# American English Pronunciation that bugs the bejeezus out of me **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 9, 2008, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-english-pronunciation-that-bugs-the-bejeezus-out-of-me/467182 "2008-10-09T16:53:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2008, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-english-pronunciation-that-bugs-the-bejeezus-out-of-me/467182/21 "2008-10-09T19:35:15Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > So the word “diaper” isn’t used in England for “baby butt cover”, then? What are the correct words? Is “diaper” commonly used for anything? Nappy. I have never heard the word diaper used for anything in the UK. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2008, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-english-pronunciation-that-bugs-the-bejeezus-out-of-me/467182/22 "2008-10-09T22:35:28Z")
> [@NinjaChick](#): > > First you Brits need to knock it off with this notional agreement crap. Singular nouns, even if they are collective, take singular verbs, and doing otherwise is an affront to all that is good in the world. So would you say “the police is going to arrest him”? Or would you say, “the police are going to arrest him”? ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2008, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-english-pronunciation-that-bugs-the-bejeezus-out-of-me/467182/23 "2008-10-09T23:00:40Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > So the word “diaper” isn’t used in England for “baby butt cover”, then? What are the correct words? Nappy. ---
**Author:** ![E.Thorp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@E.Thorp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E.Thorp)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2008, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-english-pronunciation-that-bugs-the-bejeezus-out-of-me/467182/24 "2008-10-09T23:07:02Z")
If a diaper is a baby butt cover, is an adult diaper a manhole cover? …anyway, I do know how to pronounce Edinburgh, and I’m pretty sure I knew it even before I visited that fair city. Still haven’t got used to the Brit way with collective nouns, though. ---
**Author:** ![madrabbitwoman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c37758/32.png) [@madrabbitwoman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madrabbitwoman)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2008, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-english-pronunciation-that-bugs-the-bejeezus-out-of-me/467182/25 "2008-10-09T23:14:07Z")
Aussie here. We don’t use diaper either (but due to the media we all know what it refers to). I was quite bemused when learning illumination to come across this: [http://www.pitt.edu/~medart/menuglossary/diaper.htm](http://www.pitt.edu/~medart/menuglossary/diaper.htm) MRW ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2008, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-english-pronunciation-that-bugs-the-bejeezus-out-of-me/467182/26 "2008-10-09T23:24:24Z")
> [@E.Thorp](#): > > If a diaper is a baby butt cover, is an adult diaper a manhole cover? Well, that would all Depend. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2008, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-english-pronunciation-that-bugs-the-bejeezus-out-of-me/467182/27 "2008-10-09T23:35:21Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > You’d get Americans all eating Wetabix before you’d get the saying “nappies”. Don’t be silly. Only Enzedders eat [Weta](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weta)bix. 🙂 > [@CalMeacham](#): > > I know the checkered history of “diaper”, and how our diapers aren’t “diapered”, but that’s part of the geologic history of the word, and fascinating by itself. There are plenty of words whose history shows that they’ve wandered far from their roots. It’s too late to do anything about them now. What _is_ the chequered history of ‘diaper’? I always wondered whether it fit with such words as ‘diathermy’ and ‘diagram’. I do not have an etymological dictionary, and rather wish I did. ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2008, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-english-pronunciation-that-bugs-the-bejeezus-out-of-me/467182/28 "2008-10-09T23:47:25Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > So would you say “the police is going to arrest him”? > > Or would you say, “the police are going to arrest him”? That’s a fair point. However, you could argue that the police generally act more as individuals (eg, individual officers and detectives generally working towards the same end, but independently), and therefore the singular noun isn’t really functioning as a singular entity. The entire police force is not going to descend upon the poor guy en masse, one or two officers will take him into custody. On the other hand, to take **villa** ’s example of “England were crap yesterday”, the singular noun England is referring to the collective sports team as one singular unit. Similarly, when I’ve heard a BBC report that “Parliament are discussing whatever”, it’s parliament as one unit. Also, I don’t claim that it’s logically flawless, it’s just a pet peeve. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2008, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-english-pronunciation-that-bugs-the-bejeezus-out-of-me/467182/29 "2008-10-09T23:57:48Z")
