# Mispronunciation/ Poor grammar that bothers you **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 7, 2005, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mispronunciation-poor-grammar-that-bothers-you/311475 "2005-07-07T17:02:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 17
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mispronunciation-poor-grammar-that-bothers-you/311475/321 "2013-08-13T12:11:21Z")
What does “get a pass” mean to you, if it doesn’t mean “get excused for behavior”? Is this yet another expression you use in a way different from everyone else? That’s glory for you. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mispronunciation-poor-grammar-that-bothers-you/311475/322 "2013-08-13T14:33:11Z")
> [@california\_jobcase](#): > > I still don’t get how people get zoo-ology out of zoology. There aren’t enough Os there. Zoology always used to be pronounced “ZOH-ology” (zoh to rhyme with toe). My dictionary still gives that as the preferred pronunciation, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard it said that way, thanks to the persuasive influence of the word “zoo”. Although you have to wonder, if it was pronounced as “zo-ological gardens”, then why wasn’t that shortened as “zo” rather than “zoo”? Another grammar peeve: without fail on each episode of MasterChef, John Torode says something like “Our contestants are going to be cooking some great dishes for Gregg and I.” Each time I hear it I get that little bit closer to chewing my own arm off. Now, back to bitching about racism. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mispronunciation-poor-grammar-that-bothers-you/311475/323 "2013-08-13T14:54:53Z")
**Left Hand of Dorkness** seems to be saying “you’re not allowed to pick on black people because of slavery and Jim Crow”, to put it in **Malacandra** -speak. **Malacandra** says that is giving black people a pass from being picked on. LHOD argues he is not giving black people a pass to pick on people. Discuss. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mispronunciation-poor-grammar-that-bothers-you/311475/324 "2013-08-13T19:58:03Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > **Malacandra** says that is giving black people a pass from being picked on. Yeah, but [that’s not what “give a pass” means](http://www.idiomquest.com/learn/idiom/give-someone-a-pass/). It means to exempt someone from the rules for some reason. If I give you a pass, I allow you to engage in behavior that is normally forbidden for some reason (or at least I don’t impose any penalty, not even the stink-eye, for that behavior). It doesn’t mean to protect someone from something. At least, I’ve never seen that construction before, and frankly I don’t think that’s what Malacandra initially meant; I think that in his effort to be all hip and awesome and non-PC, he didn’t think carefully about what I, or he, was saying, and said something dumb, and is trying to cover it up by claiming he’s invented an entirely new meaning for “give a pass.” ---
**Author:** ![Grestarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grestarian/32/3227_2.png) [@Grestarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grestarian)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2013, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mispronunciation-poor-grammar-that-bothers-you/311475/325 "2013-08-16T23:37:31Z")
I’m repeatedly irritated by the misuse of the term “Inadvertent” and since I just griped about it in another thread I figured I’d post it here, too. An inadvertent incident is something that can’t be avoided no matter how strenuously someone tries to prevent (avert) it. When you try, you can avoid silly spelling/grammar mistakes. They are accidents – unfortunate situations that, regardless of whether or not someone tried to avert the problem, still occurred. In most cases, accidents occur due to negligence, poor oversight, insufficient maintenance, and/or inattention to detail. The National Highway Traffic Safety Institute doesn’t call the matters they study accidents; they call them collisions [for which someone is at fault]. One does not inadvertently post a facebook item or transmit an e-mail. There’s too much of a process required to compose those items, during which one can easily hit \ at any time. One can accidentally include the wrong recipients or accidentally permit the wrong viewers, but it was certainly possible to avert the problem. —G! It was not inadvertent that the news woman blogged her complaints about her job, it wasn’t even an accident: It was just plain foolish! ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2013, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mispronunciation-poor-grammar-that-bothers-you/311475/326 "2013-08-16T23:51:13Z")
I have a bit of difficulty accepting casual usage of “however”. I was reading a book where the phrase “However it happened …” cropped up, which I would have written either “How ever it happened …” or “Howsoever it happened …” (a bit awkward, that). To me, “however” has one specific meaning that is not the same as “how ever”/“howsoever”. Admittedly, a comma helps clarify things, but I still do not think that other usage looks right. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2013, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mispronunciation-poor-grammar-that-bothers-you/311475/327 "2013-08-16T23:58:33Z")
Er, “inadvertent” doesn’t include the word “avert”. Notice the “d” in there. in·ad·vert·ent /ˌinədˈvərtnt/ Adjective Not resulting from or achieved through deliberate planning; unintentional. (of a mistake) Made through lack of care; negligent. It’s the opposite of “advertent”, which means “heedful” And “advert” also gives us “advertisement”, something that somebody wants us to pay attention to, or be heedful of. None of which is related to “avert”. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2013, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mispronunciation-poor-grammar-that-bothers-you/311475/328 "2013-08-17T00:17:28Z")
> [@Mister\_Rik](#): > > None of which is related to “avert”. Actually, it is. They both have the same origin, in the Latin verb _vertere_, which means (to) turn, but kind of the opposite construction. “_ad_” is the preposition “to” or “for”, so “advert” would be a portmanteau meaning “turn to(wards)”, generally referring to your attention ("_advertens"_ forms the present participle “turning to”). By contrast, “_a-_” is the common negating prefix, so one might easily see “avert” as meaning to “turn away (from)”. ---
