Most annoying mispronunciation

twinQuins · 01-04-2013 3:33pm

The King of Moo wrote: »

[...]And I also hate people complaining about "ye." It's a perfectly cromulent word that's quite useful, making it clear you're talking to multiple people.

Not sure if you're being facetious here but 'ye' is actually an old spelling of 'the'. Comes from differences, over time, in type-facing the character 'thorn' (which produced the 'th' sound) in Old English. Eventually it morphed into something that looked like a 'Y'.

English is, oddly, one of the few languages that doesn't have a specific word for the pluralised form of 'you'.

ruthloss · 01-04-2013 3:35pm

Daveysil15 wrote: »

So do you pronounce 'three' differently to 'tree'?

:pac::pac:

The King of Moo · 01-04-2013 3:39pm

twinQuins wrote: »

Not sure if you're being facetious here but 'ye' is actually an old spelling of 'the'. Comes from differences, over time, in type-facing the character 'thorn' (which produced the 'th' sound) in Old English. Eventually it morphed into something that looked like a 'Y'.

English is, oddly, one of the few languages that doesn't have a specific word for the pluralised form of 'you'.

Not being facetious.

Miss Lockhart · 01-04-2013 3:39pm

twinQuins wrote: »

Not sure if you're being facetious here but 'ye' is actually an old spelling of 'the'. Comes from differences, over time, in type-facing the character 'thorn' (which produced the 'th' sound) in Old English. Eventually it morphed into something that looked like a 'Y'.

English is, oddly, one of the few languages that doesn't have a specific word for the pluralised form of 'you'.

I thought both existed. Ye being "the" and Ge (pronounced ye) being "ye" as a plural of you (or thou as it would have been).

RobbingBandit · 01-04-2013 3:43pm

Anyone adding a h to the word assume can go *%#! themselves.

LordSutch · 01-04-2013 3:43pm

The King of Moo wrote: »

People pronounce it like that because most words beginning with "th" are pronounced with the same sound as in "thigh," "thirty" etc. and most people don't mention the country too often. It might be more common in Ireland as some people here pronounce words like "Thomas" and "Thames" with with the "h" as well.

I don't understand how people don't understand why many people pronounce the word this way.

I have friends from all over Europe, and the only people whoi don't seem to know about the silent H in Thailand are (some) people from Ireland! Even RTE have got to grips with the silent H in recent years, but you will still hear THIGH from many Irish people, which I find annoying

)

A Tree is a tree, and three is a number.

sfbonner · 01-04-2013 3:48pm

Fillem instead of Film.
Tree instead of Three.
Boner instead of Bonner.

And people that say As PER usual.....its just As usual. No need for the PER part at all. Its the same as saying AS AS usual. Makes no sense.

The King of Moo · 01-04-2013 3:50pm

LordSutch wrote: »

I have friends from all over Europe, and the only people whoi don't seem to know about the silent H in Thailand are (some) people from Ireland! Even RTE have got to grips with the silent H in recent years, but you will still hear THIGH from many Irish people, which I find annoying )

A Tree is a tree, and three is a number.

That last sentence is exactly why lots of people pronounce the "h" in Thailand, as doing so conforms to the general pattern of pronouncing "t" and "th," even if it's strictly wrong.

Dermighty · 01-04-2013 3:52pm

A friend of mine recently said "chester drawers" instead of "chest of drawers".

problemchimp wrote: »

Where is the letter "H" gone? Lately the h has become silent with "an" before it.
"An Horrible thing happened"

That is grammatically correct.

Solely in terms of pronunciation: "an undred" is as acceptable as "a hundred"

whatdoicare · 01-04-2013 3:53pm

I had a teacher who used to pronounce 'yesterday' as 'YERsterday', drove me bonkers!

twinQuins · 01-04-2013 3:54pm

Miss Lockhart wrote: »

I thought both existed. Ye being "the" and Ge (pronounced ye) being "ye" as a plural of you (or thou as it would have been).

Yes, English did at one point have that pronoun but it simply doesn't exist in the modern language and hasn't for a long time. My point was one that people see and hear 'ye' being used and assume it's the pluralised form of 'you'.

Assuming that most people conflate Early Modern English with Old English, those that use it probably don't realise just how anachronistic it is.

omega man · 01-04-2013 3:57pm

Cool whip (cool hwhip)

Da Shins Kelly · 01-04-2013 3:58pm

The way Ann Doyle used to pronounce 'sexual' like 'secksual', and pronouncing the 's' sounds in 'issue' and 'tissue' instead of saying it like 'ishoo' and 'tishoo'.

ruthloss · 01-04-2013 3:58pm

People who say"personally speaking for myself"

We understood when you said 'personally' Full Stop.

The_Gatsby · 01-04-2013 3:59pm

Miss Lockhart wrote: »

It's common enough to mispronounce it as "bri-kits" but that still has two syllables doesn't it?

Yeah that's what I mean. Except they say it so fast almost as if they think it should only be one syllable

dxhound2005 · 01-04-2013 4:05pm

Da Shins Kelly wrote: »

The way Ann Doyle used to pronounce 'sexual' like 'secksual', and pronouncing the 's' sounds in 'issue' and 'tissue' instead of saying it like 'ishoo' and 'tishoo'.

