Mispronunciation/ Poor grammar that annoys you?

professore

A mute point.
Without further adieu.
Com it e.
He's not a bad guy per say.
If we bet on that horse we can't loose.

All of the above. Especially the loose one. Grrrrrr!

professore

SHOVELLER wrote: »

1. That RTE continuity announcer who pronounces it as ARE-T-E.

2. It is "I did it" not "I done it"

3. Anybody who cannot spell is an idiot. There is absolutely no excuse anymore with spellcheck and predictive texting. Incredible how proofreading is not done anymore in books, newspapers and magazines.

Spell checkers won't pick up on 2 above. They won't catch loose and lose type mistakes either.

bnt

I notice when people mix up spelled and spelt when referring to words. Perhaps it's down to the books I've read, but I use them differently, depending on the context. I say that words are spelt in the abstract, but are spelled by people.

Spelling words is an action, so "spelled" is the past tense* form of the verb "spell".
"Spelt" on the other hand is a past participle* form, referring to a word's state: a word on the page is spelt, correctly or incorrectly.

For example: if I spell some words incorrectly in this post, then I will have spelled them incorrectly. After I post this, you will read them as incorrectly spelt, because they are here in this post on their own, divorced from the actions I performed in typing them.

The problem is that I might be wrong about this, since I've checked various online sources and can't seem to find a consistent opinion on this. Most sites I've checked seem to focus on how they have been used in the past, and say that both forms work as both past tense and past participle. I'm going to keep using them differently, but I suspect this battle is already lost.

PS: Ditto for learned (past tense) and learnt (past participle). "I learned a lesson; the lesson was learnt."


* past participles: words formed from verbs which can be used as adjectives. e.g.
past tense: "I broke the window"
past participle: "the window is broken"

professore

It's actually funny, some people judge others on appearances or whatever. I judge them if they use incorrect expressions trying to be sophisticated. Shows a certain kind of sloppiness.. If you're not sure don't do it!

dxhound2005

professore wrote: »

A mute point.
Without further adieu.
Com it e.
He's not a bad guy per say.
If we bet on that horse we can't loose.

All of the above. Especially the loose one. Grrrrrr!

I have never ever heard lose/loose confused in speech, only ever in writing. Which is understandable given the variations in English. Did you ever hear anyone say "I was afraid we were going to loose the match" for instance? Why is goose pronounced the same as loose but choose is not?

And why is lose pronouced to ryhme with choose when we have dose hose nose pose and rose. And again why is dose set apart from the others?

And how can you tell the difference between per se and per say in speech?

dxhound2005

bnt wrote: »

I notice when people mix up spelled and spelt when referring to words. Perhaps it's down to the books I've read, but I use them differently, depending on the context. I say that words are spelt in the abstract, but are spelled by people.

Spelling words is an action, so "spelled" is the past tense* form of the verb "spell".
"Spelt" on the other hand is a past participle* form, referring to a word's state: a word on the page is spelt, correctly or incorrectly.

For example: if I spell some words incorrectly in this post, then I will have spelled them incorrectly. After I post this, you will read them as incorrectly spelt, because they are here in this post on their own, divorced from the actions I performed in typing them.

The problem is that I might be wrong about this, since I've checked various online sources and can't seem to find a consistent opinion on this. Most sites I've checked seem to focus on how they have been used in the past, and say that both forms work as both past tense and past participle. I'm going to keep using them differently, but I suspect this battle is already lost.

PS: Ditto for learned (past tense) and learnt (past participle). "I learned a lesson; the lesson was learnt."


* past participles: words formed from verbs which can be used as adjectives. e.g.
past tense: "I broke the window"
past participle: "the window is broken"

If you regard yourself as being in a battle to keep the language from changing you are certainly on a loser. It is barely recognisable from the form which existed hundreds of years ago and it is constantly evolving. Just serenely accept that spelled and spelt are interchangeable and your life will be much calmer.

SHOVELLER

dxhound2005 wrote: »

That is how it is pronounced. Have you got a different way?

