My room mate, after many corrections, still uses ideal in place of idea. “I have no earthly ideal.” Drives me nuts. He also still calls the coffee carafe a carafate. (Capitalize that and it’s an ulcer medicine).
I have heard that in the UK there was a point where ALL titles were pronounced as if they were English — hence in the UK “Don Quicks-Oat” was the “proper” pronunciation. Apparently so was “Don Ju-ann.” From a country that gave us “Featheringstonehaugh” pronounced as “Fanshaw,” it boggles the mind…
Not meaning to be a wet blanket, but “fift” is the original form, starting with Old English fifta (m) fifte (f, n). The form fifth first appears in the 14th century, by obvious analogy with fourth, seventh, etc., but the original form (fift) persists in many dialects. Actually, sixth and twelfth have the exact same history. Seventh is a manufactured form, too, replacing original seveth. (The loss of nasals before fricatives is regular in the prehistory of Old English; the “hardening” of *þ to t after fricatives is also normal, as in weight, which has the same suffix (historically) as lenth and breadth. (The former fricative indicated by the speling gh has dissapeared in most dialects of modern English.)
Oddly, lots of “ignorant” forms, for example “figger”, are actually original (in the case of figure, the approved pronunciation is called a “spelling-pronunciation”).
Oh, and ax is a much older form than ask, too. An Old English “ask” would have turned into ash (and is so pronounced in some British English dialects but none, I think, in the USA or Canada). The history is complicated and imperfectly understood, but standard ask appears to be a case of metathesis, like wasp for Old English wæps.
margueritem almost 13 years ago
Snerk!!!
margueritem almost 13 years ago
I had a high school English teacher who pronounced ‘Penelope’ as Penny-lope.
alviebird almost 13 years ago
My room mate, after many corrections, still uses ideal in place of idea. “I have no earthly ideal.” Drives me nuts. He also still calls the coffee carafe a carafate. (Capitalize that and it’s an ulcer medicine).
zero almost 13 years ago
This is just the tip of the iceberb…
Ray_C almost 13 years ago
Just don’t get him started about nukeelar energy.
Motivemagus almost 13 years ago
I have heard that in the UK there was a point where ALL titles were pronounced as if they were English — hence in the UK “Don Quicks-Oat” was the “proper” pronunciation. Apparently so was “Don Ju-ann.” From a country that gave us “Featheringstonehaugh” pronounced as “Fanshaw,” it boggles the mind…
Plods with ...™ almost 13 years ago
Those t’s are like the silent x in fish.
Craigj3534 almost 13 years ago
Hey, Ray C, and the alternate is “nuculer”.
How about: “for all intensive purpose”? – drives me nuts.
ARodney almost 13 years ago
Or, we could put the whole thing off until a Wensday in Febry.
ChukLitl Premium Member almost 13 years ago
It’ll all come out in the worsh.
Barry44 almost 13 years ago
I know several people who get “flustrated”
Dr Sheriff MB esq PhD DML almost 13 years ago
I’m sure their’s some matrix to support you’re hypnosis…
jimcos almost 13 years ago
Prolly shoulda axed soonerer
mrsullenbeauty almost 13 years ago
The thirdt panel almost made me spill my carafate of coffee.
WaitingMan almost 13 years ago
“Nucular” is actually in the Oxford English Dictionary due to its common usage.
margueritem almost 13 years ago
OK, my favorite: ‘Should of’, instead of ‘should have’.
Ray_C almost 13 years ago
Someone is now attempting to walk acrost Anartica.
Ray_C almost 13 years ago
For your pleasure:
http://grammar.yourdictionary.com/style-and-usage/mispron.html
badgerexpat almost 13 years ago
Not meaning to be a wet blanket, but “fift” is the original form, starting with Old English fifta (m) fifte (f, n). The form fifth first appears in the 14th century, by obvious analogy with fourth, seventh, etc., but the original form (fift) persists in many dialects. Actually, sixth and twelfth have the exact same history. Seventh is a manufactured form, too, replacing original seveth. (The loss of nasals before fricatives is regular in the prehistory of Old English; the “hardening” of *þ to t after fricatives is also normal, as in weight, which has the same suffix (historically) as lenth and breadth. (The former fricative indicated by the speling gh has dissapeared in most dialects of modern English.)
Oddly, lots of “ignorant” forms, for example “figger”, are actually original (in the case of figure, the approved pronunciation is called a “spelling-pronunciation”).
Oh, and ax is a much older form than ask, too. An Old English “ask” would have turned into ash (and is so pronounced in some British English dialects but none, I think, in the USA or Canada). The history is complicated and imperfectly understood, but standard ask appears to be a case of metathesis, like wasp for Old English wæps.
admwrlk Premium Member almost 13 years ago
“I take that pill for my prostrate”. “Do you get lunch at school or take a zack lunch?” " There are too many to discuss in medicine.
admwrlk Premium Member almost 13 years ago
Oh, and I had a colleague say we do a whole pot-poury of stuff around here.
Ray_C almost 13 years ago
Don’t forget the symbol you get by doing shift/8. It’s called an “asterick” by a lot of people.