I am very worried about the first 'c' in the word 'arctic'

[Quattrocento]

Having listened to Radio 4's interesting discussion of Shackleton, I was dismayed to hear that even Radio 4 presenters have difficulty with the first 'c' in the words 'arctic' and 'antarctic'.

Surely the BBC should send its rogue presenters off to elocution lessons?

I'm more worried about it going AWOL in spelling than speech

oh it's scary isn't it

ds1 has a planet protector from ELC that says "I'm Ice, I protect the artic"

well, Ice, unless you protect an articulated truck I think you're mistaken matey. Now piss off back to where you came from

bah

It's going AWOL everywhere though! Once it disappears in speech, it's only a matter of time before it disappears in writing.

I have the same problem with the 'g' in 'recognise' - I had to look it up in a dictionary the other day to reassure myself I wasn't just pronouncing something that had been silent for years. I met someone else the other day who said 'recognise' rather than 'reckernise' and I felt that flash of recoGnition.

Artic is a sort of lorry.

I was brought up short when the new display in nursery was about 'Artic Animals'... I can't have been the only one to notice though, as it had been replaced by the next evening!

You should report the missing C to the plice Quattro.

Weird. DS made up a joke this morning about 'the Artic'.

don't worry. the c has been redeveloped and sent off to bolster the feeble something to the mighty somethink.

bbc radio london is pioneering this vital consonant transfusion.

Presumably the 'g' in 'recognise' has gone off to do something equally worthy. Tell me where it would be more use...

Reminds me of The Onion sketch : Clinton deploys vowels to Bosnia.

Singersgirl I think it's currently being used in combination with an n in 'skelington'.

There must also be an r missing somewhere which has been reassigned to 'drawring'.

Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!

Thanks peeps, for a partial set of the worst errors (assumes some people will turn up with even more awful examples).

Well, at least "I'm with you" in condemnation of all of the appauling errors you have spotted.

Can I also add the missing L in "vunnerable"? It sets my teeth on edge, and I've been dying to complain about it for years.

Lazy, sloppy pronunciation.

... bit like the wandering r from February and library -- Feb'ry and lib'ry??

What we need is a secatry to organise the letters for us.

A friend of DW's family did this the other way round one Christmas - talking several times about being stuck behind "arctic" lorries.

I had to bite my tongue to stop myself asking where these pantechnicon transporters of permafrost and tundra could be found.

Arctic is a roll

Liaison. When I was applying for temping jobs they had it as a standard on spelling tests as so many people spell it incorrectly and it allowed me to make the best put down at a particularly annoying bitch coworker once. Said individual thought that they were some kind of genius at everything, always thought they were right, and one day a bunch of colleagues were complaining about word, and said woman came out with "Microsoft never recognises the word 'liaison'" so I responded with "it does if you spell it correctly".

Boo yah.

KWYM Quattro but I just checked with my DC and they all say Arctic and Antartic

They also know which has penguins and which polar bears

Glad to hear it Clary - surely a future for them as R4 presenters? Get them auditioning now ...

Sorry I can't spell tho they can speak - I meant to write "Antarctic" doh!

No chance on the R4 idea tho, none of them can say "th" (all say v or f so fink, wiv etc) which is a shame as it's in two of their names!