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

Incorrect. R is R not ARE. End of.

bnt

dxhound2005 wrote: »

If you regard yourself as being in a battle to keep the language from changing you are certainly on a loser. It is barely recognisable from the form which existed hundreds of years ago and it is constantly evolving. Just serenely accept that spelled and spelt are interchangeable and your life will be much calmer.

I don't think that's quite the right way to look at it. I have no problem with change if it's change for the better. In this particular case I don't think that time is much of a factor, and I can't say "they did it right in the 1920s) or whatever. It's more about clarity of meaning with the aim of effective communication, something that never gets old.

dxhound2005

SHOVELLER wrote: »

Incorrect. R is R not ARE. End of.

That is useless since I can't hear how you pronounce it. People from all round the world could be reading what you wrote so you should not be so prescriptive.

'r' is pronounced in a number of different ways in English. Like 'l' there are two basic forms; a short consonant and a longer, more vowel-like "darker" sound. Consider the differences between the two 'r's in "reader".

SHOVELLER

Copy and paste all you want.

R is R not ARE. This is not useless. It is proper pronunciation.

moc moc a moc

gizmo555 wrote: »

In Hiberno-English, the standard pronunciation of the letter R is "Oar"

Only in Dublin 4.

gizmo555

moc moc a moc wrote: »

Only in Dublin 4.

I don't live in Dublin 4, but I seldom if ever hear Irish person use the "Are" pronunciation. Are (no pun intended!) you mixing this up with the Dort accent?

LynnGrace

The 'pleece' and the 'gard-ee' featured a lot on radio news bulletins over the weekend.

Frank Lee Midere

SHOVELLER wrote: »

Copy and paste all you want.

R is R not ARE. This is not useless. It is proper pronunciation.

Since nobody knows how you are pronouncing R that's a totally meaningless post.

Frank Lee Midere

gizmo555 wrote: »

I don't live in Dublin 4, but I seldom if ever hear Irish person use the "Are" pronunciation. Are (no pun intended!) you mixing this up with the Dort accent?

It's the pronunciation of R in Irish not Hiberno English. Apparantly. Already discussed in this (never ending) thread. RTE is an ancroynm for Radio Telefis Eireann and getting upset about how the R is prounounced is like getting upset at how radio is prounced in the full pronounciation.

I don't know but that sounds right. The proof would be how they pronounce the R in other English acronyms.

The King of Moo

gizmo555 wrote: »

But they're both wrong. The correct pronunciation is with a hard 'T' sound, not "Ch".

All three are correct. You can't impose such strict pronunciation rules on a language spoken worldwide by native speakers of such a huge variety of accents, as well as non-native speakers.

For example, if you get a British-made pronunciation book, it will tell you that you shouldn't pronounce the "r" at the end of words, and that "cat" and "car" have different vowel sounds, as do "can" and "can't." Yet virtually no Irish people use the pronunciations, never mind other nationalities.

So are non-English native speakers of English pronouncing a huge number of words incorrectly?

garancafan

Frank Lee Midere wrote: »

RTE is an ancroynm for Radio Telefis Eireann

RTE is not an acronym.

kiffer

garancafan wrote: »

RTE is not an acronym.

Yeah but who actually uses the term 'initialism'.
We should start pronouncing RTÉ as Re-tay... that would drive people nuts.

garancafan

You can use whatever term you like. I make the point solely so that the term "acronym" is not besmirched by misuse.

gizmo555

The King of Moo wrote: »

You can't impose such strict pronunciation rules on a language spoken worldwide by native speakers of such a huge variety of accents, as well as non-native speakers.

If there was one rule I could impose, it would be the complete outlawing of the conversion of Ts into Ds in the Dort accent - for me, it's grates like chalk scraping on a blackboard.

