Any mispronounciation of a brand name. Top offenders:
-“Reese’s” pronounced to rhyme with “species” as opposed to the possesive form of “Reese.” It has an apostrophe in it! They’re the peanut butter cups of Mr. Reese!
-“Swiffer” pronounced as “Swifter”
-“Poland Spring” pluralizes as “Poland Springs”
[QUOTE=mobo85]
Any mispronounciation of a brand name. Top offenders:
-“Reese’s” pronounced to rhyme with “species”
[/QUOTE]
Agh! Didn’t you read post No. 202? Species has a “sh” in it!
[QUOTE=Biffy the Elephant Shrew]
More to the point: how do you pronounce “schism” or “schizoid,” which are derived from the same Greek root as “schedule” (skhizein, to split or divide)?
[/QUOTE]
This argument doesn’t work when you also include the verb ‘shed’ into the group from that root.
“Relator” bothers me, as do many of the other examples in the thread, but they don’t drive me over the edge like SELL-tick does. That cursed team in Boston is responsible for millions of people not knowing how to pronounce the word “Celtic.”
[QUOTE=RedFury]
FTR, it is true that I really couldn’t care less about this whole RO.
[/QUOTE]
I’ve been seeing “RO” in thread titles, and now twice in this thread, and I can’t figure out from context what the heck it means. What is “RO”?
[QUOTE=Sunspace]
My dialect of English has tended to lose the Y-sound in words like ‘tune’ and ‘due’
[/QUOTE]
The word “tune” has a Y sound in it?
[QUOTE=InvisibleWombat]
That cursed team in Boston is responsible for millions of people not knowing how to pronounce the word “Celtic.”
[/QUOTE]
Yet the Glasgow namesake (and soundalike) doesn’t prevent millions of Brits getting it right in all other situations. Maybe it’s not the team’s fault?
[QUOTE=InvisibleWombat]
The word “tune” has a Y sound in it?
[/QUOTE]
Yes - otherwise it would be spelt ‘toon’. 
[QUOTE=Squeaker Snow]
"I’ve got an “ideal” rather than “idea.”
Grrrr…
[/QUOTE]
Don’t ever visit Bristol (UK), then. 
Orientate.
This word is wearing on my last nerve. You orient things, not orientate. After hearing her say it several times I finally corrected someone, very politely, and it felt wonderful.
[QUOTE=acsenray]
Agh! Didn’t you read post No. 202? Species has a “sh” in it!
[/QUOTE]
Ah, you’re right re: pronounciation of “species.” Didn’t think about that. (I was going to use “feces,” but I thought that was too disgusting to use combined with a food product.)
I apoligize fot reading the entire five-page thread, but I saw it and soemthing that’s been bugging me for a while …
I’ve only met two people who do this, and they are both college professors. I don;t know if it’s some kind of damn accent …
Words that start with “h” and pronouncing it like a “y”.
“We are human beings” comes out sounding like “We are you-man beings.”
It’s so slight, but it bugs the living hell outta me!!
[QUOTE=Pazu]
“Sontimeters” (by English speakers in the US).
For that matter, pretty much any time this pseudo-French modification occurs (for some reason, it’s very common in the medical community): exenteration pronounced “exonteration”, for instance.
[/QUOTE]
Also ON-velope.
There was an earlier thread about whether it was correct to say “from whence”. Although it appears that “from whence” is well established in the standard language, I still don’t like it. It’s like a badly written program that has unused variables.
[QUOTE=Spectre of Pithecanthropus]
Also ON-velope.
[/QUOTE]
Yeah, everybody knows it’s pronounced “onveloaf.”
[QUOTE=InvisibleWombat]
I’ve been seeing “RO” in thread titles, and now twice in this thread, and I can’t figure out from context what the heck it means. What is “RO”?
[/QUOTE]
“Recreational Outrage,” i.e., getting exercised about something that doesn’t actually affect you.
[QUOTE=Askance]
I really don’t know. I think it might have been by unconscious analogy with other Spanish words that came my way, such as Los Alamos and Los Angeles - perhaps I extrapolated that Spanish words that ended in vowel-S are not plurals, even when rendered in English. In Australia we don’t come across Spanish words as routinely as USAns must.
[/QUOTE]
Oh dear. Any word preceded by the word “Los” or “Las” is plural. Los Angeles means “The Angels.” Unfortunately, I can’t remember what Alamos means off the top of my head. Singular words are preceded by “El” or “La” except in the case of meaning of the which is “del” instead when the noun is masculine (de+el= del.; de + la = de la)
An example of singular vs plural:
El Nino - The Boy
Los Ninos - The Boys or The Children (any mixed gendered group takes the masculine form, even if there’s 1 boy and 1000 girls)
[QUOTE=elfkin477]
Oh dear. Any word preceded by the word “Los” or “Las” is plural. Los Angeles means “The Angels.” Unfortunately, I can’t remember what Alamos means off the top of my head.
[/QUOTE]
Elms.
Which is why you get literal translations like “I have four sons: two females and two males”. (tengo cuatro hijos: dos hembras y dos varones).
[QUOTE=elfkin477]
Oh dear. Any word preceded by the word “Los” or “Las” is plural. Los Angeles means “The Angels.” Unfortunately, I can’t remember what Alamos means off the top of my head. Singular words are preceded by “El” or “La” except in the case of meaning of the which is “del” instead when the noun is masculine (de+el= del.; de + la = de la)
An example of singular vs plural:
El Nino - The Boy
Los Ninos - The Boys or The Children (any mixed gendered group takes the masculine form, even if there’s 1 boy and 1000 girls)
[/QUOTE]
Yep, I pointed this out in post 222. I don’t know if Askance missed it, or if he’s still too occupied with :smack: ing himself that he hasn’t had time to reply yet. 
-FrL-
People who pronounce “Why” as “How come”
This relates to the “Annoying Local Newscast” threads.
One local anchor drives me nuts with such gems as “West-consin” and February minus the middle R.
There’s also a weekend/vacation relief anchorwoman who slurs her words, stammers, and can’t even compensate by looking somewhat attractive. Someone’s girlfriend?wife?ex-wife demanding less alimony for the opportunity to be on TV? Affirmative action hire?
minor one:
chipotle
chi-pot-le
not chi-pol-te
but i know that’s a hard combination of letters and nahautl words are notoriously hard to replicate from an english standpoint.
[QUOTE=elfkin477]
Singular words are preceded by “El”…
[/QUOTE]
I’ve never been able to believe that the Steely Dan brianiacs could come up with a line that says, “I detect the El Supremo from the room at the top of the stairs.” (From Showbiz Kids)
Don! Walt! Off to the Department of Redundancy Department with the both of you!
[QUOTE=Starving Artist]
I’ve never been able to believe that the Steely Dan brianiacs could come up with a line that says, “I detect the El Supremo from the room at the top of the stairs.” (From Showbiz Kids)
Don! Walt! Off to the Department of Redundancy Department with the both of you!
[/QUOTE]
I usually shrug off grammatically quesionable Dan lyrics by saying they’re just in character. OTOH if the singer in the song’s supposed to be well-educated and isn’t clearly making a joke, that’s another story… (haven’t heard the song in question, though.)