# What mispronunciations/grammatical errors drive you absolutely batty? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 15, 2005, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mispronunciations-grammatical-errors-drive-you-absolutely-batty/317148 "2005-08-15T21:32:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2005, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mispronunciations-grammatical-errors-drive-you-absolutely-batty/317148/161 "2005-08-20T11:41:15Z")
> [@Kalhoun](#): > > I see both of these more as “cute-isms” than mispronunciations. I say “sammich” and “punkin” but I say them both very deliberately so as to purposely sound like an innocent kid who is thrilled with the prospect of getting either. > > “Mmmmmmm…let’s go eat some _sammiches_ before we go to the _punkin patch_!” I agree. I had a roommate in college who would say sammich instead of sandwich and brefkist instead of breakfast. Certainly he knew better. ---
**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2005, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mispronunciations-grammatical-errors-drive-you-absolutely-batty/317148/162 "2005-08-20T20:04:43Z")
Ninthed on “literally.” To add to the complaint of Wa **r** shington, let me add the common mispronunciation of our neighbor state, Oregon. It’s to rhyme with “or a gun”, not “or a gone”, as many national pundits seem to think. This is an especially grievous error in films where the actor plays someone who _lives_ there and can’t say it. I work in a radiology clinic, so I hear this one almost daily: mam-ee-o-gram. People, we’re not x-raying your mammy, so get it right: mammogram. The use of the word “like” when the speaker means “such as.” _We sang songs by many artists, like Elvis_ and _we sang songs by many artists such as Elvis_ are two different sentences. _Forte_ is a word that drives me batty when it’s pronounced for-TAY, which I know most readily as an Italian musical notation to play strongly. And since nobody understands its French pronunciation and tries to correct me to the wrong one, I don’t use the damn word at all any longer. _Pissant_ means small and insignificant. You cannot be in a pissant mood unless you’re Alice in Wonderland. In Terry Pratchett’s _Going Postal_ theres’ a s’pecial per’son, a grocery ‘store proprietor, who’se dialogue appear’s s’o there is’ an apo’strophe with nearly every us’e of the letter 'S. It’s never explained why, but I think readers of this thread can gues’s. ---
**Author:** ![Ignatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3be4f8/32.png) [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2005, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mispronunciations-grammatical-errors-drive-you-absolutely-batty/317148/163 "2005-08-21T21:49:11Z")
> [@Cunctator](#): > > The inability to distinguish between two very different words: \*\*it’s \*\* and **its**. This grammatical error is particularly prevalent on the SDMB. One can find an example in practically every thread (including this one). I use the difference as one of my key tests when assessing graduates’ spelling and grammatical knowledge when they apply for positions within my organisation. I love you Cunctator. Can I go to work for you? Seriously, an error I’ve heard a lot lately is the pronouncing of the word, “height” as if it ended in “th”, i.e., “heighth” instead of “hite”. (btw-is your \*nom de board \* a play on “dictator” but with an extra letter to make it past the censors?) ---
**Author:** ![Ignatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3be4f8/32.png) [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2005, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mispronunciations-grammatical-errors-drive-you-absolutely-batty/317148/164 "2005-08-21T22:00:38Z")
“As far as…” used without a follow-up “is conderned” or “goes” instead of the simpler “As for…” “Me and her went to the movies last night”. I call this a “Tontoism” but hope I don’t offend any Indigians. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2005, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mispronunciations-grammatical-errors-drive-you-absolutely-batty/317148/165 "2005-08-21T22:18:50Z")
> [@Ignatz](#): > > I love you Cunctator. Can I go to work for you? Graduate applications for 2007 will be accepted throughout April 2006. 🙂 > [@](#): > > (btw-is your \*nom de board \* a play on “dictator” but with an extra letter to make it past the censors?) No, the name is based on that of a famous Roman general, [Quintus Fabius Maximus,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fabius_Maximus) whose strategies I admired when I did Latin at school. ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2005, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mispronunciations-grammatical-errors-drive-you-absolutely-batty/317148/166 "2005-08-21T23:39:46Z")
> [@Fish](#): > > Ninthed on “literally.” > > To add to the complaint of Wa **r** shington, let me add the common mispronunciation of our neighbor state, Oregon. It’s to rhyme with “or a gun”, not “or a gone”, as many national pundits seem to think. This is an especially grievous error in films where the actor plays someone who _lives_ there and can’t say it. I always wondered about that. I assumed “or-a-gun” was a local pronunciation, like Mizzourah for Missouri. Now you’ve got me confused; if it’s a local way of saying it, then you have to say New Yawk for New York. Can’t have it both ways! ---
**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2005, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mispronunciations-grammatical-errors-drive-you-absolutely-batty/317148/167 "2005-08-21T23:45:30Z")
In what way am I saying it should be both ways? I’m saying it gets on my bloody nerves. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-mispronunciations-grammatical-errors-drive-you-absolutely-batty/317148.md?page=8)