I'm going in fear and dread of every ad-break on RTÉ radio at the moment. The speaker on the current ads for the Abbey has a voice which is the most extraordinary hybrid of Norn Iron and D4, ending her piece by pronouncing "theatre" in two syllables as "thee-dur" :eek:

LynnGrace

gizmo555 wrote: »

If there was one rule I could impose, it would be the complete outlawing of the conversion of Ts into Ds in the Dort accent - for me, it's grates like chalk scraping on a blackboard.

I'm going in fear and dread of every ad-break on RTÉ radio at the moment. The speaker on the current ads for the Abbey has a voice which is the most extraordinary hybrid of Norn Iron and D4, ending her piece by pronouncing "theatre" in two syllables as "thee-dur" :eek:

Yes, that and 'Rawz' on the VHI tv ads who was on 'andibiodics', although it is comforting to know she was in her own 'ba-ad' at the time.

tampopo

Libry for library and Febry for February.

giant_midget

packet of crisps turned into "package of crips"

kiffer

When people put spaces before commas.
The space after the / in this thread's title annoys me, but I'm not sure if it's technically wrong.
Is it?

SimonTemplar

"something" pronounced "summon" annoys me more than it should.

Bassfish

Recently heard a barrister in court say Hostibal instead of Hospital. Yep, a barrister, in court, Hostibal!

Maphisto

Some of these make me cringe inside. My Doctor says to just get them out and I'll feel better.

1) ect instead of etc. for et cetera

2) Using "an" where its not needed e.g. An Banana

3) Littering a post with "tbh" and "imo".

I feel fine now.

trashcan

Maphisto wrote: »

Some of these make me cringe inside. My Doctor says to just get them out and I'll feel better.

2) Using "an" where its not needed e.g. An Banana
.

Well I've never seen or heard anyone say "an banana." I do however have an issue with the use of "an" before words beginning with H, e.g "an historical occasion" "an hotel". An English habit which seems to be creeping in here. It seems to imply that the H is silent. Yet the people who use it would never say "istorical" or "otel" if they were saying the word on it's own. Similarly, you never hear someone say "An history" Gets my goat.

And speaking of English peoples pronunciations which rile me - what is it with certain Engish people putting an R sound between two words where one ends with a vowel and the other begins with one e.g Sonyer O'Sullivan. I swear I even heard Alan Shatter at it recently, talking about the "Garder Ombudsman" and the "Garder Inspectorate" Grrrrrr....

gizmo555

trashcan wrote: »

I swear I even heard Alan Shatter at it recently, talking about the "Garder Ombudsman" and the "Garder Inspectorate" Grrrrrr....

Aha! The real reason he had to resign - fair play Enda!!

Maphisto

trashcan wrote: »

Well I've never seen or heard anyone say "an banana.

The next example I see, instead of just grinding my teeth as usual, I will let you know.

trashcan

gizmo555 wrote: »

Aha! The real reason he had to resign - fair play Enda!!

It would have been if I'd had my way

Judgement Day

trashcan wrote: »

Well I've never seen or heard anyone say "an banana." I do however have an issue with the use of "an" before words beginning with H, e.g "an historical occasion" "an hotel". An English habit which seems to be creeping in here. It seems to imply that the H is silent. Yet the people who use it would never say "istorical" or "otel" if they were saying the word on it's own. Similarly, you never hear someone say "An history" Gets my goat.

And speaking of English peoples pronunciations which rile me - what is it with certain Engish people putting an R sound between two words where one ends with a vowel and the other begins with one e.g Sonyer O'Sullivan. I swear I even heard Alan Shatter at it recently, talking about the "Garder Ombudsman" and the "Garder Inspectorate" Grrrrrr....

+1 about "an banana" but as for an hotel etc., it's always been here like Boxing Day - particular prevalent amongst some of us Anglos. I also don't get what what you mean about Sonya/Sonyer and Garda/Garder - that's the way the vast majority of the population pronounce those two words I would have thought. The again, I pronounce Galtee as Gaultee and Thurles as Thearls so what would I know.

fibix

Did anybody mentioned "should of" instead of "should have"? Seriously, boils my blood!!!!!!

garancafan

fibix wrote: »

Did anybody mentioned "should of" instead of "should have"? Seriously, boils my blood!!!!!!

