# Um, that doesn't mean what you think it does... **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 13, 2007, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/um-that-doesnt-mean-what-you-think-it-does/426303 "2007-11-13T23:31:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2007, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/um-that-doesnt-mean-what-you-think-it-does/426303/161 "2007-11-19T19:48:07Z")
[QUOTE=RachelChristine] My biggest typing pet peeve is congradulations. And it’s worse when someone says “Congrads!” [/QUOTE] I’ve long had a pet theory that this resulted from “cutesy” spellings by the greeting card industry. I have seen many cards for high school and university graduations events that have variations on “Congraduation!” I think I developed this pet theory when I finished high school and got a card from my uncle that said: “Con_grads_!” I vaguely recall thinking “Ohhhhh… So _that’s_ where that comes from!” I could be totally off base though. ---
**Author:** ![Belrix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed655f/32.png) [@Belrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Belrix)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2007, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/um-that-doesnt-mean-what-you-think-it-does/426303/162 "2007-11-19T20:35:11Z")
A friend of my sister told her that her boyfriend took her for _granite_. This was in a letter so it was wasn’t a matter of pronunciation. I guess she was hard-up for a date. My worst fox-pass was really just a misreading coupled to my unfamiliarity with a new word. Suffice it to say, while reading poetry aloud in class, that the word “Ogre” is not pronounced, “Or-gee”. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2007, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/um-that-doesnt-mean-what-you-think-it-does/426303/163 "2007-11-19T21:09:12Z")
[QUOTE=Telperien] Huh. I have Audacity, so I could record the sample, but I haven’t anywhere to host it. Those three words, though, are completely identical when I say them. Mary/merry/marry are another group that sound the same when pronounced by me. This is very interesting. [/QUOTE] PM me. I can send you details for sending the file to me so that I can host it on my site (as long as it’s a small file, say 100 kilobytes or less…) Merry, marry, and Mary sound the same to me. So do Don and Dawn. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2007, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/um-that-doesnt-mean-what-you-think-it-does/426303/164 "2007-11-19T21:10:44Z")
[QUOTE=fetus] Somebody stole my microphones! Damn. I was all ready to post a whole bunch of full-sentence examples of the words in question. Anyone willing to part with a microphone? [/QUOTE] I’ve got one you can have, but the shipping would be a bit much (also the mice nibbled on the cord a bit back when I had a mouse infestation). Cheaper to go to Fry’s. ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2007, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/um-that-doesnt-mean-what-you-think-it-does/426303/165 "2007-11-19T21:20:07Z")
Gah. I bet it was that bitch who stole the custom engraved scotch glasses my dad got in Europe and now proudly displays them in her cabinet _with his freakin’ initials engraved into them_. :mad: That’s only the icing on the cake with that woman. I swear if there were a “Roommate Exception” to the murder law I would’ve killed that bitch a long time ago. ---
**Author:** ![Telperien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@Telperien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperien)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2007, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/um-that-doesnt-mean-what-you-think-it-does/426303/166 "2007-11-19T21:26:07Z")
[QUOTE=Sunspace] PM me. I can send you details for sending the file to me so that I can host it on my site (as long as it’s a small file, say 100 kilobytes or less…) Merry, marry, and Mary sound the same to me. So do Don and Dawn. [/QUOTE] Will do, and I don’t think it will be very big. I’ll do it tonight after work. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2007, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/um-that-doesnt-mean-what-you-think-it-does/426303/167 "2007-11-19T21:54:28Z")
[QUOTE=Telperien] Huh. I have Audacity, so I could record the sample, but I haven’t anywhere to host it. Those three words, though, are completely identical when I say them. Mary/merry/marry are another group that sound the same when pronounced by me. This is very interesting. [/QUOTE] In my dialect, poor/pour/pore are often pronounced the same. Sometimes I vacillate between “poor” with the “oo” and long “o” sound. Usually, they’re all homonyms for me. I’m sure how I would even go about differentiating the last two. “Mary”=“marry” to me. “Merry” is different, although as a kid, I pronounced all three identically. As for “old-fashioned,” “asked,” “instinct” and “arctic,” the only one I drop consonants from occasionally is “arctic.” And even there, I usually stick the “C” in there. ---
**Author:** ![xanthous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/53a042/32.png) [@xanthous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xanthous)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2007, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/um-that-doesnt-mean-what-you-think-it-does/426303/168 "2007-11-19T22:19:35Z")
“Six and a half dozen of the other” and “Six to one” used instead of “Six of one, half dozen of the other” by my sister and boyfriend, respectively. ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2007, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/um-that-doesnt-mean-what-you-think-it-does/426303/169 "2007-11-19T22:19:37Z")
[QUOTE=pulykamell] In my dialect, poor/pour/pore are often pronounced the same. Sometimes I vacillate between “poor” with the “oo” and long “o” sound. Usually, they’re all homonyms for me. I’m sure how I would even go about differentiating the last two. [/quote] Context, presumably. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2007, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/um-that-doesnt-mean-what-you-think-it-does/426303/170 "2007-11-19T22:24:27Z")
