# 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:** 5
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-english-pronunciation-that-bugs-the-bejeezus-out-of-me/467182/81 "2008-10-10T15:08:27Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > Well, around here (central and eastern PA) they’re actually “Briddish” and it’s actually “liddle”. Do they actually pronounce those as /t/'s where you are? I have to note that, upon pronouncing those for my own curiousity and paying attention while doing so, I notice that those are actually two completely different “d” sounds in those two words. The “d” in “British” is a dental “d”, produced in the front of the mouth with the tongue against the teeth. The “little” “d” is a middle “d”, produced with the tongue against the hard palate. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-english-pronunciation-that-bugs-the-bejeezus-out-of-me/467182/82 "2008-10-10T15:09:46Z")
> [@LouisB](#): > > Why do the British hate America? I think if they cannot learn to speak English then they should go back to England or somewhere. “Why can’t the English teach their children how to speak?” God…I think I’ve seen “My Fair Lady” too many times… ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-english-pronunciation-that-bugs-the-bejeezus-out-of-me/467182/83 "2008-10-10T15:12:33Z")
> [@dangermom](#): > > More than one policeman is going to do the arresting; the police are a collective. One police officer, a bunch of police. You don’t say “A police came into my store today…” I recently read a crime novel in which the cops referred to themselves individually as “a police.” I can’t remember the author offhand, but it was somebody well known. It was kind of jarring at first but then it made sense. A character would say something like, “She gave me that information before she knew I was a police.” I could get used to it. ---
**Author:** ![XaMcQ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/f9ae1b/32.png) [@XaMcQ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XaMcQ)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-english-pronunciation-that-bugs-the-bejeezus-out-of-me/467182/84 "2008-10-10T15:26:54Z")
> [@Bites\_When\_Provoked](#): > > Hah! Now that’s just not acceptable. At least officially make it _illuminum_. And make it sparkle. And light up from within. 😃 > > Give me back my childhood, where I really thought you guys lived in houses like that. So many sitcoms mentioned ‘illuminum’ siding! I knew what ‘siding’ was - even though I’ve never heard that word used here, either; weird how I got the context of the one just fine, and messed up the other so badly. I assumed you were living in pretty, glowing houses. > > Later, I reluctantly upgraded the mental image of ‘illuminum’ to probably be some lightweight, high-strength thing that very likely didn’t light up from within. > > But was probably still **pretty**. _darned_. _ **shiny** _. 😃 Ha! That works both ways. It took me ages to catch on that when you Brits said ‘ah-lu-min-ee-um’, you weren’t referring to some really nifty exotic stuff, not plain old aluminum. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![FatBaldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecd19e/32.png) [@FatBaldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FatBaldGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-english-pronunciation-that-bugs-the-bejeezus-out-of-me/467182/85 "2008-10-10T15:30:44Z")
One that hasn’t come up yet, but always jarred my ears when I was living in Britain was hearing about a “clark” who waited on you in a shop, or a “darby” when referring to a hat or a horse race. ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-english-pronunciation-that-bugs-the-bejeezus-out-of-me/467182/86 "2008-10-10T15:40:48Z")
Imagine my problem in a video store when I first moved here trying to rent the damn movie… “You must have it - its really famous - the Kevin Smith one… Clarks…” What also used to get to me was when I worked in a bar. People would order a burger, and when asked “would you like lettuce, tomah-to and onion on that” they would look at me blankly. OK - you haven’t heard the pronunciation before. What, you think I invented a whole new sodding vegetable to put on your burger? ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-english-pronunciation-that-bugs-the-bejeezus-out-of-me/467182/87 "2008-10-10T15:59:04Z")
> [@LouisB](#): > > Why do the British hate America? I think if they cannot learn to speak English then they should go back to England or somewhere. You started it, with your saltwater tea and other abominations. :rolleyes: 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-english-pronunciation-that-bugs-the-bejeezus-out-of-me/467182/88 "2008-10-10T16:04:05Z")
> [@Lust4Life](#): > > Route pronounced as Rowt > > Carr IBB ean as in the sea > > Hairam as in the Sultans private supply of female recreation. Americans don’t agree on how to pronounce “route”. I understand there’s a geographical difference; I go back and forth myself. I don’t know what the second sentence means at all. I’ve never heard anyone pronounce “harem” that way. The British pronunciation of “Maryland” makes me wince. It’s “Merralin”, people, it isn’t an amusement park owned by someone named Mary. ---
**Author:** ![Telperien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@Telperien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperien)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-english-pronunciation-that-bugs-the-bejeezus-out-of-me/467182/89 "2008-10-10T16:05:37Z")
Perhaps we should pronounce it “car-ib-yoon” like Billy Ocean? ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-english-pronunciation-that-bugs-the-bejeezus-out-of-me/467182/90 "2008-10-10T16:05:46Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > The British pronunciation of “Maryland” makes me wince. It’s “Merralin”, people, it isn’t an amusement park owned by someone named Mary. In the spirit of international brotherhood, it bugs me too when fellow English people do that. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-english-pronunciation-that-bugs-the-bejeezus-out-of-me/467182/91 "2008-10-10T16:23:19Z")
