# Most Irritating Weird/Affected Pronunciation In A Song? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 9, 2006, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-irritating-weird-affected-pronunciation-in-a-song/351974 "2006-04-09T17:30:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2006, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-irritating-weird-affected-pronunciation-in-a-song/351974/21 "2006-04-09T20:30:30Z")
‘When I’m On The Street Where You Live’ from ‘My Fair Lady’ _people stop and stare, they don’t b **a** ther me for there’s nowhere else on earth that I would rather be…_ Quite apart from the fact that the singer is supposed to be an English aristocrat, so he wouldn’t be **on** the street, he would be **in** the street. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2006, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-irritating-weird-affected-pronunciation-in-a-song/351974/22 "2006-04-09T20:35:04Z")
> [@Sage Rat](#): > > No idea what the song or band is, just that it was some popular song somewhere in the eighties where the singer sings: > > _I want to potty all the time, potty all the time, potty all the tIIIiiiime_ > > Rather confusing to a young tyke. Was it something by Eddie Murphy? ---
**Author:** ![sleeepy2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@sleeepy2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleeepy2)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2006, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-irritating-weird-affected-pronunciation-in-a-song/351974/23 "2006-04-09T20:35:27Z")
> [@Sage Rat](#): > > No idea what the song or band is, just that it was some popular song somewhere in the eighties where the singer sings: > > _I want to potty all the time, potty all the time, potty all the tIIIiiiime_ > > Rather confusing to a young tyke. If I’m not mistaken, that’s Eddie Murphy mangling that song. ---
**Author:** ![sunfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/96bed5/32.png) [@sunfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunfish)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2006, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-irritating-weird-affected-pronunciation-in-a-song/351974/24 "2006-04-09T20:39:12Z")
> [@Sage Rat](#): > > No idea what the song or band is, just that it was some popular song somewhere in the eighties where the singer sings: > > _I want to potty all the time, potty all the time, potty all the tIIIiiiime_ > > Rather confusing to a young tyke. That would be [_Party All the Time_](http://leoslyrics.com/listlyrics.php?hid=%2BakCNzsrbeA%3D), by Eddie Murphy. Yes, Eddie Murphy the comedian. Not too bad as a singer, certainly no worse than Don Johnson. ::shudder:: ---
**Author:** ![sunfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/96bed5/32.png) [@sunfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunfish)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2006, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-irritating-weird-affected-pronunciation-in-a-song/351974/25 "2006-04-09T20:44:24Z")
Aaaaand, thats what I get for fishing for a link - a simulpost ahead of me! ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2006, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-irritating-weird-affected-pronunciation-in-a-song/351974/26 "2006-04-09T21:00:57Z")
No names, but I can’t stand the ones that try to use the sleepy, breathy pronunciation of “Yuh-oh” instead of “You.” Usually, it’s some low rent band trying to sound like Kurt Cobain, or somebody cool. hh ---
**Author:** ![Idlewild](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8491ac/32.png) [@Idlewild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idlewild)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2006, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-irritating-weird-affected-pronunciation-in-a-song/351974/27 "2006-04-09T21:06:03Z")
> [@Mayo Speaks!](#): > > It’s gotta be U2: **All Because of You** (from How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb) > > Except that bolded word is pronounced “tor-TOYSE” to make it rhyme. Try it: “voice, choice, tor-TOYSE.” It’s the most forced rhyme I’ve ever heard. It annoyed me until I heard it live and the whole crowd sang it with a grin, reveling in its silliness. And it’s still a great song. > > Do I win? I opened this thread just to mention this line. It cracks me up every time I hear the song. What the hell is a Tor-TOYSE? ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2006, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-irritating-weird-affected-pronunciation-in-a-song/351974/28 "2006-04-09T21:12:58Z")
I really like Joan Jett, but the way she pronounces “me” as “may” in “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll” annoys me. Or perhaps I should say that it annoys may. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2006, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-irritating-weird-affected-pronunciation-in-a-song/351974/29 "2006-04-09T21:13:28Z")
“and IIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEIIIIIIIEEEEIIIIIIIEEEEEIIIIIII will always love YEEWWWWWEWWWWEEWWWWWWWW!!!” stfu already, Whitless, or I’ma ask Bobby to bitch slap you _again_. ---
**Author:** ![SurrenderDorothy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/surrenderdorothy/32/1221_2.png) [@SurrenderDorothy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SurrenderDorothy)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2006, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-irritating-weird-affected-pronunciation-in-a-song/351974/30 "2006-04-09T21:17:51Z")
like 90% of Alanis Morisette songs. Also, there’s one by Bif Naked- it’s a great song, but at one point she starts singing “DeeeeaaaaaRRR DeeeeaaaaaRRR”… it’s actually a correct pronunciaton, I suppose, but the emphasis on the R makes it sound horribly harsh, as does the drawn out-ness of it. In Wicked, Kristen Chenoweth pronounces “friend” “freeand” which bugs the crap out of me. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2006, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-irritating-weird-affected-pronunciation-in-a-song/351974/31 "2006-04-09T21:23:58Z")
