| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
MollyBloom
Joined: 21 Jul 2006
Location: James Joyce's pants
|
 Posted: Sat May 30, 2009 5:32 am Post subject: **The commonly mispronounced words list** |
 |
|
1. The one that p* me off the most is "forte."
"FOR-tay" is used for the musical term.
"Fort" is to describe someone's strength.
ex. Speaking is not my forte.
2. And also "posthumous" is NOT pronounced "post-humous."
It's ˈ"p�s-chə-məs".
*Mod edit. Please refrain from posting profanity - refer to the TOS. |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
VanIslander
Joined: 18 Aug 2003
Location: Geoje, Hadong, Tongyeong,... now in a small coastal island town outside Gyeongsangnamdo!
|
| Posted: Sat May 30, 2009 6:27 am Post subject: |
|
|
one needs a university education to teach in Korea, but the world is full of C+/B- grads who never learned that much
more importantly, it smacks of 'elitist' to expect anything higher than a high school education, at home as well as hereabouts
you should have learned this lesson your first two or three years after university (maybe you're one of those, just slower to get it) |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
WendyRose
Joined: 10 Dec 2008
Location: hanam-si, seoul
|
| Posted: Sat May 30, 2009 7:03 am Post subject: |
|
|
I get more frustrated when it comes to grammar-related issues. For example, when people repeatedly confuse eager/anxious and sit/set. And if anyone says "I seen" around me my eyes bulge out and my heart begins to spasm from desperately trying to keep my mouth shut. But if we're on the topic of mispronounced words: homage (ahm-idge, not home-idge) and orangutan (NOT oranguTANG). And then, of course, there's milk (not melk) and pillow (not pellow), but those aren't so big a deal.  |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
ontheway
Joined: 24 Aug 2005
Location: Somewhere under the rainbow...
|
| Posted: Sat May 30, 2009 7:27 am Post subject: Re: **The commonly mispronounced words list** |
|
|
| MollyBloom wrote: |
1. The one that p* me off the most is "forte."
"FOR-tay" is used for the musical term.
"Fort" is to describe someone's strength.
ex. Speaking is not my forte. |
Hopefully you can learn to control your apoplectic bladder, as several dictionaries show both pronunciations to be correct (actually three: fort, fourt and fortei) for the term "forte" when used to describe an individual's strong point.
You are correct about the muscial term however. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
MollyBloom
Joined: 21 Jul 2006
Location: James Joyce's pants
|
| Posted: Sat May 30, 2009 8:49 am Post subject: Re: **The commonly mispronounced words list** |
|
|
| ontheway wrote: |
| MollyBloom wrote: |
1. The one that p* me off the most is "forte."
"FOR-tay" is used for the musical term.
"Fort" is to describe someone's strength.
ex. Speaking is not my forte. |
Hopefully you can learn to control your apoplectic bladder, as several dictionaries show both pronunciations to be correct (actually three: fort, fourt and fortei) for the term "forte" when used to describe an individual's strong point.
You are correct about the muscial term however. |
As I already said, it has been mispronounced for so long now it is common to pronounce it the incorrect way. So now, dictionaries include the other pronunciation, but learned people know how to pronounce it correctly. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
MollyBloom
Joined: 21 Jul 2006
Location: James Joyce's pants
|
| Posted: Sat May 30, 2009 8:50 am Post subject: |
|
|
| VanIslander wrote: |
you should have learned this lesson your first two or three years after university (maybe you're one of those, just slower to get it) |
Are you referring to me? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
VanIslander
Joined: 18 Aug 2003
Location: Geoje, Hadong, Tongyeong,... now in a small coastal island town outside Gyeongsangnamdo!
|
| Posted: Sat May 30, 2009 8:58 am Post subject: |
|
|
| MollyBloom wrote: |
| VanIslander wrote: |
| you should have learned this lesson your first two or three years after university (maybe you're one of those, just slower to get it) |
Are you referring to me? |
out of university more than a few years, just SLOW to get it |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
MollyBloom
Joined: 21 Jul 2006
Location: James Joyce's pants
|
| Posted: Sat May 30, 2009 9:07 am Post subject: |
|
|
| VanIslander wrote: |
| MollyBloom wrote: |
| VanIslander wrote: |
| you should have learned this lesson your first two or three years after university (maybe you're one of those, just slower to get it) |
Are you referring to me? |
out of university more than a few years, just SLOW to get it |
This is supposed to be a fun thread; why are you getting so cranky? So when people on TV or radio mispronounce things, you think it's okay? I don't. I think it's terrible that people can't speak English well these days. Especially as teachers, we all should care about this. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
JMO
Joined: 18 Jul 2006
Location: Daegu
|
| Posted: Sat May 30, 2009 9:17 am Post subject: |
|
|
I think Forte is an example of a hyperforeignism, similar to coup de grace which is also pronounced wrong generally.
