Alt Tv Rewind

hAug 15, 2005, 8:14 PM ET

nucular.

Today I heard someone say, with no hint of irony, 'burgular'.

andrew.upton4Aug 16, 2005, 9:59 AM ET↩ h

My wife says " Ridiclious " !! "h" wrote in message news:ndaMe.89727$[email]...

Aaron HirshbergAug 16, 2005, 10:35 AM ET↩ h

Jewlery. People who own Jewelry businesses say "jewlery" on the TV commercials for their stores!

Aaron Space Museum

blazing laserAug 16, 2005, 4:57 PM ET↩ Aaron Hirshberg

On 16 Aug 2005 07:35:38 -0700, [email] wrote:

'Jewlery' is so common a mispronunciation that it is considered proper. Another one is 'comfterble' for 'comfortable'. Or 'ouigee' for 'ouija'. If you made an ad for jewelry and called it 'jewelry' it would sound funny, it would sound affected, like you were trying too hard to sound smart.

Wolfgang FreilerAug 16, 2005, 4:59 PM ET↩ blazing laser

Oops? I was taught to say "comfterble" at school. English is not my mother tongue, btw.

blazing laserAug 16, 2005, 6:23 PM ET↩ Wolfgang Freiler

On Tue, 16 Aug 2005 22:59:35 +0200, "Wolfgang Freiler" wrote:

Your English is undoubtedly better than my German. But American English (as opposed to British English) is a 'descriptive' language, not a 'prescriptive' one. Which means that if people pronounce a word that way, then that is the way it's pronounced.

Also in the US spelling and pronunciation are not as important as they once were. This is largely because we have so many foreign-born people in the US, it's not considered polite to correct someone or criticize his English. This is good because it makes us more tolerant. But it's bad because I spent years learning good English pronunciation and spelling for NOTHING! 8^)

Brad FilipponeAug 17, 2005, 12:30 PM ET↩ blazing laser

blazing laser (none) wrote:

I gathered that when I noticed so many people on newsgroups using "alot" as if it were an actual word.

Brad

blazing laserAug 17, 2005, 3:54 PM ET↩ Brad Filippone

On Wed, 17 Aug 2005 16:30:24 +0000 (UTC), [email] (Brad Filippone) wrote:

Yeah, that used to make me flinch. But I see it alot now. 8^)

R FlowersAug 17, 2005, 4:05 PM ET↩ blazing laser

"blazing laser" <none> wrote in message news:[email]...

It's enought to make me loose my mind! I see that often enough.

Herb KauhryAug 16, 2005, 9:22 PM ET↩ blazing laser

Probably comes from jew-lers and people assuming it must be jew-ler-ry instead of jew-el-ry.

For years, I thought Raytheon was pronounced Ray-uh-thon and one day I finally noticed I was wrong. Likewise the camera brand Bronica - for years my brain-pan never let me interprete that as anything but Bron-key-a.

The mind can be a real pain in the ass sometimes.

Donald GilpinAug 16, 2005, 9:42 PM ET↩ Herb Kauhry

Sometimes when I typing instead of they I type the.

"Herb Kauhry" wrote in message news:[email]...

years

Herb KauhryAug 16, 2005, 11:24 AM ET↩ h

So, your saying Jimmy Carter was wrong?!? I thought it was new-key-ler, since that's what he always said. Another reason to make fun of democrats, then?

blazing laserAug 16, 2005, 4:55 PM ET↩ Herb Kauhry

On Tue, 16 Aug 2005 10:24:54 -0500, "Herb Kauhry" wrote:

Carter said "nuklah". Take away the Georgia accent and it could be either 'nuclear' or 'nukular'.

Democrats and Republicans both pronounce 'nuclear' wrong. But I've always strongly suspected that GW Bush mispronounces words on purpose. I can't prove he does that but his pronunciations are inconsistant, which is a big clue.

For instance, during both his presidential campaigns he would drop the final G in a word ending in 'ing'. Doin', Nothin', etc. This is a Texas thing. But as president, in a serious speech to Congress or in a press conference, every G was there.

andrew.upton4Aug 16, 2005, 7:00 PM ET↩ blazing laser

In England, there seems to be a trend at the moment NOT to pronounce the letter "T" in words, particularly at the end of words, so you get something like "Ge' i' ou' of here" instead of " Get it out of here ", which drives me INSANE. "blazing laser" <none> wrote in message news:[email]...

democrats,

blazing laserAug 16, 2005, 8:58 PM ET↩ andrew.upton4

On Tue, 16 Aug 2005 23:00:05 GMT, "andrew.upton4" wrote:

I'm not as much of an expert on British pronunciation, but that is the 'glottal stop', and it's been around quite a while. We Yanks do that too, in some regional accents, and I'm told it comes from ancestors who immigrated from Scotland.

Aaron HirshbergAug 17, 2005, 10:46 AM ET↩ blazing laser

Harry Truman said "nucular", and the rest is history. The same way that Warren Harding advocated "return to normalcy", when "normality" was the correct word. Bush mispronounces words because he is an idiot.

Aaron Space Museum

blazing laserAug 17, 2005, 3:59 PM ET↩ Aaron Hirshberg

On 17 Aug 2005 07:46:47 -0700, [email] wrote:

Truman has the excuse that he didn't grow up in the nuclear age, as we did. OTOH Carter was trained as a nuclear engineer on submarines so he had special knowledge and therefore no excuse for mispronouncing the word.

I don't think he's as dumb as he appears. He couldn't be!

Wolfgang FreilerAug 17, 2005, 4:03 PM ET↩ blazing laser

Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe.

Albert Einstein

R FlowersAug 17, 2005, 4:08 PM ET↩ blazing laser

"blazing laser" <none> wrote in message news:[email]...

A girl I worked with was once complaing about Bush, but she couldn't make up her mind if he was cunning or stupid. I said, "You guys kill me - either he's some kind of evil genius or a moron. Make up your mind!"

Without missing a beat she said "He's an evil moron..."

I don't appreciate the sentiment, but I loved the construction!

Sparky SpartacusAug 17, 2005, 10:04 PM ET↩ blazing laser

blazing laser wrote:

He's a Southerner.

Paul BartramAug 18, 2005, 2:04 AM ET↩ Sparky Spartacus

I still have to stop and think about 'potato' - DAMN that Dan Quayle...

http://www.capitalcentury.com/1992.html

Paul

Sparky SpartacusAug 17, 2005, 1:14 AM ET↩ Herb Kauhry

Herb Kauhry wrote:

Like you need any more reasons!

It's pronounced