LOL over Boris B’s word!
Despite having lived in SC all my life, I didn’t find out what “pickaninny” actually meant until I was almost 30!
The only context I ever it used was by my father, who used it (of all things) as sort of a term of endearment when he was talking to “little ones,” (my younger sister, puppies, etc.) “Oh, come here, little pickaninny.”
When did m-e-a-s-u-r-e start getting pronounced as if it was spelled “mayzher” in the U.S.? CNN announcers are often talking about Congress adopting this mayzher or another. Is it a southernism or is it more widespread?
Saw a list of Ancient Greek names. Somebody said, “Only one name on that list is familiar: Phoebe.”
I thought to myself: I don’t see no Feebee on that list, but I sure do see a weird one. Must be pronounced Fobe.
I remember having the impression once upon a time that ornery' was the Southern version of the term and onrey’ was the Northern version.
“Mayzher” is not a southernism that I have ever heard. Around here it’s pronounced “MEH zyur”.
In a radio commercial for a local jeweler, a voice of someone claiming to be the owner says something like, “You can trust us to create joo-la-ree for you that will last a lifetime.”
And, why is the last name of Taliaferro pronounced “tolliver?” Even the bastardations caused by translation don’t explain that one.
I learned truculent from books so never heard it for years. People laugh and laugh when I pronounce the c as an s instead of a k.
My sisters and I all think there is such a word as missiled that means the same thing as misled. We never use missiled out loud but always mispronounce misled in our minds.
About a “short ‘e’” being pronounced like a “long ‘a,’” (“measure” pronounced like "mayzher), I’ve noticed it in only two people: Mike Wallace of “60 Minutes” fame and “Alfalfa,” a famous crooner of the late '30’s and early '40’s :).
Mike Wallace was born in Brookline MA. Alfalfa was a farm boy from Paris IL. (It was joked that he had never owned a pair of shoes until he moved to CA.)
I can’t imagine what those two could have possibly had in common in their early years.
I have deliberately mispronounced the noun “Officer” as “Ossifer” so many times over the years, as a crude parody of a DWI suspect being questioned, that I seriously doubt that I will be able to pronounce it correctly should, God forbid, the need arise. I drive very carefully now.
Reality is for people who can’t handle drugs.
-Tom Waits
Though I believe I have a fairly extensive vocabulary, when folks hear me speak they just have to laugh.
I am afflicted with a Philly dialect.
Creek becomes crick;
radiator becomes rah-diator;
gas becomes GAZ
My words come out closer than Siamese twins
“Did you go down to the shore yet?” becomes,
“Ja gedownah shoryet?”
I can write the most elequent prose, but when read aloud it comes out sounding like Rocky… after about 12 rounds.
Another word I never get right: cache. Is it cake or cash or cashay?
But folks who add a “T” onto the end of across drive me up the wall.
Powers: It’s ka-po-tee.
Kaylasdad: AFAIK, Carter’s always said “nucular”, before and after Three-Mile Island. Guess no one dared correct him on that point.
AWB: Say what?! hair-ASS?? Believe it’s pronounced har-rass (the accent being on the first or second syllable depending on whether you’re American or not :)).
Chief: it’s pronounced cash.
I pronounce cache: caish, but I’m probably wrong.
And Rysdad: the correct spelling and pronunciation is ‘jewellery’ (JOO-la-ree).
The one that gets me is here in Oz and NZ they pronounce ‘debut’ as ‘day-BOO’ which drives me fuckin bonkers!!!
Even Americans pronounce it ‘DEB-yoo’ which is the right way!!
sigh
“Well, roll me in eggs and flour and bake me for forty minutes!”
I guess I should’ve said the commercial was run in the United States, so the chiefly British variant “jewellery” doesn’t apply.
Guano: Merriam-Webster doesn’t give the pronunciation “Deh-byoo” (only DAY-byoo or day-BYOO). On the other hand, the Collins Dictionary (British) does give “DAY-byoo” and “DEH-byoo”.
As far as “jewel(le)ry” is concerned, Joo-la-ry could be an Australian pronunciation because neither Collins (DJU-well-ry) nor M-W (DJU-well-ry, DJUL-ry) make mention of it.
FWIW, I usually say DAY-byou and DJU-well-ry.
Doctor Jackson:
I concur with the good doctor on this. I’ve never heard it pronounced MAY-zher in the South. However, I was on an interview panel recently where one guy, not from the South, would ask questions about metrics worded along the lines of “How do you MAY-zhur that?” Drove me nuts.
The only one I can think of that makes me crazy is Houston Street here in NYC. Its HOUSE-ton not hues-ton as in Houston, Texas. Tourists drive me nuts with that one…
~ Christiana~
“No smoking in bars in California… And pretty soon, no drinking and no talking” ~ Eddie Izzard
I have quite a few, mostly attributed to the fact that I’ve only seen them, and never heard them said aloud. Probably the biggest is “mundane.”
I know it’s “mun-dane” but whenever I read it, it’s always “MU-dane” in my head. I don’t think I’ve ever said it that way aloud… My mother listens for any pronunciation or grammatical errors and then has a field day. She’d make fun of me for a good year over this.
-LannaRalphie
I was speculating about mayzher being a southernism because I seem to hear it most on CNN.
Another one that bugs me is the decline in stress differences between parts of speech in Murrica. Example:
per-MIT (n.) as in parking per-MIT
per-MIT (v.)
To my ears, the noun should have the stress on the first syllable.
It drives me bats when people pronounce it /Esperaaaaanto/ to rhyme with Monsanto. It’s /Esper-ahn-to/ to rhyme with Toronto. Geez. How difficult is that?
I like to irritate Americans by pronouncing the French place names as French place names. /Mo’-pell-YAY/, /bwa-ZAY/, /de-TRHWAH/, /bato’-RUZH/.
Incidentally, someone from Paris is not a /Pareezhan/. They are a /Parizhun/ (rhymes with “collision”
Christiana: You’ll have to admit it’s a bit understandable, though.