Pronunciations that drive you mad

pickarooney

Buttonftw wrote: »

"H" should be pronounced "haytch". The clue is that there's a H at the start of it.

Wouble you

miralize

A guy I knew once said bongse instead of bounce...

People who pronounce buoy as booey.

whatlliwear

bitemybanger wrote: »

Hostable for hospital
Crips for crisps
Axed for asked
Chimbley for chimney

Just a few small ones but annoying ones all the same.

Oh Sweet Jebus, the Hospital & Chimney ones really pi@@ me off..

A few more that annoy me are:

Specific pronounced as pacific...

Necssshhhhtt instead of next

Shteven instead of Steven..

America pronounced Am-ur-ica.. grrrrrrrr

Pen pronounced as Pin or visa versa...

The King of Moo

Deleted User wrote: »

"H" should be pronounced "haytch". The clue is that there's a H at the start of it.

I think you'll find that we're in the minority of English speakers by pronouncing it "haytch." Not that it's wrong to pronounce it that way, but it's much more common to pronounce it "aitch" and if one were forced to choose a standard pronunciation of the word, that would be it.

pickarooney

pickarooney wrote: »

Wouble you

"Double wou" I think you'll find.

BarnhallBull

On the fish/fishes thing, I never even considered that fishes could be correct, I thought it was just as incorrect as sheeps, but my degree requires me to learn about comparative animal physiology and evolution and other things in which we talk about fish(es), and my lecturers, who study these things and have published multiple papers on these things all say (and write) fishes?

The King of Moo

Deleted User wrote: »

"Double wou" I think you'll find.

"Double you," I think you'll find.

:pac:

gsxr1

The way the hill people in the west always slur their "s" into shwwssst.

Its retarded. Talk properly please.

Sea Filly

The King of Moo wrote: »

I think you'll find that we're in the minority of English speakers by pronouncing it "haytch." Not that it's wrong to pronounce it that way, but it's much more common to pronounce it "aitch" and if one were forced to choose a standard pronunciation of the word, that would be it.

I wonder why though?

Sea Filly

LordSutch wrote: »

TroaTH

That's a new one on me, do some people really say TroaTH?

HEIGHT, THROAT, Simples.

Yep, sadly, yes they do. But then, I say 'heighth'. I'm scum! :pac:

LordSutch

Sea Filly wrote: »

Yep, sadly, yes they do. But then, I say 'heighth'. I'm scum! :pac:

Nobody is saying that you are scum. just curious about the reversal of the TH, that's all.

BarnhallBull

BarnhallBull wrote: »

my lecturers, who study these things and have published multiple papers on these things all say (and write) fishes?

Yeah one of my lecturers (definitely not the type to make mistakes) says "sperms". I always thought the plural was sperm.

The King of Moo

Sea Filly wrote: »

I wonder why though?

I'm not sure really, but I think "haitch" might just suit our accent better than "aitch."

Like our pronunciation of "peugeot:" I think it comes more naturally to an Irish accent, unlike the French and British pronunciation of it.

Sea Filly

LordSutch wrote: »

Nobody is saying that you are scum. just curious about the reversal of the TH, that's all.

I was joking. I know I'm fúcking deadly. :pac:

I dunno why I say 'heighth'. I had an uppity sixth class teacher who gave us elocution lessons to try and rid us of our dratted West of Ireland timbre. That might explain it... but I've been saying 'heighth' my whole life. My very non-posh, non-wannabe posh parents say it, and none of my other teachers had such notions as my sixth class one.

But 'throath' sounds REALLY weird to me. My French teacher in school said it and it never stopped sounding strange to me.

dxhound2005

Brendan97 wrote: »

Whenever I say scone(pronounced scon) and someone else says "no you say it 'scone'(scone as in cone)", it makes my blood boil because they are infact wrong
Because its from scotland and they named it Scone(pronounced scon)

its like us pronoucing facebook as fak-book (never heard this happen before its just as an example)
they named it that so why change it

I don't mind them saying it, its just when they argue to say that I am wrong, when THEY are wrong, is what gets on my nerves

Nobody is wrong, both pronounciations are standard. Check it here:

http://www.howjsay.com/index.php?word=scone&submit=Submit

And here is a little poem:

I asked the maid in dulcet tone

To order me a buttered scone.

The silly girl has been and gone

And ordered me a buttered scone.

Sea Filly

true-or-false wrote: »

Yeah one of my lecturers (definitely not the type to make mistakes) says "sperms". I always thought the plural was sperm.

Isn't there some instances where 'fish' (plural) is the correct word to use, and some where 'fishes' is correct, or something? Maybe kinda like 'people' and 'persons'?

