Words, usages, and phrases that annoy the shit out of you...

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No, it's a French version of an English word

Or a French version of an English version of a German word.

― theantmustdance (theantmustdance), Friday, 19 August 2005 16:18 (eighteen years ago) link

"kayak" is a word in english because the people who write the english dictionaries say so and they went into an office and talked it out and came up with a "correct" english pronunciation.

Errrrrrrrrrrr, not really how these things work you'll find

― Diddyismus the Blind (of Alexandria) (Dada), Friday, 19 August 2005 16:20 (eighteen years ago) link

I guess I just take into account what the majority of educated people say. The majority of Americans say CRAFT-WORK, so that's what I say. It's not like I intentionally say "Jack Chy-rack" when referring to the French president -- nobody actually says that, even if it's "more American-sounding."

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 19 August 2005 16:21 (eighteen years ago) link

I've seen lately that really bugs me is "preznit" instead of "president." Is this supposed to imply some kind of disrespect or belief in the illegitimacy of Bush's presidency? Because it just makes you look like an idiot.

Yeah, it's stupid and annoying. It's like spelling crazy with a k.

― Leon C. (Ex Leon), Friday, 19 August 2005 16:23 (eighteen years ago) link

Lately: "thot" or "thort" for "thought." Looks stupid.

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 19 August 2005 16:28 (eighteen years ago) link

http://homepage2.nifty.com/fattytaka/photopeggy006400.gif vs http://vision.york.ac.uk/articles/135/politics/images/bush.jpeg

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Friday, 19 August 2005 16:30 (eighteen years ago) link

(Björk vs BORK)

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Friday, 19 August 2005 16:32 (eighteen years ago) link

I say "kraftwerk"

― RJG (RJG), Friday, 19 August 2005 16:34 (eighteen years ago) link

Let's just not mention her name at all, it's easier that way

― Diddyismus the Blind (of Alexandria) (Dada), Friday, 19 August 2005 16:34 (eighteen years ago) link

Foreign-word pronunciation: for me it basically depends whether you're being asked to make sounds that aren't in the everyday range of the English language. With Iran, for instance, there's no reason not to say it properly, or at least near-properly. Both syllables are fairly normal ones for Americans to pronounce; you're not asked to put on any sort of matching accent or add any non-domestic flourishes. It's simply a matter of knowing (or not-knowing) how it's meant to be pronounced.

Whereas with Kraftwek you are kind of asked to make some unusual sounds -- and, in the case of the "kraaaft-vairk" types Jaymc is talking about, to affect an unfamiliar method of pronouncing familiar phonemes. So I tend to say "craft - verk," which, when pronounced American-English style, is almost completely indistinguishable from "craft - work."

I.e. rule = if you can say it naturally in your normal English-based speaking voice, then do it. If you can't, don't sweat it. (Though I'm never particularly annoyed by people who know how to say things "right," unless they seem to be making a big show of it.)

(This reminds me of my high school civics teacher, who'd get on all the Mexican students' cases about Americanized pronunciation: "Your name is not Flow-rez, it is FlorES!")

― nabiscothingy, Friday, 19 August 2005 16:52 (eighteen years ago) link

Also reminds me of the prof I had in college who ran with the old-school British pedagogical condition of willfully mispronouncing all foreign words as they'd be in written English, so that midway through a very erudite lecture the whole class looked up: "Did he just say 'Don Quick-sote?'"

NB my rule on this is informed by the fact that there is a hard S sound in my name that I can successfully pronounce on maybe 10% of attempts, and even then only if I let myself sound like a total jackass trying. I certainly can't expect other people to say it properly, so the most I ask is that people say things as well as they can within their usual phonetic sets.

― nabiscothingy, Friday, 19 August 2005 17:09 (eighteen years ago) link

I say Kraftwerk but sometimes I say Kroftvaerk in a robot voice just to amuse myself. On the other hand I say Vim Venders and feel really stupid doing it but I feel equally stupid saying Wim Wenders. You can't vin.

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Friday, 19 August 2005 17:16 (eighteen years ago) link

who here today was told to shoot an email over to someone, or at someone? did you have to adjust your aim?

― kingfish fucked up his login (kingfish 2.0), Friday, 19 August 2005 17:18 (eighteen years ago) link

The only other thing I'm going to say is that you're all going to have ulcers by the time you're 35.

― n/a (Nick A.), Friday, 19 August 2005 17:21 (eighteen years ago) link

n/a OTM. Let it go. It seems like another way to be a judgmental snob. And there are so many better ways.

― oops (Oops), Friday, 19 August 2005 19:01 (eighteen years ago) link

My mind is a blank.

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Friday, 19 August 2005 19:02 (eighteen years ago) link

On the other hand I say Vim Venders and feel really stupid doing it but I feel equally stupid saying Wim Wenders.

Haha, see I totally say Vim Venders, because I've never ever heard anyone pronounce those W's Anglo-style.

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 19 August 2005 19:03 (eighteen years ago) link

Reading discussions of pronunciation that do not involve the IPA.

TORTURE.

― The Milkmaid (of Human Kindness) (The Milkmaid), Friday, 19 August 2005 19:08 (eighteen years ago) link

Put a schwa on my keyboard and then we'll talk.

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 19 August 2005 19:09 (eighteen years ago) link

word. you can download IPA fonts from SIL.org. i'm not sure they're going to work in here.

― The Milkmaid (of Human Kindness) (The Milkmaid), Friday, 19 August 2005 19:11 (eighteen years ago) link

Rereading the word "schwa": are there any other five-letter words where the only vowel is in the fifth position? Odd.

