# Most Annoying Affected Pronunciation In Popular Music **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 21, 2010, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-affected-pronunciation-in-popular-music/561389 "2010-11-21T01:22:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2010, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-affected-pronunciation-in-popular-music/561389/21 "2010-11-21T03:45:08Z")
> [@Bites\_When\_Provoked](#): > > Who sings this? I might need to look it up on youtube, since ‘saw’ and ‘soar’ \*should \*sound identical as far as I know. Okay… here soar sounds identical to sore, but saw sounds like neither of them. One that bothers me is the song “Semi-mental” by Biffy Clyro. I’ve come to accept that the song title doesn’t always appear in the lyrics, but if you call the song “Se **mi** -mental” it’s weird to then sing that “now I’m just se **nti** mental.” What’s the point?! ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2010, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-affected-pronunciation-in-popular-music/561389/22 "2010-11-21T03:53:19Z")
Champaign Supernovar ---
**Author:** ![Sigmundex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e19adc/32.png) [@Sigmundex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmundex)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2010, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-affected-pronunciation-in-popular-music/561389/23 "2010-11-21T03:54:47Z")
No, folks, you are all wrong, let me correct you - The WORST pronunciation affect in all of music is the entire little ditty called ‘Jack and Diane’, with the most annoying put-on ‘I’m too cool to actually care about whether my words are intelligible or not’ lyrics ever. What lines bother me? Ahh, it’s pretty much ALL of them. ‘Suckin’ on chili dog outside the Tastee Freeze’ ‘Dribble off those Bobby Brooks’ - WTF? ‘Well now then there, Diane…’ And don’t get me started about this line, you know, the one that doesn’t even have a VERB! Diane’s debutante back seat of Jackie’s car ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2010, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-affected-pronunciation-in-popular-music/561389/24 "2010-11-21T03:58:36Z")
Supernovar and soar for saw aren’t affectations though, it’s just the singers’ real pronunciations of those words. If it were an American singer doing it it would be an affectation. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2010, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-affected-pronunciation-in-popular-music/561389/25 "2010-11-21T04:05:38Z")
> [@Sigmundex](#): > > ‘Well now then there, Diane…’ If you listen to the line just before this John says that Jack is doing his “best James Dean” impersonation. ---
**Author:** ![dotchan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@dotchan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dotchan)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2010, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-affected-pronunciation-in-popular-music/561389/26 "2010-11-21T04:07:16Z")
Paramore’s Misery In what part of the world is “brag” pronounced with a long A? I was so confused because I kept thinking she was saying “break”. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2010, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-affected-pronunciation-in-popular-music/561389/27 "2010-11-21T04:10:53Z")
> [@Tess\_Trueheart](#): > > Let’s get it out of the way: > “You can stand under my um-ber-el-la” Thank you. > [@sulamith](#): > > Why do musicians always pronounce the word “city” as “ci-TAY” in a rock song? Maybe it’s easier to project “aaaay” than a nasal sound like “eeeee.” ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2010, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-affected-pronunciation-in-popular-music/561389/28 "2010-11-21T04:14:03Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Thank you. > Maybe it’s easier to project “aaaay” than a nasal sound like “eeeee.” It might also rhyme with more things that way, and in the case of Stevie Wonder, I think a word ending in aaaay sounds funkier then eeeee. ---
**Author:** ![Huerta88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/82dd89/32.png) [@Huerta88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Huerta88)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2010, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-affected-pronunciation-in-popular-music/561389/29 "2010-11-21T04:20:54Z")
> [@Spoke](#): > > Yeah, it’s P_a_nk Cadillac. It’s a playful song being performed in a rockabilly style, to which Bruce’s put-on Southern accent is entirely appropriate. I have eaten chitlins, ribs, okra, hoppin’ John, jambalaya – and never met a single Southerner who pronounced “pink” as anything other than “pink.” Springsteen remains a fool in my book. ---
**Author:** ![Huerta88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/82dd89/32.png) [@Huerta88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Huerta88)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2010, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-affected-pronunciation-in-popular-music/561389/30 "2010-11-21T04:27:18Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > Supernovar and soar for saw aren’t affectations though, it’s just the singers’ real pronunciations of those words. If it were an American singer doing it it would be an affectation. Correct. When I first saw Oasis in the late '90s, their intervirews were subtitled. The GF at the time had a Mom in Manchester (Alderly) and we found the Mancunian dialect at times . . . difficult. (The airport smells like manure). The North of England has its own dialect, “sore” for “saw” is no stretch. ---
**Author:** ![Fried\_Dough\_Ho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a88e57/32.png) [@Fried\_Dough\_Ho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fried_Dough_Ho)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2010, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-affected-pronunciation-in-popular-music/561389/31 "2010-11-21T04:30:14Z")
Ever since my days in choir (when I was taught to enunciate when singing), I have always been irked by the “you” preceded by any word that ends in the letters “nt.” As in The Beatles’ _I Want You (She’s So Heavy)_. All I hear is “I want choo – I want choo soo baaaad…” ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2010, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-affected-pronunciation-in-popular-music/561389/32 "2010-11-21T04:39:16Z")