Some local idiosyncratic pronunciations, I find charming. For example in the north west of Ireland, sometimes Charles is pronounced Charl-is. I love that pronunciation and would love to call a future son that as long as people used that pronunciation. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
ontheway
Joined: 24 Aug 2005
Location: Somewhere under the rainbow...
|
| Posted: Sat May 30, 2009 10:08 am Post subject: Re: **The commonly mispronounced words list** |
|
|
| MollyBloom wrote: |
| ontheway wrote: |
| MollyBloom wrote: |
1. The one that p* me off the most is "forte."
"FOR-tay" is used for the musical term.
"Fort" is to describe someone's strength.
ex. Speaking is not my forte. |
Hopefully you can learn to control your apoplectic bladder, as several dictionaries show both pronunciations to be correct (actually three: fort, fourt and fortei) for the term "forte" when used to describe an individual's strong point.
You are correct about the muscial term however. |
As I already said, it has been mispronounced for so long now it is common to pronounce it the incorrect way. So now, dictionaries include the other pronunciation, but learned people know how to pronounce it correctly. |
... but stagnant, ossified and obstinate people know how to pronounce it correctly, the way it used to be in the good old days:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znrjbo9QRLk
The world keeps changing. So does English.
BTW, "forte" was one of the new vocabulary words for one of my advanced classes just last week. I taught them both pronunciations as both are used and they need to recognize both. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Hyeon Een
Joined: 24 Jun 2005
|
| Posted: Sat May 30, 2009 10:39 am Post subject: |
|
|
The thing which annoys me greatly at the moment is people writing the opposite of what they mean. I'm specifically referring to the misuse of "can" and "can't". When people make this mistake it makes their meaning the opposite of what they meant, and makes them look like an idiot. It's not even a typo, It's stupidness. I detest it and it is common on this message board and many others.
I think this problem might be related to pronounciation though. I have a big problem telling whether someone speaking American English says "Can" or "Can't". It's so slurred I often have to qualify what they said or asked. It makes it a lot easier if you speak British Englih and slip an "r" in there and say "carnt". ^^ So much easier to understand. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
VanIslander
Joined: 18 Aug 2003
Location: Geoje, Hadong, Tongyeong,... now in a small coastal island town outside Gyeongsangnamdo!
|
| Posted: Sat May 30, 2009 1:19 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| MollyBloom wrote: |
| This is supposed to be a fun thread; why are you getting so cranky? |
this is what you consider fun, your thread begins: "the one that P* ME OFF the most is..." followed by all seriousness
what you consider cranky is: "it smacks of 'elitist' to expect anything higher than a high school education, at home as well as hereabouts" followed by the implication that you are slow to get this point |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
beercanman
Joined: 16 May 2009
|
| Posted: Sat May 30, 2009 5:42 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| I have heard the word "forte" said many times in my life, and always as "for tay" and always to refer to skill. Had no idea everyone was wrong about it. I wonder if I'll ever once hear it pronounced correctly. Nah, probably not. One of my favorites is "irregardless," or as Homer once said, "unregardless." (hmmm.."irregardless" doesn't even show up on my screen underlined in red like "unregardless" does...could this mean "irregardless" is a real word?) |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
MollyBloom
Joined: 21 Jul 2006
Location: James Joyce's pants
|
| Posted: Sun May 31, 2009 5:32 am Post subject: |
|
|
| VanIslander wrote: |
what you consider cranky is: "it smacks of 'elitist' to expect anything higher than a high school education, at home as well as hereabouts" |
No, not cranky. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Ruthdes
Joined: 16 Oct 2008
Location: Seoul
|
| Posted: Sun May 31, 2009 5:41 am Post subject: |
|
|
| beercanman wrote: |
| I have heard the word "forte" said many times in my life, and always as "for tay" and always to refer to skill. Had no idea everyone was wrong about it. I wonder if I'll ever once hear it pronounced correctly. Nah, probably not. One of my favorites is "irregardless," or as Homer once said, "unregardless." (hmmm.."irregardless" doesn't even show up on my screen underlined in red like "unregardless" does...could this mean "irregardless" is a real word?) |
OMG! Irregardless makes me shudder! But it's an acceptable word according to dictionary.com (though it does call it "nonstandard") and the Scrabble dictionary on facebook... I still hate it though  |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
