Pronunciation Pet Peeves

Woody wrote: Let me axe you some questions: "What happened to the 's' and the 'k'? Where did you find the 'x'? I'll let you slide on the 'e'."

Newspaper headline: Black Community Terrorized By Ask Murderer

Credit (I think) to The Onion for that one....

oh, i almost forgot, the one that makes me most irritated is

BOLTH!

the scourge of the English language!

curtis73,

Your uncle is correct with the term "base relief map". Google it.

The two that have been irritating the hell out of me for quite a while are Iran and Iraq. They are pronounced Ee-rahn, and Ee-rahk. I don't understand for the life of me why George Bush and Sarah Palin can think anyone can take their foreign policy statements seriously when they can't even pronounce the names of the countries properly.

Seriously... Eye-RACK? Eye-RAN? Damn, those two sound like idiots saying it that way. Makes me want to get all nucular on their asses.

scottgib wrote: curtis73, Your uncle is correct with the term "base relief map". Google it.

Disagree... a relief map is (or can be) a 2D image that uses shadowing and color to indicate terrain. If you google it, you get phrases like "the base of the relief map," but there is no such thing as a "base relief map." The 3D version of a relief map is more accurately called a cartographic relief depiction, or CRD.

And the one's I'm referring to are not 2D images, they are physical sculptures of terrain. You often see them in the visitor's centers at state parks and such.

The mistaking of the term "base relief map" is an oops from the art term bas relief(pronounced "bah"). Its a French term meaning low. Bas relief artwork typically is formed, molded, and chiseled from plaster or mud, sometimes a slurry of mud and paint. Early Bas Relief was known for its 3D relief, but not 3D sculpturing. For instance, the first photo below was early Mayan. Notice how the physical surface of the art has depth, but the lionesses themselves do not.

Contrast that with later stuff that has a more realism to the relief itself, like this from Gujarat, India

I always get frustrated with butchered phrases, too.

-for all intensive purposes

-back by popular demand (its BACKED, people)

and for CRIPE'S SAKE would people PLEASE STOP USING APOSTROPHES TO INDICATE PLURALITY?

Jeez

curtis73 wrote: -back by popular demand (its BACKED, people)

Umm... I've always thought that was: Back, by popular demand...

As in, this band was really popular and there has been a lot of demand for them, so they have returned.

curtis73 wrote: and for CRIPE'S SAKE would people PLEASE STOP USING APOSTROPHES TO INDICATE PLURALITY? Jeez

You use apostrophies for a plural when the word ends in an "s".

"Bodeous" - referring directly to two individuals, usually children.

As in, "The bodeous git over here and sit down and shut up!"

walterj wrote: Hey are any of youse Eye-talian?

I am 50%. How you doo-in? You got sometin to say? Like Robert De Niro?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMaTfAn7KAs

walterj wrote: It annoys me when people pronounce it raydeeator in place of radiator.

Are you saying it's pronounced "raah dee ator"?

Do things "raah dee ate"? Not around here - they "ray dee ate". Likewise, uranium gives off "ray dee ation", not raah dee ation".

914Driver wrote:

curtis73 wrote: and for CRIPE'S SAKE would people PLEASE STOP USING APOSTROPHES TO INDICATE PLURALITY? Jeez

You use apostrophies for a plural when the word ends in an "s".

Please tell me you're kidding...

Apostrophes are only used for contractions and posessives.

Like when you go to a restaurant and order one of their Market Fresh Salad's? Maybe they come with Crouton's or Cucumber's.

It really pisses me off.

A guy called me and repeated several times he saw my ad on "Greg's list"

Another fairly common CL posting is for Cadilliac Convertors.

curtis73 wrote:

914Driver wrote:

curtis73 wrote: and for CRIPE'S SAKE would people PLEASE STOP USING APOSTROPHES TO INDICATE PLURALITY? Jeez

You use apostrophies for a plural when the word ends in an "s".

Please tell me you're kidding... Apostrophes are only used for contractions and posessives. Like when you go to a restaurant and order one of their Market Fresh Salad's? Maybe they come with Crouton's or Cucumber's. It really pisses me off.

