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Original poster

common mis-pronunciations

364 replies

wherethewildrosesgrow · 25/08/2016 14:40

Since using Facebook, I've noticed a lot of people pronounce things wrongly,
Discusing instead of disgusting
Pacific instead of specific
Brought instead of bought
Tenderhooks instead of tenterhooks
and this ones my favourite....
chester draws instead of chest of drawers

It make me wonder if I'm unknowingly guilty of some without knowing ?
list the ones you've noticed, don't forget to own up to any your guilty of, I will.

OP posts:
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5
Poppyred85 · 27/08/2016 11:35

I've found my spiritual home Grin

Kevintheminion · 27/08/2016 11:51

Renumeration instead of remuneration...supposedly educated and senior corporate people can't compute...

People who write 'your' instead of 'you're'....

Many, many more which drive me nuts.

Sparklemummyx0x0x · 27/08/2016 12:05

I apologise for bringing the think/thing issue up. I didn't know it had already been a subject on another thread. It just came to me as I was reading.
Yes the 'you're' and 'your' annoys me too.
Also when people use 'to' and it should be 'too'

Sparklemummyx0x0x · 27/08/2016 12:08

My mum always corrects me when I say 'Me and xxx' instead of 'xxx and I' though to be honest it's not much of a big deal really.

acasualobserver · 27/08/2016 12:11

The OEC and GloWbe both show 'thing' to be more frequent in data for all varieties of English taken as a whole.

DelicatePreciousThing1 · 27/08/2016 12:16

When people say "They helped you and I." instead of "They helped you and me."

DelicatePreciousThing1 · 27/08/2016 12:17

"Those sort of things..." instead of "Those sorts of things..."

PolkadotsAndMoonbeams · 27/08/2016 12:18

Sparkle, either of those could be correct (although it's always polite to put yourself at the end I think).

Speaking of yourself/myself, why has it suddenly crept in all over the place where it doesn't belong? "You can contact myself, if yourself is happy..." No, no, no!

Gwenhwyfar · 27/08/2016 12:20

"Click instead of cleek for clique"

That's local dialect rather than a mis-pronunciation (at least here in south Wales), unless you're actually talking about spelling.

Gwenhwyfar · 27/08/2016 12:22

"Speaking of yourself/myself, why has it suddenly crept in all over the place where it doesn't belong? "You can contact myself, if yourself is happy..." No, no, no!"

Lawyers seem to be the worst for this. It's very difficult to resist when everybody's doing it.

SestraClone · 27/08/2016 12:22

You would say "my husband and I..." when you would say "I" if talking about just yourself.

You would use "me and my husband..." in a sentence where you would say "me" if you were talking about your self only.

My husband and I went to the park.
I went to the park.
The invitation was addressed to me and my husband.
The invitation was addressed to me.

SestraClone · 27/08/2016 12:23

I have only recently noticed that "outwith" is a word regularly used in Scotland but not usually anywhere else.

Gwenhwyfar · 27/08/2016 12:28

"I work with a woman who says 'texes' for the plural of 'text'. It drives me mad."

I honestly find the xts cluster in texts quite difficult.

Gwenhwyfar · 27/08/2016 12:32

"Pronouncing the letter h haitch instead of aitch. Even teachers at my school do this. "

I prefer it because it includes the sound the letter makes. I don't really care if it's 100% correct or not.

Gwenhwyfar · 27/08/2016 12:36

"When you say 'woman', you don't really say the 'man' at the end - it's more wo-min. And women is pronounced more like wi-min. Sort of like when you say the surname 'Goldman', you don't really say Gold-man, you say Gold-min."

That doesn't make sense at all to my ears. Woman is pronounced wuh-mun with an 'uh' sound, not an 'i' sound and women is pronounced 'wi-min'. I think that when people confuse these, they're just basic spelling or typing mistakes, not that they don't know the difference.

Olympiathequeen · 27/08/2016 12:38

Omg.

Lose!

Loose!

PolkadotsAndMoonbeams · 27/08/2016 12:40

I was surprised when I first came across 'jie' as a letter of the alphabet.

If you're used to 'outwith' There is a green hill makes much more sense.

Siluriformes · 27/08/2016 12:40

I prefer it because it includes the sound the letter makes. I don't really care if it's 100% correct or not.

So how do you pronounce C, Y and W?

Sparklemummyx0x0x · 27/08/2016 12:40

Hmm sorry still none the wiser I'm afraid. If you were talking about yourself only, then you wouldn't say 'my husband.. ' as well.

If I was at the park alone I would say 'I went to the park' but would say 'me and my husband went to the park' if I were with him (was with him) not quite sure which that is either.
Is it was or were?
Oh geez I'm confusing myself now.

Gwenhwyfar · 27/08/2016 12:40

"Medcine instead of medicine."

I thought that was the correct colloquial pronunciation. I thought the second syllable was supposed to be swallowed. Same as libry for library and secretry for secretary - at least in my accent.
Or are you talking about spelling?

Gwenhwyfar · 27/08/2016 12:42

"So how do you pronounce C, Y and W?"

Don't have the option of including the sound in those do I?

PolkadotsAndMoonbeams · 27/08/2016 12:45

Sparkle, it works like this:

I went to the park.
My husband and I went to the park.
We went to the park.

Can you collect me from the park?
Can you collect my husband and me from the park?
Can you collect us from the park?

Gwenhwyfar · 27/08/2016 12:46

"If I was at the park alone I would say 'I went to the park' but would say 'me and my husband went to the park' "

Strictly speaking it should be 'My husband and I went to the park' because you are both the subjects of the verb rather than the objects (and because without 'husband' it would be 'I'.)

When you are the object of the verb and you are receiving an action it's me 'someone gave me a book' becomes 'someone gave a book to my husband and me'.

Problem is that people get criticised by grammar pedants and then make fools of themselves by over-correcting and saying things like 'between you and I'.

Sparklemummyx0x0x · 27/08/2016 12:47

Yep the loose and lose annoy me too
I also get confused with the pyjamas and pajamas. I think the other is American but both are correct on autocorrect. Not so much a grammatical error just like the 's' and 'z' and missing the 'u' out on American words.
I'm kinda digressing here.

Sparklemummyx0x0x · 27/08/2016 12:54

Ahh ok thanks for clearing it up for me, understand a little more now, though probably still say it the same way, mixing it up a little here and there and still get corrected by my mum when I'm wrong. I was never really that great at English language.
the 'between you and I' I say but would also say 'between you and me' so I guess I have no set ways. It's not something I've ever really thought about in great detail until now.