I enjoy silly sketches that involve word play, such as this one from the old British program Not the Nine O’Clock News.
Jan 04 2013
Alibi
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Jan 04 2013
I enjoy silly sketches that involve word play, such as this one from the old British program Not the Nine O’Clock News.
:)
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Rodney Nelson
January 4, 2013 at 6:00 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
More than once I’ve mispronounced a word which I’d read but never heard spoken.
Reginald Selkirk
January 5, 2013 at 9:12 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
As well. I suspect it is common in people who read a lot. How many American children would still be thinking of Herm-ee-ohn Granger if the Harry Potter series hadn’t been turned into movies?
Mano Singham
January 5, 2013 at 10:20 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Not just children. I too thought that was how Hermione was pronounced until I saw the films.
Jared A
January 4, 2013 at 10:54 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
That’s why we must be thankful for Pronunciation manual.
left0ver1under
January 5, 2013 at 2:04 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I’ve met people like this. They become defensive rather than admit ignorance, even if it makes them sound ridiculous (e.g. people who say “ee-light” instead of “ill-eat”). One called me an “ee-light-ist” for pointing it out.
Regarding the “pronunciation manual” video, it reminds me of early speech synthesizers in the 1980s and 1990s. If a word had different pronunciations, the program only produced the most common sound (e.g. slough like “slew” , wind like “winned”), and most could not produce different syllable stresses (e.g. object, desert). If you wanted a word produced properly, you sometimes had to misspell it (e.g. “whined” for rotation, “dessert” for running away).
Rodney Nelson
January 5, 2013 at 5:29 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
There was a bar in a small town I used to live in called “The Elite.” Its name was pronounced ee-lite even by people who knew better.
Reginald Selkirk
January 5, 2013 at 9:14 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
One recent example for me: Keynesian economics. I always thought that it sounded somewhat like Polynesian.
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Those wigs are hideous.
Reginald Selkirk
January 5, 2013 at 11:46 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Non-parody pronunciation dictionary
Mano Singham
January 5, 2013 at 12:37 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Thanks! That is very useful and I have bookmarked it.