peeves

look...

you are getting your dog/cat spayed not spaded ok. 

Oh man, that is tooooo funny! I am cracking up! Thanks for the laugh! 

Spaded?  Would that involve a shovel?

What?  That went right over my head....  (whoooosh!)

Sue

well, maybe those folks are right then! their dogs really do need to be "spaded" ............with a freakin shovel. considering 1/2 the poplulation around  here has pit bulls chained to every stump, junk car, or  old tire they own........

sue -a spade is a shovel, is that the part that went woosh? or is it incomprehensible that people can't pronouce "spayed" around here?

OH, don't mind me!  I read it again (for the fifth time) and finally noticed the difference between 'spayed' and 'spaded'.

'Spaded' is what needs to be done to the owners... as in 'unmarked, shallow grave'.

A friend of mine said we should forget spaying and neutering the animals, as long as it was done to the owners.

Sue

and tell me, how do they pronounce suite as in bedroom suite for $600 in your area?

ha ha! that's a great observation.

I'm originally from IL. I had NEVER heard suite pronounced "suit" until I moved to Okla. Dunno what's up with that!

the people that we bought our new house from were constantly  referring to the convection oven as a confection oven. it drove me insane. I understand...... it has a fancy oven....... can we stop referring to it now before I lose all self control and correct you and make myself look like an A**?

WenVan wrote:
ha ha! that's a great observation.

I'm originally from IL. I had NEVER heard suite pronounced "suit" until I moved to Okla. Dunno what's up with that!

Of course the English language doesn't help things:

singular: Index, Vertex
plural:  Indexes/Indicies, Vertexes/Vertices (both correct according to my dictionary)  But I always counter:  "What's an Indecy/Verticy?" in my mind, but I use both interchanging from time to time (I guess I shouldn't give lectures - students wouldn't follow)

Coupon:  Is it "Q-pon" or "COO-pon?"  (again, both in dictionary)  I'm a "COO"-er my explaination:  When I drive a two-door car I'm driving a "COOp" not a "Kyewp," and an overthrow of power is a "COO" not a "Q."  Plus Q-pon sounds too cute.  I guess this is the biggest one for me, but I don't have a leg to stand on according to the dictionary!

Have to note I'm a Qpon. Of note is that all our French words we Northerners pronounce in the French way, herb filet  and many others NOT suite I don't think, are pronounced as spelled in England! [A legacy of our prior love affair with the French... Ahh, the French....] Aside from Herbs in the garden I could not order a FILL et in the restaurant until I pointed to it on the menu since fil a is unknown to the English waiters. So maybe the South is more English.... But hey I hail from near Versailles (versales) PA and have relatives in Pierre (peer) SD.

Now I was raised by a mother whose parents were both English, so for me it's ...

suite = 'sweet'
coupon = 'q-pon'
the car coupe = coo-pay
filet = fil-A  (although I've heard British people pronounce the T, also in 'buffet')
herbs = 'erbs  (but then, my grandmother pronounced her son's name as 'Owad' and spelled it 'Howard') and I do attempt to pronounce the H when I think of it.
Versailles + Ver-sigh
Pierre = Pee-air
Lewis = Lewis, but Louis = Lou-ee

A very nice woman from Atlanta, GA, corrected me when she said I was pronouncing it wrong.  "Honey, just take out both Ts and replace the first T with a D, and it comes out as 'Adlana'.  If you're in a hurry, just say 'Lana". 

But other pronunciations only bother me when it causes a language barrier.  When someone at work pronounced facade (fa-caad) as 'fasaad', I had to stop and translate in my head, but she was using the word correctly.

But there are two things that drive me absolutely crazy, and one is when you use a word and NO ONE in the room knows what you're talking about.  Working at the local NA casino, I said to 'just let me grab my accoutrements', and they were all puzzled until I backtracked and replaced it with 'stuff', and they all nodded.  Another time, I said that 'I was just being expedient', and they all stopped and stared at me.  And for the life of me, I couldn't think of another single word to replace it when they looked at me like they had been hit in the head with a rock.

The second thing that makes me want to actually smack people is the ghetto-jive-crapola of 'where you at?' or 'where are you at?' or "where you going to?'

It's 'Where are you going?' or 'Where are you?"  There is no TO or AT about it.

I don't think they teach grammar in school these days.  Unfortunately.

Sue

you guys are cracking me up !!!
I'm just glad my papa didn't name me OWAD !!!

goodless griefus..(french italian good grief?)

we grew up with a family that pronounced spaghetti "gaspetti"...and I thought it was a dyslexic thing until my son's fiance's daughter said it day before yesterday, and I quickly corrected her..thinking..everyone will be laughing about this when she is 60 years old !!

