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  • MY pet peeves

    Why do so many people make the mistake between nationality and ethnicity?

    It really bugs me.

    Another one is when you ask somebody in Hawaii to say the word library.

    90% of the answers will be liberry...wow!
    Listen to KEITH AND THE GIRLsigpic

    Stupid people come in all flavors-buzz1941
    Flickr

  • #2
    Re: MY pet peeves

    Originally posted by alohabear View Post
    Another one is when you ask somebody in Hawaii to say the word library.

    90% of the answers will be liberry...wow!
    In many varieties of American English, it is possible to drop one /r/ from certain words that
    contain two /r/s, such as su(r)prise, pa(r)ticular, gove(r)nor, and co(r)ner.
    from: [r]-dissimilation in American English,
    http://linguistics.berkeley.edu/bls/...cts34/Hall.pdf
    Greg

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    • #3
      Re: MY pet peeves

      Does anyone else say "FebRuary"?

      The one that bugs me most is "nuclear" when pronounced as "nuke-u-lar."

      President Jimmy Carter said it that way - and he served on a nuclear submarine in the U.S. Navy. Others who mispronounced it include Presidents Bush (the 2nd) and Eisenhower, as well as Edward "father of the H-Bomb" Teller.

      In Physics for Future Presidents, Prof. Richard Muller of the University of California says the pronunciation "has been a tradition at some of our weapons labs since World War II." He says it derives from the "combination of 'nuke' with the ending '-ular' inspired by similar words such as spectacular, popular, and molecular."

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      • #4
        Re: MY pet peeves

        When there's some difference between the spelling and the pronunciation, people always seem to jump to the conclusion that the pronunciation is in error. Why is that? Maybe it's the spelling that's wrong.
        Greg

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        • #5
          Re: MY pet peeves

          Remember a while back, when tthe State put out a TV spot to promote reading and going to the library...at the end a group of keiki said something like "Go to the LIBERRY! " Someone should have corrected that.

          http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Liberry
          Listen to KEITH AND THE GIRLsigpic

          Stupid people come in all flavors-buzz1941
          Flickr

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          • #6
            Re: MY pet peeves

            Okay try this one. It makes me cringe when people pronounce "etc." as "ek cetera" Actually "etc." comes from the Latin "et cetera." This translates as et = "and", cetera = "the others." So "etc." means "and the others."

            (Thanks to two years of high school Latin!)

            amo amas amat
            amamus, amatis, amant
            Peace, Love, and Local Grindz

            People who form FIRM opinions with so little knowledge only pretend to be open-minded. They select their facts like food from a buffet. David R. Dow

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            • #7
              Re: MY pet peeves

              Originally posted by matapule View Post
              Okay try this one. It makes me cringe when people pronounce "etc." as "ek cetera" Actually "etc." comes from the Latin "et cetera." This translates as et = "and", cetera = "the others." So "etc." means "and the others." (Thanks to two years of high school Latin!)
              Tell those folks "Quin tu in lacum desilis!" (I was also a two-years-in-high-school Latin student.) After all, manus manum lavat.

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              • #8
                Re: MY pet peeves

                So should they have edited Israel's song when he says chimanee...I no tink so.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: MY pet peeves

                  Who says quarter as opposed to quater? (=$0.25)

                  aND, wHO CARES?????

                  Understanding trumps pronunciation.
                  Last edited by Kaonohi; September 24, 2012, 08:21 PM. Reason: Anthropology
                  Be Yourself. Everyone Else Is Taken!
                  ~ ~
                  Kaʻonohiʻulaʻokahōkūmiomioʻehiku
                  Spreading the virus of ALOHA.
                  Oh Chu. If only you could have seen what I've seen, with your eyes.

