to think someone should know doggy dog makes no sense?

[Juells]

Heard someone (on TV) using this yesterday. "It's a doggy dog world". Why do people think this means anything?

Later (think it was on Antiques Road Trip) someone said they were thinking of changing tact.

My DH pronounces Nazis as nancys .
He is dyslexic so his shopping lists are often hilarious, I have learned to decipher his handwriting and wonderful spelling over the years.
DS had glue ear as a youngster so quite often had his own version of sayings and words. He always called puppies poppies which caused no end of confusion but was the obvious name for our current dog!

A bit niche but - Renumeration - makes my toes curl.

In a lot of books a criminal has been "riffling" through stuff. I'd have thought it was rifling as rifle only has one f.

Riffling is correct. It means to quickly and casually turn over something, like the pages of a book, or shuffling quickly, ie a deck of cards. I only discovered this recently too - we bought DD1 a decent dictionary and I've been using it more than she has.

"Rifling" and "riffling" are not interchangeable, and I would imagine that unless a criminal was checking a book or shuffling a deck of cards, they would not be "riffling" through stuff, but "rifling" through it.

Riffling and rifling are different words.

Yea LOL meant to be dog eat dog.

Or he could mean snoop doggy dog

Riffling and rifling are different words.

I know. I was merely pointing out that the authors of the books the PP was reading may have been using riffling correctly and in context. A book I recently re-read (an Agatha Christie) used riffling to describe a character going through a victim's study quickly, clearly flicking through books and papers. Of course if it was clothes etc that would be wrong.

I assumed that the PP thought riffling wasn't a real word. Obviously that may not have been what she meant. Shouldn't presume on the internet.

No, no, no, when I read it, misled is mizzled. Me too. Can't read it any other way. Also 'mishap' when I read it is like 'bishop'.

I agree that it's a lack of general knowledge and reading widely that causes these errors.

I remember mispronouncing victuals at 'vick tyoo als' in a sixth form English class and being really embarrassed when I was corrected, as I knew the word 'vittles' but had never connected the two.

I had a phone call from someone this morning who I deal with on a business basis. During the conversation he used the 'word' 'irregardless'; I had to bite my tongue.

As a side note, when I typed irregardless a red line did not appear under it so out of interest I googled it; seems it's an accepted word now. Oh dear.

I remember mispronouncing victuals at 'vick tyoo als' in a sixth form English class and being really embarrassed when I was corrected, as I knew the word 'vittles' but had never connected the two.
Good grief, that's complete news to me, and I left Sixth Form behind decades ago! Thank you for the enlightenment, itssquidstella!

People using mortified when they're talking about being really angry.

One of the reasons I am uncomfortable about even the mildest mockery of people who mispronounce words is that it’s used so often as a “class marker”.
Posh people (like me) have lots of words that, unless you’ve been told, you couldn’t possibly know how to say, which marks you as an “outsider”. It’s horrible. Sorry to be serious for a minute. It was “victuals” that made me post. I remember a long time ago working in a school uniform shop, and the concealed sniggering at parents who didn’t know how to pronounce The Licensed Victualler’s School was horrid. Second rate school with bursaries for people in the trade- and they couldn’t even say it properly.

Yy Bertrand.

I do also think that some of the fun-poking at 'pacifically' etc that goes on on here can be about putting people in their place (disclaimer: not accusing anyone particular on this thread of this).

On balance, I would rather people used a range of expressions and sometimes got them wrong rather than sticking to a very limited and functional vocabulary for fear of being mocked.

Tbh I didn't even know anybody still used the word victuals in day to day life. I've only ever seen it in Dickens novels!

I see posts on Facebook such as "I saw are daughter in her school play".

So using are when they mean our. I suppose it is how it sounds here.

as I knew the word 'vittles' but had never connected the two.

I always thought the 'vittles' pronunciation was a joke

Another thing i’ve just thought of- before social media we very rarely saw anything written down by people except our family and friends or by professionals. So we had no idea about most people’s levels of literacy.

I don't think it's class. I've known some very (very) upper class people who made a virtue out of 'never reading anything'. However, they did study Latin at school, and knowing the root of words gives you a good handle on spelling.

Another reason I think it's reading is the whole 'discreet/discrete' thing. They sound the same but have very different meanings and unless you read a lot to absorb those different meanings, you are going to use the version you see written down most often without realising it's wrong. And, certainly on MN, the version seems to be 'discrete', which makes me want to scream.

I always thought the 'vittles' pronunciation was a joke

I used to as well

My Cornish great-grandmother called food "viddy" which I now assume comes originally from victuals/"vittles".

@vasya I absolutely love the Francis Bacon/France is Bacon one!

“I don't think it's class.”

I don’t think it’s all class, of course. But some of the “gatekeeping by pronunciation” thing really is.

A gay friend tell me that men love having their prostrate gland stimulated but I can't find it on any anatomical diagrams....

@Corneliawildthing - what should "stepped foot outside" be?

@Tombero - unchartered waters is correct isn't it? I thought it was a nautical term meaning unmapped?

Oh dear, have I been wrong on these two?

alibongo5

I think it's "set foot outside" and "uncharted" waters. Maps being "charts" not "charters".

Took a bit of staring at the latter one to see the problem, though.