Perverse Language

[xrunner]

I remember Bush used to pronounce "nuclear" like "nu-que-ler"

Drove me mad listening to him say that. 

[ivan747]

What boggles my mind is:

Tektronics
Techtronix
TekTronics

It's
Tektronix

It's right there on the front panel.

Great, more keywords for my ebay deals watchlist. 

[owiecc]

This discussion reminded me of a Top Gear episode:

[cs.dk]

This discussion reminded me of a Top Gear episode:

Priceless 

[Alex Eisenhut]

I live in the USA, and I have wondered about this very subject. The English language is really messed up.  WHY is the word small so big yet the word big is so small?  It is confusing.

.. and we park in the driveway and drive in the parkway.

Abbreviation is quite long too.
And we send shipments by car and cargo by boat.

[Corporate666]

This discussion reminded me of a Top Gear episode:

Years ago, I flew to Corinth, Mississippi to buy a motorcycle and ride it back to Boston.  It was several hours before I could understand what people were saying

I can understand people from almost anywhere - but two places in this country are an exception.  Louisiana (the closer to the bayou, the harder to understand) and West Texas.  I have a friend in Midland and he has to speak really slowly for me to understand a word he's saying.

[robgambrill]

 A brand of braid changed the way I pronounce it. I started saying SOL-der when I noticed the spelling on the roll and it didn't look quite right. Before that I never thought of it. (see photo).

  So this American says it your way, cause another American spelled it the other way. 

[miguelvp]

A brand of braid changed the way I pronounce it. I started saying SOL-der when I noticed the spelling on the roll and it didn't look quite right. Before that I never thought of it. (see photo).

  So this American says it your way, cause another American spelled it the other way. 

That's a registered trademark, not to be confused with spelling since you couldn't trademark "solder wick" because it's a description.

[PsychoMaster]

"Ass hole" sounds a lot more refined than "arse  hole".

[notsob]

in the USA the L is silent
just like the silent P in swimming

[GreyWoolfe]

in the USA the L is silent
just like the silent P in swimming

My ex-wife's uncle had a sign on a wall near the pool. It said "See our 'ool'.  Notice that there is no 'P' in it.  Please keep it that way."

[Mechanical Menace]

"Ass hole" sounds a lot more refined than "arse  hole".

But an"arse" rolls off the tongue with more gusto and feel than an "ass."

[sca]

"Ass hole" sounds a lot more refined than "arse  hole".

But an"arse" rolls off the tongue with more gusto and feel than an "ass."

Especially  when done  Father  Jack  style.

[rolycat]

I'm OK with soh'der, why not? Maybe it started in Boston?

What TRULY needs an explanation is "Worcestershire Sauce" being called Worster Sauce... 

It's not that baffling. It was invented in Worcester, which (despite being a city) is the county town of Worcestershire. Sometimes it's called Worcestershire sauce, and sometimes Worcester sauce.

As for why Worcester is pronounced "Wooster", the contraction is fairly common in England. Two other county towns (also cities) are Gloucester (pronounced "Gloster") and Leicester (pronounced "Lester"), and other towns include Bicester (pronounced "Bister"), and Alcester (pronounced "Alster").

And it's not just us Brits doing it. There are cities called Worcester, Gloucester and Leicester in Massachusetts - all pronounced like their English namesakes.

[allen.gordon]

I have a friend/client that continually pronounces "solder" like the word "soldier", except he drops the "I"!!!   

[tggzzz]

I'm OK with soh'der, why not? Maybe it started in Boston?

What TRULY needs an explanation is "Worcestershire Sauce" being called Worster Sauce... 

It's not that baffling. It was invented in Worcester, which (despite being a city) is the county town of Worcestershire. Sometimes it's called Worcestershire sauce, and sometimes Worcester sauce.

As for why Worcester is pronounced "Wooster", the contraction is fairly common in England. Two other county towns (also cities) are Gloucester (pronounced "Gloster") and Leicester (pronounced "Lester"), and other towns include Bicester (pronounced "Bister"), and Alcester (pronounced "Alster").

And it's not just us Brits doing it. There are cities called Worcester, Gloucester and Leicester in Massachusetts - all pronounced like their English namesakes.

