Pronunciations that drive you mad

B0jangles · 11-05-2012 1:49pm

fricatus wrote: »

Their health correspondent Fergal Bowers, while not having an extreme accent, was on Drivetime the other evening saying "hostipal" over and over again. I had read people's comments about that pronunciation on this thread and had never heard it being used, until I tuned into RTE that evening on the way home! .

Oh God, Ferl Bows and his amazing ability to leave half the letters out when saying a word. Remember when there was that big story about an obstetrician carrying out very unnecessary procedures on some women?

Hearing him talk every days about this rogue obstrishn working in a Hosbil
drove me me nuts.

I think he has gotten speech classes though; he seems to be a lot better these days

languagenerd · 11-05-2012 3:09pm

Out of interest actually, do people here pronounce the "t" in "often" and "soften"?

I remember my 6th class teacher gave us a list of spellings with silent letters in them to learn, and couldn't figure out why she'd put "often" and "soften" on it. She was from Limerick (teaching in Dublin), so I asked my dad, who's also from Limerick, and he pronounced them "offen" and "soffen". (As did the teacher, as I later discovered).

It annoyed me as an 11-year-old but not anymore :P What do people here say?

Ruralyoke · 11-05-2012 3:12pm

languagenerd wrote: »

Out of interest actually, do people here pronounce the "t" in "often" and "soften"?

Not quite - but I do a sort of "semi glottal stop" if you know what I mean.

That nerdy enough for ya?

Extraneous TH pronunciation must be the worst though.

Thigh for Thai etc.

I hear ENGlish (the beginning to rhyme with length) the odd time which to me sounds wierd beyond belief. Not all that annoying though, funny enough.

Duckjob · 11-05-2012 3:21pm

The way Eamon Gilmore says "Fine Gael" ("Feena Gwail")

Wibbs · 11-05-2012 3:35pm

mikemac1 wrote: »

I say lef tenant

American TV tell me it is loo tenant

Now I don't know which to use

Well it's French in origin like many many military words, so the Yanks are more correct on that score. Left instead(or is that in lieu of:)) of Lieu makes no sense. I suspect the British pronunciation is to reduce the French influence. They've got previous them two.

I am pie · 11-05-2012 3:38pm

Ruralyoke wrote: »

Not quite - but I do a sort of "semi glottal stop" if you know what I mean.

That nerdy enough for ya?

Extraneous TH pronunciation must be the worst though.

Thigh for Thai etc.

I hear ENGlish (the beginning to rhyme with length) the odd time which to me sounds wierd beyond belief. Not all that annoying though, funny enough.

That TH carry on is incredible...the amount of broadcasters on TV and radio I have heard butchering that silent H is comical. I actually think they have decided they are right and that a H can never be silent.

The King of Moo · 11-05-2012 3:38pm

languagenerd wrote: »

Out of interest actually, do people here pronounce the "t" in "often" and "soften"?

I remember my 6th class teacher gave us a list of spellings with silent letters in them to learn, and couldn't figure out why she'd put "often" and "soften" on it. She was from Limerick (teaching in Dublin), so I asked my dad, who's also from Limerick, and he pronounced them "offen" and "soffen". (As did the teacher, as I later discovered).

It annoyed me as an 11-year-old but not anymore :P What do people here say?

I've never pronounced the "t," but I also wouldn't bat an eyelid if somebody else did.
To me, both pronunciations are correct, with it sounding a little more formal when the "t" is pronounced.

Snickers Man · 11-05-2012 3:43pm

Pherekydes wrote: »

Eck setera.

Anything with a 'th' by Ian Guider.

...

Second that. Can't remember last time I listened to the business news on Newstalk. His introduction is an automatic cue to flick over.

"Tree towsand new jobs promised for...." [flick]

fishy fishy · 11-05-2012 3:44pm

Odats wrote: »

Not to be pedantic but that is the way it is pronounced in Haitian Creole. Ayiti is the Creole for Haiti.

