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Deliborate mispronunskiations

Deliborate mispronunskiations

Deliborate mispronunskiations

(OP)
I have a problem.
(Well, several actually but one in particular)
I find myself deliberately mispronouncing words to (supposed) comic effect, however it's starting to become my default pronunciation, which makes me look like a retard in meetings.

It stemmed from a DJ who would say "regliar" instead of regular, and my Grandpa who would say "pictureskew" instead of picturesque.
It expanded into "antipohd" instead of antipode,
"co-thanger" instead of coat hanger, and the (all too common)
"nucular" instead of nuclear.

Does anybody else (deliberately)do this? Do non-english speakers do it it their own languages?

Is there a cure?

"I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go past." Douglas Adams

RE: Deliborate mispronunskiations

The French equivalent of 'nucular' is 'areoport' for 'aeroport'

RE: Deliborate mispronunskiations

Actually I do something similar - sometimes changing the first letters of two words in sequence. I do not do it in English, but rather in my home-language, Afrikaans.

Like:
Tap changer becomes Chap tanger
red bike becomes bed rike
etc.

A cure? Maybe to concentrate when you are talking?

Regards
Ralph


RE: Deliborate mispronunskiations

Some foreign words that originate from English are just soooo tempting to borrow. Sometimes they can replace the proper word.
For example, as I heard it, Japanese for ice cream was pronounced iceeekreeemoe. Fabtastic sound! Much more interesting than plain old icecream! So what started as novelty value became the norm and now, I have to concentrate to say icecream in front of strangers.

RE: Deliborate mispronunskiations

My name is Chris, and I too deliberately mis-pronuncia...  mispronounce words.  I have been also known to deliberately speak a "spoonerism".

(This is a twelve-step isn't it??)

RE: Deliborate mispronunskiations

Some pundits have claimed President Bush of deliberately mispronouncing words to seem more like a regular guy.

RE: Deliborate mispronunskiations

I do this too.  A typical one for me is when I answer in the affirmative, I say ro-zhay (pronounced like Roget, the thesaurus person).  I started with roger (common US military term for yes), but I jazzed it up at some point.  I even have co-workers using it.  Now that I type it to strangers, it seems more than a little wacky...

Regards,

Cory

Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips Fora.

RE: Deliborate mispronunskiations

1) One of my students is Iranian and says "national frequencies" instead of "natural frequencies", Now I've started saying it too.

2) I sometimes say "Spank your hairy crutch" instead of "Thank you very much". I have done this inappropriately on more than one occasion.

3) "Can you pass the mouse turd?" for "Can you pass the mustard".

4) Along similar lines: "Can you arse the parlour maid?" for "Can you pass the marmalade?".

M

  

--
Dr Michael F Platten

RE: Deliborate mispronunskiations

Lol @ mouse turd.  That's funny I don't care who ya are.  

I pronounce things weird just for fun of it (at least I thought it was funny) and have to catch myself in meetings.  The other problem with it is when you're around people who are about as bright as a 2-watt light bulb.  They either don't get it and try to correct me or think I'm serious and start saying it that way.

No matter what though,  "nucular" is never funny.  That's like fingers raked across the chalk board.

RE: Deliborate mispronunskiations

I have been known to say "dan-ger" instead of danger, and "flied chickren" in stead of fried chicken purposely.

Some things I do have a hard time saying are:
supposedly- "suposably"
birthday- "burfday"
elementry- "elementary"

"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers."
Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943.
Have you read FAQ731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

RE: Deliborate mispronunskiations

I had a job teaching for Kaplan Test Prep.  One test they had a course for (I didn't teach this one) was a special English proficiency for medical professionals.  Nice to know such a ting exeest.

RE: Deliborate mispronunskiations

Quite often I pronounce the silent "k" in words.  My young children now go around telling k-nok k-nok jokes, or asking for a k-nife to butter their bread.

On a similar theme, I picked up a bad habit from my Dad.  The habit is to deliberately use a similar sounding word to make a statement funnier (well funnier to me).  For example, I would say, "That cake tastes quite malicious".  [Dad says he "learned" this little gem from a character on an episode of All in the Family...possibly played by Jackie Mason, but he couldn't recall exactly.]

I have also been k-nown to sing "Sloppy Birthday" at more than one birthday party.