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                  • #10
                    Re: MY pet peeves

                    Ree-la-tor vs. reel-tor (realtor)
                    Jew-luh-ree vs. jew-el-ree (jewelry)
                    Su-pose-uh-blee vs. su-pose-ed-lee (supposedly)
                    Uh-crost vs. uh-cross (across)

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                    • #11
                      Re: MY pet peeves

                      OK, tourist gaffes:

                      Kamehameha = Kame- hame- ha!
                      O`ahu = Wahoo
                      Kapiolani = Kape o lani (among others)

                      and so on...
                      Be Yourself. Everyone Else Is Taken!
                      ~ ~
                      Kaʻonohiʻulaʻokahōkūmiomioʻehiku
                      Spreading the virus of ALOHA.
                      Oh Chu. If only you could have seen what I've seen, with your eyes.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: MY pet peeves

                        Originally posted by GregLee View Post
                        When there's some difference between the spelling and the pronunciation, people always seem to jump to the conclusion that the pronunciation is in error. Why is that? Maybe it's the spelling that's wrong.
                        Actually, only Spain has a "Language Congress" which dictates the correct spelling and pronunciation of words.
                        For the rest of us there is no 'right' pronunciation, we have the freedom of dialect differences.

                        Also, for Leo, yes, I say FebRuary. (Feb-roo-airy)
                        Be Yourself. Everyone Else Is Taken!
                        ~ ~
                        Kaʻonohiʻulaʻokahōkūmiomioʻehiku
                        Spreading the virus of ALOHA.
                        Oh Chu. If only you could have seen what I've seen, with your eyes.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: MY pet peeves

                          As an English teacher, I always have to tread carefully in discussions like this. I am aware of the extra scrutiny we teachers are deservedly put under, so in general I try to stay out of these threads. While it's always great when people take a critical look at the way the language is used, if I go too far, I get called a grammar Nazi.

                          Add to that the overall negativity of such conversations and it's always just best if I stay out.

                          However, I did a quick search of posts by some of the complainants in this thread, and was alternately amused and appalled by the egregious flouting of elementary-school-level standard English practices. One person who listed peeves in this thread once posted a three-sentence response which didn't contain a single end-mark (such as a period or exclamation point).

                          Someone else in this thread, normally a very good writer (with perhaps too great a fondness for ellipses), has made the its/it's mistake a couple of times recently.

                          We all make mistakes. I sent a text message to another English teacher this morning in which I made the to/too mistake. Luckily, I caught it before she responded and I was able to make a quick joke out of it.

                          And while I realize that there are differences between mistakes, typos, not knowing, not caring, and simply mispronouncing, my point is that threads like this are always pointed outward. This is fine with me, because heck: if something peeves you, it peeves you, and what's a discussion forum for if not to express whatever's got you riled up?

                          I would like gently to suggest, though, that we all spend a little bit of time being peeved with our own misuses of the language. The result would probably be improved communication all around, and since good writing and good thinking almost always go hand in hand, we might make ourselves--each of us and each other--smarter in other ways, too.

                          Leaving out a period at the end of a sentence once is an error. Doing it for every sentence in a post is not caring. But if you don't care about your own use of the language, why do you care so much about everyone else's?

                          This has given me an idea for a new topic: the space on HT where we post the things about ourselves that embarrass us or drive us crazy. Let's do it.
                          Last edited by helen; September 27, 2012, 12:03 AM. Reason: adding a link to a new thread
                          But I'm disturbed! I'm depressed! I'm inadequate! I GOT IT ALL! (George Costanza)
                          GrouchyTeacher.com

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                          • #14
                            Re: MY pet peeves

                            Scriv, you and I are both right.
                            Grammar - syntax - etc. ae important, but in this conext, the most important thing is: communication/understanding.

                            We can fuk op speakling, usauallydoo to less educaion, or we cn make errors based on tping.... Oups!

                            But as long as we understand one another, that is the important thing. Yes?
                            Be Yourself. Everyone Else Is Taken!
                            ~ ~
                            Kaʻonohiʻulaʻokahōkūmiomioʻehiku
                            Spreading the virus of ALOHA.
                            Oh Chu. If only you could have seen what I've seen, with your eyes.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: MY pet peeves

                              If we can tell where sentences end without the periods, and we can, why bother to use the periods? Insisting on periods is all about enforcing class prejudice and has nothing to do with effective communication.
                              Greg

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