Stupid mis-pronounciations that piss you off

[Manford Thirty-Sixborough]

We come accross these all the time (cf "Controversy" and "Aitch" in the other thread), but there are two I've been hearing constantly of late, and they've been driving me up the wall.

Firstly, why can nobody in Hull pronounce Jardiniere, instead insisting upon calling them "Jar-din-air"s? I can understand them pronouncing the "J" wrongly, and getting the vowel sound wrong, but what's the justification for omitting an entire symbol?

The other one, "melamine" wouldn't be quite so bad, were it not for the fact that I have pronounced it properly and been fucking "corrected".

[Neville Chamberlain]

Shouldn't it be "mis-pronunciation"? It always gets my goat when people say "pronounciation".

[A Passing Turk Slipper]

That's almost as ironic as rain on your wedding day. I can't fucking stand the Aitch thing but what is even worse than that is that up here in Scotland some people pronounce J (jay) as Ji. That is the only way I can think to spell it but when said it even sounds annoying. I really really hate it when it's pronounced like that.

[Raminagrobis]

Firstly, why can nobody in Hull pronounce Jardiniere, instead insisting upon calling them "Jar-din-air"s? I can understand them pronouncing the "J" wrongly, and getting the vowel sound wrong, but what's the justification for omitting an entire symbol?

I have no idea what it has to do with Hull, but in French prosody the word 'Jardinière' is counted as three syllables, not four. Cf. Rimbaud's 'Dormeur du val', in alexandrins (12 syllable lines):

C'est un trou de verdure où chante une rivière,
Accrochant follement aux herbes des haillons
D'argent ; où le soleil, de la montagne fière,
Luit : c'est un petit val qui mousse de rayons.

The -ière sound is effectively one syllable. So I'd say that "Jar-din-air" is a better anglicized approximation of the French phoneme (which does not exist in English) than "Jar-din-ee-air" (clearly wrong).

Oh yeah, mispronunciations that annoy me. I don't like it when people say 'harassment' with the stress on the second syllable. But I don't care really, they can say what they like.

[shatnersbassoon]

Here's one from those pesky sceptics:

Aluminum

even when they spell it aluminium, and every other element in the flipping periodic table ends in -ium, even the ones that they discovered.

I despair, I really do.

[Neville Chamberlain]

Why is that the majority of people, including Tony Blair, pronounce the word "nuclear" as "nu-cu-lar"?

Now that really gets my goat.

Mind you, I love it when people say "burgle-ry" instead of "burglary", but I reckon that's a South-West thing. Chris Vacher on Points West says it all the time.

[shatnersbassoon]

[

Luit : c'est un petit val qui mousse de rayons.

rayon is my favourite french word, where else would you find a word that can mean:
1. Shaft of light
2. Shelf
3. Cells in Honeycomb

and pretty much anything else in between as far as I can tell.

[Lady Beany]

I always fuck up the word 'adamant' (that is how you spell it, isn't it?)  I have to stop myself from saying 'adam-ant' or 'adam-nant' every bloody time.  Big brain fart.

Hmmm, I make it look as though I say that word lots and lots.

[Abbie]

I pronounced 'binoculars' wrong until it was pointed out to me by an ex (I often slip them into conversation) - so now I do it just to annoy people:  

That's right, I said BINOK-CLE-ARS.

[Partridge's Love Child]

Zee.

[butnut]

Zee.

Well, I was going to mention this, but then stated having a big internal dialogue about whether it was really a mis-pronunciation as it's just their wacky American way. It does piss me off though. I bet they did it just so it rhymes with ABC.

[zozman]

The classic one - "pacific" arther than "specific".

What the buggery is a Jardiniere when it's at 'ome?

[Jemble Fred]

Not a mispronunciation (well shut up then. No, you shut up. etc) but it annoys the flesh off me when people say 'should of' instead of 'should have'. A lot of people do it on here, and it seems to be part of the Viz style guide too. I'm sure I was taught the correct way back at Junior school, for heaven's sake.

The classic one - "pacific" arther than "specific".

I thought it was only Delboy that did that?

[Cerys]

'Exetera' instead if 'et cetera'.  Usually from people who really should know better.  Grrr.

[Lady Beany]

'Exetera' instead if 'et cetera'.  Usually from people who really should know better.  Grrr.

Guilty as charged m'ledeh!

[Purple Tentacle]

A lot of people do it on here, and it seems to be part of the Viz style guide too. I'm sure I was taught the correct way back at Junior school, for heaven's sake.

Surely you shouldn't expect to look to Viz for acceptable grammar usage?

Piss up a rope, fuckstick.

[JesusAndYourBush]

Almost everone in the media who use their voice for a living and so should know better all pronounce vulnerable as vunerable.

I hope the "mispronounciation" in the title was irony and not ignorance.

[DuncanC]

Zee.

Well, I was going to mention this, but then stated having a big internal dialogue about whether it was really a mis-pronunciation as it's just their wacky American way. It does piss me off though. I bet they did it just so it rhymes with ABC.

More likely, so they can bolt an E on the front and have a way of saying "easy" that is two whole letters shorter.

[Lady Beany]

I just heard someone say (pron) 'areolee'.  I thought it was 'areoLA'?  Or does the latter refer to just one?

Yours

Confused, in London.

[The Boston Crab]

yeah, aureloa would be just the one. aureloae is both.

[Lady Beany]

Oh, so THATS how you spell it.  What a dumb-arse I am. Ta muchly!

[Paaaaul]

I just heard someone say (pron) 'areolee'.  I thought it was 'areoLA'?  Or does the latter refer to just one?

.

The plural of areola is areolae and is pronounced ar-e-o-lie.

So there

[Capt.Midnight]

Ever since a friend pointed out there was no 'P' in the pronunciation of 'Vimto' my life's been a living hell.

[morgs]

Drawing pronounced as draw-Ring

Privacy now pronounced the U.S. way on the BBC  (to rhyme pri- with why)

Skellington - happens all the time in school

[Shaddock]

I've noticed that some poeple instead of saying "ask" swap the last two letters around say what sounds like "arks" -- and guess what, I've only noticed it said by a small proportion of black people in London and South East.  Why is this I wonder, I'm stumped.

Then there's the omnipresent "With regards to ..." --  why do these people send "regards"?  What they mean is "with regard to", but they're too thick to realise the difference.

[Lt Plonker]

My mum still says chimley, bless her.

I once overheard some American tourists pronounce Rainham as Rain-ham, which amused me more than frustrated me. It's great hearing town names and English words being spoken from a fresh perspective.

[Ambient Sheep]

'Exetera' instead if 'et cetera'.  Usually from people who really should know better.  Grrr.

Ooooh, that reminds me of the people who say "asterix" when they mean "asterisk".

It's usually the same people.

[Lady Beany]

It's usually the same people.

*cough* *red face*

[Jet Set Willy]

It's usually the same people.

*cough* *red face*

Erm, someone wrote something or provided a link explaing why black people normally say these 'X' words in a different way, can't remember who or when though. Sorry if this comes out wrong!

[Lady Beany]

Ha! Thats funny!  I am brown though.  Innit.  Rarsclart... or something along those lines.