# Politically correct/native pronunciation of foreign words outside the Anglosphere: does it happen? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 31, 2011, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politically-correct-native-pronunciation-of-foreign-words-outside-the-anglosphere-does-it-happen/583905 "2011-05-31T22:34:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![tumbleddown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tumbleddown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tumbleddown)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2011, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politically-correct-native-pronunciation-of-foreign-words-outside-the-anglosphere-does-it-happen/583905/81 "2011-06-02T22:52:19Z")
> [@amanset](#): > > Um … that was the point I was making. More Spanish speakers and shared border with a Spanish speaking country = more likely to know the “correct pronunciation” and get annoyed with the way Brits say “Jaguar”. Ah, okay, I got you. Though I think the way Brits say Jaguar is hilariously cute. (I’m an Anglophile, though, so boulder of salt.) > [@](#): > > Hmm. Kind of more like smer-gors-bord. I thought so, but I used to work for a Swede and a Dane who used the word frequently to be funny. > [@jjimm](#): > > It was a passing reference to that Miss Teen USA 2007 girl who talked about people in “Th’Eye-raq” and referred to people from the USA as “US Americans”. Such as. There are 350 million Americans, and one Caitlin Upton. Can we try not making it out like she’s some representative of the nation because she won a privately organized (by Donald Trump, no less) beauty pageant that clearly doesn’t have any knowledge or comportment component? ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2011, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politically-correct-native-pronunciation-of-foreign-words-outside-the-anglosphere-does-it-happen/583905/82 "2011-06-02T23:16:22Z")
> [@Apollyon](#): > > All a bit OT, but other Dopers have objected in past to both USAian / USian and/or USAer / USer. > > This NZer at least never meant anything sinister by them, but since others have objected I shrug and now just call you all “Yanks”. 😛 > > (Yes, I know… Southerners aren’t Yanks, but the word entered the antipodean lexicon with the US Army and Marine R&R ships in WWII and was applied equally to Americans from North or South of the Mason-Dixon line and remains part of NZ English as a generic word for folks from the USA). Southerners are Yanks, whether they like it or not. What they aren’t are Yankees, which is an ENTIRELY different kettle of fish. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![samjones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@samjones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samjones)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politically-correct-native-pronunciation-of-foreign-words-outside-the-anglosphere-does-it-happen/583905/83 "2011-06-03T00:42:30Z")
[quote=“tumbleddown, post:81, topic:583905”] [li]There are 350 million Americans, and one Caitlin Upton. Can we try not making it out like she’s some representative of the nation because she won a privately organized (by Donald Trump, no less) beauty pageant that clearly doesn’t have any knowledge or comportment component?[/li][/QUOTE] She’s freakin hot! Alot hotter than any British broad. ---
**Author:** ![Apollyon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/apollyon/32/4238_2.png) [@Apollyon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollyon)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politically-correct-native-pronunciation-of-foreign-words-outside-the-anglosphere-does-it-happen/583905/84 "2011-06-03T03:48:22Z")
> [@rogerbox](#): > > I highly doubt English folk would find “limey” all that offensive because of how lame it is, but that doesn’t mean I’m being polite. Limey? _pfft_ Jocular… practically avuncular… 😛 when we want to insult them we call them “Poms”. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politically-correct-native-pronunciation-of-foreign-words-outside-the-anglosphere-does-it-happen/583905/85 "2011-06-03T06:17:01Z")
> [@tumbleddown](#): > > There are 350 million Americans, and one Caitlin Upton. Can we try not making it out like she’s some representative of the nation because she won a privately organized (by Donald Trump, no less) beauty pageant that clearly doesn’t have any knowledge or comportment component? Oh dear me. I’m not. It was a (not very literary) allusion to a famous example of the phenomenon, inserted casually for the amusement of someone who might have got it - presumably nobody from the responses. I should change my screen name to Surrounded By Literalists but it’s already taken. If you want one back to make you all feel better, Kelly Brook, a British babe but woeful presenter, was famously incapable of reading the word ‘Worcester’ from her autocue on live TV. There you go. Hope that eases the pain in some of y’all’s butts. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politically-correct-native-pronunciation-of-foreign-words-outside-the-anglosphere-does-it-happen/583905/86 "2011-06-03T07:04:53Z")
Oh, speaking of “Worchestershire”, I have no clue how to pronounce it, except that pronouncing it as it is spelled would be wrong, so I just spit out “Wershtsher” and move on, knowing that none of my fellow Americans will know how to say it either.😃 ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politically-correct-native-pronunciation-of-foreign-words-outside-the-anglosphere-does-it-happen/583905/87 "2011-06-03T07:11:31Z")
Yeah like I said, it’s a mean one. The city is Worcester and is pronounced ‘WOO-stuh’ (the ‘oo’ as in ‘book’. The county is Worcestershire and is pronounced ‘WOO-stuh-shuh’. ---
**Author:** ![tumbleddown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tumbleddown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tumbleddown)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politically-correct-native-pronunciation-of-foreign-words-outside-the-anglosphere-does-it-happen/583905/88 "2011-06-03T08:15:38Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > Oh dear me. I’m not. It was a (not very literary) allusion to a famous example of the phenomenon, inserted casually for the amusement of someone who might have got it - presumably nobody from the responses. Because she, unlike Ms. Brook, was a blip on the radar. A laughingstock for a week, then she went back to high school and we all forgot her name. I wouldn’t have known it if someone else in the thread hadn’t mentioned it. Which underscores the point of her presentation not being particularly suitable for making a point about anything other than _her_, and even still, those jokes are about 3 years past their sell-by date. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politically-correct-native-pronunciation-of-foreign-words-outside-the-anglosphere-does-it-happen/583905/89 "2011-06-03T08:19:00Z")
> [@tumbleddown](#): > > Because she, unlike Ms. Brook, was a blip on the radar. A laughingstock for a week, then she went back to high school and we all forgot her name. I wouldn’t have known it if someone else in the thread hadn’t mentioned it. Which underscores the point of her presentation not being particularly suitable for making a point about anything other than _her_, and even still, those jokes are about 3 years past their sell-by date. I only knew anything about her because she was in a Weezer music video where she was shoving a map into the Blendtec blender. Had to get that joke explained to me. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politically-correct-native-pronunciation-of-foreign-words-outside-the-anglosphere-does-it-happen/583905/90 "2011-06-03T09:29:56Z")