Some of those are deliberately kept in the family.  Ours was from my youngest sister, an elephant was an "ephalant" (spelling optional).

Sue

Fillet.... fil-leigh or fil-lay, usually a nice slab of fish that had the ribs cut out and peeled the skin off.  Fill-it, is the bit when you're welding. I've heard the fish chunk pronounced both ways.

Soda or Pop? Very regional. Some places it's 'Coke' no matter what flavor you're drinking.

A college degree holding friend, over 30: "Tooken" not Taken, Tooken.

Warter for water. (wart-er, rhymes with quarter)

Duvet or bedspread?

Bar ditch=the regular old ditch alongside the road. Regional here.

Better half with two degrees, will Borrow you something. A lot of others do that too. You loan it TO, you borrow it FROM. Nope...

The one I'd wish would die, BAE. Trust me, it's lame.

As she is spoke, my dears.  As she is spoke.  Dictionaries are supposed to reflect usage, not dictate it.  As paths should be laid where people walk, not to force them to walk along ill-thought-out routes.



Having said that...


Fillet - fill-it
Soda or Pop? pop
Warter for water. (wart-er, rhymes with quarter)
Duvet or bedspread? duvet if it's thick and well padded and not patterned.  otherwise bedspread
suite - 'sweet'
coupon - 'coo-pon'
the car coupe - coo-pay
herbs = herbs, because we ain't French so we pronounce the h
Versailles  Ver-say because it's french so I guess we ought to
Pierre = Pee-air likewise
Lewis = Loo-iss in England, Leh-wiss in Wales, Looweeze now I'm in Portugal.

Another good book that touches on many of this is The Mother Tongue by Bill Bryson.  The subject matter is fascinating, and he's just a joy to read to boot.

Regarding dictionaries, apparently there are two kinds: prescriptive and descriptive.  You can guess the difference.

I'm conflicted about pronunciation and grammar.  On the one hand, there's a right way to do things, typically.  On the other, there's great value in regional differentiation and distinctiveness.

I am Missouri (Mizz-oo-ree? Mizz-oo-ruh?) born and bred, and Missourians are great about taking hoity-toity French names and lazifying them.  Versailles?  Ver-sales.  Saint Louis?  Not San' Loo-ee, of course, but Saynt Lewis.  There are others.

More and more, I find myself readily dropping g's and just generally slurring and drawling words.  There is cultural loss that comes with the standardization of language from certain level of education and from national TV and radio, and that is a great loss, indeed.

When voila is spelt as wallah.

Wallah is an Anglo Indian word to me.

Another peeve is the English pronunciations of place names.

I lived in the UK for 10 years before the advent of Google maps and sat nav.

I refused to navigate for my husband after one too many arguments when he was driving.

I invariably missed the turn off and the next one would be several miles down the road.

How was I to know that “boo lee” was spelt Beaulieu?

Or that “bister” was Bicester?

We survived my lack of navigation skills and are still married😉

I used to live near Bicester.... Beaulieu I'd probably pronouce 'Bew-lee'.

Try Slaithwaite ('slough-wit')

When I am driving down the highway and the sign says “next turn” should I pass “this turn” and wait for the “next turn”?

I wonder how I have stayed married to my long suffering husband.

I always mean “this coming weekend” of the week that we are in and “next” weekend is the following weekend.

His next weekend is the “next” weekend coming up at the end of the current week.

Forthcoming weekend activities are always clearly qualified with the actual date.

Last weekend has just gone, or was before the week that just ended.

This weekend is just coming - the end of this week - or happening current ly.

Next weekend is the end of next week or the week about to start.   Of course, you have to agree on what days of the week are the weekend days too!

But yes, days of the weekend and dates of the month plus year to really avoid ambiguity. Little endian with three letter day name abbreviation to help with real-life planning, because the day of the week is highly significant to most people.

Hence, Gregorian style ..

Sun 7 Dec 2025

Ac Baker wrote: But yes, days of the weekend and dates of the month plus year to really avoid ambiguity.   Sun 7 Dec 2025

Not so quick Ac! This only works if you write out the month in letters.
My computer writes the date,  year - month - day  In numerals, today is 2025 - 12 - 06  which is 2025, Dec, 6th
But my understanding is that some countries write it year, day, month  so it would be 2025-06-12 - is that May 12th or Dec 6th?
And sometimes it's written day, month, year as in 06-12-2025. 6th Dec, 2025
And sometimes it's written month day year as in 12-06-2025. Dec 6th, 2025

One of the professionals I work with insists that the month always be written out or at least the first 3 letters of it, to prevent confusion!

The nice thing about standards is that there are so many to choose from!  Just as true of dates as pronunciations!