Spinoff: What mispronunciations, or wrong word usages make you cringe? - Page 4

tae082 · 09-25-2010, 09:33 PM

One day my pastry chef said his normal "JAJA you soo crazy, you so crazy like a bombi". I pretty much had enough of his crazy French azz and flipped out screaming

"CHEF wtf is a JAJA and a BOMBI?" He was like "you know a Jaja is you" lol still to this day I don't know what it is lol. However the bombi he begins to tell me "iz jew know zee deer in zee woods, his mama iz killed and zer iz zee fire and zee little bunny. Jew know this Disney movie wee?" Myself and my coworker damn near died from laughter we replied "you mean BAMBI?" and he says "oh lala sasson excusa moi, I mean (insert country accent here) BAMBI!". To this day he still says bombi and it drives me fudrucken nuts, which is why I am glad I no longer work with him. This man will butcher everything american and you will want to kill him that is until he makes you some french macaroons.

KookyCurl · 09-25-2010, 10:18 PM

I was reading a novel today and the author used "passed" when she clearly wanted "past". The sentence was something like "....until you get passed them." I immediately thought of this thread. I can't find whose peeve it was but I was thinking "don't they have editors for this reason?!"

vegas_curls · 09-25-2010, 11:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jce

Quote:

Originally Posted by vegas_curls

Back in college I interned at a foam cup producer (not Dow), and because of it, I won't say "styrofoam". Instead I'll say "foam" cups/plates or "polystyrene"... and people end up thinking that I'm just trying to be all Miss Smartypants...

I learned something. So is it only ok to say styrofoam when it's a Dow product? Technically speaking, yes. How will I know? *shrug* Unless there's a label on the packaging, you won't always know.

And no, I'm not be a smartypants. I really want to know so it won't bug me from now on.

Note to self: add 'styrofoam' to list of words not to use unless it's the real thing.

Meh, don't give it a lot of thought. It seems "styrofoam" is very widely accepted as a general term. It's just a sticky point with me because I have a very vivid memory of my 2nd day of the internship when I said "styrofoam" to my supervisor (b/c I honestly didn't know any better). He was quite stern in telling me to not say "that word" again.

However, when in doubt, you'll be safe referring to a polystyrene product as "foam"... as in foam cups, foam plates or foam packing peanuts - people will know what you're talking about. It's when I slip up and say "polystyrene" is when I get the funny looks.

GirlWithUkulele · 09-26-2010, 12:48 AM

Since I moved to Montreal, I've noticed a lot of quirks here. For example, whenever the letter "H" is mentioned, most of the kids say "haych" instead of "aych". I thought this was a French thing until my math teacher (originally from Quebec city) said that she'd never heard that pronunciation anywhere except for in St-Leonard (the Italian part of Montreal).
Also, people add the word "there" to the ends of sentences. People do it a lot in Quebec French, like in "Ca va bien, là?" For example, "You know that thing, there?" The one that annoys me is the h-thing, though.

When people say "pronounciate", I grit my teeth. It's either "enunciate" or "pronounce", as in "You must pronounce your words clearly."

I find it awkward when people don't clearly pronounce both syllables in the word "horror".

Also, I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only one who pronounces "February" correctly.

kenzie! · 09-26-2010, 02:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GirlWithUkulele

Since I moved to Montreal, I've noticed a lot of quirks here. For example, whenever the letter "H" is mentioned, most of the kids say "haych" instead of "aych". I thought this was a French thing until my math teacher (originally from Quebec city) said that she'd never heard that pronunciation anywhere except for in St-Leonard (the Italian part of Montreal).
Also, people add the word "there" to the ends of sentences. People do it a lot in Quebec French, like in "Ca va bien, là?" For example, "You know that thing, there?" The one that annoys me is the h-thing, though.

When people say "pronounciate", I grit my teeth. It's either "enunciate" or "pronounce", as in "You must pronounce your words clearly."

I find it awkward when people don't clearly pronounce both syllables in the word "horror".

Also, I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only one who pronounces "February" correctly.

According to the dictionary, it can go either way. I think it sounds really weird when it's pronounced with the first R, but that's just me.

CurlyEyes · 09-26-2010, 02:56 AM

I don't have much to add to this thread (I am a fast-talker and word-slur-er, so it would just be hypocritical), but I adore when people use the word "fixin'". I was in Texas last summer and it sounded so cute in a southern twang to be fixin' to do something.

and I have never ever heard someone pronounce the first 'r' in February. it's always been Feb-u-ary.

curlypearl · 09-26-2010, 07:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kenzie!