> [@tumbleddown](#): > > Because she, unlike Ms. Brook, was a blip on the radar. A laughingstock for a week, then she went back to high school and we all forgot her name. I wouldn’t have known it if someone else in the thread hadn’t mentioned it. Which underscores the point of her presentation not being particularly suitable for making a point about anything other than _her_, and even still, those jokes are about 3 years past their sell-by date. Oy oy oy, I wasn’t “making a point”. It was a failed comedic aside about a public use of “Eye-raq” that had no further significance than that. What a sensitive bunch! Did TS Eliot get this problem when _he_ was making his allusions? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politically-correct-native-pronunciation-of-foreign-words-outside-the-anglosphere-does-it-happen/583905/91 "2011-06-03T11:18:20Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > Oy oy oy, I wasn’t “making a point”. It was a failed comedic aside about a public use of “Eye-raq” that had no further significance than that. What a sensitive bunch! Did TS Eliot get this problem when _he_ was making his allusions? 😉 Remember how there are typically a few UKians who make it an issue when a US Doper incorrectly uses “English” for “British.” Some things just push some people’s buttons. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politically-correct-native-pronunciation-of-foreign-words-outside-the-anglosphere-does-it-happen/583905/92 "2011-06-03T13:45:54Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > Remember how there are typically a few UKians who make it an issue when a US Doper incorrectly uses “English” for “British.” Some things just push some people’s buttons. 😉 However there’s a qualitative difference between correcting a factual mistake, and people getting twisted because some foreigner mentioned in passing a viral video. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politically-correct-native-pronunciation-of-foreign-words-outside-the-anglosphere-does-it-happen/583905/93 "2011-06-03T14:20:53Z")
> [@Kevbo](#): > > [KTNN 660 AM 101.5 FM - The Voice of the Navajo Nation](http://www.ktnnonline.com/#) > > Check out the commercials. Navajo, then JOES TRADING POST ON HIGHWY 32 (made up example) in perfect english, then back to Navajo. I used to love that as a kid when you’d stumble onto, say, a Mexican broadcast of something - “blahamosblahamosblaoblamis Michael Jackson blahamos” ---
**Author:** ![Throatwarbler\_Mangrove](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8c91f0/32.png) [@Throatwarbler\_Mangrove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Throatwarbler_Mangrove)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politically-correct-native-pronunciation-of-foreign-words-outside-the-anglosphere-does-it-happen/583905/94 "2011-06-03T19:04:57Z")
Names pronounced in [French](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYwvFU6dcv4&feature=player_embedded). ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2011, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politically-correct-native-pronunciation-of-foreign-words-outside-the-anglosphere-does-it-happen/583905/95 "2011-06-03T22:43:45Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > However there’s a qualitative difference between correcting a factual mistake, and people getting twisted because some foreigner mentioned in passing a viral video. 😕 You want a factual mistake, how about all those people who don’t realize British and English are mutually-exclusive categories? 😉 I’m not being serious. However, ‘British’ refers to the Brythonic peoples who were on the isles before the ‘English’, derived from the name of the Angles, a Germanic tribe, came. ---
**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:** [June 3, 2011, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politically-correct-native-pronunciation-of-foreign-words-outside-the-anglosphere-does-it-happen/583905/96 "2011-06-03T23:48:18Z")
> [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](#): > > I’ve heard of this “Eye-talian” thing, which is apparently the old, Middle American pronounciation of Italian, but I’ve never heard anyone actually say this. For those who used to pronounce the word this way, which country are Eye-talians from? Eye-tally? This is not a joke, I’m honestly curious as to how they pronounced the country’s name. Italy, pretty much the same as other Americans. I don’t know where the long “I” came from. My dad was one who used the EYEtalian pronunciation, at least when I was young. Of course, his accent was extremely broad, so that wasn’t the worst of his sins! I don’t speak Spanish, so I don’t try to speak with a Spanish accent even when a certain Doper who shall remain nameless thinks I should. I just don’t see the point in switching back and forth between accents, unless I’m trying to be goofy (in which case I’m usually using my atrocious German accent anyway). ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2011, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politically-correct-native-pronunciation-of-foreign-words-outside-the-anglosphere-does-it-happen/583905/97 "2011-06-04T19:44:12Z")
> [@tumbleddown](#): > > Because she, unlike Ms. Brook, was a blip on the radar. A laughingstock for a week, then she went back to high school and we all forgot her name. I wouldn’t have known it if someone else in the thread hadn’t mentioned it. Which underscores the point of her presentation not being particularly suitable for making a point about anything other than _her_, and even still, those jokes are about 3 years past their sell-by date. So is [this guy](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=611159#postcount138786782) not allowed to reference her either? 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politically-correct-native-pronunciation-of-foreign-words-outside-the-anglosphere-does-it-happen/583905.md?page=4)