> [@Idlewild](#): > > I opened this thread just to mention this line. It cracks me up every time I hear the song. What the hell is a Tor-TOYSE? As stated, it’s how some British and Irish people pronounce “tortoise”. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2006, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-irritating-weird-affected-pronunciation-in-a-song/351974/32 "2006-04-09T21:51:53Z")
> [@Mk VII](#): > > ‘When I’m On The Street Where You Live’ from ‘My Fair Lady’ > > _people stop and stare, they don’t b **a** ther me > for there’s nowhere else on earth that I would rather be…_ > > Quite apart from the fact that the singer is supposed to be an English aristocrat, so he wouldn’t be **on** the street, he would be **in** the street. :mad: Wasn’t _My Fair Lady_ originally a Broadway production? In which case, the odd Americanism can surely be excused 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2006, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-irritating-weird-affected-pronunciation-in-a-song/351974/33 "2006-04-09T21:59:12Z")
Anything by Blink 182. I really hope it’s affected and not an actual accent that the lead singer has. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Rhosis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@Sir\_Rhosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Rhosis)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2006, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-irritating-weird-affected-pronunciation-in-a-song/351974/34 "2006-04-09T22:06:26Z")
For your reading pleasure, here is a similar thread I started a couple years ago: > **[One Little Bit of Vocal Phrasing In A Song That Overshadows The Entire Song](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=304468)** > > Everybody likes to do bad impersonations of Glen Frey growling the word “smugglers” in Smuggler’s Blues. Sorry it went down like that But someone had to lose It’s the politics of contraband It’s the SMUGGGGGGLER’S Blues. What other songs linger... Sir Rhosis ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2006, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-irritating-weird-affected-pronunciation-in-a-song/351974/35 "2006-04-09T22:22:43Z")
I hat the way Kelsey Grammar sings that “Scrambled Eggs” song on “Frasier.” Total minstrel show. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2006, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-irritating-weird-affected-pronunciation-in-a-song/351974/36 "2006-04-09T22:26:44Z")
Leann Rimes sings “How Do I Live Without You” as “How Do I Leeeev Without You.” ---
**Author:** ![Huerta88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/82dd89/32.png) [@Huerta88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Huerta88)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2006, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-irritating-weird-affected-pronunciation-in-a-song/351974/37 "2006-04-09T22:27:39Z")
> [@Snowboarder Bo](#): > > “and IIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEIIIIIIIEEEEIIIIIIIEEEEEIIIIIII will always love YEEWWWWWEWWWWEEWWWWWWWW!!!” > > stfu already, Whitless, or I’ma ask Bobby to bitch slap you _again_. I suppose I should have carved out a separate category for the OTT “phrasings” that have carried the day in a certain segment of R&B/American Idol-inflected music, in which it has now been decided that wailing “diva” stylings are indicative of “feeling” (feeling being the be-all-end-all of music, if you’re a 13 year old girl as our tastemakers seem to assume we all are). Perhaps I ought to have also included carve-outs for the entire oeuvres of: (1) pale Anglo-Saxons trying to sound like Delta Bluesmen; and conversely (2) American suburbanites trying to sound like Manchester punks (Greenday). ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2006, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-irritating-weird-affected-pronunciation-in-a-song/351974/38 "2006-04-09T22:37:01Z")
FTR, Greenday sound 100% American from where I’m sitting. Most Brits, conversely, try to sing like Yanks. How does Tom Jones shape up? ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2006, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-irritating-weird-affected-pronunciation-in-a-song/351974/39 "2006-04-09T22:53:29Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > Good one. I’ve always wondered why someone who’s apparently on a riverboat on the Mississippi, having previously been in Memphis and New Orleans, sings like they’re from Jersey. This site [http://www.newyorker.com/talk/content/articles/051114ta\_talk\_seabrook](http://www.newyorker.com/talk/content/articles/051114ta_talk_seabrook) says “Brooklynese” is spoken in some communities in New Orleans. I can’t find a better cite, but I went searching because I feel so certain that I’ve heard this usage in New Orleans jazz before. Though, again, I have no better cite than my certainty. -FrL- ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2006, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-irritating-weird-affected-pronunciation-in-a-song/351974/40 "2006-04-09T22:56:31Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > This site [http://www.newyorker.com/talk/content/articles/051114ta\_talk\_seabrook](http://www.newyorker.com/talk/content/articles/051114ta_talk_seabrook) says “Brooklynese” is spoken in some communities in New Orleans. I can’t find a better cite, but I went searching because I feel so certain that I’ve heard this usage in New Orleans jazz before. Though, again, I have no better cite than my certainty. > > -FrL- Just wanted to point out–I said I can’t find a better cite, but hey, this _is_ William Labov being quoted at the cite I gave… I just noticed, also, that other sites generated by a google of “bird boid dialect south” give some credence to the claim that the “oi” accent isn’t just from Brooklyn. There’s someone saying she hears it in Charleston, and someone else saying she hears it in Atlanta. -Kris [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-irritating-weird-affected-pronunciation-in-a-song/351974.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-irritating-weird-affected-pronunciation-in-a-song/351974.md?page=3)