RobbingBandit

hoors instead of Whores.

The King of Moo

BarnhallBull wrote: »

On the fish/fishes thing, I never even considered that fishes could be correct, I thought it was just as incorrect as sheeps, but my degree requires me to learn about comparative animal physiology and evolution and other things in which we talk about fish(es), and my lecturers, who study these things and have published multiple papers on these things all say (and write) fishes?

Sea Filly wrote: »

Isn't there some instances where 'fish' (plural) is the correct word to use, and some where 'fishes' is correct, or something? Maybe kinda like 'people' and 'persons'?

I'm not sure, but I think it's more like the difference between "people" and "peoples" ("of the world," for example).

"Fish" is used to talk about more than one fish in general.

But "fishes" is used when you're specifically talking about different types of fish.

For example:
"There are lots of fish in that pond."
"The fishes of the Atlantic include cod and herring."

Pherekydes

Just heard on the radio right now, incidences in place of incidents. :rolleyes:

suicide_circus

Thung instead of tongue.

Parmiston instead of parmesan (cheese)

Rubbidge instead of rubbish

Sh-oww-dere instead of CHOWDAH

missbelle

RobbingBandit wrote: »

hoors instead of Whores.

Think Nikita off Tallafornia as a prime example

joolsveer

Yossie might instead of Yosemite.

seandeas

anything said by that big thick sounding mucker from the RTE News, Ciarán Mullooley. He really should go to elocution lessons and definitely should NOT be on national television with a disgraceful accent like that..

fricatus

seandeas wrote: »

anything said by that big thick sounding mucker from the RTE News, Ciarán Mullooley. He really should go to elocution lessons and definitely should NOT be on national television with a disgraceful accent like that..

Hmmm, I'm in two minds there, because there are plenty of extreme accents in RTE, for example reyal Duubs Joe Duffy and Brian Dowling (the news correspondent, not the Big Brother guy), as well as Emma MacNamara, who sounds like something out of Ross O'Carroll-Kelly.

Their health correspondent Fergal Bowers, while not having an extreme accent, was on Drivetime the other evening saying "hostipal" over and over again. I had read people's comments about that pronunciation on this thread and had never heard it being used, until I tuned into RTE that evening on the way home!

Still though, Ciarán has some accent, God bless him. One pronunciation of his that drives me cracked is when he pronounces words like "meeting" as "meeteeen".

delricyo

English is changing all time with Americanisms slipping in ....

Harassment - people who put emphasis on the ASS
Finance - people saying figh-nance when it should be finn-ance

Rte doing half and half when it comes to Irish place names.
Port Laois - it is either port leesh. Or purt leesha. Don't mix and match !
Same for Dun Laoghaire

My father (very different generation) insists that the Irish pronounce the letter R incorrectly. He says we should not be saying arrrrr like pirates It should be closer to the way the Brits say it - ahhhh

delricyo

Back to the euro and cent issue :

I always use the singular versions of these words - I thought everyone did ??
As for the French. Is the reason they use centimes not because their old currency had centimes ?

mikemac1

I say lef tenant

American TV tell me it is loo tenant

Now I don't know which to use

billox

i know a guy who says idear instead of idea its painfull

Gbear

Having played both football and basketball, i've been acquainted with both defence and defence. :P

B0jangles

fricatus wrote: »

Their health correspondent Fergal Bowers, while not having an extreme accent, was on Drivetime the other evening saying "hostipal" over and over again. I had read people's comments about that pronunciation on this thread and had never heard it being used, until I tuned into RTE that evening on the way home! .

Oh God, Ferl Bows and his amazing ability to leave half the letters out when saying a word. Remember when there was that big story about an obstetrician carrying out very unnecessary procedures on some women?

Hearing him talk every days about this rogue obstrishn working in a Hosbil
drove me me nuts.

I think he has gotten speech classes though; he seems to be a lot better these days

languagenerd

Out of interest actually, do people here pronounce the "t" in "often" and "soften"?

I remember my 6th class teacher gave us a list of spellings with silent letters in them to learn, and couldn't figure out why she'd put "often" and "soften" on it. She was from Limerick (teaching in Dublin), so I asked my dad, who's also from Limerick, and he pronounced them "offen" and "soffen". (As did the teacher, as I later discovered).

It annoyed me as an 11-year-old but not anymore :P What do people here say?

Ruralyoke

languagenerd wrote: »

Out of interest actually, do people here pronounce the "t" in "often" and "soften"?

Not quite - but I do a sort of "semi glottal stop" if you know what I mean.

That nerdy enough for ya?

Extraneous TH pronunciation must be the worst though.

Thigh for Thai etc.