You shoulda read through the thread.

Maphisto

garancafan wrote: »

You shoulda read through the thread.

Yeah all 538 posts :rolleyes:

mosstin

Maphisto wrote: »

Yeah all 538 posts :rolleyes:

Regardless, he still should of.

dxhound2005

Maphisto wrote: »

Yeah all 538 posts :rolleyes:

I'll read through them for you. Anything else that seriously boils your blood you want me to look out for?

Tokyo

If only there were a "search this thread" function. A man can dream, I suppose....

dxhound2005

mike_ie wrote: »

If only there were a "search this thread" function. A man can dream, I suppose....

But the search term "should of" returns every post with the word of. You interrupted me reading through Page 2 searching for the Should Ofs for our friend. I have to get a few more pages in before midnight.

Tokyo

dxhound2005 wrote: »

But the search term "should of" returns every post with the word of. You interrupted me reading through Page 2 searching for the Should Ofs for our friend. I have to get a few more pages in before midnight.

ahhh, but if you put the phrase in quotes, i.e. "should of",it tricks the query into searching for the phrase, not the words. You'll be done well before midnight with that helpful tip

dxhound2005

mike_ie wrote: »

ahhh, but if you put the phrase in quotes, i.e. "should of",it tricks the query into searching for the phrase, not the words. You'll be done well before minute with that helpful tip

That is indeed very helpful and just in time to qualify for the "something new" which I have learned today.

jellyboy

mike_ie wrote: »

I've turned my hand to a few jobs over the years, and while living overseas I spent a few years teaching English as a means to fund my travels, working alongside teachers from all over the world. I can only assume that it's a product of the environment, but the more time I spent teaching there, the more irritated I found myself getting when other teachers would make basic English mistakes.

I appreciate that regionalisms and dialects are a natural phenomenon, but ones that particularly grate for me are:

• Irregardless.
• On accident.
• "pacific" for "specific", (as in "How long will it take to fix this pacific problem?").
• Aks instead of ask (it hurts just typing it)

...or the one that drives me absolutely bat****....
"I could care less." (I COULDN'T CARE LESS, you mean. You DON'T care. If you could care less, that means you care SOMEWHAT.)

Is it just me, or does anybody else have any mispronunciation or grammar pet hate that drives them up the wall?

remains me self to use ass many pacific words irregardless of mikes feelings
peas note I'm doing it on accident….

Maphisto

dxhound2005 wrote: »

I'll read through them for you. Anything else that seriously boils your blood you want me to look out for?

You're very kind, but no not that immediately comes to mind.

Maximus Alexander

dxhound2005 wrote: »

That is indeed very helpful and just in time to qualify for the "something new" which I have learned today.

With this new knowledge the usefulness of Google has now quadrupled for you. Congratulations!

AudreyHepburn

When some-one says 'I been/seen/done' xyz....

No you didn't. You have been/you saw or have seen/you did or have done.

Sorry, it just really drives me mad!

gizmo555

Maphisto wrote: »

1) ect instead of etc. for et cetera

Sort of related - people who say "i.e." when they're talking. This is an abbreviation for the Latin for "that is". The point of using an abbreviation is to save time and space when writing.

In speech, though, saying "i.e." takes just as long as saying "that is" and doing it only serves to mark you out as trying too hard to display your supposed erudition.

Timistry

"In my opinion, I personally think that".... no, just NO!

HeidiHeidi

Mary Wilson on Drivetime repeatedly saying "pleecing".

Policing is a very topical subject, it's in the news a LOT these days - could she not make some effort to pronounce it properly?:mad:

HeidiHeidi

Oh, and while I'm on the subject of Drivetime - that Danish sponsorship ad with their "institoootional" banking and various other REALLY irritating pronunciations.

Judgement Day

I've noticed recently on Today FM that Matt Cooper has finally mastered the correct pronunciation of theatre after years of theater.