[QUOTE=xanthous] “Six and a half dozen of the other” and “Six to one” used instead of “Six of one, half dozen of the other” by my sister and boyfriend, respectively. [/QUOTE] I always say “seven of one, half dozen of the other.” just to see if people are paying attention. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2007, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/um-that-doesnt-mean-what-you-think-it-does/426303/171 "2007-11-19T22:36:33Z")
[QUOTE=fetus] Context, presumably. [/QUOTE] Badly worded on my part. I mean aurally. I presumed, given the context of the original post, that some people pronounce “pore” and “pour” differently. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2007, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/um-that-doesnt-mean-what-you-think-it-does/426303/172 "2007-11-19T22:43:49Z")
[QUOTE=levdrakon] I always say “seven of one, half dozen of the other.” just to see if people are paying attention. [/QUOTE] “Half of one, six dozen of the other.” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/um-that-doesnt-mean-what-you-think-it-does/426303/173 "2007-11-20T00:14:07Z")
[QUOTE=AudreyK] I wish people would be more careful with their homonyms. The one that bothers me the most is “discreet” versus “discrete.” If you intend to keep something on the down low, you want to be discreet about it, not discrete. For ages I’ve been wanting to make a shirt with a cartoon of a guy hiding in a darkened closet, with a caption that says “discreet mathematics.” I also wish people would stop writing that their curiosity or interest has been “peaked”, unless they really do mean it’s going nowhere but down from there. [/QUOTE] Wow, that’s pretty picky for someone that can’t distinguish homonyms from homophones. 😃 I’m practically positve that Guadere’s Law is going to bite me here despite my proofreading! ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/um-that-doesnt-mean-what-you-think-it-does/426303/174 "2007-11-20T00:31:32Z")
I had a friend (a woman) who was in sales, describe a transaction to me one day. She said that the customer tried to “chew her down” on the price. I looked at her with surprise, and mentioned that she really shouldn’t use that expression. She asked me why, and I said that it’s not _chew_, it’s _Jew_. She looked horrified, and said “are you sure?”, and I said “yup.” The funny thing was, she was Jewish… ---
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/um-that-doesnt-mean-what-you-think-it-does/426303/175 "2007-11-20T02:20:52Z")
[QUOTE=Sarahfeena] When I was in my first job after college, I had a boss who would call things that were unbelievable “hummers.” Don’t know if she was shooting for “humdinger” or what. But it cracked us up every time we heard her on the phone shouting, “oh my god, that’s a real hummer!” We finally took pity on her (sometimes she was talking to clients when she said it :eek: ) and told her what it meant in the popular vernacular. Oy. [/QUOTE] Ok, I’ll bite…what is a hummer? It must be a regional euphomism, huh? In general, you can’t say anything without it having a dirty meaning. But, on that note, I say “Dirty is only in the minds of the beholder”. - Jinx P.S. Never heard of a woodie, either, until I came into PA. Again, it’s regional. May yours not have termites! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/um-that-doesnt-mean-what-you-think-it-does/426303/176 "2007-11-20T02:25:07Z")
[QUOTE=Greg Charles] Wow, that’s pretty picky for someone that can’t distinguish homonyms from homophones. 😃 I’m practically positve that Guadere’s Law is going to bite me here despite my proofreading! [/QUOTE] Greg, there were NO homophones until about 1980 when some Ph.D. had to write a paper and change the rules. The Ph.Ds are the root to all evil in education. ---
**Author:** ![Sarahfeena](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarahfeena/32/519_2.png) [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/um-that-doesnt-mean-what-you-think-it-does/426303/177 "2007-11-20T02:48:15Z")
[QUOTE=Jinx] Ok, I’ll bite…what is a hummer? It must be a regional euphomism, huh? In general, you can’t say anything without it having a dirty meaning. But, on that note, I say “Dirty is only in the minds of the beholder”. - Jinx P.S. Never heard of a woodie, either, until I came into PA. Again, it’s regional. May yours not have termites! :eek: [/QUOTE] Hummer is, at least in these parts, another word for blow job. I figured at the time that it was a generational thing, so I asked my dad if he knew what it meant. He said he did. Unfortunately, my mom overheard this conversation and insisted that she wanted to know what we were talking about. My dad fled the scene, and I was left to explain to my mom that it meant oral sex. I was afraid if I said blow job, she wouldn’t know what that was, either. She’s come a long way, though…her favorite show now is South Park! ---
**Author:** ![Telperien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@Telperien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperien)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/um-that-doesnt-mean-what-you-think-it-does/426303/178 "2007-11-20T03:01:29Z")
Here I am saying poor, pore, and pour. [http://www.sunspace.org/telperien.mp3](http://www.sunspace.org/telperien.mp3) ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/um-that-doesnt-mean-what-you-think-it-does/426303/179 "2007-11-20T03:04:10Z")
[QUOTE=Telperien] Will do, and I don’t think it will be very big. I’ll do it tonight after work. [/QUOTE] Thanks for sending the file. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/um-that-doesnt-mean-what-you-think-it-does/426303/180 "2007-11-20T03:08:03Z")
[QUOTE=Telperien] Here I am saying poor, pore, and pour. [http://www.sunspace.org/telperien.mp3](http://www.sunspace.org/telperien.mp3) [/QUOTE] So, um… how do you say “marry”, “merry”, and “Mary”? 🙂 Here’s [me](http://www.sunspace.org/marry.mp3). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/um-that-doesnt-mean-what-you-think-it-does/426303.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/um-that-doesnt-mean-what-you-think-it-does/426303.md?page=10)