Both pronunciations of issue are considered standard.

http://www.howjsay.com/index.php?word=issue&submit=Submit

MadsL · 01-04-2013 4:07pm

Dermighty wrote: »

That is grammatically correct.

No it isn't - it is a false affectation based on the misconception that since the correct (posh) way to pronounce "a hotel" is "an 'otel" based on the French pronunciation that ever word beginning with H should be treated the same.

Bill Bryson, in the Penguin Dictionary of Troublesome Words, says that “the only words beginning with ‘h’ that take ‘an’ are heir, hour, honour, and honest”

Now if we could convince Americans that it is a herb, not an 'erb.

dxhound2005 · 01-04-2013 4:07pm

ruthloss wrote: »

People who say"personally speaking for myself"

We understood when you said 'personally' Full Stop.

That is not a mispronunciation.

Xdancer · 01-04-2013 4:11pm

My mother says 'symthom' instead of symptom. Drives me crazy.

ruthloss · 01-04-2013 4:12pm

dxhound2005 wrote: »

That is not a mispronunciation.

You are quite right, my sincere apologies.:(

dxhound2005 · 01-04-2013 4:15pm

MadsL wrote: »

No it isn't - it is a false affectation based on the misconception that since the correct (posh) way to pronounce "a hotel" is "an 'otel" based on the French pronunciation that ever word beginning with H should be treated the same.

Bill Bryson, in the Penguin Dictionary of Troublesome Words, says that “the only words beginning with ‘h’ that take ‘an’ are heir, hour, honour, and honest”

Now if we could convince Americans that it is a herb, not an 'erb.

Herb is an example where the original pronunciation has been retained in America while it has changed in Britain/Ireland.

http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-anh1.htm

The situation is complicated by a shift that has been taking place in the pronunciation of words with initial h over the past couple of centuries. At one time, many more were said with the h silent. This explains the appearance of an in old texts where we would now use a; the classic case is that of the King James Bible, where — to take the first example out of dozens — in Genesis the text reads “And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years”. A good example is that of herb, which Americans today continue to say the way their English forefathers did, without the initial h. British English has moved on, and it is now thought uneducated for British speakers to say erb.

WoollyRedHat · 01-04-2013 4:20pm

It's Wingardium LeviOsa, not LeviosAR!

ruthloss · 01-04-2013 4:22pm

MadsL wrote: »

No it isn't - it is a false affectation based on the misconception that since the correct (posh) way to pronounce "a hotel" is "an 'otel" based on the French pronunciation that ever word beginning with H should be treated the same.

Bill Bryson, in the Penguin Dictionary of Troublesome Words, says that “the only words beginning with ‘h’ that take ‘an’ are heir, hour, honour, and honest”

I thought one always puts an 'An' before Hotel. (an hotel)

goose2005 · 01-04-2013 4:31pm

H2UMrsRobinson wrote: »

Irish people who say derrby instead of Dahbey. (Derby)

What about the Kentucky Derby?

Shenshen · 01-04-2013 4:32pm

bluewolf wrote: »

Why would you randomly introduce an r into it?
I could understand if you were from the UK maybe but puh, not pur

*sigh* I didn't. I cannot find the phonetic typeface on this computer, and was trying to find a homophone to illustrate my point. "Pur" seemed the closest I could get, I do apologise. I will re-write the post in proper phonetic alphabet later.

Roger_007 · 01-04-2013 4:34pm

ruthloss wrote: »

My Gran makes up words.

Her friend ran off to Canaidia and married a negroid.
and her favourite music is CABINTEELEY....(Cavatina)
She got wood 'pelvices' for her windows.:D

Does she also suffer with ulsters.

Daveysil15 · 01-04-2013 4:56pm

omega man wrote: »

Cool whip (cool hwhip)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHYYkZpZGjo

Toby Take a Bow · 01-04-2013 5:03pm

Shenshen wrote: »

If you want to pronounce it Spanish, the spicy green thing is called a Ha-la-pen-yo. If you want to pronounce it English, it's Ja-la-pee-no.
Where the bloody f*ck is Ha-la-pee-no even coming from?

The car is called Pur-shou. Not Pyew-shou. If you want to pronounce it English, call it a Pyew-jot.

And do I even need to explain that the island is either called Ee-bee-tha (Spanish) or Eye-bee-za (English)?

Seriously.

I think you're just being overly pedantic here. I have never heard jalapeno pronounced with 'enyo' pronunciation at the end: primarily because English tends not to recognise such a pronunciation. Same goes for 'pyew-zhow' and 'eye-bee-tha' (or ib-ee-tha).

These are new-ish words in the English language, so there was always going to be a period where their pronunciations shifted. They seem to be settling more-or-less in the ways that are so offensive to your ears. But I would say you're going to have to just get used to it. Remember that there are plenty of words you would use on a regular basis that are half-English/half-French pronunciations.

01-04-2013 5:22pm

Fillum instead of film drives me crazy. It can't be that hard to say it properly.

Asking pronounced as 'axing' is really common, although it doesn't annoy me.

People at the gym waiting to use the 'threadmill'...it's treadmill people, no 'h'.

Guzinta - as in: The smaller bag guzinta the bigger one. A relative says this and it makes me cringe.

fussyonion · 01-04-2013 5:24pm

Americans pronouncing "herbs" as "erbz". Why don't they realise how silly they sound!
They also call kebabs "kebobs" and see nothing funny about that.

Most annoying mispronunciation

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