General Chat

Port Said has always been prounounced "Port Side"

Today I have heard, on BBC news, it pronounced as "Port Sed" and "Port Syeed" - what's going on?

Tutenkhamen has become "Tutenkamoon"

Golf was for a long time pronounced as "Goalf"

Kabul was always "Kubull" - today it's "Carble"

Is it just me who is irritated by these pronunciations?

Yes Ann, I am with you there. The one I hate the most is Basle, being pronounced Bar-sel. It is pronounce Barl, with a silent S. And please don't mention missing out the letter T, as in Ma'lock (Matlock) and Sco'land, instead of Scotland.
I think they should be sent to pronounciating classes on the BBC, because, lets face it, they spend enough of out money on loads of other rubbish.

Julia in Derbyshire

Bodeekah - gets me. Reporters and presenters are always making mistakes with N. Irish names.

Ann - you need the help of a forensic speech scientist.

Perhaps there is one on here reading these threads. Where is Julio Geordio when you need him?

Remember to 'Talk Tidy'!

I do always talk tidy Dermot - I'm Welsh innit!!!!

Exactly who is this forensic speech therapist - passed me by?

Remember "Nessles" Milky bar? (Nestles)

It sounded so wrong when the pc (proper chumps) brigade had them singing "Ness-lay Milky Bar"
It may well have been correct after all those years but they ought to have changed the ditty!

Is it something to do with pronouncing place names the same way as the indigenous population?

Before we know it, Paris will be Pa-ree!

How about enunciation?


It's "HARPAST" seven!


NO it isn't! It's half past seven.....


or even, 7.30 :-D :-D

No no Cynthia.........it's HARPER Seven :-D

Talking of numbers. "Sicth" - 'sixth' :-|

In Eastenders where the younger ones say *arksed* instead of asked.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr....i've heard some of the kids round here starting to use it as well and it makes my teeth itch !!!!!

Chris of Wessex

It is odd that you mention that because my father always pronounced it Boodikah rather than Bodecia (phonetic spellings used here) and that was in the 50's. So it has never been a problem for me either way.

So it's not a modern thing.

I use both when talkng about her. Just depends on which one I use on that day. :-)

The one that upsets me at the moment is 'island' being used for Ireland. And this from quite educated people you'd think.

"...And now next we have Railway Journeys with Michael Portillo, where he visits Island....." Or, "we went to Island for our holidays...."

Do they mean Isle of Man, Isle of Dogs, Isle of Wight?

Also agree with Island's "sicth" - have we bred a generation of people who are scared to speak properly? Can't the poor little things get their tongues around "x" in the middle of a word?

Also hate the way they say THE (before a word beginning with a vowel) like "They came from THE east" - or - "Drop THE axe!" What's that all about???

Vicki

and how about "these ones", why not just "these"? and "at this moment in time" - just say "now"

and the one that drives me up the wall is "absolutely" instead of just plain "yes"

and as for arksed =so difficult to say!!!! much easier to say it properly

My biggest boob was when working in N. Ireland asked one day in the office - 'where on earth is a hog hill?'. The place erupted with laughter although spelt Ahoghill it is prounced Ah hock ill!!!!

Vicki,

Th 'sicth' offenders I've heard are motor racing commentators in their 40s - old enough to know better!

Another bugbear of mine, though not mispronounciation, is the increasing habit of 'can I get' in place of 'may I have' when asking for something in shops and cafes etc. :-|

AAArrrrgggghhhhh.....ALL of the above drive me NUTS!!!!!!
....arksed instead of asked, sikth instead of sixth, thE Orange without an elongated the, and island instead of Ireland - I really wonder how these TV people secure their jobs. WHAT is the matter with them :-|

- Julia, thank God, I thought I was the only one left who said Barl instead of everyone elses Basil !!! *shades of Sybil Fawlty shouting "Basil, Basil, where are you Basil"...

Port Said....I've heard TV newscasters pronounce it Say-id, Sayed, Said and Side but in Egypt it is pronounced Sa eed.
And the Sinai Desert seems, according to our modern news folk, to have become the Sinee eye.....huh??? It's the Si nai, FGS.
The one that really gets my goat is Qatar. It isn't Qataaaar, it is pronounced Catter. In fact if you were in Qatar, you would actually hear it pronounced Cutter by the locals, with a strong gutteral C.
And then we have HirOshima, or should it be HIrosheema?

Should we be talking about Paree, Milano, and Iskandaria?
I guess there's always an argument of whether we should pronounce it the British/English way, the American/English way, or the way it is said in the country of origin. After all, which IS the correct one?


Oh and before I forget - does anyone know where the Himaaarlyas might be? Are they anywhere near the Himalayas? ;-)

Karen.....(which I've heard pronounced at least 3 different ways by English speakers, let's not even get on to foreigners' pronunciation of it!! :-S)

Nothing to do with how to pronouce words, cos I aint no good at henglish lol, but it is when I see ties crooked or with a cup bit instead of it being rounded that is what drives me nuts. Our School head mistress would give us a right telling off for being scruffy.

We watch Flog it, but Paul Martin irritates me when he says'Welcome ter Flog it. I shout TOO at the television.

There was a chef on Ready Steady Cook who seemed to have somebody elses lips.

I can't remember a lot of the things he said no that used to make me turn the programme off but he did used to cannonize sugar.

There use to be a news reader on STV who had a lovely light Scottish accent, but the one thing that use to get me, was when he read the weather,

He use to say shars instead of showers. grrrrr. :-P :-S