Quote:

Originally Posted by GirlWithUkulele

Since I moved to Montreal, I've noticed a lot of quirks here. For example, whenever the letter "H" is mentioned, most of the kids say "haych" instead of "aych". I thought this was a French thing until my math teacher (originally from Quebec city) said that she'd never heard that pronunciation anywhere except for in St-Leonard (the Italian part of Montreal).
Also, people add the word "there" to the ends of sentences. People do it a lot in Quebec French, like in "Ca va bien, là?" For example, "You know that thing, there?" The one that annoys me is the h-thing, though.

When people say "pronounciate", I grit my teeth. It's either "enunciate" or "pronounce", as in "You must pronounce your words clearly."

I find it awkward when people don't clearly pronounce both syllables in the word "horror".

Also, I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only one who pronounces "February" correctly.

According to the dictionary, it can go either way. I think it sounds really weird when it's pronounced with the first R, but that's just me.

I was really surprised to read this so I looked it up. According to what I read, FebRuary is correct, but the dictionary lists FebUary as an alternative pronunciation because it is so common. Not an earthshattering debate but I was just curious.

What I read said the same thing about nucUlar vs. nuclear which irks me much more than FebUary. Pres. Bush always used to say nucUlar and I used to shudder.

kayb · 09-26-2010, 08:06 AM

Speaking of G.W.

I-raq and I-ran....sigh.

redcelticcurls · 09-26-2010, 09:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kayb

Speaking of G.W.

I-raq and I-ran....sigh.

And, Ay-rab and Eye-talian.

munchkin · 09-26-2010, 11:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by redcelticcurls

Quote:

Originally Posted by kayb

Speaking of G.W.

I-raq and I-ran....sigh.

And, Ay-rab and Eye-talian.

I learned Et-alian (I hope you know what I mean, because I tried several ways to get the sound across) years ago. I had a friend who was Italian. Whenever she heard someone say, Eye-talian she would ask them "is the country Eye-taly or Et-aly." I have never said Eye-talian since.

KurlyKae · 09-26-2010, 12:39 PM

Just saw a new one on another BB. 'Pacific' for 'specific.' I had to read it three times until it sank in, how does some one make that mistake?

wavyblonde · 09-27-2010, 01:42 AM

It's not incorrect to call a soda a Coke or a tissue a Kleenex. It's just a colloquial thing. I always kinda liked it. Anyway, it's called a Genericized Trademark (or brandnomer or synecdoche): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandnomer

I do really hate "pacific" for "specific."

kayb · 09-27-2010, 01:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by redcelticcurls

Quote:

Originally Posted by kayb

Speaking of G.W.

I-raq and I-ran....sigh.

And, Ay-rab and Eye-talian.

*Shudder*

sinistral55 · 09-27-2010, 08:43 AM

People around here have a way of saying "sausage" that drives me insane.

It sounds like "SOY-shish" or "SOY-zsshhhzzhshzz"

Fake accents are another huge irritant.

Nallia · 09-27-2010, 07:11 PM

Quote:

Goodbye, cruel words: English. It's dead to me.

The English language, which arose from humble Anglo-Saxon roots to become the lingua franca of 600 million people worldwide and the dominant lexicon of international discourse, is dead. It succumbed last month at the age of 1,617 after a long illness. It is survived by an ignominiously diminished form of itself.

Full article here.

vegas_curls · 09-27-2010, 08:47 PM

Oh yeah, here's another one:

the word ONYX pronounced as OINKS. Yep, I actually knew someone who would say this.

empressri · 09-28-2010, 12:02 AM

conversate. isn't it converse???

redcelticcurls · 09-29-2010, 01:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nallia

Quote:

Goodbye, cruel words: English. It's dead to me.

The English language, which arose from humble Anglo-Saxon roots to become the lingua franca of 600 million people worldwide and the dominant lexicon of international discourse, is dead. It succumbed last month at the age of 1,617 after a long illness. It is survived by an ignominiously diminished form of itself.

Full article here.

I had to share that on Facebook.

Saroyan · 10-26-2010, 11:16 AM

I thought of another one: "Furmiliar." I hate it!

MixedUpCurlyChick · 10-26-2010, 10:55 PM

c*m when the word is come (i.e. orgasm, not the fluid)
should/could of instead of should/could have
lost instead of loss (i.e. "I'm at a lost right now" "sorry for your lost")
mines instead of mine
empathetic instead of empathic

I'm getting used to the last two b/c SO MANY ppl use these "words." I didn't always know it was empathic, but since I've been told, I just cringe when I hear this "empathetic" business. Its so awkward to correct ppl though.

My mom and I say "yous" to each other sometimes b/c we're so amused by it

. FTR, the only person I've ever heard say "nucler" was George Dubya.