From the Tech Republic:
From #1: Realtor
Many people — I’ve even heard it from people on national TV — pronounce this word REAL-uh-ter. Is this a case of wide-spread dyslexia, transposing the a and the l? It’s REAL-tor. That’s it. You’d think only two syllables would be easier to pronounce, but apparently not.
#2: Nuclear
Do you know how tough it is to be an advocate for the correct pronunciation of this word (NU-clee-er) when the president of the United States pronounces it NU-cu-lar? I don’t buy that it’s a regional thing. Ya’ll is a regional thing; nu-cu-lar is not.
#3: Jewelry
It’s not JOO-la-ree, it’s JOOL-ree. Again with the making things harder by turning a word into three syllables. What’s with that?
#4: Supposedly/supposably
The latter is a nonexistent word.
#5: Supposed to/suppose to
I think this one is more a matter of a lazy tongue than of ignorance. It takes an extra beat in there to emphasize the d at the end, but it’s worth it. And never omit the d if you’re using the term in a written communication or people will think you were raised in a hollowed-out tree trunk somewhere.
#6: Used to/use to
Same as above.
#7: Anyway/anyways
There’s no s at the end. I swear. Look it up.
#8: February/Febuary
As much as it galls me, there is an r between the b and the u. When you pronounce the word correctly it should sound like you’re trying to talk with a mouthful of marbles — FEB broo ary.
#9: Recur/reoccur
Though the latter is tempting, it’s not a word. And again, why add another syllable if you don’t need it?
#10: Mischievous/mischievious
I know, I know, it sounds so Basil Rathbone to say MIS cha vous, but that’s the right way. Mis CHEE vee us is more commonly used, but it’s wrong.
And last but not least, my personal all-time pet peeve — the word often. It should be pronounced OFF un, not OFF tun. The t is silent.
How about “recognize?” It’s not “reck-a-nize,” it should be pronounced “rec-cog-nize”
Then please tell me how to pronounce Brett Favre.
You forgot “exspecially” and “exscape”.
Thanks for pointing these out…all of these are m pet peeves! I also hate when people use the word “weary” when they mean “wary” or “leery”…don’t get me started on “irregardless”…and I know there are a hundred others…
Don’t forget masonry, often pronounced mason-ary. And, here in TN,
you will hear liberry, ambalance, as well as most of those already listed.
My favorite grammatical quirk is the genre which includes past history,
previous experience, etc.
Umm, it’s also ˈjü-əl-rē for jewelry.
How about ‘axe’ for ask?
Actually Off-tun is exactly how it’s pronounced in England.
If we’re counting syllables, how about:
(US)=(UK)
Faucet – Tap
Sidewalk – Path
I’m sure there are loads more !
And yes, I know we call eggplants “aubergines”, so it works both ways
(just remember who invented the language in the first place….. 😉 )
although a really pet peeve is the way certain groups deliberately insist on “aks” instead of “ask”.
Ever since you-know-who started getting mocked for mispronouncing ‘nuclear’, I’ve really been paying attention to how everybody says it. I just pick it up in conversation – I don’t come out and ask. And I swear that whether in person, on talk shows, news, radio, including politicians (both r’s and d’s), it seems like about 25-30% of Americans pronounce it NU cu lar.
-EXetera (etcetera)
-could of done something (should be: could HAVE done something.)
-chimbley (chimney)
Anal?
No thanks.
My wife pronounces the g in hanger. Who knows the correct way?
It’s like us Canucks say, and spell “check” as “Cheque”. I’m west coast Canadian, not even close to Quebec.
tomato/tomoto
Anal/shove it up your ass…lol…
is that your point Bella??? or just the topic in jeneral/general…lol
When I hear people say “aks” or “axe” instead of “ask” I close my eyes and start screaming inside until the pain goes away
Calling a souvenir a “momento”! ARRRGGGHHHH! There’s no such word! You can, of course, have a “memento” of a “momentous” occasion.
And why can’t people figure out the difference between “discreet” and “discrete” or between “infer” and “imply”?
Chris A,
You are obviously British if you would ask us, “to remember who invented the language”. The British didn’t anymore invent English that I invented American. English, above almost all others, is a compilation of many languages. Pick a word, look it up in the dictionary, and check where it came from. Very few are pure Anglo Saxon, and even those are influenced by the Germans or Scandinavians.
The British took French words like labour and harbour, and words that end in re. You left the spelling but altered the pronunciation. If you are going to alter the pronunciation then do the same for spelling. It is this sort of ambiguity that makes your statement about inventing the language so ridiculous.
Excellent post, and I wholeheartedly agree.
However, as a point of reference for #3, ‘Jewelry’ (and therefore the pronunciation “JOOL-ree”, or “JOO-EL-ree”) are correct in the United States. In the UK, however, the spelling of the same word is ‘jewellery’ and the correct pronunciation is, in fact, “JOO-la-ree”.
In both of these cases, the pronunciation and spelling are consistent and therefore some so-called mispronunciation of this word is actually quite understandable.
Please don’t think I’m being an apologist for morons, though. I hate them as much as all of you do.
Since the chat here is about monstrosities in English, how about “insightful” when people mean “perceptive”. The thing I find embarrassing about this kind of thing is that one moron uses a portmanteau word because they don’t know the correct English word (and are too lazy to look it up) – then so-called educated people use it because it sounds “sexy”.
P.s. Many people say “period of time”, I didn’t know there was any other kind of period – period.
I’m glad to see that I’m not the only one who gets annoyed when people misuse these words. I have to admit that as I type this, I’m choosing my words very carefully. I might use a word or phrase incorrectly that could be someone else’s pet peeve. There are a few things that people frequently say that really make me cringe. Why for example, do so many people insist on misusing the word “myself”. I often read memos from management that say things like, “if you have any questions, please feel free to contact John or myself”. Also, I often have to bite my tongue to keep from correcting my boss when he says “irregardless”. I knew a co-worker who was not allowed to send out any written correspondence until I edited it. I remember how another co-worker and I were perplexed by a word he used to begin a sentence. The word was “madafac”. He read it out loud and we realized what he meant to say was, “as a matter of fact”
Why does anyone think mis-CHEE-vee-us is right? You point out that the realtor mispronunciation makes no sense given the spelling, and your “widespread dyslexia” complaint applies at least as well to the mischievous mispronunciation: where’s that I after the V, huh?
In other news, the apostrophe in “y’all” goes after the Y, not the A, because it’s short for “you all.” That’s in the dictionary.