# People who just can't quite use the right word **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 24, 2005, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-just-cant-quite-use-the-right-word/291654 "2005-02-24T06:04:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![seosamh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@seosamh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seosamh)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2005, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-just-cant-quite-use-the-right-word/291654/101 "2005-03-01T10:56:29Z")
> [@InvisibleWombat](#): > > My rule of thumb on pronouncing names is to say it the way the named person says it. If someone introduces himself to me and pronounces his name “kregg,” that’s how I’ll say it. If he pronounces it “kraygg,” I’ll say it that way. So far, every single Craig that I’ve met has pronounced his name “kregg.” A highly admirable approach. But for me, absolutely everyone I know called Craig (whether as a forename or surname) pronounces it “Cray-g”. Must be something to do with that I in the middle, although since when has pronunciation had anything to do with spelling? Perhaps significantly, all the Craigs I have encountered have been from (ahem) English-speaking nations, such as the UK, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia etc. I wonder what a Canadian Craig would say? ---
**Author:** ![Anastasaeon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Anastasaeon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anastasaeon)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2005, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-just-cant-quite-use-the-right-word/291654/102 "2005-03-01T12:07:09Z")
I had a “friend” back in New Brunswick who had her own strange language, complete with her very own nuggets of wisdom… I’m sure I’ve posted these before, but they slay me every time, so I’ll post them again: “That’s just an old _wise_ tale.” (proper word: _wives_) About her dog, bouncing around in the backseat: “Oh, she has to go through that whole _rigor mortis_.” :eek: (proper word: _rigamarole_) “Never _lick_ a gift horse in the mouth.” (proper word: _look_) She insists that a proper alternative pronounciation of the word “Saturday” is “Se’erdee”. Also, “Mundee, Toosdee, Wensdee, Thursdee, Fridee, Sundee.” (proper words: oh, come on, people!) After listening to the news a couple years ago regarding terrorists and possible future attacks, she comes to me in a panic: “They say on the news that they’re planning on using _German_ warfare next!” (proper word: _germ_) I once e-mailed her, asking about the proper spelling of her name, and she e-mails me back: “My first and middle name has a _plank_ between them.” (proper word: _blank_; though I did pause a moment and wonder if she had meant _hyphen_) Other words in the same e-mail: Tamarrow (tomorrow), chesse (cheese), fling (flying), Seabaschin (Sebastian), groshries (groceries). All spelled as she pronounces them. Oh, and she drives a Suzuki Vitara, which she insists on calling her _Jeep_. (proper word: _Suzuki Vitara_) An hour with her is fun. Living with her nearly drove me insane. I accidentally managed to open her “_dairy_” on her computer once, while I was looking for a .txt file I had saved for her - I read the first sentence without realising it was her _diary_ before closing it quickly. Apparently, she truly - in her heart, deep in her soul - believes that she is _Jezus_, “_rincarnted_”. (proper words: _Jesus reincarnated_, I think!) :eek: Remind me _not_ to say a little prayer before a big spelling bee… ---
**Author:** ![Anastasaeon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Anastasaeon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anastasaeon)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2005, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-just-cant-quite-use-the-right-word/291654/103 "2005-03-01T12:09:36Z")
> [@seosamh](#): > > Perhaps significantly, all the Craigs I have encountered have been from (ahem) English-speaking nations, such as the UK, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia etc. I wonder what a Canadian Craig would say? FTR, my Canadian friend Craig pronounces his name “kregg”. We called him “Craigory” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2005, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-just-cant-quite-use-the-right-word/291654/104 "2005-03-01T13:32:41Z")
My dad will want to talk AT someone instead of TO someone. I once got in trouble as a kid because he called home and asked, “Is your mother there? I want to talk at her.” So I pointed the phone at mom across the room and shouted, “OK dad! fire away!” I had a girlfriend who couldn’t pronounce Pacific, specific, and pistachio correctly. I used to crack her up trying to get her to repeat after me: “Pistachios, specifically Pacific pistachios, are special pistachios.” Sure, it doesn’t make sense, but that didn’t matter since she couldn’t say it anyway. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-just-cant-quite-use-the-right-word/291654.md?page=5)