Lived there for over a year and it's a crazy country with some beautiful people and places but that's another topic.

ya, but in all fairness the newsreaders in Ireland are not Haitian Creoles are they? They are bog standard Irish.

they don't say Pareeeeeeeeeeeeeee for paris do they?

LordSutch · 11-05-2012 3:50pm

mikemac1 wrote: »

I say lef tenant

American TV tell me it is loo tenant

Now I don't know which to use

Lieutenant is pronounced as 'Leftenant' on this side of the pond (in both Britain and Ireland).

lookinbusy · 11-05-2012 3:52pm

pacific for specific.. hate that.

11-05-2012 3:53pm

languagenerd wrote: »

Out of interest actually, do people here pronounce the "t" in "often" and "soften"?
What do people here say?

I'd never pronounce the T.

Wibbs · 11-05-2012 3:57pm

I'd pronounce the T alright. It wouldn't be a hard T though but defo a t sound and not "offen".

celtictiger32 · 11-05-2012 3:57pm

LordSutch wrote: »

Lieutenant is pronounced as 'Leftenant' on this side of the pond (in both Britain and Ireland).

eh..... no its not!

Wibbs · 11-05-2012 3:59pm

celtictiger32 wrote: »

eh..... no its not!

It would have been, at least before American media influence. Now more likely to hear the American, rather original French pronunciation.

LordSutch · 11-05-2012 4:02pm

celtictiger32 wrote: »

eh..... no its not!

Lieutenant is pronounced as 'Leftenant' on this side of the pond (in both Britain and Ireland) and I know this for a fact, mostly because of a Defence Forces friend, and just because I knew from listening to interviews etc etc . . .

celtictiger32 · 11-05-2012 4:03pm

LordSutch wrote: »

Please enlighten us.

i have never heard lieutenant being pronounced 'leftenant' in ireland, and thats amongst military personnel aswell.

Wibbs · 11-05-2012 4:04pm

Nope it's not LS, or a lot less so than in the past. "Lefttenant" is an incorrect pronunciation of the original French word for cultural reasons. IIRC there may be some reasoning behind it with old french that add an F to U and O sounds, but unlikely.

Gbear · 11-05-2012 4:06pm

LordSutch wrote: »

Lieutenant is pronounced as 'Leftenant' on this side of the pond (in both Britain and Ireland) and I know this for a fact, mostly because of a Defence Forces friend, and just because I knew from listening to interviews etc etc . . .

Just because the military have been mispronouncing it for a long time doesn't make the pronunciation any more correct.

LordSutch · 11-05-2012 4:06pm

Wibbs wrote: »

Nope it's not LS, or a lot less so than in the past. "Lefttenant" is an incorrect pronunciation of the original French word for cultural reasons. IIRC there may be some reasoning behind it with old french that add an F to U and O sounds, but unlikely.

So are you saying that in recent years the American form/pronunciation of LOO-tenant has been adopted here?

celtictiger32 · 11-05-2012 4:07pm

judging by some of his posts in other threads i think thats just the way lord sutch would like to have us pronounce the word,.............. hed probably like us all to say perjot instead of peugeot aswell..

languagenerd · 11-05-2012 4:14pm

Ruralyoke wrote: »

Not quite - but I do a sort of "semi glottal stop" if you know what I mean.

That nerdy enough for ya?

Haha yes, that'll do for nerdiness :P. Had a lecturer threaten to go around the class and put his hand on everyone's throats while they spoke to feel the glottal stops once, that was... memorable :pac: He didn't do it in the end though!

The King of Moo wrote: »

I've never pronounced the "t," but I also wouldn't bat an eyelid if somebody else did.
To me, both pronunciations are correct, with it sounding a little more formal when the "t" is pronounced.

true-or-false wrote: »

I'd never pronounce the T.