> [@NinjaChick](#): > > On the other hand, to take **villa** ’s example of “England were crap yesterday”, the singular noun England is referring to the collective sports team as one singular unit. I suspect it’s dues to their _failure_ to operate as one singular unit, as per usual, in which case the plural is most appropriate 😉 Anyway, the reverse is one of my pet peeves, on seeing the occasional CNN world sport report tackling the Premiership. However, if there’s been nothing happening anywhere else, and they end up going through lower-league English matches, it’s fun to hear the terrible mispronunciations 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-english-pronunciation-that-bugs-the-bejeezus-out-of-me/467182/30 "2008-10-10T00:03:49Z")
> [@villa](#): > > …The chief of these are Iraq and Iran. I have never heard anyone call the country Eye-ndia or Eye-srael. Also the inability of any American I have yet met to correctly say Edinburgh. > > As for words themselves, I can never, despite having raised a child here, find the word ‘diaper’ anything but plain wrong. If I assure you that I have never said Eye-rack, Eye-ran, or Eye-talian, will you tell me the correct way to pronounce Edinburgh? (And if you find ‘diaper’ wrong, imagine how Americans react to ‘nappy’, short for ‘napkin’ …) ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-english-pronunciation-that-bugs-the-bejeezus-out-of-me/467182/31 "2008-10-10T00:09:15Z")
> [@j666](#): > > (And if you find ‘diaper’ wrong, imagine how Americans react to ‘nappy’, short for ‘napkin’ …) Maybe Don Imus should have used that as his defense. 😉 Me, I never understood the whole UK “zed” thing. Can’t you guys pronouce the letter Z? Waitaminute - is that why you use “naught” instead of zero? On a related note, do you call ZZ Top “Zed Zed Top”? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-english-pronunciation-that-bugs-the-bejeezus-out-of-me/467182/32 "2008-10-10T00:09:44Z")
Tough titty, ya pommy bastiches! I’m gonna pronunciate them words like I always do: Eye-rack, Eye-ran, Eye-talians. And **j666**? It’s pronounced “Glass-go.” ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-english-pronunciation-that-bugs-the-bejeezus-out-of-me/467182/33 "2008-10-10T00:18:10Z")
> [@Morbo](#): > > On a related note, do you call ZZ Top “Zed Zed Top”? No. ---
**Author:** ![Omegaman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e480ec/32.png) [@Omegaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omegaman)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-english-pronunciation-that-bugs-the-bejeezus-out-of-me/467182/34 "2008-10-10T00:25:18Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > Well, that would all Depend. Nice. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-english-pronunciation-that-bugs-the-bejeezus-out-of-me/467182/35 "2008-10-10T00:39:27Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > No. OK…so what’s the reason for using “zed” sometimes but not other times? Not trying to be snarky - just curious. ---
**Author:** ![Oregon\_sunshine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/50afbb/32.png) [@Oregon\_sunshine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oregon_sunshine)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-english-pronunciation-that-bugs-the-bejeezus-out-of-me/467182/36 "2008-10-10T00:49:09Z")
Um… okay… so how do you pronounce Edinburgh?? 😕😕😕 Isn’t it pronounced like it’s spelled??? ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-english-pronunciation-that-bugs-the-bejeezus-out-of-me/467182/37 "2008-10-10T00:57:43Z")
> [@Oregon\_sunshine](#): > > Um… okay… so how do you pronounce Edinburgh?? 😕😕😕 > Isn’t it pronounced like it’s spelled??? Click on the speaker icon [here](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/edinburgh). ---
**Author:** ![counsel\_wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/65b543/32.png) [@counsel\_wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/counsel_wolf)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-english-pronunciation-that-bugs-the-bejeezus-out-of-me/467182/38 "2008-10-10T01:29:45Z")
The American pronunciation of ‘leisure’ drives me bananas. I can cope with most of the rest but not that one. ---
**Author:** ![hawthorne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@hawthorne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawthorne)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-english-pronunciation-that-bugs-the-bejeezus-out-of-me/467182/39 "2008-10-10T01:30:01Z")
The Iraq thing sounds a bit jarring, but doesn’t bother me. How do you guys pronounce _Paris_ or _France_? I draw the line at Notre Dame though. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-english-pronunciation-that-bugs-the-bejeezus-out-of-me/467182/40 "2008-10-10T01:38:35Z")
> [@Oregon\_sunshine](#): > > Um… okay… so how do you pronounce Edinburgh?? 😕😕😕 > Isn’t it pronounced like it’s spelled??? Do you really pronounce “gh”? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-english-pronunciation-that-bugs-the-bejeezus-out-of-me/467182.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-english-pronunciation-that-bugs-the-bejeezus-out-of-me/467182.md?page=3)