Mis-pronounciations.

[Dukedesmo]

Pronunciations surely?

[blackbuell]

I'm a biologist so:

ZO-OLOGY
and
DiS-SECTION

Patrick Hayes


Fremont CA

Patrick,

I'm also a biologist (was an A & P prof, now retired); the dissection one is kind of a pet peeve of mine, but whenever I raise the issue with anyone, I usually get an eye-roll; must remember that many folks are mistrustful of people who use proper grammar and care to use proper spellings or pronunciations, or they just don't give at rat's ass about it.

Jon

[Phang]

I do not know your history or how much you have practiced speaking the English language, but you type it just fine!

After 35+ years of saying Guzzi, I don't ever see me changing to Guttzi (pronounce ??) as in making the Z a T.

Just my 2 cents,
Tom

If there are enough people mis-pronouce the same word, it will become an accent 

[Zoom Zoom]

Pronunciations surely?

And don't call me Surely!

And yet another vote for nuclear. (Ya saw I spelt it correctly, didntcha.)

John Henry

[Moto]

the big one: "new-cue-lahr"

I think this objection is BS. It's a shibboleth for the nanny class (not meaning this personally about anyone here).

My father was a nuclear engineer, one of the designers of the S5W reactor that powered about 100 U.S. submarines, and later a manager of several reactor facilities for the Navy. He said "new - cue - lahr," and so this is how I learned to say it. I grew up in Idaho Falls, ID, home to a government reactor testing station of 30 or more plants out in the desert. I never heard any other pronunciation until I was living California when I was about 30.

Jimmy Carter took training in nuclear reactor operation in the Navy, and he said "new - cue - lahr."

No doubt Rickover, the father of the nuclear Navy, said it that way too.

How do we pronounce Worchester, MA? Wooster, right? Why? Because the people who live there pronounce it that way. And so on for many, many counter-orthographic pronunciations.

"Nue - clee - ahr" is the pronunciation of pedants and the politically correct, of those who were trying to set themselves up as superior to the people who used the actual term in their life's work, mere engineers. (By now, they may have prevailed on our modern Navy, for all I know. Don't get me started about admirals who talk about "driving" a ship.)

"New-cue-lahr" is a noble, correct pronunciation, lexicographers be consarned. I wouldn't care about how the clueless pronounce the word except that they intentionally, and boringly, use their favored pronunciation as a way to put down people who deserve respect, not contempt.

Moto

[Triple Jim]

Parsley is a herb. Herbert is known to his friends as �Herb�. In the UK We sound the �H�in both. Do you drop it in both in the USA?

Usually the name keeps the H sound, although New Yorkers often drop the H sound in "human".  I guess in the UK you have various ways to pronounce words, depending on location and upbringing as well.  :)

Here, lots of folks incorrectly pronounce "realtor" as ree-la-tor, and I've heard even doctors pronounce dilate as "die-a-late".

Moto, I've heard plenty of humble folks, including engineers and technicians, pronounce "nuclear" correctly.  To me, it seems to be split about 50-50.  I suppose it is determined by what is at the center of an atom.  Is it a "noo-clee-us" or a "noo-cue-lus"?

Marge Simpson brought up pronouncing Fall foliage as "Fall foilage".  :)

[Moto]

Moto, I've heard plenty of humble folks, including engineers and technicians, pronounce "nuclear" correctly.  To me, it seems to be split about 50-50.  I suppose it is determined by what is at the center of an atom.  Is it a "noo-clee-us" or a "noo-cue-lus"?

Yes, I'm sure that must be true. I regard it as a triumph of the pedants.

Plenty of sailors out there "driving" subs these days too.

Moto

[Diploman]

My late father-in-law, a wonderful man with a special talent for artfully/innocently mangling English, came home from a visit to the doctor one day to report a diagnosis of atrial fibrillation:

"The doc said I've got aerial flipperation!"

[oldbike54]

I suppose you meant accepted rather than excepted...or is that axing too much to assume that??

 

 Just pointing out how fluid the English language is and always has been . Hell , several rules of spelling and punctuation that some "experts" are so married to are nothing more than some invented piece of self important fluff . The semi-colon being one example . And don't even get me started on the term Ya'll , unless and except you are willing to accept that in Oklahoma we consider it to be superior to you'se guys 

 By the pricking of my thumbs , something wicked this way comes .

 Dusty

[PJPR01]

I think this objection is BS. It's a shibboleth for the nanny class (not meaning this personally about anyone here).

My father was a nuclear engineer, one of the designers of the S5W reactor that powered about 100 U.S. submarines, and later a manager of several reactor facilities for the Navy. He said "new - cue - lahr," and so this is how I learned to say it. I grew up in Idaho Falls, ID, home to a government reactor testing station of 30 or more plants out in the desert. I never heard any other pronunciation until I was living California when I was about 30.

Jimmy Carter took training in nuclear reactor operation in the Navy, and he said "new - cue - lahr."

No doubt Rickover, the father of the nuclear Navy, said it that way too.