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 19 August 2005 19:24 (eighteen years ago) link

schmo

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Friday, 19 August 2005 19:26 (eighteen years ago) link

schtick and other words starting with scht- and schn-

twelfth is the only word that has ccvccc, i think. (/th/ is one phoneme)

― The Milkmaid (of Human Kindness) (The Milkmaid), Friday, 19 August 2005 19:28 (eighteen years ago) link

ps - i meant to add "in English" -- i cannot speak for all of the world's languages.

― The Milkmaid (of Human Kindness) (The Milkmaid), Friday, 19 August 2005 19:30 (eighteen years ago) link

oops. those aren't word-final vowels. nevermind.

― The Milkmaid (of Human Kindness) (The Milkmaid), Friday, 19 August 2005 19:31 (eighteen years ago) link

xpost right, okay

"Schmo" is good. Amanda, I said "five-letter words." The thing that's interesting about it to me is that the vowel is at the very end and nowhere else.

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 19 August 2005 19:34 (eighteen years ago) link

that's why i said oops. oooooooooooooooops. oopsie. whoops!

― The Milkmaid (of Human Kindness) (The Milkmaid), Friday, 19 August 2005 19:37 (eighteen years ago) link

Yeah, I know, I just typed that out, though, and didn't want to delete it!

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 19 August 2005 19:38 (eighteen years ago) link

six-letter word="shrdlu"

― M. V. (M.V.), Friday, 19 August 2005 19:45 (eighteen years ago) link

I cheated and used dictionary.com. Interestingly, schwa is German from Hebrew and schmo is yiddish so there are probably similar words elsewhere in Yiddish, German or Hebrew.

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Friday, 19 August 2005 20:30 (eighteen years ago) link

I catch myself saying a lot of things that really annoy me, but these are some that I hate way too much to ever say:

"Up-side the head"

Anything with the word "munch" as the root.

when people type the words "sigh", or "shrug". If you went through the trouble to type 'shrug', maybe it kind of negates the whole fucking thing?

When people say or type "gotcha".

"Howdy"
"Okeedokee"

Any catchphrases from old comedies such as Wayne's World, Ace Ventura, or Austin Powers, will cause me to reconsider our friendship.

― recovering optimist (Royal Bed Bouncer), Friday, 19 August 2005 20:33 (eighteen years ago) link

Anything with the word "munch" as the root.

munchkin?

NOT! (as if.)

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Friday, 19 August 2005 20:35 (eighteen years ago) link

when people type the words "sigh", or "shrug". If you went through the trouble to type 'shrug', maybe it kind of negates the whole fucking thing?

Oh, if this thread were about annoying internet words and phrases, I would have much more to contribute here.

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Friday, 19 August 2005 20:44 (eighteen years ago) link

In general, Americanisms perpetrated by British people are always annoying - I've heard people say "on the weekend" instead of "at the weekend" for instance.

But Americans don't say "on the weekend" (which strikes me as interchangeable with "at the weekend" in its Britishness); they say, "over the weekend."

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Friday, 19 August 2005 20:53 (eighteen years ago) link

one that I've seen lately that really bugs me is "preznit" instead of "president." Is this supposed to imply some kind of disrespect or belief in the illegitimacy of Bush's presidency?

no. it has a very specific origin, and came into use by members of a community who understood and referred back to that origin. it implies, if anything, disrespect for the hands-off approach the media takes with respect to the administration.

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Friday, 19 August 2005 21:03 (eighteen years ago) link

here's what i'm missing on kraftwerk - isn't the German word derived from the English? aren't they the ones pronouncing it wrong in the first place?

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Friday, 19 August 2005 21:06 (eighteen years ago) link

um, no.

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Friday, 19 August 2005 21:07 (eighteen years ago) link

naw, it means "power station" in German

― The King's English (sexyDancer), Friday, 19 August 2005 21:07 (eighteen years ago) link

Oh shit, it just occurred to me that my screen name should be pronounced Valter. Good thing I've never had occasion to say it out loud.

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Friday, 19 August 2005 21:08 (eighteen years ago) link

does kraftwerk mean something other than craftwork? i've never felt reverential about the band, so i see no need to be reverential about the name. (xpost, i see)

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Friday, 19 August 2005 21:08 (eighteen years ago) link

perhaps many who pronounce it in Americanized fashion make the same mistake i did

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Friday, 19 August 2005 21:10 (eighteen years ago) link

I'm sure the american homophone was not lost on Messers Hutter & Florian.

― The King's English (sexyDancer), Friday, 19 August 2005 21:12 (eighteen years ago) link

er, Schnieder

― The King's English (sexyDancer), Friday, 19 August 2005 21:18 (eighteen years ago) link

KRAFTWERK? I LOOOOVE KRAFTWERK!

http://www.mcb.com.hk/online/image/upload/9/power_station.jpg

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Friday, 19 August 2005 21:29 (eighteen years ago) link

Bang a gong, get it on.

― The King's English (sexyDancer), Friday, 19 August 2005 21:43 (eighteen years ago) link

"Free pass," as in "How come I get attacked for supposed intolerance towards hip-hop when everyone gives rappers a free pass on their misogyny?"

The claim is invariably a lie.

― Frank Kogan (Frank Kogan), Friday, 19 August 2005 22:13 (eighteen years ago) link

the plural of breakfast is breakfasses.

― Draw Tipsy, ya hack. (dave225.3), Friday, 19 August 2005 22:23 (eighteen years ago) link

I am dearly hoping all the people defending using american/english prons for things like bjork and kraftwerk also say "grand pricks". Please please :D That'd make me day.

― Trayce (trayce), Friday, 19 August 2005 22:31 (eighteen years ago) link

No, Americans pronounce it "NASCAR."

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Friday, 19 August 2005 22:38 (eighteen years ago) link

nuk-u-lur instead of nu-cle-ar

― Wiggy (Wiggy), Friday, 19 August 2005 22:44 (eighteen years ago) link

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