# 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:** 5
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2006, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-irritating-weird-affected-pronunciation-in-a-song/351974/81 "2006-04-10T18:40:31Z")
“Goooooooooooold-FING-Aaaahhh!!!” Ms. Bassey, please just scratch your nails across a blackboard. It’s a hell of a lot less irrritating. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2006, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-irritating-weird-affected-pronunciation-in-a-song/351974/82 "2006-04-10T22:39:02Z")
Okay, some oldies. Alicia Bridges singing “I Love the Nightlife”. She sings “action” like “ak-shone”. Very strange. Tom Jones’s pronunciation generally seems exaggerated. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2006, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-irritating-weird-affected-pronunciation-in-a-song/351974/83 "2006-04-10T22:41:51Z")
> [@jali](#): > > "for seven years I was your _sec a terry_ working every day of the week. That’s a perfectly valid pronunciation, and there’s previous threads to prove it 😉 ---
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2006, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-irritating-weird-affected-pronunciation-in-a-song/351974/84 "2006-04-10T23:06:59Z")
Ella Fitzgerald singing “Mr. Paganinny” instead of Paganini. We love you, Ella, but, come on, it’s even supposed to rhyme with “meany” in one verse! ---
**Author:** ![Monstre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@Monstre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monstre)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2006, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-irritating-weird-affected-pronunciation-in-a-song/351974/85 "2006-04-10T23:13:14Z")
Jewel… Who has a pretty good voice, but she really needs to decide between “little girl voice”, “throaty sultry vamp voice”, and “strong regular voice” – and stop switching between the three indiscriminately throughout a single song. “Foolish Games” is a good example. ---
**Author:** ![Huerta88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/82dd89/32.png) [@Huerta88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Huerta88)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2006, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-irritating-weird-affected-pronunciation-in-a-song/351974/86 "2006-04-10T23:14:39Z")
I’ve mentioned annoying. I’ve mentioned poseurs. I’ve mentioned pasty Brits who think they are black. How then have I not mentioned one of the chief offenders in these regards? Angie is a good old fashioned name. Presumably Mick Jagger had even met a bird or two so yclept in his day. Why, then, he found it necessary to utter the following is unexplainable except by reference to sheer jackassery: **Ennnnnn-Jay, Ennnnnnn-Jiay!"** ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2006, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-irritating-weird-affected-pronunciation-in-a-song/351974/87 "2006-04-10T23:53:41Z")
> [@Huerta88](#): > > **Ennnnnn-Jay, Ennnnnnn-Jiay!"** … and **A N J!** In the movie **Orgazmo** , there’s a song that makes fun of those kinds of weird pronunciations. The chorus is _now you’re a man_, but the word “man” is never pronouned the same way twice. So you have “mane”, “mayun”, “meeown”, etc. They also used that song in a South Park episode, but I forget which one. ---
**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:** [April 11, 2006, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-irritating-weird-affected-pronunciation-in-a-song/351974/88 "2006-04-11T00:56:27Z")
“Make Me Smile” by Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel. I presume the oddly drawling vocalise is Harley sounding as cockney as possible. It was a hit single when it came out in the '70’s (at least in the U.K.), but I never heard it until it was used in the movie **Saving Grace**. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-irritating-weird-affected-pronunciation-in-a-song/351974/89 "2006-04-11T02:24:52Z")
> [@Manduck](#): > > … and **A N J!** Aiiiinjeeeh… ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-irritating-weird-affected-pronunciation-in-a-song/351974/90 "2006-04-11T02:32:19Z")
How’d I fgorget Paula Cole, who in “Where Have All The Cowboys Gone” somehow managed to make the line “Where is my prairie sun” sound like “Where is my furry son.” It sounds like she’s wondering if her kid has gone off to ass-nail someone in a badger suit. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-irritating-weird-affected-pronunciation-in-a-song/351974/91 "2006-04-11T02:49:30Z")
Hoobastank’s big hit “The Reason” drove me crazy for the line: And the reason is YO! And the reason is YO! ---
