If Americans want to say Twat they should say it properly.

[bigmouthstrikesagain]

There is a very irritating trend in US TV where an actor will use "twat" as an insult, but pronounce it "twot" ... it is painful and I need it to stop.

[JemimaHighway]

parmesan is parmashun
What?!?! OMG it's not. Parmesan is pronounced....Parmesan!

The Italian way is Parmigiano - pronounced parm-ij-ano

[MuttonWasAGoose]

I think I always pronounced it "Parma jahn" - the "so" being sort of like "sh" and sort of like "j". At any rate, the "a" was "ah"

[SoupDragon]

Am trying to imagine a 'light-hearted' thread about those funny Indians and how they can't quite pronounce British English properly............

Im trying to imagine any situation where Americans are oppressed or discriminated against.

[Vodkaandballoons]

I live in North America. sometimes Ds is mocked at school because of his English accent and the way he pronounces words. This thread reminds me of that a little. Yuck

[MuttonWasAGoose]

Americans aren't oppressed. Other than being treated a bit rudely abroad by people with chips on their shoulders, they're not really discriminated against, either. But rudeness is rudeness.

If you are an immigrant to another country - no matter how privileged your background or current circumstances - it gets really tiresome to hear people talk about your culture and how you don't do things "properly."

And if it's a case of "Oh, those privileged Americans can take it" then it's sort of like when people say nasty things about thin women.

This is a British site but there are a lot of Americans posting here, quite a few of us who live in the UK.

[RevoltingPeasant]

No okay Soup it's not the same, but still. It's not racism. It is ethnocentric and rude.

[MuttonWasAGoose]

Also, when you move to another English-speaking country, you will start to pick up the different pronunciations and usages. Everyone does this to varying degrees. I like to blend in and/or I unconsciously mimic what I hear. So, after ten years of living in the UK I say and pronounce some things differently, although my accent hasn't changed at all. It's to the point that people back home notice and comment on it.

So, if Jason Statham says "twot" he may be doing it unconsciously if he's been living in the US. Or, he may have been told to change it by the director in order to avoid distracting an American audience.

I once saw a fantastic Tilda Swinton movie called Julia. In it, she has a perfect American accent. But then she pronounces "medicine" in the British way: "medsin". It was jarring. That said, she was supposed to be American. If Jason Statham is supposed to have an English accent in that role then I don't think "twat" would sound off. So he may simply have absorbed that pronunciation without realising.

[EnthusiasmDisturbed]

Oh fgs when we are in the states we are often mocked more so ds for our accents and for our reserved ways

Ds now says yoogurt and hey rather than hi

He has also started saying bro and dang

[Alisvolatpropiis]

I think the oregano pronunciation must be related to how Oregon (the state) is pronouced? In America I mean, nowhere else.

I always enjoyed the way my dads Texan partner said vehicle vee-hikkle. Made me smile every time.

She reasoned that herbs were 'erbs in America because Herb was a mans name.

Noticed on Law and Order recently that toward/s isn't necessarily pronounced the same way in the UK/US. Actress was saying toe-werd rather than tuh-ward.

[AnnieOnAMapleLeaf]

I am North American. Just because we don't pronounce words the way you do in the UK does not mean we are pronouncing them wrong! These threads creep up regularly, are incredibly insulting and makes you all look like ethnocentric twats {tw-Ot}.

[MuttonWasAGoose]

Oregon and oregano aren't similar, I don't think. Trying to remember...

Oregon is definitely "Ori-gone" and I think oregano is "or-EGG-uhn-oh"

[CFSsucks]

Ok Americans could have a thread about all the things we say wrong.

But there is an episode of friends where they say Sone ya instead of S on ya and it drives me up the wall (my best friend is called Sonya) same with May gan instead of Megan. But I am a bit of a pedant with saying things 'correctly' (even though to them we aren't correct). I still correct my mum when she says Rasponzel instead of Rapunzel. I just can't take it. It's like nails down a blackboard .

[MuttonWasAGoose]

Let's all get to the bottom of "orient" vs "orientate."

[millionsmom]

Boowee instead of bouy.

But I now say parking lart. Side walk, trunk, hood.
I'm a Brit living the dream abroad!!

I've yet to meet an American who minds talking about the differences with the language.

Now confuse a Canadian with an American, sparks can fly.

[MaidOfStars]

Orient.

Orientate is vair British and vair wrong.

[MaidOfStars]

Dawn I find myself using Scottish dialect after I've read an Irvine Welsh book. I start calling people "tubes"

[MitzyLeFrouf]

Maybe 'ya fud' should be introduced to America in place of 'twot'.

[CheerfulYank]

Fuck all y'all :o

Only joking of course. I'm not offended in the slightest. But I will say for a place that had a debate about scarf and laugh rhyming.... Also pita and Peter. They're not remotely the same, you mad people.

Let's see...Craig is pronounced Creg because...it is! I don't know why. Same with Gram. Graham crackers are Gram crackers.


Oregano is oh-REG-uh-no. (Reg like egg.)

LAH-tay.

Twat is twot and means vagina.

My name is Megan and I refuse to be called May-gen. It is rare but if people persist with it (my high school teacher comes to mind) I just have them call me Meg.

[CheerfulYank]

And no American would say "parsta" It's pah-sta. The ah sound is a little more rounded that normal I suppose.

[Alisvolatpropiis]

Parsta and pah-sta sound the same when I say them, Cheerful.

Have a non-rhotic UK accent. Someone with a rhotic accent might go so say as to suggest I don't pronounce certain words correctly!

[CFSsucks]

cheerful I'm English and scarf and laugh don't rhyme, neither do pita and Peter. I was baffled by that thread. I also say lah tay not lartay. I do say or egg an o though (no idea if this is wrong).

I have never heard of twot though and didn't know it was the American way of saying twat so I've learned something new today .

[Doublebubblebubble]

Yanbu!!!

The creg/craig thing bothers me endlessly. Namely when some American reporter is talking to Daniel Craig and calls him Daniel creg to his face!! Twot makes me feel ill. The spelling is twAT... I'm all hot and bothered now!!

[SenecaFalls]

But they seem to do what they want when it comes to 'clique' and 'niche'.

I’m American. I pronounce these the French way as does everyone else I know.

Anna is pronounced the same way in the US as it is in the UK. I have several Annas in my family. But there are a lot of people in the US named Ana (Spanish). That name is pronounced with the long/broad “a”.

I'm not anti-American, I'd very pleased if one of them could explain why they say "Creg" instead of "Craig".

I read somewhere (don’t have time to look it up now) that it has to do with older Scottish Gaelic pronunciations that were prevalent especially in North Carolina where there were huge highland settlements.

I've yet to meet an American who minds talking about the differences with the language.

Of course we like to talk about differences in language, especially those of us who have lived in the UK. But there are a few folks being a trifle rude and snarky on this thread. And on the day before Thanksgiving, too. [sad turkey emoticon]

[CFSsucks]

I also say pah sta and b ah th not the other way that I can't spell phonetically.