Ah, but are they not the salad's croutons and cucumbers? Just kidding. Apostrophe abuse cannot be allowed to continue. We must win this battle against superfluous apostrophes.

EastCoastMojo wrote: "Bodeous" - referring directly to two individuals, usually children. As in, "The bodeous git over here and sit down and shut up!"

Is that from the same language family as "widjadidja?"

"Y'all didn't bring yer pickup truck widjadidja?"

I grew up in PA, the son of a West Virginia Farmer and a PA farmer. Its a miracle I don't say warsh on laundry day.

Some other PA-isms that you may have heard:

Picksbergh. Its a city in western PA

Dahntahn. That is the urban section of an esablished city

Sannich. Typically meat between two pieces of bread.

Per-mannys. A dahntahn Picksbergh restaurant (Primanti's) that sells sanniches... or sannich's as the case may be.

Fer-Rihw? Meaning; are you kidding? Most of us know it as "for real?"

Shneew. This was what my neighbor called her daughter. Her name was spelled Chenille.

'n-att. A contraction of "and that." For instance, "you wanna go dahntahn to per-mannys 'n get a sannich 'n-att?"

'yinz. evidently a contraction of you and ins. For instance, "yinz wanna go dahntahn to..." I actually heard a "yall'ins" once.

Uptahn. Going to the bars up in town.

Vijzzal. What you see with your eyes. As in, "vijzzal arts"

Arn City. Since the Picksburgh is known for its production of the metal Iron... or Arn. Its also the name of Picksburgh's product shown in the next example.

Ber. Its a foamy brewed beverage. Another example of this beverage is Miwwer Lite.

For more frivolity, visit http://www.pittsburghese.com/

my whole family that lives up in buffalo.....Washington or Washer turns into Warshington/Warsher. I always ask where the f is the war? People that add Rs to everything. Honder and soder are the most common I hear. Then...why the f do the british say "Zed3" or "350Zed?"

I'm no student of accents, but I've noticed that the Brits and New Yorkers that add a vowel to the end of a word where there normally is none ('Honder,' 'soder,' and such), do so when that word precedes another word beginning with a vowel. Kind of a verbal laziness, much like a lot of these examples, really.

Never lived in central PA, but always in the area enough to spend some time there. One expression they use that drives me nuts: "It's all."

That's the term. What they actually mean is "it's all gone", but some how that critical word has disappeared from the saying. I remember a waitress coming back to our table and telling me to order something else because the dish I ordered was "all".

I really had to resist the temptation to shout "All what?! All gummy? All over the floor? All rotten? All berkeleyed up?"

Where I grew up, the plural of you was you'uns. Now I just hear ya'll.

DirtyBird222 wrote: why the f do the british say "Zed3" or "350Zed?"

Apparently the entire rest of the world calls the letter 'Z' Zed. We are the oddballs it seems.

My thing is how do the people who come from where the thing in question came from say it? Such as "my friend has a 1972 Pontiac Le Mans (Le Mahnz)." Or, "my friend visited Le Mans (Le Mah) in 1972."

Or, my friend George is to be called Hoarhe, as that is his name. He was born in Mexico, and his name is pronounced Hoarhe. Similar to a person born in the states named George and pronounced Jorge, would still be known as George in Mexico, and not Hoarhe.

And what is with the old guy on tv calling it Diabeetus? Is that a correct pronunciation?

Joey

I can't read this whole thread, cause it will piss me off too much, so my apologies if this has been mentioned, but my ALLTIME most annoying pronunciation is:

Bedroom suit

It's a suite, folks, pronounced "sweet".

I scream whenever I hear that one, AT LEAST once a week.

joey48442 wrote: And what is with the old guy on tv calling it Diabeetus? Is that a correct pronunciation?

Diabeetus!

walterj wrote:

DirtyBird222 wrote: why the f do the british say "Zed3" or "350Zed?"

Apparently the entire rest of the world calls the letter 'Z' Zed. We are the oddballs it seems.

so does the rest of the world call a Zebra and "Zedebra?"