# Pronunciacions that make you seethe with anger! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 27, 2008, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciacions-that-make-you-seethe-with-anger/442978 "2008-03-27T22:06:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Indygrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@Indygrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indygrrl)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2008, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciacions-that-make-you-seethe-with-anger/442978/61 "2008-03-28T02:07:16Z")
[QUOTE=fachverwirrt] In a word: yes. (Note the one letter difference between _homophone_ and _homophobe_. [/QUOTE] I thought that, but since it was the second bitchy post in a few min. I wasn’t sure. Oopsie. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Charger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df788c/32.png) [@Charger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charger)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2008, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciacions-that-make-you-seethe-with-anger/442978/62 "2008-03-28T02:08:25Z")
I got annoyed when Clarence Thomas was on trial and the world was introduced to the word “harris-ment.” I also hate when people pronounce asterisk as “astericks.” In fact, most people say it incorrectly. I do the happy dance when I hear it said correctly. [QUOTE=Vox Imperatoris] Mine is pronouncing “Reese’s,” as in Reese’s Cups, in a way that rhymes with feces. :eek: [/QUOTE] [Mitch Hedberg] If you read it, there’s an apostrophe. The candy bar is his. I didn’t know that. The next time your eating a Reese’s and some guy named Reese comes up to you and says let me have that. You better give it to him. I’m sorry Reese, I didn’t think I would ever run into you. You’re a bully, man. Let me at least have a piece. [/Mitch Hedberg] [QUOTE=RedFury] FTR, I could care less. [/QUOTE] I couldn’t. The amount at which I currently care is the minimum. I really could not care less. If I felt compelled to mention all of the things about which I _could_ care less, I would be typing all day. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2008, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciacions-that-make-you-seethe-with-anger/442978/63 "2008-03-28T02:10:19Z")
[QUOTE=guizot] They [do and due] _are_ homophones. Some of the complaints here are not about pronunciation, but spelling. Unless the complainers have ESP and can see how the speaker is writing the word in his head. [/QUOTE] They are only homophones in certain english dialects. In Australia and New Zealand for example they are pronounced _do_ and _dyew_. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2008, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciacions-that-make-you-seethe-with-anger/442978/64 "2008-03-28T02:16:40Z")
Any word that sounds in the least bit Spanish, pronounced in a way that’s even “more Spanish”, with added emphasis, rolling r’s where none exist, and so on. Ask someone who listened to a lot of NPR in the late 1980s to say “I’m going to have tacos with the Sandanistas in Nicaragua.” Good times. ---
**Author:** ![lizardling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f4b2a3/32.png) [@lizardling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lizardling)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2008, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciacions-that-make-you-seethe-with-anger/442978/65 "2008-03-28T02:22:15Z")
[QUOTE=Celyn] What word is it meant to be? Sorry, perhaps it’s too late at night but I really can’t guess. (I’ll try not to use it near you, though. 🙂 ) [/QUOTE] What he said. 🙂 It’s for people who’re trying to be cute and also avoid saying the SCARY WORD. Le gasp. ---
**Author:** ![Indygrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@Indygrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indygrrl)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2008, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciacions-that-make-you-seethe-with-anger/442978/66 "2008-03-28T02:41:56Z")
[QUOTE=lizardling] It’s for people who’re trying to be cute and also avoid saying the SCARY WORD. Le gasp. [/QUOTE] Oprah is to blame for vajayjay. She’s the first person I ever heard say it, which doesn’t surprise me given her juvenile giggliness about any talk of sex or wee wees. ---
**Author:** ![HazelNutCoffee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2008, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciacions-that-make-you-seethe-with-anger/442978/67 "2008-03-28T02:54:47Z")
[QUOTE=amarinth] I always thought “do” and “due” were homophones. How else do you say “due”? [/QUOTE] :dubious: I have always pronounced “due” like “dyu.” **5-4-Fighting** , I curse in your general direction! ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2008, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciacions-that-make-you-seethe-with-anger/442978/68 "2008-03-28T02:59:16Z")
Ah, thanks, people, I see what you mean about “vajayjay”/ vagina. I would never have guessed that one. How very icky and twee. ☹ It would be unthinkable to talk of country matters, I suppose. 😃 Oh, here’s one. How about people who pronounce “mischievous” as “misCHEEVious”? I _think_ that must be one that started off as a joke word, but I suspect there are people who do say it seriously. I also get annoyed by television news people pronouncing “Holyrood” as “Hollywood”, but I suppose that’s a fairly localised issue. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2008, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciacions-that-make-you-seethe-with-anger/442978/69 "2008-03-28T03:04:53Z")
Fermiliar, I can accept it from people with heavy accentual drawls usually, but i ahve friends that say it without accenting anything else in that context and it sounds totally out of place. In other news, one of my friends has a distinct issue with how I say the word plague but I can’t figure out how I’m saying it differently than everyone else… ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2008, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciacions-that-make-you-seethe-with-anger/442978/70 "2008-03-28T03:11:48Z")
