# 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:** 7\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2010, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-affected-pronunciation-in-popular-music/561389/121 "2010-11-25T16:36:54Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > “White Hot” by Tom Cochrane drives me nuts with the chorus: > > I’m white hot; I can’t take it anymore > I’m white hot; by the SOMA LION shore > > It’s “Somalian” not “Soma lion”! Reason #877 for why the terrorists hate us! ---
**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:** [November 25, 2010, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-affected-pronunciation-in-popular-music/561389/122 "2010-11-25T17:26:07Z")
> [@Huerta88](#): > > Cringe if you must/will. Here’s maybe not Exhibit A but certainly an Exhibit of all that is wrong with modern country. > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scDxA5JZLoU](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scDxA5JZLoU) I posted a thread quite a while back asking why country **bands** tended to have high-voiced tenor lead singers, when the traditional male country singer is a baritone. One possibility we came up with was that a lot of these bands started out as _rock_ bands. They weren’t having much success in that genre and so decided to try their hand at “country”, or else they got a record contract and the record company for one reason or another decided to market them as country instead of rock. I mean, there’s a lot of songs by these bands where, if you just take out the banjo and fiddle and change the harmony, you’ve got straight ahead pop rock songs. ---
**Author:** ![Sparrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Sparrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparrow)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2010, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-affected-pronunciation-in-popular-music/561389/123 "2010-11-26T13:55:55Z")
A posting on the Christmas song thread has reminded me: George Michael singing “Last Christmas, I GAV you my heart …” 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Bites\_When\_Provoked](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bites_when_provoked/32/18073_2.png) [@Bites\_When\_Provoked](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bites_When_Provoked)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2010, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-affected-pronunciation-in-popular-music/561389/124 "2010-11-27T00:36:07Z")
> [@Sparrow](#): > > In “Africa” by Toto, I have never managed to work out what it is that Kilimanjaro rises like above the Serengeti. > [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > Olympus, I believe. Huh. I always thought it was ‘rises like an Empress’, and vaguely figured it was to do with haughty grandeur and stuff, but Olympus does make WAY more sense. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![tumbleddown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tumbleddown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tumbleddown)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2010, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-affected-pronunciation-in-popular-music/561389/125 "2010-11-27T00:59:48Z")
> [@Mister\_Rik](#): > > I mean, there’s a lot of songs by these bands where, if you just take out the banjo and fiddle and change the harmony, you’ve got straight ahead pop rock songs. Not just pop rock songs. “I Swear” was a #1 country hit for John Michael Montgomery then a #1 hit on the R&B charts when covered by All-4-One no more than three or four months later and the arrangements were remarkably similar, the significant discernable difference was the solo male voice with _heavy_ contemporary country music faux twang versus a very polished male close harmony. ---
**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:** [November 27, 2010, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-affected-pronunciation-in-popular-music/561389/126 "2010-11-27T03:37:55Z")
> [@Bites\_When\_Provoked](#): > > Huh. I always thought it was ‘rises like an Empress’, and vaguely figured it was to do with haughty grandeur and stuff, but Olympus does make WAY more sense. Thanks! I always chuckled at the way the line basically describes one mountain as rising like this other mountain. “Wow, that mountain is very … mountain-like.” > [@tumbleddown](#): > > Not just pop rock songs. “I Swear” was a #1 country hit for John Michael Montgomery then a #1 hit on the R&B charts when covered by All-4-One no more than three or four months later and the arrangements were remarkably similar, the significant discernable difference was the solo male voice with _heavy_ contemporary country music faux twang versus a very polished male close harmony. In a weird twist of fate, my youngest sister dragged me along to a JMM concert where I heard him sing that song, and within a year a female coworker dragged me to an All-4-One concert where I got to hear _them_ sing it. I liked All-4-One’s version better, despite generally liking country more than R&B. The reverse, though, was “Don’t Want to Miss a Thing”, a hit for both Aerosmith and Mark Chesnutt. That song works much better as a country song. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2010, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-affected-pronunciation-in-popular-music/561389/127 "2010-11-27T05:33:12Z")
> [@Mister\_Rik](#): > > I always chuckled at the way the line basically describes one mountain as rising like this other mountain. “Wow, that mountain is very … mountain-like.” Agreed. “Like an empress” would actually be a better line. But he very clearly says “like Olympus.” :rolleyes: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-annoying-affected-pronunciation-in-popular-music/561389.md?page=6)