Pismonunciations that drive you nuts

[GoodyGoodyGumdrops]

I'm sure you've all got your particular teeth-clenching, fingernails-on-blackboard nemesis.

Today's offering: they did "drawring" in Art.

I will break him of that habit. I will!

Here is the 'or' sound and I would say it: m.youtube.com/watch?v=Fm9PRHDJlv4
And here is the aw sound (as in draw) as I would say it: m.youtube.com/watch?v=7xvdbR6g060

Can you not count litres then OP?

I'm sure the most eminent linguist of our times won't lose much sleep on whether you agree with him or not. His dialogues with John Humphries might interest you? Most regulars on PC are descriptive language users like Mr C, rather than prescriptive like Mr H.

My comment about less/fewer wasn't a provocation, not really. It's just something which crops up a lot over here on PC- it's a bit of an initiation rite. Have a look at some of our old threads about it. There are lots.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/pedants_corner/2190363-Less-or-fewer

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/pedants_corner/2563654-Less-than-or-fewer-than

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/pedants_corner/2017578-Finish-advert-with-less-chemicals

Mrs Hathaway and Prism's points on these threads explain it quite well.

(and I confess, despite being an English language teacher for 23 years and having a post-grad in linguistics, I am on one of those threads under a different name arguing the toss. Incorrectly.)

Never too old to learn something new!

Pacific for specific (childminder)
Drawring for drawing (dh)
Happast for half past (MIL)
Cannular for cannula (SIL)
When shepherds washed their socks by night for watched their flock by night (SIL2)

To me drawing, snoring, pouring, clawing, flooring, storing, all end in the same sound.

Newsreaders in Canada have started saying "Key-yanada", drives me bonkers. As does their tendency to say inner-national rather than international.

Is saying sec-e-tary a regional thing in England?

Spelling-wise I can't see why people confuse lose and loose, it's a completely different sound. Are there any native English speaker accents where they sound the same?

Forget who it was who said earlier that autocorrect was a bit of mystery but have a look at this.

Intended message was
"Oh no keep sharing it's good to share!!! "

What came out, with a bit of fat-fingered typing & autocorrect's
"assistance", was
"Oh not keen Sharon it's a hoof to share"

With you OP. 5 items or less is wrong, it should be fewer. Most people seem to understand the difference between much and many, but somehow they have lost the same distinction between less and few.

I ate too much food/cake/rice (part of a whole/generic thing).
I ate too many fish fingers/cup cakes. (Several items)

I had less water
I had fewer pancakes (several items).

Smidge- no-one is denying that as far as very elementary English usage and rules goes, that is correct.

As Mrs H says on the other threads, discrete use of less/fewer is a bit more complex, and that's where people huffing and puffing about "wrong" and "right" make themselves look a bit daft.

It's similar to the over-application, say, of H not being silent in English and forgetting the exceptions. (bit more complicated than that though)

Do you agree that the OP is correct about "litres"?

I know people who say 'pairiod' instead of period. Also not a fan of 'yur' rather than year.

The less and fewer thing is a little bit ott and fussy. 'Less' has been used for plural things for hundreds of years and even many grammarians consider it perfectly acceptable usage. If you are going to go with that rule though, I'd say the OP's example with litres is incorrect because litres are plural.

Sorry, I've been totally unclear (or should I say, uncular ) about the onion thing and caused confusion. Apologies for that and the likely spelling mistakes etc I've been making - hoist by my own petard.

Hung - h = ung
yun rhymes with hun

I should have written "ung-yun" - which to me, is odd pronunciation as I think it's more like "un-ee-un" which to be fair, is more like "unyun" now I think about it

My friend's mum thinks there is a pop singer called Beyonse. Not Bee-yon-say, but beyonse. Like 'beyond' but with a 'ss' sound instead of a 'd.' She will not have this explained to her. We cba to correct her about "that nice Ed Sheehan" now.

Dracklia was Luke-ing frew a cackalog for chimblies but he bockled out and went to hospickle. Then he went to the shop and brought some chocklit peripherals.

'Derk cheap' is cropping up on some of my FB pages. As in 'X website is good for derk cheap clothes'.

I know this isn't pronunciation but what about "I should of known about that" and "I couldn't be arsed"!!! The latter one was from an alleged well edukaytered gal! When I said ooh you mean "asked" she hotly disputed it to the point of googling it in front of me! I couldn't be arksed mesel' ........

But but 'couldn't be arsed' is correct! Means Couldn't be bothered

Sorry you are very wrong! I guess you are under 40? It is ASKED!!!!!

I've always known it as 'can't be arsed' as in can't be bothered. And I'm over 40.

why would it be 'can't be asked'? That doesn't make sense. You can be asked a lot of things, it doesn't mean you'll do them.

No it is 'arsed'. Over 50 here!

english.stackexchange.com/questions/14566/where-does-cant-be-arsed-come-from

I suppose it comes from 'can't be bothered to get off my/your/their arse'. That makes sense. 'Asked' doesn't.

It is asked. Not arsed. Was made a corruption of in the late 90's hence I asked if person 40s. Pemba / Ivy its NIL to do with yr arse!!!!!!!

Gerty you're wrong, I'm afraid. It's arsed. And I'm over 50 if that's got anything to do with it

It's 'arsed' - asked doesn't make any sense if you have the northern flat 'a' sound.

My DH constantly says 'avle' instead of 'able'. It drives me potty.