Of course, when the kids' teachers send home those notes telling me to quit bastardizing the English language in front of my children...well, let's just say I have to tone it down a bit.

Of course, I can't just murder one language.  When saying thank you I often say "Grassy Ass Senior".  And who can forget that "Horror Show" means something good (alluding to A Clockwork Orange), stolen from Russian "Khorosho"?  Sorry, my Acrylic, errrr, Cyrillic keyboard isn't working at the moment.
  
Cheers,
CanuckMiner


RE: Deliborate mispronunskiations

I have a different twist to bastardizing the english language. Sometimes I'll put the wrong pronunciation of letters like G in words. As in, "My, that lemon is tangy" with the G as in orange. I don't do this constantly, but during relaxed times, I will start.

Also, just for comic effect, sometimes I'll switch "a" and "an", because my friends and I used to do that in college. Such as "It was a accident." or "He didn't have an chance." I suppose that could be from the way those two particular words are used in conjunction with words that start with H. H is a consonant, but it's "An herb garden", or in U.S. english it is. I understand British english still pronounces it as a hard H with that particular word.

Ok, this is much too long winded, time to move along.

RE: Deliborate mispronunskiations

hmm...  I've often wondered whether saying "uhssankyo" or "uhssankyowerymuch" in the wrong company would get me in trouble.  

RE: Deliborate mispronunskiations

      Yes, we also do, in Italian.

      In particular, my Company's Testing & Assembly Boss often mangles words with a comic effect. See some examples below:

I:     "siamo alle sogliole del 2000"       invece di   "siamo alle soglie del 2000"
E:    "we're on the tongue-fishes of 2K"  instead of   "we're on the threshold of 2K"    

I:     "mi sono astenuto alla procedura"  invece di  "mi sono attenuto alla procedura"
E:    "I abstained the procedure"            instead of  "I followed the procedure"

I:     "mais criogenico"       invece di   "mais transgenico"
E:    "cryogenic Indian corn" instead of  "trans-genic Indian corn"    

E:    "clinic room"   instead of   "cleaning room"


      So now in my Company we all use his "mispronounced" expressions regularly, as a "family slang"... but we must pay attention when we're talking on the Testing & Assembly floor         

Bye,        'NGL

RE: Deliborate mispronunskiations

Unfortunately, we can't do it as almost all languages in India are phonetic and highly difficult to change position of one letter without disturbing the actual meaning.

A(kka)(da) is a word which means 'there'. (The english letters grouped in braces form one letter in my mother tougue.)

A(da)(kka) means 'don't ask'

But we used to do lot of twisting, torturing and squeezing of words for fun during college days. Nowadays kids are unable to understand even the simplest form of my mother toungue, leave alone the modified version.

Spoonerism is common to us.

RE: Deliborate mispronunskiations

The one that drives me up the wall is when other people can't pronounce the word 'ask'.  It always comes out aks, as in, "I aksed him the other day if..."...

I wonder if they even know they are doing it.

I cringe just typing it.

RE: Deliborate mispronunskiations

(OP)
Ooh yes.
I'd forgotten that one.
I don't do that myself but in every single episode of Eastenders you hear
"Leave it ahhhhht! I aks you, Arfur!"

One of many reasons I can't stand the programme....

It's like "nuffink" and, as recommended by 9 out of 10 grumpy teenagers, "Whatevaahh!!!!"

And just why do middle class, British, white teenagers try to sound like they are black street gang members from the Bronx?

"I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go past." Douglas Adams

RE: Deliborate mispronunskiations

I think each generation tries to add thier "2 cents" to the culture.  I know my generation were responsible for several things, some now long forgotten.  But I suppose this is more slang-related and not mispronunskiations.

"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers."
Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943.
Have you read FAQ731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

RE: Deliborate mispronunskiations

Personal favorite - "nuckin futz"

check the thread on Redneck Engineering Terminology for more

Keep the wheels on the ground
Bob

RE: Deliborate mispronunskiations

I often say, "hey, can I axe you a question," which is a favorite mispronunskiation of mine.  Supposably there are some people out there who are irritated by that.  They must just be jealous of my Exkalade.  Expeshially with the new spinners, yo.  Know what I'm sayin?  Bling!

RE: Deliborate mispronunskiations

Yo, I's down wit dat!  Jus' like my boy Fitty-Thent!

