What common mispronunciations drive you mad?
I just heard a news anchor say "astrisks". A guy who talks for a living shouldn't skip the E. It's "asterisks" not "astrisks".
To me, that's right up there with axing a question.
The worst of all, to me, is buying a house through a Realuhtor instead of a Realtor.
My other big pet peeve is when people call jewelry "jewelery".
Are there any others that drive you insane? Do you wanna back me up on any of my examples? Do you think I'm being pedantic and that some or all of those are fine?
Let's get in a language fight!!! :)
Lemme AXE you a kweschin.
ANY of those mispronounced words.
My own. :)
Nucular instead of nuclear. And for some reason presidents always get it wrong! I find that just a bit unsettling.
I'm going to give the guy credit for NOT saying "astrix". At least he tried.
liberry for library
Feberary for February
excape for escape
exspecially for especially
pittcher for picture
lambast for lambaste
pin for pen & pen for pin
orientate for orient
In fact, these: http://grammar.yourdictionary.com/style-and-usage/mispron.html
Along similar lines, I had a professor who would always call a girl in the class "Anus" when her name was Anice. However, instead of being a pet-peeve it has been my favorite mispronunciation.
my friend says 'barrage' like it rhymes with 'carriage'
This might be targeting a specific accent, and I apologize to people with this accent, but it does drive me nuts.
ruff for roof
crik for creek
turbin for turbine
eyether for either
nyther for neither
potahto for potato
tomahto for tomato
...
on second thought, let's call the whole thing off.
My mom says warsh instead of wash...is this perhaps a Southern thing?
I usually don't mind a lot of mispronunciations but for some reason it always bugs me when someone tells me they had to go acrost the street.
@pitamuffin already said nucular, which is definitely my least favorite mispronunciation.
i'll add "athelete" and "irregardless".
Normalcy.
Melk for Milk
Pellow for Pillow
@kfujita: +1 for irregardless.
Did you receive the TEX message? I know he was TEXING you?
People even spell it that way. I believe people think it is correct to TEX as opposed to TEXT.
@countdown: D: You've defined my regional accent!
Though a crik is just a smaller creek.
All of them. I'm a pedant, though.
@hot72chev: My Dad every once in awhile will add an "r" to "wash." He also uses the word "catsup" rather than ketchup. His parents were born & raised in Central PA, as was my Dad until he was 10. He was a Florida boy after that.
I know a few guys were grew up in the DC/MD area who also say "warsh" and "warter." It's a regional thing.
Head on down to my neck of the woods if you want to hear a complete reconstruction of the English language. We drop and add letters, turn single syllable words into multisyllable ones and even make up new words by slamming old ones together..
@hot72chev: I think it's more of a "country thing" because a lot of my relatives from the country say that too.
I've heard so many of these mispronunciations so often throughout my life that I guess they stopped bothering me. The one that I hadn't heard until a year or two ago that really started bothering me is realtor pronounced "real-uh-tor". Anyone else bothered by that one?
MACDONALDS
Jewlery instead of jewelry. Even many jewelry store owners mipronounce it in their ads, and even in stores.
Expresso instead of Espresso
@figgers3036: ya, sorry, i felt pretty bad when I realized I was just targeting a region. But those just aren't real words. Unfortunately the urban dictionary was not too friendly about the region when I googled "crik".
But all three of those terms have been around for such ages that I can't really blame someone for speaking with the accent. I often remind myself of this in my head whenever I hear one of the aforementioned terms, and I just think curses to the person who must have started it all.
Mis-CHEE-vee-us for the correct pronunciation of mischievous. Hate that one.
@countdown: Ha no, it's fine. It's also called "pop". Soda is only used in baking, which is why it's called baking soda.
@hot72chev: this one, especially because it's clearly somebody who's trying to be hip and fancy and winds up looking OH SO PLEBIAN
FEH!
@figgers3036: pop was relevant when soda came in corked bottles, which was never as far as I'm concerned. However, soda does in fact contain soda.
Also, Texas can kindly stay out of this side-conversation, because "coke" is the worst term for any general carbonated drink. Ever.
urine-us instead of your-anus.
hair-ass instead of her-ass.
or mabe it was verse vicea.
missississippi instead of arkansas.
"minor planet" instead of "9th planet"
@misterron: Oh, don't get me wrong. I wasn't saying it was an incorrect pronunciation, but a mere regional thing. I still see catsup in the grocery stores--Hunt's, I believe.
Pluto is too a planet!
@lotsofgoats: It used to be accurate.
I drive my friend crazy by saying salmon instead of sammin, but sammin sounds like kidspeak to me. My peeves: Calvary instead of cavalry. Ordinance instead of ordnance. Weapontry instead of weaponry. Yes, I play a lot of war games, and those guns don't grow on trees!
...and @no1 runs away with it.
I'm amused by most mispronunciations, but one thing does bug me that I hear far too often.
Death for Deaf
srsly
what is that about?
Also...when perusing real estate listings, I love to see the 42' cabinets.
That's some huge cabinets.
'=feet
"=inches
"Draw" instead of "drawer."
I can't think of anything that hasn't already been said, but I wanted to say this to everyone. When someone says "irregardless" or "ofTen" and you find yourself beginning to cringe, close your eyes and think of this.
[wedit ;_;7]
@j5: I used to be a Realtor (not a Real-uh-ter) and the 42' cabinets always cracked me up. The one that really made me pity the seller, though, was when they'd have a listing agent who advertised anything about their "dinning room". I saw it ALL THE TIME. What does one do in a dinning room? Make lots of noise? And shouldn't a real estate expert know how to spell the name of such a standard room? If I hired an agent today, I'd tell them I was going to knock 1% off their commission for each misspelling or typo I found in the ads for my house.
@mrgrogg: True story. I fired a Realtor because the images they posted to MLS were the wrong aspect ratio and the system stretched them.
proNOUNciation instead of proNUNciation.
sure Bert instead of sherbet unless you name is Ernie and you have an orange football shaped head.
@mkentosh: oh man i completely forgot about that one. I hate this one more than "acrost"
I cringe every time I hear the word "slash" pronounced /foɹ-wərd-slæʃ/. Even more when it's pronounced /bæk-slæʃ/.
I'm sure it's pronounced "enema," but I still hear people saying "Eminem."
@lavikinga: Maybe you should direct your statement about Pluto to @no1. I DO agree with you on that . . . Pluto is a planet, and IMO @no1 is "minor".
Nobody outside of Nevada can pronounce Nevada correctly.
@retorak: I bet that really chapped her....you know. :) @trevinopete: Thank you. That always makes a vein pound in my forehead.
@rprebel: I pronounce all my double consonants. Regardless of what some people thought would be easier hundreds of years ago.
Often, handsome, chestnut, Wednesday. I just pronounce the first consonant very softly. And once you start doing it, other people sound dumb for not doing it.
How do you pronounce oft?
In my rural setting you will hear:
Wal Mark instead of Wal Mart
Rockweiler instead of Rottweiler
Weinermire instead of Weimaraner
Datsun instead of Dachshund
Welcome to modern day Mayberry.
@omnichad: Yes! Exactly!
@trevinopete: There are a lot of legitimate pronunciations available: http://www.howjsay.com/index.php?word=mischievous
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