Generally, the way a reporter pronounces “Nicaragua” is a fairly reliable indicator of their political position. The further left, the more spit & vomit.
Other odd pronunciation quirks:
For some reason, broadcast reporters have taken to pronouncing “negotiate” with a hard “s”: Ne-go-SEE-ate. This just cropped up out of nowhere a couple of years ago.
Another, of rather longer standing: Medical professionals pronounce “centimeter” as SOHN-ti-meter. No idea why, but it seems to be nearly universal.
I always assumed har-ASS-ment was transformed to HAR-assment because newscasters didn’t want to sound like they were discussing “her ass” as part of the story…TRM
Maybe this is peculiar to your region? The medical folks I hang around with say SENT-a-meter.
About the pronunciation of names in foreign languages – do newscasters in, say, Mexico, interrupt their Spanish to pronounce the names of American cities and states the way Americans do? If I were listening to the radio in Mexico City, would I hear a clearly-recognizable-to-me “New Jersey” or “Salt Lake City” coming out of the announcer’s mouth?
I’ve heard a couple of MDs saying “Sahn-ti-met-re,” always in reference to dilation of the cervix. Both were conservative and quite elderly OB-GYNs. That is, they were already elderly in 1980. They literally learned it as a word borrowed from the French. I would consider it extremely old-fashioned if I heard it today.
In any event, yeah, those “my way is right all other ways wrong” teachers were always fun. Especially when you get to jr/sr high and have multiple teachers, some of which have the exact opposite idea of what way is right, and you have to keep track of which is which.
Or get a sub that insists you do things a way you know regular teacher is going to have a conniption fit over, but won’t hear of it, because HER way is right.:rolleyes:
I can confirm the “sahn-ti-meter” thing in medicine. My wife learned it in med school and I’ve had fun with it ever since.
People used to pronounce “forte” the same way you’d pronounce “fort”, and saying “for-tay” would mark you as a pseudo-intellectual boob. I just saw a commercial for a new car, the Kia Forte, and guess how they pronounce it?
Saying it as “fort” versus “fortay” actually generally indicates one’s lack of knowledge of the term’s pronunciation dictated by nature of the thing addressed. “Fortay” is becoming the standard pronunciation, but originally this was only used in terms of music. All other uses were “fort”.
I’ve read about this pronunciation, and always heard that it was specific to labor & delivery nurses. However, when my sons were born, I was listening for it and never heard it pronounced that way.
By the way, I don’t know French, but I’ve read that “centimeter” in French would be pronounced pretty much like we say it here, and not “sohn-timeter.” Can someone confirm?
Hey, I still say it as “fort” when I say it, which isn’t very often. It has a nice etymology. Forte’ pronounced with two syllables is an Italian word that means “loud” in music. But the word “forte” is taken from the French, where it is pronounced “fort,” and it means the strong part of a sword, down near the hilt. The tip of the sword, which is the weakest part, is the foible. So forte is the opposite of foible. And it’s pronounced “fort.”