How do we pronounce Worchester, MA? Wooster, right? Why? Because the people who live there pronounce it that way. And so on for many, many counter-orthographic pronunciations.

"Nue - clee - ahr" is the pronunciation of pedants and the politically correct, of those who were trying to set themselves up as superior to the people who used the actual term in their life's work, mere engineers. (By now, they may have prevailed on our modern Navy, for all I know. Don't get me started about admirals who talk about "driving" a ship.)

"New-cue-lahr" is a noble, correct pronunciation, lexicographers be consarned. I wouldn't care about how the clueless pronounce the word except that they intentionally, and boringly, use their favored pronunciation as a way to put down people who deserve respect, not contempt.

Moto

Totally bogus explanation, they all said it wrong...

Say the word New by itself
Say the word Clear by itself

Put the two together - it doesn't sound like Nu Ku Lar unless you are also not pronouncing Clear properly.

Just because someone has done it that way for years wrong doesn't make it correct, and there's nothing pedantic about it.  Even experts make mistakes in their own field...

It's the same issue with ReLAtor intead of Realtor (Say Real, Say Tor...put them together), why continue to make the same error over and over, and why the resistance to say it correctly.  There are a lot of people who don't use present tense or past tense properly either and have done so for generations, and it's common, but it doesn't make it noble or right....that's a justification for not wanting to be correct.

You don't have to be a nuclear engineer to pronounce it correctly...if that's what you mean by clueless!  That's the funniest explanation I've heard in a while for saying it wrong!

Now...if you told me that someone didn't pronounce double braaat wit da works, once hey, in proper Skansin, I'd agree with you!!  Raising a Leinenkugel for all the Nu Ku Lar Engineers!!

[dguzzi]

Hand me those needle type nose pliers.  Nucler, quick and easy  (new cler)

[n3303j]

I'm bothered by "orientation" variants.
One attends orientation to become oriented, not ORIENTATED.
But orientated has been used in so many places where oriented should be used that orientated has become an acceptable  (dictionary inclusion) word.

[cloudbase]

Not seeing any misproportions here.

[Triple Jim]

But orientated has been used in so many places where oriented should be used that orientated has become an acceptable  (dictionary inclusion) word.

A lot like "for free", where "free" should be used.  Free means "without cost", so saying "I got the lunch for free" means "I got the lunch for without cost."

[giusto]

Pronunciations surely?

some are...the others are actually called malapropisms...whic h is a bit different....the use of an incorrect word in place of a word with a similar sound

like the pin-ball hammer...lol first time I've heard that

[Scud]

After 35+ years of saying Guzzi, I don't ever see me changing to Guttzi (pronounce ??) as in making the Z a T.

Say Pizza...
Say Mozzarella...
Say Guzzi...

Why should the ZZ in Guzzi be pronounced differently? Muzzle and Guzzle have consonants after the ZZ; the T sound precedes a vowel.

And while we're at it, there is no "uh" in Husqvarna. It's Hoosk-vahr-na, not Husk-uh-var-na

[Triple Jim]

And while we're at it, there is no "uh" in Husqvarna. It's Hoosk-vahr-na, not Husk-uh-var-na

I had a good neighbor who thought it was Huskavera.       He also had a Discovery credit card and unfortunately developed Pancreitis.

[Moto]

Just because someone has done it that way for years wrong doesn't make it correct, and there's nothing pedantic about it.

Good lord. "Wrong?"

Pedant!

Moto

[oldbike54]

Say Pizza...
Say Mozzarella...
Say Guzzi...

Why should the ZZ in Guzzi be pronounced differently? Muzzle and Guzzle have consonants after the ZZ; the T sound precedes a vowel.

And while we're at it, there is no "uh" in Husqvarna. It's Hoosk-vahr-na, not Husk-uh-var-na

 You have never met any of our brethren from the Lafayette LA area . They pronounce Guzzi in a very unique way 

 Dusty

[Lumpy Idle]

i have to agree with pjpr01 on this one (and against moto.) there are a number of pronunciations which are the consequence of what i call "lazy mouth" or "sing-song mouth" (none of the others are coming to my ageing mind at the moment.) New-cue-lahr is a great example though. it relies upon a mangling of the word based upon rhyming. "New" and "cue" are formed by the mouth in very similar ways. they end in a mouth shape that is like an "O." this rhyming similarity makes it very tempting for lazy speakers to be seduced by the temptation to repeat the sing-song nature of the initial vowel sound.  this aberration, and it is a common one, do not make it correct - even if your dad did it. sorry, i don't want to pick a fight with you or your dad here but you cannot explain it away just because your dad did it. if your dad was a grammarian then maybe you'd have a case. i wouldn't argue nuclear physics with your pop but i don't expect him to argue language tips and tricks either. i'm going to try to recall the other examples of the sing-song pronunciations...we'll see how far i get.

oh, finally, it can well be argued that eventually that the popular mispronunciation will eventually become the norm and also that geography changes all the rules. i mean, if you are in NYC you are looking for Houston street (pronounced "house-ton") but if you are in texas and you are helping victims of the flooding you are in "you-stun."  if you are in the UK you are not looking for house-ton station. these variants become the norm for their locality as i am sure that new-cue lahr has done in various regions. so, it is perhaps foolish of me to argue otherwise.