> [@Huerta88](#): > > I have eaten chitlins, ribs, okra, hoppin’ John, jambalaya – and never met a single Southerner who pronounced “pink” as anything other than “pink.” I don’t care what you thank, where I come from pink is pank. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Roland\_Orzabal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c2a13f/32.png) [@Roland\_Orzabal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roland_Orzabal)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2010, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-affected-pronunciation-in-popular-music/561389/33 "2010-11-21T04:39:51Z")
I don’t know if Creed counts as “popular music” anymore (a fact for which I am eternally grateful), but back in my high school days, there was a good stretch of time where I wondered what exactly Scott Stapp meant by: “WOAN! Oh, woan! The only way is woan”. I honestly had no idea he was supposed to be saying “one” until I finally got curious enough to look it up online. You could probably say the same thing about half of everything else he sang, but that one (woan?) is the standout. ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2010, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-affected-pronunciation-in-popular-music/561389/34 "2010-11-21T04:43:50Z")
> [@Sigmundex](#): > > ‘Suckin’ on chili dog outside the Tastee Freeze’ What’s wrong with this? I hear it as “Suckin’ on a chili dog outside the Tastee Freeze.” The “a” may be elided a bit, but I’d call that poetic license. > [@](#): > > ‘Dribble off those Bobby Brooks’ - WTF? Bobbie Brooks is/was a brand of women’s blue jeans. He’s telling her to take her pants off so he can have his way with her. > [@](#): > > Diane’s debutante back seat of Jackie’s car You’ve got me here. I just listened and sure enough that’s what he’s saying. I always heard it as “Diane’s content to be on the backseat on Jackie’s car.” ---
**Author:** ![multimediac17](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/839c29/32.png) [@multimediac17](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/multimediac17)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2010, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-affected-pronunciation-in-popular-music/561389/35 "2010-11-21T05:19:26Z")
In Britney Spears’ ‘Overprotected’: “Nobody’s telling me just what I wanna do I’m so fed up with people telling me to be Someone else but… MAY” Britney changing “me” to “MAY” is legendary, legendary I tell you. Around the same time \*NSYNC released a song in which Justin Timberlake says: “It’s gonna be MAY” Exactly why they changed the pronounciation has always baffled may. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmundex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e19adc/32.png) [@Sigmundex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmundex)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2010, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-affected-pronunciation-in-popular-music/561389/36 "2010-11-21T05:31:28Z")
> [@Scarlett67](#): > > What’s wrong with this? I hear it as “Suckin’ on a chili dog outside the Tastee Freeze.” The “a” may be elided a bit, but I’d call that poetic license. > > Bobbie Brooks is/was a brand of women’s blue jeans. He’s telling her to take her pants off so he can have his way with her. > > You’ve got me here. I just listened and sure enough that’s what he’s saying. I always heard it as “Diane’s content to be on the backseat on Jackie’s car.” 1. re: Tastee Freeze - It’s really just the way he says it, like I said, like he wants to sound too cool to be concerned with whether it’s legible or not. It sounds like he’s trying to sound like he’s too cool to care, and it comes off as pretentious to me for some reason. Not sure why, but this song is an instant radio station switcher for me. 2. re: Dribbling - Yeah, I know that Bobbie Brooks are pants, I’m a child of the 80’s, it’s the Dribble off part that I don’t get. I’ve never 'dribbled off a pair of pants, from me or a lady friend. ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2010, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-affected-pronunciation-in-popular-music/561389/37 "2010-11-21T06:03:46Z")
> [@Sigmundex](#): > > 1. re: Dribbling - Yeah, I know that Bobbie Brooks are pants, I’m a child of the 80’s, it’s the Dribble off part that I don’t get. I’ve never 'dribbled off a pair of pants, from me or a lady friend. I used to dribble off a pair of pants on nearly a nightly basis back when I played for the Harlem Globetrotters. ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2010, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-affected-pronunciation-in-popular-music/561389/38 "2010-11-21T06:06:39Z")
> [@Sigmundex](#): > > And don’t get me started about this line, you know, the one that doesn’t even have a VERB! > > Diane’s debutante back seat of Jackie’s car You have a superfluous apostrophe. The actual lyric is “Diane debutante back seat of Jackie’s car”. That sentence is perfectly acceptable in poetry and in informal English. A terse sentence always implies the verb “to be”. Compare with the sentences “Young men, soldiers, nineteen fourteen” from _Children’s Crusade_ by Sting or “How now, what news?” from _MacBeth_ or “[I](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1269/is-i-am-the-shortest-english-sentence)”. Again, the sentences have no verb, but all are perfectly accurate grammatically because there is an implied “to be”. So read the first sentence as “They are young men, they are soldiers, it is nineteen fourteen”, the second as “How is it now, what is news” and the final as “I am”. In the case of Mellencamp’s sentence, read it as “Diane is debutante, it is the back seat of Jackie’s car.” Whether it is great writing I leave for others to decide, but it’s grammatically acceptable and contains a verb, albeit implied. I’m a bit surprised you’ve never seen this construction before. Quite common in writing. Ubiquitous in speech. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2010, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-affected-pronunciation-in-popular-music/561389/39 "2010-11-21T06:20:55Z")
I can’t decide whether the pronunciation of “away” in the third line of the Shivvers’ [Teen Line](http://www.kbdrecords.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/07/01-shivvers-the-teen-line-1980-usa.mp3) is the most annoying or the cutest pronunciation ever. About 20 seconds into the song. If it was a guy singing it, it would not be bearable. With the cute sounding female voice, it’s on the border of being endearing vs. annoying. ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2010, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-affected-pronunciation-in-popular-music/561389/40 "2010-11-21T06:28:54Z")
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