prestations sur les forums mdr)..quel casse-couilles les américains "cosmopolites". Japonais aussi? Ouah attends - faut que je m'en tape de surprise!!!

It's not a pronunciation, but the expression "my bad" grinds my gears like nothing else.

There is NOTHING more cringeworthy than 40+ yr olds using this expression. Just yesterday a colleague of mine sent an email response to about 10 of us which said simply "My bad LOL". He's at least 50. I had to forcibly restrain myself from throwing my chair across the office at him

The only one I've ever heard is aks.

Herstein is pronounced "her-stiin" etc

it is like Einstein dammit.

"Ein-stiin" duh