[Tom H]

Nuclear...nu-cle-r. Made me have to think about just how I say it. The A and the R come out as one letter.

Huski, I've always hear it with the uh.

Guzzi...Gu"zz"i dang nabit!!

 
Tom

[MotoChuck250]

I think this objection is BS. It's a shibboleth for the nanny class (not meaning this personally about anyone here).

My father was a nuclear engineer, one of the designers of the S5W reactor that powered about 100 U.S. submarines, and later a manager of several reactor facilities for the Navy. He said "new - cue - lahr," and so this is how I learned to say it. I grew up in Idaho Falls, ID, home to a government reactor testing station of 30 or more plants out in the desert. I never heard any other pronunciation until I was living California when I was about 30.

Jimmy Carter took training in nuclear reactor operation in the Navy, and he said "new - cue - lahr."

No doubt Rickover, the father of the nuclear Navy, said it that way too.

How do we pronounce Worchester, MA? Wooster, right? Why? Because the people who live there pronounce it that way. And so on for many, many counter-orthographic pronunciations.

"Nue - clee - ahr" is the pronunciation of pedants and the politically correct, of those who were trying to set themselves up as superior to the people who used the actual term in their life's work, mere engineers. (By now, they may have prevailed on our modern Navy, for all I know. Don't get me started about admirals who talk about "driving" a ship.)

"New-cue-lahr" is a noble, correct pronunciation, lexicographers be consarned. I wouldn't care about how the clueless pronounce the word except that they intentionally, and boringly, use their favored pronunciation as a way to put down people who deserve respect, not contempt.

Moto

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHdl_0q-F60

[Lumpy Idle]

if you pay attention to the position of your tongue when you say "new-cue-lahr" you find that it is pressed above your top teeth when pronouncing the first syllable "new." it is a simple shift of the tongue to press it downward against the wall of your lower teeth to pronounce the "cue" sound. when done in rapid order it is quite easy to go from "new" to "cue."

if you pronounce it properly as "new-clee-uhr" then you see that there is a big shift in mouth position from the ovoid mouth position of 'new" to the grimacing mouth position (do i have spinach on my teeth?) of "clee." this is more work. so, its just easier to pronounce it "new-cue-lahr" and that's why i call it lazy mouth or sing song mouth.

[motoguzziman]

Ok, Ive been busy, with family stuff, so Im a bit late,entering this thread, but yes, it is a strange subject.
I have to ask the following ; Now, remember I am a Dane, having learned English, as a fo�reign language.

In English, you get  Burgled, by a Burglar.  In the USA,  now, you get Burglarized,  according to Judge Judy  ??
So, how come you americans, are not also ,  robberized, muggerized  or carjackized ? 
The UK is not free of this phenomenon either, as I have seen tv programmes from the UK, with younger interviewers, who also somehow fail to grasp the language, asking if  people felt pressurised  into doing something... where the correct  term in English, is  Pressured.  I get the impression, that  the UK journalism schools, are scraping the barrel, to get applicants.
I find it  sad, that  reading  what used to be a serious newspaper, today has articles, written by numbnuts, who actually use words  like : Pregnant Fish  &  Lone Proximity  ( Whatever  that is supposed to mean )  Yet nobody ever issues any apology or excuse.
I guess its all part of this mainly  lefty driven EU, where xams are bad because it could upset the less clever.
Nobody fails, and we are all happy together !
Sorry ....I am not a part of your  PC lefty feminist claptrap ! Ok so the BBC has supposedly removed all urinals and expect men to sit down to pee, so they can sympathise with their female counterparts !  Sorry , I am Guy, and I ride a Guzzi, Do not expect PC claptrap, from  me !

[Scud]

Huski, I've always hear it with the uh.

Guzzi...Gu"zz"i dang nabit!!

 
Tom

If you're riding it, you can pronounce it any way you want.   

Aprilia, Velocette, and probably many others have variants of pronunciation.


And for a little scope-creep on this dialog (dialogue?):

There are also intentionally derogatory mispronunciations. Not malapropisms, but dare I coin a new phrase... malicious-propisms, such as:

Hardley Ableson
Kawasucki

[tris]

I can remember standing in a suppliers storeroom and my colleague said looking about" there's a lot of infantry in here"

[Scud]

I can remember standing in a suppliers storeroom and my colleague said looking about" there's a lot of infantry in here"

Was your colleague a member of Cavalry Chapel?

[TobyJug]

I'm surprised nobody's mentioned NORGE yet.

[Triple Jim]

I'm surprised nobody's mentioned NORGE yet.

My washing machine is a KENMORE.  :)

[Ncdan]

I ant a smart man as Forest said but I HUGE AND HUMAN start with a H not a U