# 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:** 3
**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, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-irritating-weird-affected-pronunciation-in-a-song/351974/41 "2006-04-09T22:57:43Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > FTR, Greenday sound 100% American from where I’m sitting. Me too. Certainly more American than Mancunian, at any rate (what ‘Manchester punk’ sound are they supposedly imitating?) ---
**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, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-irritating-weird-affected-pronunciation-in-a-song/351974/42 "2006-04-09T22:58:34Z")
Okay, sorry, final post: Here’s an academic cite: [http://students.csci.unt.edu/~kun/ch20.html](http://students.csci.unt.edu/~kun/ch20.html) -Kris ---
**Author:** ![bubastis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d07c76/32.png) [@bubastis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bubastis)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2006, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-irritating-weird-affected-pronunciation-in-a-song/351974/43 "2006-04-09T23:14:03Z")
I always hated Avril Lavines Sk8r Boi (man, it hurt to type that), especially for her line at the end about the guy that she turned dayyeeeoownnn-ah. Christ, thats bad. But top of the bad pronunciation pops are the Pussyflap dolls, no question. Amma sick wichooo… You know how t’preciate me… Everythin’s the same since I b’in the seve’th grade… Do’cha wish’r girlfr’n was hot like me… English, girls. We understand english. ---
**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, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-irritating-weird-affected-pronunciation-in-a-song/351974/44 "2006-04-09T23:22:37Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > FTR, Greenday sound 100% American from where I’m sitting. Most Brits, conversely, try to sing like Yanks. It’s funnt this should come up; we were just discussing this the other day. The guy from Green Day isn’t singing with any American accent I’ve ever heard. We couldn’t place it, but it’s weird. Maybe it’s some affected thing, but it’s not American; there are some bizarre vowels in there. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2006, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-irritating-weird-affected-pronunciation-in-a-song/351974/45 "2006-04-09T23:25:46Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > 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. I’ve heard that accent from Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf, both originally from Mississippi. Fogerty might be imitating Muddy, lots of people do. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![EvilGhandi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@EvilGhandi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilGhandi)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2006, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-irritating-weird-affected-pronunciation-in-a-song/351974/46 "2006-04-09T23:26:00Z")
The Beach Boys claimed to surf at a place called Waimea Bay. Only they pronounce it as if it were an english word why-a-ME-ya instead of its Hawaiian pronunciation Why-may-ah. Not particulary irritating but amusing in that had they ever been there they would almost certainly know how to pronounce it. ---
**Author:** ![Mayo\_Speaks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Mayo\_Speaks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mayo_Speaks)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2006, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-irritating-weird-affected-pronunciation-in-a-song/351974/47 "2006-04-09T23:27:08Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > It’s funnt this should come up; we were just discussing this the other day. > > The guy from Green Day isn’t singing with any American accent I’ve ever heard. We couldn’t place it, but it’s weird. Maybe it’s some affected thing, but it’s not American; there are some bizarre vowels in there. Billie Joe is from California (Anaheim?). And to this born and raised Kentuckian, he sounds like other Californians I’ve heard. YMMV, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2006, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-irritating-weird-affected-pronunciation-in-a-song/351974/48 "2006-04-09T23:40:19Z")
> [@Mayo Speaks!](#): > > Billie Joe is from California (Anaheim?). And to this born and raised Kentuckian, he sounds like other Californians I’ve heard. I’ve heard a few Californians, but they sounded pretty normal to me. I have no idea what you’d call the accent he’s faking, but it’s always sounded like a kind of punk pastiche to me. Tori, by the way, apparently cops her odd pronunciations from Kate Bush. I’m a big Tori fan and I still find myself wishing she’d tone it down. It’s more obvious in her live performances. ---
**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:** [April 9, 2006, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-irritating-weird-affected-pronunciation-in-a-song/351974/49 "2006-04-09T23:44:11Z")
> [@bubastis](#): > > I always hated Avril Lavines Sk8r Boi (man, it hurt to type that), especially for her line at the end about the guy that she turned dayyeeeoownnn-ah. Christ, thats bad. > > But top of the bad pronunciation pops are the Pussyflap dolls, no question. > > Amma sick wichooo… > You know how t’preciate me… > Everythin’s the same since I b’in the seve’th grade… > Do’cha wish’r girlfr’n was hot like me… > > English, girls. We understand english. Not to mention the way they lifted the catch phrase from the title track of Sir Mix-a-lot’s 1988 debut album, “Swass”: “Don’t you wish your boyfriend was swass like me?” Sung with the same rhythm and nearly the same tune. The first time I heard “Don’t Cha”, I immediately thought tomyself, “I hope Mix is getting some fat royalty checks for this …” ---