I hear ENGlish (the beginning to rhyme with length) the odd time which to me sounds wierd beyond belief. Not all that annoying though, funny enough.

Duckjob

The way Eamon Gilmore says "Fine Gael" ("Feena Gwail")

Wibbs

mikemac1 wrote: »

I say lef tenant

American TV tell me it is loo tenant

Now I don't know which to use

Well it's French in origin like many many military words, so the Yanks are more correct on that score. Left instead(or is that in lieu of:)) of Lieu makes no sense. I suspect the British pronunciation is to reduce the French influence. They've got previous them two.

I am pie

Ruralyoke wrote: »

Not quite - but I do a sort of "semi glottal stop" if you know what I mean.

That nerdy enough for ya?

Extraneous TH pronunciation must be the worst though.

Thigh for Thai etc.

I hear ENGlish (the beginning to rhyme with length) the odd time which to me sounds wierd beyond belief. Not all that annoying though, funny enough.

That TH carry on is incredible...the amount of broadcasters on TV and radio I have heard butchering that silent H is comical. I actually think they have decided they are right and that a H can never be silent.

The King of Moo

languagenerd wrote: »

Out of interest actually, do people here pronounce the "t" in "often" and "soften"?

I remember my 6th class teacher gave us a list of spellings with silent letters in them to learn, and couldn't figure out why she'd put "often" and "soften" on it. She was from Limerick (teaching in Dublin), so I asked my dad, who's also from Limerick, and he pronounced them "offen" and "soffen". (As did the teacher, as I later discovered).

It annoyed me as an 11-year-old but not anymore :P What do people here say?

I've never pronounced the "t," but I also wouldn't bat an eyelid if somebody else did.
To me, both pronunciations are correct, with it sounding a little more formal when the "t" is pronounced.

Snickers Man

Pherekydes wrote: »

Eck setera.

Anything with a 'th' by Ian Guider.

...

Second that. Can't remember last time I listened to the business news on Newstalk. His introduction is an automatic cue to flick over.

"Tree towsand new jobs promised for...." [flick]

fishy fishy

Odats wrote: »

Not to be pedantic but that is the way it is pronounced in Haitian Creole. Ayiti is the Creole for Haiti.

Lived there for over a year and it's a crazy country with some beautiful people and places but that's another topic.

ya, but in all fairness the newsreaders in Ireland are not Haitian Creoles are they? They are bog standard Irish.

they don't say Pareeeeeeeeeeeeeee for paris do they?

LordSutch

mikemac1 wrote: »

I say lef tenant

American TV tell me it is loo tenant

Now I don't know which to use

Lieutenant is pronounced as 'Leftenant' on this side of the pond (in both Britain and Ireland).

lookinbusy

pacific for specific.. hate that.

languagenerd

languagenerd wrote: »

Out of interest actually, do people here pronounce the "t" in "often" and "soften"?
What do people here say?

I'd never pronounce the T.

Wibbs

I'd pronounce the T alright. It wouldn't be a hard T though but defo a t sound and not "offen".

celtictiger32

LordSutch wrote: »

Lieutenant is pronounced as 'Leftenant' on this side of the pond (in both Britain and Ireland).

eh..... no its not!

Wibbs

celtictiger32 wrote: »

eh..... no its not!

It would have been, at least before American media influence. Now more likely to hear the American, rather original French pronunciation.

LordSutch

celtictiger32 wrote: »

eh..... no its not!

Lieutenant is pronounced as 'Leftenant' on this side of the pond (in both Britain and Ireland) and I know this for a fact, mostly because of a Defence Forces friend, and just because I knew from listening to interviews etc etc . . .

celtictiger32

LordSutch wrote: »

Please enlighten us.

i have never heard lieutenant being pronounced 'leftenant' in ireland, and thats amongst military personnel aswell.

Wibbs

Nope it's not LS, or a lot less so than in the past. "Lefttenant" is an incorrect pronunciation of the original French word for cultural reasons. IIRC there may be some reasoning behind it with old french that add an F to U and O sounds, but unlikely.

Gbear

LordSutch wrote: »

Lieutenant is pronounced as 'Leftenant' on this side of the pond (in both Britain and Ireland) and I know this for a fact, mostly because of a Defence Forces friend, and just because I knew from listening to interviews etc etc . . .

Just because the military have been mispronouncing it for a long time doesn't make the pronunciation any more correct.

LordSutch

Wibbs wrote: »

Nope it's not LS, or a lot less so than in the past. "Lefttenant" is an incorrect pronunciation of the original French word for cultural reasons. IIRC there may be some reasoning behind it with old french that add an F to U and O sounds, but unlikely.

So are you saying that in recent years the American form/pronunciation of LOO-tenant has been adopted here?