Lingusitics Language fails that make you angry

[FtlIsAwesome]

One thing I dislike is when people pronounce "coupon" as "koo-pon" instead of "Q-pon".

 

[epenguin]

One thing I dislike is when people pronounce "coupon" as "koo-pon" instead of "Q-pon".

"koo-pon" must be right! It comes from 'couper', to cut, pronounced 'koopay'.

 

[Dembadon]

Supposably
Pernounce
Eckcetera
Using "might" and "may" interchangeably

 

[turbo]

I once worked for a poorly-educated jerk (former history teacher!) who had absolutely no understanding of "consequently" or "subsequently", but he loved saying "subsequently" at the drop of a hat because it was a "big" word. Most of the time, he should have used "consequently", or should have dropped back to the mundane "because".

 

[Char. Limit]

One thing I dislike is when people pronounce "coupon" as "koo-pon" instead of "Q-pon".

Hey, I do that! And so does everyone else here!

 

[dacruick]

Hey, I do that! And so does everyone else here!

It actually annoys me when people say Q-pon. :)

A couple other ones that get me are when people say Bagel with a short 'a' and katchup instead of ketchup.

 

[turbo]

I have a cousin who actually pronounces it Cats-up. Why? Ketchup is pretty much the standard pronunciation (at least around here).

Every Christmas season, I have to bite my tongue when Pollack's jewelry commercials come on the air. The owner pronounces it "joolery" and he insists on making his own commercials.

 

[zoobyshoe]

It actually annoys me when people say Q-pon. :)

Same here. I say "Koo-pon", as do all normal people.

 

[DaveC426913]

I remember getting into a heated debate (and this will only make sense to those of you who are afflicted with ear hair) with someone on a BBS about pronunciation of the word "sysop". They absolutely insisted that it is pronounced "sis-op" and could not be pronounced "sigh-sop". Their rationale was that the term sysop comes from "system operator", and therefore the only correct pronunciation was "sis-op".

I asked him what that box plugged into the back of his computer was called - a "mod-eem"?

He conceded.

 

[Galteeth]

http://www.okcupid.com/tests/the-commonly-confused-words-test

Here's a test of your ability to speak english good.

 

[Dembadon]

Looks like I need to brush up on the basics.

 

[lisab]

That was a very tough test!

 

[micromass]

http://www.okcupid.com/quizzy/results?quizzyid=14457200288064322170&userid=11243491523438383239

Huh? How is this possible? English isn't even my native language? And I scored English Genius?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWihNBmupdI

I would like to ask everybody here that if they ever see me making an English mistake, then tell me.

 

[lisab]

http://www.okcupid.com/quizzy/results?quizzyid=14457200288064322170&userid=11243491523438383239


Huh? How is this possible? English isn't even my native language? And I scored English Genius?

I would like to ask everybody here that if they ever see me making an English mistake, then tell me.

I'm often impressed by the language skills of non-native speakers on this forum.

You could easily pass as a native speaker, micro .

 

[Char. Limit]

Wait, English isn't Micro's first language!? I always thought he just had, like, a Ph.D. in English or something.

 

[micromass]

You could easily pass as a native speaker, micro .

You obviously did not hear me speak yet...

 

[turbo]

We have to consider that some non-US members have some pretty impressive language skills. I had mentioned to Borek that he and Marzena ought to come here for a visit sometime, and he said that if he did, we'd have to "talk" via paper and pencil because he couldn't speak English. I remember thinking what?!

When he was masquerading as StinkyElf recently in chat, it took me quite a few posts before I knew who he was, and that was only because of minor non-standard usage in verb tenses. Very subtle. I wish I had such skills in a foreign language.

 

[DaveC426913]

This stupid test is a lie. I scored at genius level, but
a] it took me 10 minutes of trying to @#$!*!&#$ sign up to get my results, and then
b] I'm too dumb to link to the results like everyone else did.

Anyway, 93, 100, 100, 80.

I blew the Naomi and I one in beginners and I blew the further/farther and awhile/a while ones in expert.

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

English Genius

You scored 100% Beginner, 100% Intermediate, 100% Advanced, and 80% Expert!

You did so extremely well, even I can't find a word to describe your excellence! You have the uncommon intelligence necessary to understand things that most people don't. You have an extensive vocabulary, and you're not afraid to use it properly! Way to go!

You scored 100% on Beginner, higher than 59% of your peers.
You scored 100% on Intermediate, higher than 41% of your peers.
You scored 100% on Advanced, higher than 71% of your peers.
You scored 80% on Expert, higher than 47% of your peers.

http://www.okcupid.com/quizzy/results?quizzyid=14457200288064322170&userid=12756341031452352785

Apparently, English Genius doesn't describe my excellence. My wife thinks I'm uncommon too, but she calls it abnormal. I can't offer medical advice to anyone whose afraid of using they're extensive vocabulary properly, but I do recommend getting professional help. There saying I only did better then 59%? I think its subsequently of I got the age, gender, and sexual orientation questions wrong.

