Pronunciation and other peeves

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You know, for all the bucks they get (and they ARE overpaid), you would think television news announcers would, at the very least, take the time to find out how to CORRECTLY pronounce the names of foreign countries and newsmakers. Take Iraq for instance. I've heard ee-rack, I-rack, ih-rack, ih-rahk, and I-rahk. National Public Radio (NPR) has a web site with the pronunciations that I assume are correct and they say it is ih-rahk. But Iraq is only the most recent of the glaringly bad mispronunciations.

Another peeve I've encountered is usually not made by the national news but by local newscasters. They use the words "virus" and "bacteria" interchangeably, as if they were one in the same. Sure they are both microscopic and both have types that cause diseases. They both contain genetic material. But that's pretty much where the similarities end. They are different! Every time I've heard it on the local news I want to phone up the station and tell them what idiots they are.

Okay, I have ranted. Smile

Am I the only anal one out there? Or are there others who find it annoying that these overpaid hacks can't get it right?

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Yeah, the bacteria and virus one gets on my nerves as well.

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Never noticed that one.

Was a story on the local news (not sure why I was watching) about some guy named "Padilla" recently. Only they didn't say it to rhyme with tortilla -- just read it as puh-DILL-uh.

That, and when they mispronounce "thieving bastards" as "congress."

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How about nuclear??? or iran, kabul.

Chi Chi Rodriguez anybody?

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I know. I hear people mis-pronouncing Boston all the time too. It's bahstin dang it! Ya drive your cah there and then ya pahk it. Then ya take the T ovah ta Haahvah Squaya and have ya self a beeah. Ya get wicket pissah drunk an ya listen to people talkin' about their weekend down at Cape Caahd.

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'Murican mispronunciations of Japanese often crack me up...ca-RAW-tee instead of ka-ra-teh, carry-O-key instead of ka-ra-oh-keh, hawkeeBARra 'stead of a-ki-ha-ba-ra, and suchlike...

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patiodog wrote:

That, and when they mispronounce "thieving bastards" as "congress."

*LOL* I think I hate that one the most! Wink

'Cept in Canada it's parliament and the legislature.

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Monger wrote:

'Murican mispronunciations of Japanese often crack me up...ca-RAW-tee instead of ka-ra-teh, carry-O-key instead of ka-ra-oh-keh, hawkeeBARra 'stead of a-ki-ha-ba-ra, and suchlike...

I notice Hawaiian pronunciations are very much like Japanese pronunciations. And you wouldn't believe (okay I guess you would Wink

) how mainlanders butcher the Hawaiian names on the islands. I was once admonished for pronouncing Hana as "hannah" (like the girl's name) and not hahnah. Ever since I realized I should be paying attention to the proper pronunciation of Hawaiian words. Like O`ahu. It isn't oh-wah-hoo, it's o-ah-hoo.

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fishin' wrote:

I know. I hear people mis-pronouncing Boston all the time too. It's bahstin dang it! Ya drive your cah there and then ya pahk it. Then ya take the T ovah ta Haahvah Squaya and have ya self a beeah. Ya get wicket pissah drunk an ya listen to people talkin' about their weekend down at Cape Caahd.

I must have watched Cheers way to long Fishin, I actually had no problem understanding what you said.

Caprice, we all know the difference between "toe- mahtoe" and
"tum- aydah, but you wanna try listening to the "plum in gob" news readers at the BBC, where a raw egg becomes a "ROAR" egg.

Although it's nowhere near as bad as it once was.

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My father has an english accent, he say things like Pizzer, or Lizer for Lisa.
Mom's irish accent says filim, for film.

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Missouri...

Miz or uh
Miz er ee
Misery

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fishin' wrote:

I know. I hear people mis-pronouncing Boston all the time too. It's bahstin dang it! Ya drive your cah there and then ya pahk it. Then ya take the T ovah ta Haahvah Squaya and have ya self a beeah. Ya get wicket pissah drunk an ya listen to people talkin' about their weekend down at Cape Caahd.

You wouldn't happen to know of a Bahstin-to-English dictionary, would you? I recently stahted datin' a Southie and I can't undahstand half 'o what he's sayin'. But I'm wicket smitten, though.

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candor wrote:

You wouldn't happen to know of a Bahstin-to-English dictionary, would you? I recently stahted datin' a Southie and I can't undahstand half 'o what he's sayin'. But I'm wicket smitten, though.

Yup!

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estimate

estimayt when used as 'I estimate it will cost....' NOT estimut

'to get an estimate' ..... yep that's estimut

i just hate it when it's used wrongly

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The last syllable in the name of my home state, Oregon, is pronounced the same as the last syllable of the state just north of it, Washington.

It's OR - EE - GUN, not OR - EE - GONN

Having worked in the nuclear industry since the early 1970s, my pet peeve is "nuclear." Of course it is pronounced "new clee er" and not "new cue ler."

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My favorite mispronunciation of late? Atty-tude. I thought this was a Philly legend promulgated by local newspaper reporters, but I have recently met 2 women from South Philly who use it in a non-ironic manner.

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Pronunciation and other peeves

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