To wonder why people put "r"s where they don't belong?

[somebloke123]

A trivial matter in the grand scheme of things of course but:

I first noticed this as a school boy "oop north" when a teacher from down south joined the staff and caused great hilarity by saying "drawrings" instead of "drawings".

It seems to be a southern phenomenon but not at all a type of chavspeak. Some of the worst offenders are media types who speak middle class "received" or "BBC" English.

It amounts to an inability to pronounce two successive vowel sounds without putting an "r" between.

A few examples I have heard in the radio, mainly over the past week or so:

West Brom managed a one-all drawragainst Aston Villa.

Planning the withdrawral from Afghanistan.

Chris Grayling is seeking a change in the lawron reasonable force against burglars.

The police are trying to restore Laura Norder.

And on Radio 4's "Poetry Please" in an otherwise moving reading of Oscar Wilde's "Ballad of Reading Jail":

"But I never sawraman who looked
So wistfully at the day.
I never sawraman who looked
With such a wistful eye."



Grrrrrrrrr!

[GetOrfAKAMrsUsainBolt]

I say loch like I would imagine a scouser saying lock.

Mind you it is a word I used infrequently!

Apple sauce
Source of the nile.

No, I pronounce them the same.

It's not wrong though, just as scots pronouncing r's very strongly is not wrong. Just diversity isn't it.

It would be bollocks if we all walked around speaking like the queen.

[socharlotte]

In North Yorkshire , where I hail from we 'talk proper'. None of your barths and parths and grarss!

[socharlotte]

How do you pronounce source and sauce differently?

[MaryZed]

There is no r is sauce .

Sourced is s-or-ssd

Sauce is S-awe-s, but without the w properly, so maybe more S-au-ss

Completely different words.

[OwedToAutumn]

Oooh, oooh, oooh, I've got one.

I hate the way some people say sick-th, instead of sixth.

The head of DD2's school used to say it all the time re: the sick-th form.

Uggh! Itchy teeth!

[MaryZed]

I'm from Dublin, by the way. Apparently educated Dubliners speak English properly, and much better than most English people.

We have hoards of Spanish and other European students in Dublin every year who are here to learn to speak English correctly [baffled].

[MaryZed]

They do that on the BBC a lot Owed. Makes me feel stabby.

[OwedToAutumn]

Yes, gharstly. or ghahstly. Whichever. Just don't say sick-th!

[MaryZed]

garsetly That's just wrong too.

[choccyp1g]

I hate the way newsreaders say "Seck-su-all" instead of "sex-ual"

Always feels as though they are trying to avoid the word "sex"

[Moln]

I too have now forgotten how I speak!

i think MaryZed that in Ireland, RTE will only employ people who use more Rs than are needed. "looorst" make me wince

[OwedToAutumn]

No. Seck-su-al it right!

Seck-shoe-al - that's wrong!

[lotsofcheese]

Yes, have you heard of VictoriaR Pendleton? And JessicaR Ennis?! Drives me potty!

[MaryZed]

But it's sex-you-uhl - no hard k sound at all.

Moln, in order to work for RTE you have to call it OR-Tee-Ee, it's compulsory

[socharlotte]

is envelope French I wonder hence the 'on' beginning by some folk?

[MaryZed]

I think it was originally from French.

But imo on-volope is pretentious and makes me think of Del-Boy .

[AllPastYears]

MaryZed, whether you say sex-you-al or sek-shoe-al there is a "hard k sound"! 'Sex' is pronounced 'seks', right?

[GetOrfAKAMrsUsainBolt]

I am sitting here mouthing the word SEX-U-AL silently to myself. I am in abusy canteen and must look like someone who needs to be taken away.

[GetOrfAKAMrsUsainBolt]

Oh ghaaaaaaaastly - that word has to be said like Penelope Keith.

[MaryZed]

No, it's an x - much softer than a ks [confuses self]

[AllPastYears]

But an "x" is a "ks"!

[AllPastYears]

In 'sex', anyway .

[AllPastYears]

PS wrecks/rex, flex/flecks. Same or different?

[MaryZed]

When I say it, for some reason it's softer in sexual than in wrecks.

I dunno.

Try saying sex-youal

Then say seck-sueal

Maybe it's because my second s is more of an "sh", so sex-shoeal, which softens the x.

dh is looking at me like as I mouth words at my laptop.

[JessieMcJessie]

I am Scottish so yes yes to Wales and whales sounding completely different. Not to mention where and wear. And of COURSE source and sauce sound completely different - not just because one has an "r" in it and the other doesn't, but also because they are completely different vowel sounds.

I recall being utterly bemused by the presenters on Blue Peter asking us to send in out "drawrings". On a slightly separate note, my Granny always used to say "ear-rings", with the "r" pronounced at the end of "ear" and again, separately at the start of "rings", whereas my instinct is of course to say only one "r" which is I suppose adopting the English pronunciation of "ear". I have inherited a lot of her earrings and I always say her double R where myself when I am picking out a pair to wear.

I work with a Chinese girl, she is fluent in English but I am the only Scot she has ever met. The other day I asked her if the cleaners had been in to hoover yet. She looked at me as if I was speaking in tongues. I has to mime in the end.