 

[Char. Limit]

How exactly does scoring 100% on Intermediate still place you under HALF OF YOUR PEERS?

 

[Ben Niehoff]

I scored English Genius, 100%, 100%, 100%, and 93%. That means I got one question wrong, have to go find out what it was...

Edit: Hmm...the one I got wrong was a simple affect vs. effect thing...I must not have been paying attention.

 

[Fredrik]

English Genius, but with one mistake in each section. 93%, 93%, 93%, 87%. (The one I missed in the final section apparently counts as two). To be honest, I would have expected to do better.

a] it took me 10 minutes of trying to @#$!*!&#$ sign up to get my results,

You're only asked to sign up if you have answered some of the personal questions. If you just click the show results button without answering any of them, you're taken directly to the results page.

 

[epenguin]

http://www.okcupid.com/tests/the-commonly-confused-words-test

Here's a test of your ability to speak english good.

Exactly what I complained of above, they told me I was awesome! I wish.

 

[Pythagorean]

I'm often impressed by the language skills of non-native speakers on this forum.

You could easily pass as a native speaker, micro .

I think educated foreigners will often perform better; especially if the language is learned more intellectually than naturally. We're guided more by social acceptance and exposure in our natural languages. But I am only a monolinguist, so my reasoning is inferior:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091029151807.htm

 

[Fredrik]

I think educated foreigners will often perform better; especially if the language is learned more intellectually than naturally.

I think there's some truth to this. There are some mistakes that us "foreigners" will never make, such as write "should of" instead of "should have" or "should've".

 

[DaveC426913]

it took me 10 minutes of trying to @#$!*!&#$ sign up to get my results

You're only asked to sign up if you have answered some of the personal questions. If you just click the show results button without answering any of them, you're taken directly to the results page.

 

[Dembadon]

How exactly does scoring 100% on Intermediate still place you under HALF OF YOUR PEERS?

I wondered the same thing.

 

[Jimmy]

You scored 100% on Intermediate, higher than 41% of your peers.

How exactly does scoring 100% on Intermediate still place you under HALF OF YOUR PEERS?

I guess 59% scored 100% too.

 

[turbo]

All of our children are above average...

 

[Ben Niehoff]

It's exactly what Jimmy said. Most people score 100% on the Intermediate section, meaning that the score of 100% is only 47th percentile.

It means that the questions in that section are easy.

 

[Mépris]

I think educated foreigners will often perform better; especially if the language is learned more intellectually than naturally. We're guided more by social acceptance and exposure in our natural languages. But I am only a monolinguist, so my reasoning is inferior:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091029151807.htm

I think there's some truth to this. There are some mistakes that us "foreigners" will never make, such as write "should of" instead of "should have" or "should've".

I'm inclined to agree.

I also don't know how differently English is taught but here, up until year 9 (out of our 13 years of pre-uni education, excluding pre-primary school), we were assigned a lot of grammar exercises and if we had a particularly tolerant teacher, quite a few (short) essays. In general, essays were not given too often and if students failed to do them, teachers would cut them some slack as classes are usually of 40 students and quite a few (of the teachers I've had over the years) seemed quite pleased to receive less scripts to mark.

Anyway, grinding through exercises in that "Essential English Usage & Grammar" by J.B Alter was quite painful. Curiously, it was also internet forums which made me work on my English a lot, albeit on a subconscious level. I got flamed a few times because of mistakes I made and stupid things I said (I was ~13-15 then) and I ended up proof reading everything I wrote a few times before hitting the "Submit Reply" button!

---

As long as I get a sense of what a person is trying to put across, I don't really mind. I do get annoyed by "text speak" and by people who use too many symbols for no good reason in their posts. On this forum I was on, there was a guy who would always use "~" and "!1!" and "&(%#" in every other post. Especially "~". I never understood why. :p

 

[FtlIsAwesome]

Loooong post...

"koo-pon" must be right! It comes from 'couper', to cut, pronounced 'koopay'.

Hey, I do that! And so does everyone else here!

It actually annoys me when people say Q-pon. :)

Same here. I say "Koo-pon", as do all normal people.

Nooooooooo!
This is war!


Actually, if I remember correctly, as a kid I thought it was actually written something like "Qpon". Then I find out its written "Coupon" and think Neat!
Then I hear someone pronounce it koopon.

I have a cousin who actually pronounces it Cats-up. Why? Ketchup is pretty much the standard pronunciation (at least around here).

I always thought the alternate prononciation was written differently, as "Catsup"; a sort of slangy term.