RE: Deliborate mispronunskiations

The great Victor Borge had a routine where he would raise the implied number in a sentence, like where numerical words were raised by one number, so that "create" would be "cre-nine", and so fifth.
Another great one was with Bob, Anna, and the Latin lover "Don Two," (raised from Juan): "Bob grabbed from the table in front of him a piece of mari-nine-ted herring. But Anna warned, "Don't throw it, remember you are an officer in the United States Air-fiveces." "Don Two," he retorted, "Are you two?" "I am two, three." "Then he left and when he was one and a halfway through the door, he turned. "Anna," he said as he wiped his fivehead, "If I can't have you...I will remain double!"
Our family still plays with that pronunciation mess, and still get a kick to see how far we can go before we goof.
Franz

eng-tips, by professional engineers for professional engineers
Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips Fora.

RE: Deliborate mispronunskiations

My father's favorites were "you-callie-PEE-tus" (eucalyptus) and "puh-LOP-uh-nies" (polo ponies).  My additions include "tare-an-TOO-la" (tarantula), "qwees-a-DILL-a" (quesadilla), "ja-LAP-an-o" (jalepeno), and "TAY-co" (taco).

RE: Deliborate mispronunskiations

in college we occasionally referred to "hot fuh-mah-lays" (pronounced like hot tamales).  One shy of the legal age of consent would be "hot famale foo yung."

RE: Deliborate mispronunskiations

Another fun twist is to emphasize the wrong syllable in a word, ala Mike Myers.

"You em-FA'-sized the wrong sil-LA'-bull."

RE: Deliborate mispronunskiations

Haf

Sting does that all the time - and he gets paid for it.

M

--
Dr Michael F Platten

RE: Deliborate mispronunskiations

I been wondered what y'all talk'n.

A previous boss use to say Onion Crabide for Union Carbide.

My Dad's favorite was opitical occlusion for optical illusion.

I have thought it but never said moose turds for mustard.  We got Mooses in dese here parts.  Or be dat Meese?

I like to say hasty vista (i pronounced as in it) for hasta la vista.

I am serially (for seriously) considering it.

Last summer while visiting our daughter and family, I found myself mimicking our Grandaughter who has trouble pronouncing her R's.  After a few guarded looks, I figured I better cut this off.  she has speaking issues.  No problems just issues.


RE: Deliborate mispronunskiations

My dad used to tell a story about when he was in boot camp and the sargent used ot refer to Camoflage as "Campf-lage"

RE: Deliborate mispronunskiations

Is it "cereal" or "serial" for serious?  I've never wrote it down, just always thought it was more funny to think "cereal" when saying it.

"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers."
Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943.
Have you read FAQ731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

RE: Deliborate mispronunskiations

are you cereal?  These girls I lived with for a while in college said that all the time...  They were vietnamese, and often referred to themselves as ornamentals.

RE: Deliborate mispronunskiations

One could become cereally misoriented looking at those ornamentals.

RE: Deliborate mispronunskiations

On the steel plant I once worked at (well, maybe the term "work" is stretching it a bit) we had lots of cricodile clops, and many input cards in the telemetry system had iso-optilators.  Spooner seems to be alive and well!

Bung
Life is non-linear...

RE: Deliborate mispronunskiations

My old boss used to ask "what can I do you for?" when you walked into his office. A modest man, he never said it when a famale (thnx ivymike) was in the room.

He also used to talk about what would happen "when the fit hits the shan"...

RE: Deliborate mispronunskiations

(OP)
Just remembered another one.
Following a misprint in a TV listings guide, two weeks in a row, I often refer to playing "Devil's apricot".

"I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go past." Douglas Adams

RE: Deliborate mispronunskiations

A Christmas greeting for the food - conscious :

"Condiments of the Seasoning"

RE: Deliborate mispronunskiations

spanish is my mother language...
when in high school i used to change words and that got me in trouble... there was the war between: Medos y Persas, that is: Median(?) and Persians, but in the test i wrote : the war between Pedos y Mersas (F*rts and Bums). oooops.

saludos.
a.

RE: Deliborate mispronunskiations

Or is that dis-occidented?  Is eating too much of that broccoli at the university dining hall a punish for gluttonment?  Not nececelery.

Will-I-Am

RE: Deliborate mispronunskiations

cup of chino in lieu of cappuccino, i.e. "Two cups of chino please", which I overhead in a cafe a few years ago.

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