General Chat

Drives me crazy on news reports.

I have the continuing irritation of Welsh names not getting near the correct pronunciation but this morning took the proverbial English biscuit.

Laboratory, how difficult is it to say that correctly? Each time the reporter uttered his version I winced.

If you cannot get your tongue around it use the abbreviation :-P :-P

Sue (grumpy in the Valleys)

Hearing Canadians and Americans trying to pronounce Salisbury correctly was annoying.....

I am northern say as I sees it :-D

'ternoooon Grumpyah :-D

Are you having a bap for lunch Madge?

*rolls around laughing*

There is an advert on tv that is driving me barmy.

They are pronouncing era (I say ear-rah) as error.

:-S :-D

No I am off bread ;-)





I am not falling for that old one phhffffff :-D


But I am aving steak for me tea ;-)

I was once confused when I heard Bill Clinton say "...narny-narny-farve.." It took me a while to work out. Just in case you haven't got it... nineteen ninety five.

.shopping in Lancashire .messages in Scotland :-S

Apparently, grammar & spelling are regaining their rightful place in secondary schools.

No mention of pronunciation though.

laboratory and nuclear mis-pronunciations drive me crazy

and I have heard them from British and Canadian people.

Americans only seem able to" nukelar"

I was educated at the age of 11 re the pronunciation of laboratory ...............

Our lovely elderly male French teacher had us reading out a translation in class, which had the word "laboratory" in it.

"No, No lab'ratory is where you go to the toilet!"

He was French, had been in England since the war, and had obvioulsy had to learn the correct pronunciation himself!

got 'im by the jugular in east angular?

Mis-pronunciation of place names is annoying ....... every Canadian and British TV and radio stations are supposed to have pronunciation experts to help out ..... don't know about US.

Some local announcers drive me crazy with their variation of southern

South is said like "sowth", so they say "sowthern"

I think it should be "suthern"

Then there is Nanaimo, a city on Vancouver Island ................. pronounced "Nan-i-mo mis-pronounced continually (and not just by my m-i-l!)as Nan-a-i-mo


How about I-ran vs Eye-ran, I-raq vs Eye-raq.

'Congradulations' :-(

'Language should not stand between the writer/speaker & the reader/listener.'

My pet hates are: temeratures, hospitauw, E Stanglia, later Ron. and haitch.

Have you never filed anything under 'R' Ken?


Athaletes :-(

Is the word ProNUNciation or ProNOUNciation :-S

As an aside - many years ago, a lady with an old fashioned tape recorder had a fascination with regional & foreign accents.

In our office comprising of about 100 employees, there were many who came from different parts of the UK & abroad. She took great pleasure in asking each one to read aloud one simple paragraph of about a dozen sentences which she recorded.

It was interesting & entertaining to listen to various pronunciations, which we all did frequently during lunch breaks. I often wondered whatever happened to her efforts.

Lots of words seem to have silent 'T's' these days! i.e.:- bu(tt)er! fi(tt)er etc. Drives me mad!!

Allan, it confused me for years.
It's pronunciation, but you pronounce the words.