Every Christmas season, I have to bite my tongue when Pollack's jewelry commercials come on the air. The owner pronounces it "joolery" and he insists on making his own commercials.

"Jewerly" is one of those words I don't know how to pronounce. Are you supposed to drop the W or not?
I have a suspicion that nobody knows how to actually pronounce that word.

I remember getting into a heated debate (and this will only make sense to those of you who are afflicted with ear hair) with someone on a BBS about pronunciation of the word "sysop". They absolutely insisted that it is pronounced "sis-op" and could not be pronounced "sigh-sop". Their rationale was that the term sysop comes from "system operator", and therefore the only correct pronunciation was "sis-op".

I asked him what that box plugged into the back of his computer was called - a "mod-eem"?

He conceded.

So... "sysop" isn't short for system operator... then what does it really mean?

http://www.okcupid.com/tests/the-commonly-confused-words-test

Here's a test of your ability to speak english good.

the-commonly-confused-words-test:
English Genius
FtlIsAwesome scored 100% Beginner, 100% Intermediate, 93% Advanced, and 87% Expert!

http://www.okcupid.com/quizzy/results?quizzyid=14457200288064322170&userid=11243491523438383239

Huh? How is this possible? English isn't even my native language? And I scored English Genius?

...

I would like to ask everybody here that if they ever see me making an English mistake, then tell me.

Go Micro! You inspire me!

Do I get GOOFB card each time I correct your English?

I'm often impressed by the language skills of non-native speakers on this forum.

You could easily pass as a native speaker, micro .

Wait, English isn't Micro's first language!? I always thought he just had, like, a Ph.D. in English or something.

I only figured that he wasn't a native English-"typer" when looking back at his old posts, then looking at his location listed on his profile.

You obviously did not hear me speak yet...

Now I want to know what you sound like. Maybe trying singing Never Gonna Give You Up.




English speakers will mispronounce foreign names, sometimes because its difficult to pronounce, other times because of the ambiguities of English letters. For example Tokyo is To-kyo, not To-ki-yo, but the written form can't tell you that. (Well, it can, but you have to know how to read romanized Japanese first)

English speakers pronouncing tsunami is one the lame ones. They almost always drop the T, even though the T clearly appears in the written form, and its not all that difficult to pronounce. Once someone "corrected" me with sunami when I had said tsunami!

 

[vela]

English speakers will mispronounce foreign names, sometimes because its difficult to pronounce, other times because of the ambiguities of English letters. For example Tokyo is To-kyo, not To-ki-yo, but the written form can't tell you that. (Well, it can, but you have to know how to read romanized Japanese first)

I don't think this is so much about misreading romanized Japanese. I've found non-Japanese-speaking Americans have trouble pronouncing kyo as one syllable.

English speakers pronouncing tsunami is one the lame ones. They almost always drop the T, even though the T clearly appears in the written form, and its not all that difficult to pronounce. Once someone "corrected" me with sunami when I had said tsunami!

This one bugs me too. Langauge Log had blog entries about this:

http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=3025
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=3027

 

[Evo]

The correct American pronunciation of coupon is q-pon (kew pon), not "koo pon".

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/coupon

 

[KingNothing]

The correct American pronunciation of coupon is q-pon (kew pon), not "koo pon".

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/coupon

The article you linked to has both pronunciations.

 

[Evo]

The article you linked to has both pronunciations.

But the primary is here.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/audio.pl?coupon01.wav=coupon

The pronunciation koo pon is taken from the French.

Ah am an Amurkin.

Here's another list of dont's to add fuel to the fire.

http://www.dailywritingtips.com/50-incorrect-pronunciations-that-you-should-avoid/

 

[KingNothing]

English speakers pronouncing tsunami is one the lame ones. They almost always drop the T, even though the T clearly appears in the written form, and its not all that difficult to pronounce. Once someone "corrected" me with sunami when I had said tsunami!

This isn't specific to English speakers at all. It is called consonant weakening and is a natural part of language change. Basically, we naturally use the laziest pronunciation we can get away with.

These things used to bother me a lot until I listened to an audio book by John McWhorter about language change. I now realize that even the pronunciations we see as "correct" are mashed-up, butchered versions of other words.

All of our words are wrong, some are just wronger.

 

[KingNothing]

But the primary is here.http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/audio.pl?coupon01.wav=coupon

I realize they may be listed in a certain order, but does MW say if the order is meaningful?

 

[dacruick]

All of our words are wrong, some are just wronger.

If you're a writer, wronger isn't righter than anything else on this thread.

 

[Evo]

I realize they may be listed in a certain order, but does MW say if the order is meaningful?

See up, koo pon is from the French, kew pon is the American version.

 

[vela]

I realize they may be listed in a certain order, but does MW say if the order is meaningful?