**Author:** ![want2befree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3e96dc/32.png) [@want2befree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/want2befree)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2013, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mispronunciation-poor-grammar-that-bothers-you/311475/329 "2013-08-17T00:32:29Z")
I don’t like when people say, I should have died. As in, I was in a horrible car accident and was on life support but I made a comeback. I should have died. (and they don’t mean they wanted to die, they mean, by all accounts, the events that lead up to the near death would have usually caused death). ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2013, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mispronunciation-poor-grammar-that-bothers-you/311475/330 "2013-08-17T01:44:45Z")
Did I inadvertently use the word “inadvertently” wrong? ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2013, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mispronunciation-poor-grammar-that-bothers-you/311475/331 "2013-08-17T05:48:36Z")
Saying “mispronounce-iation” instead of “mispronunciation” bugs me. ---
**Author:** ![vontsira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/51bf81/32.png) [@vontsira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vontsira)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2013, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mispronunciation-poor-grammar-that-bothers-you/311475/332 "2013-08-17T08:29:11Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > Zoology always used to be pronounced “ZOH-ology” (zoh to rhyme with toe). My dictionary still gives that as the preferred pronunciation, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard it said that way, thanks to the persuasive influence of the word “zoo”. Although you have to wonder, if it was pronounced as “zo-ological gardens”, then why wasn’t that shortened as “zo” rather than “zoo”? My experience with the word, has been identical. The shortening to “zoo”, not “zo”: I’d guess that that is down to – at the time when zoos first came on the scene – literate but not very highly-educated members of the general public. They saw the word “zoological” and its double o, and rendered the first vowel sound as “oo”, not as “oh”. I would imagine that scholarly types at the time, were infuriated by this “butchered” pronunciation; but language is a democracy – often, so much the worse for the scholars. A similar word which intrigues me, is “oology / oologist” (from the Greek _oion_, egg): study / student of birds’ eggs, nests, and nesting behaviour; also, the hobby of collecting birds’ eggs / one who engages in that hobby – a pursuit nowadays considered utterly wrong, and illegal in most civilised countries. I haven’t very often heard the word used: when I have, I’ve encountered both the pronunciations “oh-ology / ist”, and “oo-ology / ist”. Presumably, the first is basically correct, and the second isn’t. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2013, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mispronunciation-poor-grammar-that-bothers-you/311475/333 "2013-08-17T19:44:03Z")
One stands ON a podium (pod- is a root meaning foot). The things the medal winners stand on after Olympic events are podiums. A stand in front of you for your speech notes is a lectern. To go with zoology and oology, there is spermatozoon, oogeny, oogenesis, and a few others. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2013, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mispronunciation-poor-grammar-that-bothers-you/311475/334 "2013-08-18T02:48:50Z")
> [@want2befree](#): > > I don’t like when people say, I should have died. As in, I was in a horrible car accident and was on life support but I made a comeback. I should have died. (and they don’t mean they wanted to die, they mean, by all accounts, the events that lead up to the near death would have usually caused death). You are certain they don’t want you to die? ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2013, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mispronunciation-poor-grammar-that-bothers-you/311475/335 "2013-08-18T15:17:14Z")
Sorry - didn’t read the whole thread. Have we done “where” for “were”? Sometimes they get combined in one sentence: “They where on their way to the mall, where Deb planned to buy a couple of pairs of shoes.” ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2013, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mispronunciation-poor-grammar-that-bothers-you/311475/336 "2013-08-18T15:22:41Z")
> [@Xema](#): > > Sorry - didn’t read the whole thread. Have we done “where” for “were”? > > Sometimes they get combined in one sentence: “They where on their way to the mall, where Deb planned to buy a couple of pairs of shoes.” Or vice versa: “Were are you?” (I may not have heard that outside of redneck country though.) ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2013, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mispronunciation-poor-grammar-that-bothers-you/311475/337 "2013-08-19T10:08:23Z")
> [@california\_jobcase](#): > > To go with zoology and oology, there is spermatozoon, oogeny, oogenesis, and a few others. [Oo You](http://www.popmatters.com/pm/post/128153-paul-mccartney-oo-you/) ---
**Author:** ![JohnClay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c37758/32.png) [@JohnClay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnClay)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2013, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mispronunciation-poor-grammar-that-bothers-you/311475/338 "2013-08-19T10:17:08Z")
When my mum talks about “taping” a show. It is recorded not taped now. ---
**Author:** ![saje](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saje/32/3631_2.png) [@saje](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saje)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2013, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mispronunciation-poor-grammar-that-bothers-you/311475/339 "2013-08-19T10:23:45Z")
Meh, I still refer to a musical artist’s latest collected works as an album, even if I’ve just downloaded it as an mp3. ---
**Author:** ![saje](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saje/32/3631_2.png) [@saje](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saje)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2013, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mispronunciation-poor-grammar-that-bothers-you/311475/340 "2013-08-19T10:29:55Z")
(Balls. Missed the edit window) My personal peeves: Those big beige geese with black necks and heads are **Canada** Geese, not Canadian. The tick born disease that is rampant on the east coast is **Lyme** disease, not Lymes. And vinaigrette is ‘vin-eh-gret’, not vin-eh-GA-ret. There’s no A in that word. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mispronunciation-poor-grammar-that-bothers-you/311475.md?page=16) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mispronunciation-poor-grammar-that-bothers-you/311475.md?page=18)