Community Chat

[KKJ]

@jellyBEAN So true and sometimes we aren't taught the right thing even by our teachers.  Example---When I was in 3rd grade my teacher actually told my class we should pronounce  "wash"  as "warsh"  because otherwise it sounds too much like "watch".  That doesn't even make sense!  LOL

[jlkz]

@violann

The last course I had as part of my MA in French Literature was Linguistics.  There I learned about the " glottal stop " where those " tt's " get skipped over in pronunciation.

As I read through all the posts, it reminded me of one of my later Latin classes in high school.  The teacher mentioned that there existed very early lists of how to pronounce words correctly---much like some of the suggestions here.

One I recall:  For " oculus " ( eye ), say oc-u-lus and not

                                                              oc-lus

Some things never change over the millennia !!!

[Sunshine Kate]

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@chiclet wrote:

It is silly for something so unimportant to bother you but every time I hear it pronounced   Buh on    leaving out the t's,  I cringe.  At first I thought it was just really young people but I hear it on others too. 

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@chiclet 

I thought I was the only one this bothered.  I'm so glad you mentioned it.  I cringe also everytime I hear the t's not pronounced.

[walkingal]

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@CalminHeart wrote:

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@Group 5 minus 1 wrote:

I think what you are talking about is geographic differences. I always use the example of the word "roof"?  Is it "ruuf" or "rooof"? I have lived in difference areas of this country and I am always amazed at this.

How do you say "bagel" and I could go on and on. 

And as a target of those that comment it hurts my feelings.

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I agree.  I can drive 2 hours south and hear a whole different way of pronouncing words.

My dad has a PhD in English/Lit and History. He always said it's not nice to criticize someone else's pronunciation, grammar, etc because words are said differently in different parts of the country.  He said it's always better to be kind and accept people as they are.

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@CalminHeart  Of course it isn't nice to criticize someone's pronunciation.  But I think here we're discussing people who are in the public eye, who work in communications.  I don't hear news anchors, game show hosts, commercial actors, narrators, and so forth speaking with a regional dialect.  

[LindaSal]

Well being a New Englander and very close in proximity to Boston........I think this is "wicked" silly, LOL.    We are known not to pronounce our R's  such as pok (park) the ca (car)!   I could never learn to change the way I have been speaking for 60 years, I mean seriously.  I've been poked fun at all over the country when on vacations, people immediately know where you're from.   It doesn't bother me at all, I take it in stride and would never comment on the way anyone else speaks for that matter.   But now that we are on the subject, some people sound ridiculous that attempt to over pronunciate too, JMO.

[Marp]

Sounds like many would like to return to the days when newscasters, announcers, actors, public figures all sounded the same with no indication where they came from--north, south, east, west or in between.

To me that is right up there with actors having to assume a stage name because their given name or their regional accents would be too difficult, reveal heritage or any number of other "faults".

Today, few would object to actors Archibald Leach, Doris Kappelhoff, Ermes Borgnino, Frederick Austerlitz, Lucille LeSueur, Marion Morrison or Issur Demsky but back in their heyday...

(Cary Grant, Doris Day, Ernie Borgnine, Fred Astaire, Joan Crawford, John Wayne, Kirk Douglas)

Disclaimer:  I acknowledge that a lot of entertainers and other public figures still adopt stage names but the reasons for doing so are different than when everyone sounded the same.

[lynne6was7]

I pronounce the t's in button and cotton - or at least one t LOL - but not the t in often. Drives me nuts when I hear that. And don't even get me started on "samwich." That's a two-year-old's pronunciation.

[sunshine45]

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@Carolina925 wrote:

@Group 5 minus 1 , my ex used to say "wheelbar" for wheelbarrow and "barpit" for borrow pit; it took me forever to realize what he was saying. In my southern speak, I always inadvertently add syllables so my wheelbarrow ends up something like "wheeyellbaoro". Differences make the world go 'round, right?

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@Carolina925 

what is a "borrow pit?" have never heard that term before?

[Group 5 minus 1]

Soooo do you say soda or pop or sody pop?

[Jeffnick]

I always think it's funny when people really enunciate the hard T sound in words like button, mountain and curtain. To each their own I guess.