Wibbs wrote: »

I'd pronounce the T alright. It wouldn't be a hard T though but defo a t sound and not "offen".

Thanks, interesting replies! I'd never noticed it without the T before 6th class (Don't know how cause that's how my dad says it... maybe I just thought it was his accent? I don't know. Unobservant child :P)

I always pronounce it as a fairly soft T, it doesn't sound wrong to me either way though (well, not anymore :P)

languagenerd · 11-05-2012 4:18pm

Oh, and I've never heard/said "Lef-tenant" for Lieutenant! I starting learning French when I was quite young though, so I probably just went for the more French way without even thinking about it. (Always Loo-tenant in English, "ly-uh-ten-on", more or less, in French)

Have never been able to understand why we still spell Colonel with an L instead an R, though!

rgmmg · 11-05-2012 4:23pm

Not a pronunciation, but I'm not a fan of people who say "Bye, bye, bye, b, b,b, bye..." instead of a simple "Goodbye" on the phone

LordSutch · 11-05-2012 4:23pm

celtictiger32 wrote: »

judging by some of his posts in other threads i think thats just the way lord sutch would like to have us pronounce the word,.............. hed probably like us all to say perjot instead of peugeot aswell..

Well Mr Tiger, I happen think the English pronunciation of Peugeot is equally as flawed as the Irish version! But car manufacturers aside, and just in case there is still any lingering doubt about how we pronounce Lieutenant here (as opposed to the USA) see link http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/0623/earleyd.html#audio with several Audio/Video clips of Irish interviews/mentions of Lieutenant (being pronounced as Leftenant). Next somebody will be saying that Buoy should also be pronounced the US way.

Ruralyoke · 11-05-2012 4:26pm

celtictiger32 wrote: »

perjot

Ugh.

Hate that - really does my head in.

I don't care if it's correct or not it just sounds so effortlessly poncy and nothing can persuade me otherwise.

Gbear · 11-05-2012 4:29pm

LordSutch wrote: »

Well Mr Tiger, I happen think the English pronunciation of Peugeot is equally as flawed as the Irish version! But car manufacturers aside, and just in case there is still any lingering doubt about how we pronounce Lieutenant here (as opposed to the USA) see link http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/0623/earleyd.html#audio with several Audio/Video clips of Irish interviews/mentions of Lieutenant (being pronounced as Leftenant). Next somebody will be saying that Buoy should also be pronounced the US way.

It's not because the US does it that it's correct, it's because it's a French word and even if it wasn't, how does lieu = lef? I know English is a language that plays it a bit loose sometimes but that's completely taking the piss.

Friend of my dad once said to him, after missing a train: "cess la vye".

(c'est la vie, if you didn't get it).

Wibbs · 11-05-2012 4:32pm

LordSutch wrote:

So are you saying that in recent years the American form/pronunciation of LOO-tenant has been adopted here?

Yep. Pretty much, though again the US form is more correct as a pronunciation. The English would have used the same pronunciation changing it only later. "Left" Tenant makes no sense anyway.

I've heard Irish army and air corp people use the French version more. Maybe they use that in civvie talk though? Better yet maybe some Irish military folks can chime in on this to settle it?

languagenerd wrote:

Have never been able to understand why we still spell Colonel with an L instead an R, though!

Yea true enough. It's Italian or Spanish in origin I think. One of the few ranks that isn't French(Captain, Major, Colonel, General, Sergeant and a few others are all French in origin).

Wibbs · 11-05-2012 4:37pm

Gbear wrote: »

It's not because the US does it that it's correct, it's because it's a French word and even if it wasn't, how does lieu = lef? I know English is a language that plays it a bit loose sometimes but that's completely taking the piss.

Older French IIRC add an F sound to o and a sounds, but it seems to come way after than and most likely as a way to anglicise the word.

LordSutch · 11-05-2012 4:37pm

You really should watch/listen to the Audio/Video clips I have linked in post#356.

Pronunciations that drive you mad

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