Word mispronunciation

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Originally Posted by javacontour
Reoccuring vs recurrent.

How are you? I am _______

Fill in the blank.


Yup, yup. There things we say grammatically incorrect, but we write them correctly when get formal.

Biweekly means twice a week, it also means every other week.
 
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Originally Posted by HangFire
My pet peeve is the war on the verb "to be"

E.g.: "Needs fixed." No, it "needs to be fixed."


I see that one on BITOG all the time, drives me crazy! I figured it was a regional US thing, but maybe not.

Someone else metioned "pacific" instead of "specific", I hear that one almost daily from people who really should know better.
 
I have one that has bothered me for about twenty years, yet has never been explained. I even did a research paper on it in college (my B.A. is in English).

In the town of Webster, MA, and seemingly only in said town, the word "sherbet" is mispronounced as "sure, Bert."

To clarify, I am referring to the frozen confectionary treat, often sold in fruit flavors such as orange. Nearly 100 percent of individuals I have known in my life pronounce it correctly. However a handful of people I've known from Webster, MA, for some reason, make it sound like they are giving an affirmative to a friend named Bert. Their relatives and neighbors did the same.

For the record, I have never lived in or close to Webster, but knew a few people who were raised there. When visiting Webster on numerous occasions and ordering sherbet at the Friendly's restaurant there, I was blown away how the population of the town had a universal mispronunciation. I first became aware of this when ordering sherbet and listening to the employees there.

Webster enjoyed a huge influx of Polish immigrants for labor purposes 100 years ago. My initial theory that those folks may have contributed was dismissed.

The school system, and perhaps teachers and administrators who came from within or attended the same schools, did not appear to play a major role. The mispronunciation spanned generations and the school faculty was a mixed bag of ages and backgrounds.

My final theory, which was neither proven nor discounted, was that it was cultural due to a local business. There were two private ice cream stands that sold sherbet between the 1960s and 1990s. It is possible that one or both of them had the word spelled wrong on a sign, or just one employee at a super popular destination was pronouncing it wrong, and the sheer popularity of those places led to the mispronunciation spreading like wildfire in the community. The one strange element to that explanation is that, quite literally, outside the town limits of Webster one does not encounter the mispronunciation. I would imagine that residents of other towns would have visited the ice cream shops and then have adopted the mispronunciation.
 
GAU (autocannon), February, Antarctica, caramel, and mischievous are the words I heard butchered by native speakers just today.
 
How could you marry into that family?

Originally Posted by Char Baby
My inlaws are great for mispronouncing works. Here are just some.

Sangwich
K-MARTS
WALMARTS
LOWELS
Colonostomy
All Timers
"Mont" St. Helens
Yous Guys
Ascared
 
axe me if I care ...
grin2.gif
 
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Originally Posted by methusaleh


In the town of Webster, MA, and seemingly only in said town, the word "sherbet" is mispronounced as "sure, Bert."



We pronounce it "shurbert" in Texas.
 
Originally Posted by Quattro Pete
For all intensive purposes....
I like that one. Funny.
Originally Posted by methusaleh
…. In the town of Webster, MA, and seemingly only in said town, the word "sherbet" is mispronounced as "sure, Bert."...
My question would be do those same folks pronounce the name of their town, Web-ster or Web-stah/Web-stuh? It's not far from the city of Worcester, pronounced Woo-stuh by locals. Non locals, Woo-ster acceptable.

That brings up the word Worcestershire as in the Sauce, often hear that one clobbered. Pronounced woo-ster-sher, or woo-ster-sheer but often heard many other ways.
 
I've also noticed that people tend to make up their own definitions of words more these days instead of referencing Martian-Webster or similar. Just more of society's movement towards higher levels of Idiocracy.
 
I live in Norfolk but nobody pronounces it like that around here, everyone says Norfork. Now when I was stationed in Virginia they do pronounce it as it's spelled.
 
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Originally Posted by Sayjac
That brings up the word Worcestershire as in the Sauce, often hear that one clobbered. Pronounced woo-ster-sher, or woo-ster-sheer but often heard many other ways.

You mean wash washimo sauce?
 
Originally Posted by tom slick
I've noticed a lot of people say someone is "crafty" when they do crafts. They mean "craftsy" unless the person really is deceitful.


The correct word is "crafty". "Craftsy" isn't a word.

craft·y Dictionary result for crafty
/ˈkraftē/Submit
adjective
1.
clever at achieving one's aims by indirect or deceitful methods.
"a crafty crook faked an injury to escape from prison"
synonyms: cunning, guileful, wily, artful, devious, sly, tricky, duplicitous, dishonest, underhand, cheating, deceitful, Janus-faced, sharp, scheming, calculating, designing, evasive; More
2.
INFORMAL
of, involving, or relating to the making of decorative objects and other things by hand.
"a market full of crafty pots and interesting earrings"
 
Originally Posted by PumpPusher
Originally Posted by methusaleh


In the town of Webster, MA, and seemingly only in said town, the word "sherbet" is mispronounced as "sure, Bert."



We pronounce it "shurbert" in Texas.


If calling that funny tastin' ice cream "shurbert" is wrong, I don't want to be right! (Nor correct, neither!)
 
Originally Posted by PumpPusher
Originally Posted by Sayjac
That brings up the word Worcestershire as in the Sauce, often hear that one clobbered. Pronounced woo-ster-sher, or woo-ster-sheer but often heard many other ways.
You mean wash washimo sauce?
I don't believe I've ever heard it that way, but can't rule it out as a possibility.
 
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