In the preferred pronunciation of “often”, the “t” is silent. I hear more and more people pronouncing the “t”, so I expect that through common usage it may gradually become acceptable.
Espresso doesn’t have an “x” in it, though you often hear people pronounce it as if it did.
Did you have a “real-a-tor” help you sell your house? It’s “realtor”.
Did you say “I could care less”? Then I guess you care, unless you mean that you “couldn’t care less”.
Have you heard people say they need to “orientate” themselves when they mean “orient”.
I’ve already talked about “nucular”. I’ve heard that Americans have more trouble with this than Australians or the British.
What frequently mispronounced words bug you?
After living in Oklahoma for several years you pretty much have to ignore mispronounced words… otherrwise your brain might go “nucular”
Comment by Ken — April 26, 2006 @ 6:16 pm
How about “Ore-gUn? Until we moved to the west, I thought it was “Ore-gone”
Comment by Mom — April 26, 2006 @ 8:20 pm
I just thought of a few more–we used to “see by the paper”, and I’m still not sure which is the proper pronunciation of “wah-ter” or waw-ter, “frahg” or “frawg”, “hahg” or “hawg”, etc. Since the advent of of TV, it has become more difficult to tell where a person learned to talk by his accent. At one time, New England accent was more clipped, and the farther west one went, the broader the sounds became.
Comment by Mom — April 26, 2006 @ 8:29 pm
Irregardless when they mean regardless. I know it’s not pronunciation — it’s just an inappropriate word. I had always thought there was no such word but I checked Webster and he says that irregardless is a word. It’s a word because it is in use. It’s just not the right word and should not be used.
This caused me to think about other strange things in our language. Seems that with English, anything can eventually become “correct” if it is used enough. I watched a series on PBS or somewhere about the history of the English language. More than any other language English has adopted words from many other languages and made them part of it’s vocabulary.
So, unlike the French and probably other languages, the English language police have not done a very good job over the years. Wonder what we will sound like in another 500 years. Compare our language to that of Chaucer or Shakespeare and then as Mom says, think about how much it has evolved just since the advent of TV.
Comment by Richard — April 27, 2006 @ 5:54 am
How about unravel? That, too is now in the dictionary, but it’s simply redundant.
Comment by Mom — April 29, 2006 @ 9:26 pm
Mom,
You’re right! I didn’t realize either that the word should be “ravel”.
So actually “unravel” means to go back to an orderly arrangement of strings. Common usage probably wins out here, though, as most people say “unravel” to mean to unknit or unweave.
Comment by Daryl — April 30, 2006 @ 12:14 pm
Actually, I would say ravel when referring to taking out knitting or crocheting, but I’d be more likely to say unravel if speaking about a mystery or something similar.
Comment by Donna — April 30, 2006 @ 2:12 pm
My pet peeve in the English language is when “I” is used instead of “me” and “me” is used instead of “I.”
For example:
Me and Donna went to Seattle last weekend to visit Dean and Leslie.
Dean and Leslie had dinner with Donna and I.
Comment by Alice Swartz — April 30, 2006 @ 5:05 pm
Alice,
Me too!
Comment by Daryl — April 30, 2006 @ 5:23 pm
Or myself. Please reply to “myself”. Arghh!
Comment by Donna — April 30, 2006 @ 5:57 pm
I hate it when somebody spells “too” as “to”. I’m reading along and suddenly stumble over a sentence like, “I want to go to”, and I’m looking for the destination at the end of the sentence. It may seem like a little thing, but it really breaks my flow when reading.
“It’s” and “Its” doesn’t really bother me, because I have to think about it, so in a sentence it doesn’t jump out at me, though I’m usually careful to get it right. (How’s that for a run-on sentence?)
Comment by Daryl — April 30, 2006 @ 11:01 pm
I have it easy when reading, I’m dyslexic(and can’t spell) so I had to learn how to read differently, I can figure out what almost any word is suppose to be without even thinking. Plus I’ve learned to write in short hand… But, I’ve found short hand is not very excepted. At least I don’t talk in short hand. That’s anoying. whenever someone does it I say “IRL” meaning, “hey your in the real world, knock it off” well the direct translation is different..
Comment by Jocelyn — May 1, 2006 @ 6:37 pm
Jocelyn, I didn’t know you were diagnosed with dyslexia. Congratulations on getting through school in normal time. I know that makes it extra challenging.
Comment by Donna — May 2, 2006 @ 5:45 pm
The one that always bugs me is there, and their.
Comment by Don — May 2, 2006 @ 10:12 pm
Your and you’re.
Comment by Donna — May 3, 2006 @ 6:57 pm