[QUOTE=lizardling] Vajayjay. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH. May your eyeballs catch fire and melt the rest of your face if you use that word within my hearing. A POX ON WHOEVER STARTED USING THAT UNHOLY ABORTION OF A WORD. [/QUOTE] I heard Opra was, if not the one that started it, at leas tthe one who popularized it. So if you wanna stage an assassination at least you have a target now. [QUOTE=RedFury] ::::yaaaawn:::: Might as well call it The Faux Outrage thread. In 95% plus of the examples given you get what they’re saying, don’t you? The fact that it either sounds different from what you’re accustomed to, or that it is part of any number of dialects or malapropisms - by default, they are not “proper English.” – spoken in any number of regions. Get the fuck over it. Bigger fish to fry. Or maybe the Brits ought to pounce in here and teach you all how to speak. Their language after all. [/QUOTE] Meh, gives us something to do. I don’t think anyones THAT bothered by it, so theres nothign really to get over. just passing time. Oh, and it’s not the Brits language as you claim, we were jsut as British as them at one point and simply took a different pronunciation path. Though I figure you may just be having a fun recreational outrage of your own, in which case carry on. ---
**Author:** ![shimmery](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@shimmery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shimmery)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2008, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciacions-that-make-you-seethe-with-anger/442978/71 "2008-03-28T03:24:02Z")
Inherent - it’s not so bad that 95% of the populace pronounces it as “in-hare-ent”, but it drives me nuts that when I do use the traditionally correct pronunciation (“in-heer-ent”) I usually get a look implying that _I_ am obviously borderline illiterate. ([cite](http://www.bartleby.com/64/C007/0108.html)) Since I know this a losing battle (please don’t let this spark a debate about popularity of a usage confers “correctness”), I try to aim for a sound that’s about halfway between “heer” and “hare.” I swear, I’m not usually a pedant! ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Thalia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ba8739/32.png) [@Northern\_Thalia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Thalia)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2008, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciacions-that-make-you-seethe-with-anger/442978/72 "2008-03-28T03:42:29Z")
[QUOTE=Dinah Steeler] That one bugs me to no end too. Also, when someone pronounces Caribbean Cuh-RIB-be-un. It’s Care-uh-BE-un, dammit! :mad: [/QUOTE] Actually, it’s [both](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/caribbean) . Supposably makes me want to hurt people. I have a friend who always tells me how _fustrating_ things are in her life. No matter how often I correct her, and I usually hold my tongue, but on this I just **CAN’T,** she can’t wrap her head around it! ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2008, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciacions-that-make-you-seethe-with-anger/442978/73 "2008-03-28T03:44:43Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace] **Kudos** , pronounced as if it were the plural of kudo. (I think that has become, by default, the new “proper” way to pronounce it.) [/QUOTE] Ooooh, yes, we have that here too. Even worse, if only because more commonly used, is **Nachos** pronounced as if it were the plural of nacho - “I’ll have some nachoes please”. Argh. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2008, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciacions-that-make-you-seethe-with-anger/442978/74 "2008-03-28T03:59:54Z")
I agree! In fact this makes so angry that I literally have to vent, by which I mean punching air holes through my body with a length of sharpened copper tubing. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2008, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciacions-that-make-you-seethe-with-anger/442978/75 "2008-03-28T04:00:34Z")
Related, not a hijack, but my annoyance with the Midwestern version of “please” as a replacement for “what?” or “What did you say?” is infurating to me for some unknown reason. “Yes, I’d like a three-way with extra onions” “Please?” “Uhhh, yes please?” ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2008, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciacions-that-make-you-seethe-with-anger/442978/76 "2008-03-28T04:02:18Z")
[QUOTE=Bryan Ekers] I agree! In fact this makes so angry that I literally have to vent, by which I mean punching air holes through my body with a length of sharpened copper tubing. [/QUOTE] I have noticed recently that your posts always involve some insane form of self-mutilation. Please don’t stop, as it’s funny as hell. I am waiting for you to say something about stuffing snuff into your pee-hole with a Q-Tip… ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_fight\_the\_hypothetical](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/59ef9b/32.png) [@Don\_t\_fight\_the\_hypothetical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_fight_the_hypothetical)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2008, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciacions-that-make-you-seethe-with-anger/442978/77 "2008-03-28T04:07:43Z")
Valentimes day Eric Clampton ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2008, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciacions-that-make-you-seethe-with-anger/442978/78 "2008-03-28T04:21:17Z")
As long as incorrectly-pronounced Spanish words have been invoked, I’d like to direct some ire at BBC newsreaders who seem to think that “junta” is actually a word in the English language, and is acceptably pronounced with a “dj”-type “j”, and a short “u” such that one might be able to say: _It’s funta runta a hunta and ask him to assassinate the junta._ It’s a _Spanish_ word, Mr. Frost; it is correctly pronounced “ **hoon** -tah”. Or, you could just give it up in favor of _cabal_. And Southern Californians, I beg of you: until you actually institute a municipality with the name San Peedro, be good enough to call it by its proper name of San Pedro (pronounced “ **Pay** -dro”, or “ **Peh** -dro” if you prefer)? ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2008, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciacions-that-make-you-seethe-with-anger/442978/79 "2008-03-28T04:24:36Z")
Excape. ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2008, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciacions-that-make-you-seethe-with-anger/442978/80 "2008-03-28T04:28:28Z")
[QUOTE=Jragon] I heard Opra was, if not the one that started it, at leas tthe one who popularized it. So if you wanna stage an assassination at least you have a target now. [/QUOTE] It didn’t start with her. It was a 2006 episode of Grey’s Anatomy, where so-and-so is giving birth, and whatshisname is delivering the baby (or something) and she says “Stop staring at my va-jay-jay!” Oprah picked up on it, as seen [here](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RX2m0oZv1rc&feature=related). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciacions-that-make-you-seethe-with-anger/442978.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciacions-that-make-you-seethe-with-anger/442978.md?page=5)