I've been looking through MW's info, and it avoids saying anything about the order. Nevertheless, it does list "koo-pon" first in the text. The American Heritage Dictionary also does, and it explicitly says that it lists the most common pronunciation first.

 

[Evo]

I've been looking through MW's info, and it avoids saying anything about the order. Nevertheless, it does list "koo-pon" first in the text. The American Heritage Dictionary also does, and it explicitly says that it lists the most common pronunciation first.

Here is where I originally went.

Origin:
1815–25; < French; Old French colpon piece cut off, equivalent to colp ( er ) to cut ( see cope1 ) + -on noun suffix

Related forms
cou·pon·less, adjective

Pronunciation note

Coupon, related to cope and coup, is of French origin. It has developed an American pronunciation variant  /ˈkyupɒn/ Show Spelled[kyoo-pon] Show IPA with an unhistorical y -sound not justified by the spelling. This pronunciation is used by educated speakers and is well-established as perfectly standard, although it is sometimes criticized.

I became a bit disgruntled with a number of online dictionaries when many of them changed the pronunciation of ratatouille to match the mispronunciation of the Pixar mouse movie.

Right: ra ta tuy

Wrong: rat-a-too-ee

And of all <shudder> places to find someone French that knows how to pronounce it.

Being French, I had a big laugh at looking all the answers. Sorry, I shouldn't...
Anyway I will try (and make a laughing joke of myself !)
The two "a" must be pronounced the same way as in "rat"
The last one is more difficult : the sound is like "toy" with a "u" (as in "blue") instead of the "o" ; got it ?
Try it
Ra Ta Tuy
Don't worry for the "R" : in some French regions, "R" is pronounced like in English...
Bon appétit : the "ratatouille" is a very nice stew of aubergines, courgettes, tomatoes, onions and garlic from Provence.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070809080652AAl84qe

 

[Fredrik]

But the primary is here.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/audio.pl?coupon01.wav=coupon

The pronunciation koo pon is taken from the French.

Why are you saying that this is the primary? The only indication I see is that the URL has 01 in it while the other has 02. But on the coupon page http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/coupon, the koopon pronunciation is listed first. Isn't the entire word taken from French? If the French pronounce it koopon, that sounds like a reason to consider the other pronunciation wrong.

Edit: Never mind. I didn't see that this has already been discussed.

 

[turbo]

Having grown up in an area that is predominantly French (though Canadian Metis-style French) I'd have to go with koo-pon. Kew-pon would just go against the grain. We know what a coup is, and how to pronounce it. Even 19th C Native Americans knew how to pronounce it, thanks to their exposure to French trappers and traders. "Counting Kew" would just seem so wrong.

 

[Evo]

Why are you saying that this is the primary? The only indication I see is that the URL has 01 in it while the other has 02. But on the coupon page http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/coupon, the koopon pronunciation is listed first. Isn't the entire word taken from French? If the French pronounce it koopon, that sounds like a reason to consider the other pronunciation wrong.

Edit: Never mind. I didn't see that this has already been discussed.

I'm just pushing my preference. (I can't be trusted) As you can see that I consider the French pronunciation of ratatouille correct.

 

[zoobyshoe]

I think educated foreigners will often perform better; especially if the language is learned more intellectually than naturally. We're guided more by social acceptance and exposure in our natural languages. But I am only a monolinguist, so my reasoning is inferior:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091029151807.htm

"The research report brings forth six main areas where multilingualism and hence the mastery of complex processes of thought seem to put people in advantage. These include learning in general, complex thinking and creativity, mental flexibility, interpersonal and communication skills, and even a possible delay in the onset of age-related mental diminishment later in life," Marsh relates.

The study might have reversed cause and effect, though. It could be that more creative, flexible, etc. people are drawn to learn foreign languages.

I have often heard it said that a foreigner who formally studied English was likely to have a better grasp of the grammar than a native speaker. It's pretty much a meme. I don't find it to be true except of people who are already very bright to begin with, and already have an enhanced interest in Culture, History, and the Humanities in general.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Having grown up in an area that is predominantly French (though Canadian Metis-style French) I'd have to go with koo-pon. Kew-pon would just go against the grain. We know what a coup is, and how to pronounce it. Even 19th C Native Americans knew how to pronounce it, thanks to their exposure to French trappers and traders. "Counting Kew" would just seem so wrong.

I have to agree with this. There is no particular difficulty in adopting the French right into English. Foreign words should only be mangled for "American" purposes when their original pronunciation can't be easily accommodated.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Speaking of which, how do you Americans posting in this thread pronounce "Mozart"?

I have had my ears pinned back a couple times hearing people pronouncing it exactly as spelled.

 

[KingNothing]

Moat - zart. Then again, I speak German so the "z" sound with a "t" in front comes naturally. I also grew up in the midwest, where we say everything correctly.

 

[turbo]

Probably as "motzart".