**Author:** ![Millit\_the\_Frail](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/51bf81/32.png) [@Millit\_the\_Frail](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Millit_the_Frail)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2006, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-irritating-weird-affected-pronunciation-in-a-song/351974/50 "2006-04-10T00:38:20Z")
> [@bubastis](#): > > I always hated Avril Lavines Sk8r Boi (man, it hurt to type that), especially for her line at the end about the guy that she turned dayyeeeoownnn-ah. Christ, thats bad. Avril’s pronunciation is really unbearable. How you manage to rhyme “unannounced” with “something else” and stretch “you” into a 16-syllable word are beyond me. (And the stress in “frustrated” should not be on the second syllable! It just shouldn’t!!) Tori’s already been covered, so I’ll go ahead and throw in Bjork. Can’t listen. Pronunciation hurts my ears. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2006, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-irritating-weird-affected-pronunciation-in-a-song/351974/51 "2006-04-10T01:53:59Z")
Dionne Warwick. God don’t make little green apples, and it don’t rain in Indianapples in the summertime :rolleyes: And yet as bad as that was, I heard some hideously awful ez-muzak cover band mangle it worse with a semi-reggae beat and God don’t make liddle green apples aaa-nd it don’t rain in Indie Anna Pole Iss in the summertime :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2006, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-irritating-weird-affected-pronunciation-in-a-song/351974/52 "2006-04-10T03:18:30Z")
> [@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. Louis Armstrong himself talked (and sang!) that way, as you can hear on his 1932 recording [_Lawd, You Made The Night Too Long_](http://www.redhotjazz.com/Songs/Louie/lao/lawd.ram). _You made the mountains high, the **oith** , the sky, So who am I to say you’re wrong…_ ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2006, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-irritating-weird-affected-pronunciation-in-a-song/351974/53 "2006-04-10T04:02:40Z")
Everything ever sung by Anthony Newley. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2006, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-irritating-weird-affected-pronunciation-in-a-song/351974/54 "2006-04-10T11:53:18Z")
Can there be any doubt? I’m surprised this hasn’t been mentioned before. It’s that “Goodnight Song” from “The Sound of Music”, as rendered in the 1964 film. Specifically, it’s the line: “Adieu, adieu to yieu, and yieu, and yieu…” It’s supposed to be “to you, and you, and you…” of course, but that had to get it to rhyme. It drives me nuts every time I hear it. I’m convinced it’s the reason that the “Sound of Music Sing Alongs” have become so popular – it’s not because everyone wants to sing with Julie Andrews – they just want to exorcise that awful line. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2006, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-irritating-weird-affected-pronunciation-in-a-song/351974/55 "2006-04-10T12:01:34Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > I’ve heard a few Californians, but they sounded pretty normal to me. I have no idea what you’d call the accent he’s faking, but it’s always sounded like a kind of punk pastiche to me. I think that’s an important point. Billie Joe always sounded to me like an American kid who grew up listening and singing English punk bands and it altered his delivery quite a bit. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2006, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-irritating-weird-affected-pronunciation-in-a-song/351974/56 "2006-04-10T12:11:18Z")
**Joey Ramone** seemed to pronounce things funny all the time in Ramones songs. Some of if was just NY accent stuff, but some of it, I don’t know where it came from…one example would be in _Glad To See You Go_: _And in a moment of passion Get the glory like Charles Manson_ He pronounces passion _pahshoon_. When Michael Stipe was in his mumbling phase, he seemed to pronounce a lot of words funny, though damn if I know what he was singing anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2006, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-irritating-weird-affected-pronunciation-in-a-song/351974/57 "2006-04-10T12:14:38Z")
In the very early ABBA song “Me and Bobby and Bobby’s Brother” they sing Clim **b** -ing the apple tree. Yes, they prounce it CLIMB-ing. Since there are no errors in pronounciation on the rest of the record, I’m not buying it was a Swedish-to-English mistake. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2006, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-irritating-weird-affected-pronunciation-in-a-song/351974/58 "2006-04-10T12:29:53Z")
There was some song I used to hear on the Muzak at work that always caused me to grind my teeth to powder. The only phrase of it I remember is “in the harbor of each other’s arms”. Whoever sang it always pronounced harbor as “har-BERR”. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2006, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-irritating-weird-affected-pronunciation-in-a-song/351974/59 "2006-04-10T12:33:27Z")
> [@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- I’m from Brooklyn and when I got into my first New Orleans cab a few years ago, I thought my driver sounded like he grew up on Avenue U, and never lost his accent. ---
**Author:** ![auRa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c4cdca/32.png) [@auRa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/auRa)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2006, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-irritating-weird-affected-pronunciation-in-a-song/351974/60 "2006-04-10T12:41:00Z")
> [@Phase42](#): > > Not to mention the way they lifted the catch phrase from the title track of Sir Mix-a-lot’s 1988 debut album, “Swass”: > > “Don’t you wish your boyfriend was swass like me?” > > Sung with the same rhythm and nearly the same tune. The first time I heard “Don’t Cha”, I immediately thought tomyself, “I hope Mix is getting some fat royalty checks for this …” According to [this link](http://www.torialamazeonline.com/news.html), the song “Don’t Cha” is originally sung by Tori Alamaze, and was covered by the Pussycat Dolls after Alamaze was dropped from the record label and the song’s writer Cee-Lo was looking for a hit to help in restyling PCD as a pop group instead of a dance group. They don’t mention “Swass” at all, but of course it could have been an inspiration for Alamaze as well. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-irritating-weird-affected-pronunciation-in-a-song/351974.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-irritating-weird-affected-pronunciation-in-a-song/351974.md?page=4)