> [@villa](#): > > Imagine my problem in a video store when I first moved here trying to rent the damn movie… At least you didn’t try to hire it. “Hire it to do what?” ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-english-pronunciation-that-bugs-the-bejeezus-out-of-me/467182/92 "2008-10-10T16:59:35Z")
I think it’s sexy the way British girls pronounce “record.” We say it reck-erd in the US, but they say it reck-chord. Like when British pop stars talk about what to expect on their new reck-chord… Same with “mobile.” We say mow-bull, they say mow-bile. That’s so hot. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-english-pronunciation-that-bugs-the-bejeezus-out-of-me/467182/93 "2008-10-10T17:09:22Z")
> [@Knowed\_Out](#): > > I think it’s sexy the way British girls pronounce “record.” We say it reck-erd in the US, but they say it reck-chord. Like when British pop stars talk about what to expect on their new reck-chord… > > Same with “mobile.” We say mow-bull, they say mow-bile. That’s so hot. It depends on what context the word is being used in… Can you reck-_chord_ this TV programme? Can you put this _reck_-ord on the reck-ord player? ---
**Author:** ![Some\_FNG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/48db29/32.png) [@Some\_FNG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Some_FNG)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-english-pronunciation-that-bugs-the-bejeezus-out-of-me/467182/94 "2008-10-10T17:42:25Z")
Ok, what’s with some chav getting injured and being _taken to hospital_? Surely they are taken a singular location and not to the concept of ‘hospital’. (I really wish that I could explain this peeve better…:smack:) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-english-pronunciation-that-bugs-the-bejeezus-out-of-me/467182/95 "2008-10-10T17:44:32Z")
> [@](#): > > The British pronunciation of “Maryland” makes me wince. It’s “Merralin”, people, it isn’t an amusement park owned by someone named Mary. That used to be the standard pronunciation in America, back in colonial days. Peter stone makes a point of that in his published copy of the play, and they pronounce it that way in the film **1776**. It does seem idiosyncratic of the British to keep using it, though, but they have a long history of preferring their own pronunciations. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-english-pronunciation-that-bugs-the-bejeezus-out-of-me/467182/96 "2008-10-10T17:51:39Z")
> [@Some\_FNG](#): > > Ok, what’s with some chav getting injured and being _taken to hospital_? > Surely they are taken a singular location and not to the concept of ‘hospital’. > (I really wish that I could explain this peeve better…:smack:) They are taken to a hospital, and become a patient at that hospital. And when I want to visit them, I tell the taxi driver, “Take me to the hospital.” If I said, “Take me to hospital,” the driver might say, “You want an ambulance, not a taxi, mate.” ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-english-pronunciation-that-bugs-the-bejeezus-out-of-me/467182/97 "2008-10-10T17:59:33Z")
Dear England, and whomever else it may concern: There will be no negotiation on any matter relating to Grammar until you unilateraly, and absolutely dismantle that weapon of of mass nerve-grating, “maths” Your compliance will be strictly monitored through spy satelites, and enforced with muti-megaton nuclear strikes. have a nice day, U.S. America. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-english-pronunciation-that-bugs-the-bejeezus-out-of-me/467182/98 "2008-10-10T18:05:06Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > The British pronunciation of “Maryland” makes me wince. It’s “Merralin”, people, it isn’t an amusement park owned by someone named Mary. You sure? I remember how at the beginning the movie “Gettysburg,” the narrator quite distinctly pronounces it Mary-land. He had a southern accent, not British. For another, even in common speech I usually hear the “d” pronounced at the end. Marri-lind, it usually goes. ---
**Author:** ![trupa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/aeb1de/32.png) [@trupa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/trupa)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-english-pronunciation-that-bugs-the-bejeezus-out-of-me/467182/99 "2008-10-10T18:08:15Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > The justification for the “eye” pronuciation of Iraq and Iran is that there is a single consonant there, so it should be pronounced like Ireland. Oh, of course, I understand now, it’s just like EYE-taly, where those EYE-talians live. How EYE-diotic of me. ---
**Author:** ![nd\_n8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/439d5e/32.png) [@nd\_n8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nd_n8)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-english-pronunciation-that-bugs-the-bejeezus-out-of-me/467182/100 "2008-10-10T18:08:41Z")
> [@Lobsang](#): > > It depends on what context the word is being used in… > > Can you reck-_chord_ this TV programme? > > Can you put this _reck_-ord on the reck-ord player? That’s similar to how I’ve always heard “Route”. A path, road or series of directions is a Root. To dig up or out something is to Rowt. Also to put something in a groove is to Rowt. A power tool to dig grooves in wood is a Rowter. So if I were hiding wires in my oak entertainment center, first I would use a “Rowter” to “Rowt” a slot in the side, sink some sort of conduit into the groove, then “Rowt” the wires through the conduit (con-do-it, definately not con-dwee, I don’t care if you’re French or not). At least that’s the “Root” I would normally take. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-english-pronunciation-that-bugs-the-bejeezus-out-of-me/467182.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-english-pronunciation-that-bugs-the-bejeezus-out-of-me/467182.md?page=6)