Cirencester => Sissister, Alnwick => Annick etc etc

Around Bristol, the natives traditionally add an 'l' onto words end in a vowel, perhaps because that was the pronounciation of the earlier written name "Brigstowe". Thus if somebody says "I have an ideal", you don't congratulate them, you ask them what the idea is.

[Macbeth]

I always found it mildly annoying that the official postal abbreviation for Gloucestershire is Glos. rather than, say, Gloucs.

Never mind place names, I'd like to challenge the colonials to pronounce names like Cholmondeley, Featherstonhaugh, Dalziel, Menzies, Mainwaring, Beauchamp, Wodehouse.

[CatalinaWOW]

So I am an American and I don't pronounce the l in solder.  But I pronounce solder differently than I would pronounce sodder.  Some ears can't hear the difference, but it is there.

There are regional variations in pronunciation and usage, but we should probably try something to limit those differences or we will end up with something like what happened to Latin. (French, Spanish, Italian, Romanian and so on).  TV and radio seem to be a big part of that something, with the internet chipping in quite a bit.

[EEVblog]

On my latest PLCA video someone took me to task on my pronunciation of Cache 
Add it to the list along with Solder, Aluminium, Bode, Via etc
By far the worst complainers have been for Bode, because it's a persons name they claim you have to say "correctly" otherwise it's an insult. Little do they know there isn't even an exact official consensus on that either 

[allen.gordon]

Little do they know there isn't even an exact official consensus on that either 

If only the Know-It-Alls knew how much they actually DON'T know!!!!   

[vk6zgo]

I always found it mildly annoying that the official postal abbreviation for Gloucestershire is Glos. rather than, say, Gloucs.

Never mind place names, I'd like to challenge the colonials to pronounce names like Cholmondeley, Featherstonhaugh, Dalziel, Menzies, Mainwaring, Beauchamp, Wodehouse.

We had a Prime Minister in Oz for many years called Bob Menzies,
Aussies being Aussies,we all pronounced it  as it was spelt.

Bob got a "bee in his bonnet" about the correct spelling being "Mingas".
He was immediately dubbed "Ming the Merciless" & we never heard another word about the"correct pronunciation".

Lots of Fanshaws in the Phone book---not many "Featherstonhaughs"!

Mainwaring is pronounced as it is spelt by everybody I have run into ,including people with that name,as is Dalziel.
We had another "Polly"  named St John,who wanted his Parliamentary colleagues to call him "Sinjin",but that very quickly died out.

How is Wodehouse pronounced in the "Old Dart?"

And why,oh why, is the abbreviation for Hampshire ,"Hants"?

[rolycat]

Mainwaring is pronounced as it is spelt by everybody I have run into

I know "Dad's Army" has been shown in Oz, because a number of missing episodes were returned to the BBC from there. Presumably not recently, though?

And why,oh why, is the abbreviation for Hampshire ,"Hants"?

You can blame William the Conqueror:

The abbreviated form is derived from the Old English Hantum plus Scir (meaning a district governed from the settlement now known as Southampton) and the Anglo-Saxons called it Hamtunschire. At the time of the Domesday Book (1086) this was compressed to Hantescire.

[vk6zgo]

Mainwaring is pronounced as it is spelt by everybody I have run into

I know "Dad's Army" has been shown in Oz, because a number of missing episodes were returned to the BBC from there. Presumably not recently, though?

And why,oh why, is the abbreviation for Hampshire ,"Hants"?

You can blame William the Conqueror:

The abbreviated form is derived from the Old English Hantum plus Scir (meaning a district governed from the settlement now known as Southampton) and the Anglo-Saxons called it Hamtunschire. At the time of the Domesday Book (1086) this was compressed to Hantescire.

I meant real people---Captain Mainwaring doesn't count!!
Neither does Dalziel in "Dalziel & Pascoe".

[Deathwish]

I don't care, the fact it is the English Language says it all, we spell it and use it as we want too, if you want to steal it and butcher it about feel free but do not whine or moan at us for correcting you on it.

English belongs to the English. it aint called the American language by the Oxford English dictionary printers is it now.

[Bob F.]

Place names in the UK are always a pain for tourists (and often to people from other parts of the UK!) - few are pronounced the way they are spelt (or, if you prefer, "spelled"  ).

Mind you, the US gets its own back sometimes: Kansas and Arkansas anyone?

All part of life's rich tapestry