What words irritate you........

B

brodiebabe

Registered User
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637
What words irritate you when you hear them being pronounced wrong.

For me, I hate when I hear people pronouncing the word "Dune" like "June" - why do people do this?

The other one that bothers me is saying "Alm-onds" rather then
"Am-onds".....

Am I being too pedantic?
 
Los Angelus - most but not all u.k. broadcasters insist on saying los an-gel-lees -drives me mad!
 
brodiebabe said:
I hate when I hear people pronouncing the word "Dune" like "June"
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Like I do.

BroadbandKen said:
...insist on saying los an-gel-lees -drives me mad!
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That's me again I'm afraid.

I don't think you can be so certain that "June" is wrong Brodiebabe.
"Doon" is a mainly American pronunciation AFAIK.

Los Angeles, pronounced correctly, is more likely to be Los AngelEZ I would guess since it's of Spanish origin.

Mine are "thigh" for Thai , EKcetera for etcetera, pacifically for specifically... for starters.
 
Can any pedantic people clear this one up for me?

Is there a correct pronunciation for the word either? Is the 'e' silent or not?
(I always pronounce the e).
 
"Sarc-rifice" when they mean "Sac-rifice" (Cowen, Lenihan, Harney & Co, priests at Mass, RTE talking heads, in fact the whole bleedin' country, except me )

North Americans and Brits (Eastern, Western and Northern) when saying words like "Donegal", "Gallagher", "Donaghy", "McGrath" and "Derry".

brodiebabe said:
What words irritate you when you hear them being pronounced wrong. ... Am I being too pedantic?
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Another thing that drives me nuts is posters who complain about others' pronunciation without first taking the trouble to check their own basic grammar and punctuation.

And while I'm at it maybe the thread title should read "Mispronunciations that irritate".

Which reminds me of a joke:

A foreign gentleman went to London many years ago to study English.

Over the next two years he struggled with the niceties and vagaries of the language. He learned to pronounce "taught", "taut", "thought"; "threw", "through", "trough"; "though", "tough".

Just as he thought he was making progress, he noticed an advertising poster in the tube station on the way back to his digs one night. The poster said "West End production of My Fair Lady, Pronounced Success"; he caught the next flight home.
 
When drawing is pronounced as draawring.

The work irritate also irritates me
 
The ones that get me are 'Chicago' pronounced as 'Chicargo' or 'spaghetti' pronounced as 'pis-getti'.
 
themetunegal said:
The ones that get me are 'Chicago' pronounced as 'Chicargo'
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Have to give the benefit of the doubt but I could have sworn I heard Charlie Bird say Chicargo as he reported about the US elections recently.

Sandwich pronounced sangwitch.

Snooker commentators calling Ken Doherty Ken Dockerty and golf commentators unable to pronounce Padraig. Is Paw drig really that difficult to say ?
 
specific pronounced as pacific (have heard the lovely Mrs Harney say this). Hospital - Hostable
 
A lady on last nights TV3 property programme pronouncing the Celtic Tiger as the "Seltic" Tiger... just once you could forgive as a slip of the tongue but it was a number of times..
 
Australian male pronunciation of "Subaru" - "Su-baaaru" (sheep car?) or even more irritating is the Australian female version "Su-baaarooh" with the pitch rising at the end to make the very irritating antipodean interrogative.

"Impreza" - "Imprezza" or "Impreezza". All together now, say "Impretzah".
 
RTE Weather announcer saying Saherday instead of Saturday
 

Are these 'words' or just a brain f@rt of some marketing dope ?
 
'otel instead of Hotel. And before I'm told it is actually 'otel...then why is 'ospital wrong ?

I was watching a piece on the news about the Rememberance Day 'celebrations' and the RTE reporter in Ypres pronounced it 'Eepers', which made me cringe. Apparently some of the troops who were there pronounced it 'Wipers' back in the day.

In fairness, most Irish people can't be bothered to pronounce any non-english placename/item correctly, but just use the phonetic method....sheer laziness !
 
How about those who pronounce "remuneration" as "renumeration". Really bugs me.
I remember a certain Minister on radio recently referring to "PricewaterCooperhouse"

Conan
 
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