**Author:** ![Huerta88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/82dd89/32.png) [@Huerta88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Huerta88)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-irritating-weird-affected-pronunciation-in-a-song/351974/92 "2006-04-11T04:33:06Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > Hoobastank’s big hit “The Reason” drove me crazy for the line: And the reason is YO! And the reason is YO! I always heard that (equally annoyingly) as “and the reason is yu-oh-ah.” ---
**Author:** ![Manatee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/50afbb/32.png) [@Manatee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manatee)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-irritating-weird-affected-pronunciation-in-a-song/351974/93 "2006-04-11T04:52:29Z")
Hearing Billy Joel say “axe” intstead of “ask.” I know it’s part of the accent, but why does he then pronounce it correctly the first two times? ---
**Author:** ![Talon\_Karrde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Talon\_Karrde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Talon_Karrde)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-irritating-weird-affected-pronunciation-in-a-song/351974/94 "2006-04-11T06:03:01Z")
It doesn’t bother me too much, but Patti Smith often pronounces words kind of weird, like “me” as “may”. ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-irritating-weird-affected-pronunciation-in-a-song/351974/95 "2006-04-11T06:03:20Z")
The Ramones: “Texas chainsaw massacree / they took my baby away from me”. But I like that song. ---
**Author:** ![DWMarch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwmarch/32/1010_2.png) [@DWMarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DWMarch)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-irritating-weird-affected-pronunciation-in-a-song/351974/96 "2006-04-11T08:59:10Z")
I forget who sings it (actually, I’ve probably blocked it from my mind) but how about the song where the guy revs up like a douche and rolls her in the night? I HATE that song because of the douche! I don’t know how you rev up a douche but I don’t want to hear some douchebag singing about it! ---
**Author:** ![lee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lee/32/7455_2.png) [@lee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lee)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-irritating-weird-affected-pronunciation-in-a-song/351974/97 "2006-04-11T11:03:24Z")
Styx _Mr. Roboto_, Why does he say “I am a modren man”? Were two letters switched in the sheet music? They Might be Giants sing, “One note spelled L-I-T-E” when the lyrics say, “One word spelled L-I-T-E” which also makes sense. One doesn’t spell a note. ---
**Author:** ![Ms2001](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ms2001/32/18463_2.png) [@Ms2001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms2001)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-irritating-weird-affected-pronunciation-in-a-song/351974/98 "2006-04-11T11:51:45Z")
No one’s mentioned **Pearl Jam**? I don’t know what kind of accent that’s supposed to be, but it sure doesn’t sound like Seattle. > [@lee](#): > > They Might be Giants sing, “One note spelled L-I-T-E” when the lyrics say, “One word spelled L-I-T-E” which also makes sense. One doesn’t spell a note. I always thought there was supposed to be a colon after “note”, as if to say “BTW, here’s how you spell it”. ---
**Author:** ![Huerta88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/82dd89/32.png) [@Huerta88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Huerta88)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-irritating-weird-affected-pronunciation-in-a-song/351974/99 "2006-04-11T13:05:45Z")
> [@DWMarch](#): > > I forget who sings it (actually, I’ve probably blocked it from my mind) but how about the song where the guy revs up like a douche and rolls her in the night? I HATE that song because of the douche! I don’t know how you rev up a douche but I don’t want to hear some douchebag singing about it! [http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5\_148.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_148.html) ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-irritating-weird-affected-pronunciation-in-a-song/351974/100 "2006-04-11T13:34:10Z")
“…because you had to be a BIIIIG shot DINTCHA” “…but it just may be a LOOOOOnatic you’re lookin’ for” I love ya Billy, but c’mon. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-irritating-weird-affected-pronunciation-in-a-song/351974.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-irritating-weird-affected-pronunciation-in-a-song/351974.md?page=6)