Language fails that make you angry

[Galteeth]

"Fail" is a perfectly cromulent word.

 

[Ben Niehoff]

Metathesis is a pretty common linguistic process. It created the modern English words "bird" and "bright" from "brid" and "beorht". Probably lots of other examples, too.

I wonder if the people who invented these pronunciations a thousand years ago were personalities similar to G.W. Bush or Homer Simpson...

 

[Fredrik]

Turns out that the picture I linked to is a fake. Not surprising when you think about it. It's a real screenshot, but the question asked for another name for the trachea. She answered it correctly and won 32000 GBP.

 

[DaveC426913]

Unfortunately it sometimes evolves through mere mangling. I've been told that it's now considered acceptable to pronounce nuclear "nucular". I blame George W. Bush and Jack Bauer.

Agreed. Which is why I was making a distinction between evolution for the efficacy of the language (to express a new idea), and mere sloppiness.

 

[Char. Limit]

Jumping into this thread after reading just the first post!

I really hate it when people misspell words like "socialize" and "aluminum". They do it ALL THE TIME. Don't you guys just hate that?

 

[KingNothing]

Among the people I hang out with, "fail" is really, really commonly used as a noun. It's probably a generational thing. I notice a lot of people around 18-25 use it that way.

I think I get most annoyed by words being mispronounced when a person could easily sound them out by looking at them. Jewelry, nuclear, "etc.".

 

[Evo]

Agreed. Which is why I was making a distinction between evolution for the efficacy of the language (to express a new idea), and mere sloppiness.

This reminds me of an episode of I Love Lucy where she is pregnant and decides that she and Ricky should learn proper English, so she hires a tutor.

The tutor tells her that there are two words she should never use, one of them is swell and the other one is lousy. So she tells him to tell her the lousy one first.

 

[Char. Limit]

Among the people I hang out with, "fail" is really, really commonly used as a noun. It's probably a generational thing. I notice a lot of people around 18-25 use it that way.

*Looks at post*

*Looks at identity of original poster*

*looks at thread title*

You're trolling, right?

 

[Pythagorean]

Char limit, you missed the part where I was heckling him. He was justifying his use in the title, not saying it makes him angry.

KingNothing, I was just heckling, I'm really not that picky about English use as long as I can understand the message.

 

[KingNothing]

I wasn't bothered. If anything it puts it into perspective - we all probably unknowingly do things that bug others. I never said such annoyances were rational. :)

 

[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?