Radio 4 on skunk

[MixedFeelingsNoFeelings]

The Beeb is the gift to Pedants' Corner that keeps on giving.

The consumer programme You and Yours had a piece today about outlet shopping centres, and whether they're as good value as they seem. Presenter Winifred Robinson was talking to Pooja Adam, a personal stylist who used to work at Bicester Village.

I present the following for the despair-tinged pleasure of pedants everywhere.

WR: Do you think there's a bit of trap to spend more money, because you've come a long way, you've made a special trip?
PA: Absolutely, there's a funny term called the 'skunk cost fallacy' -
WR: (interrupts) The what, the 'skunk cost fallacy'? Ha ha!
PA: Yes, ha ha! [...] You feel like you have to spend money to justify coming all that way.

I heard that and thought it was quite sweet and funny! I really hope the guest has some nice friends/colleagues who will say, "Pooja, skunk costs!"

That made me chuckle! You’ve got to love a malapropism.

I was more surprised that distinguished consumer rights journo Winifred didn't know it tbh, but perhaps she was caught off guard!

I thought Winifred was expecting to hear an explanation of a new saying!

I heard it, and was impressed by how Winifred Robinson handled it. I love her on the show.

I'm going to use the new funny term.

I just found out yesterday that when someone does this - mishears a popular saying as something else and then repeats it incorrectly - it’s called an ‘eggcorn’. 😄

@wordywitch , I wouldn't say skunk cost fallacy is an eggcorn, unless your purchases were real stinkers.

For anyone missing out on the costs of skunks:
You and Yours - RTS Deadline U-Turn; Festival Tents; Outlet Shopping - BBC Sounds
Ffwd to 27.35 or thereabouts.
It's no fallacy

I heard this live and couldn’t believe my ears when the woman reiterated skunk cost!

Oh my word! That's quite something

Exactly. Of course she knows the correct term. She was expecting an amusing play on words describing something different.

@TeachesOfPeaches , She dealt with it professionally.

Well, I thought Winifred rather drew attention to it by laughing and repeating it. Whether it was because she too had never heard of the actual phrase and agreed it sounded funny, or was just a bit flummoxed at hearing it misspoken, we'll never know.

It is a tricky situation. If you're genuinely bamboozled, you might blurt out 'Do you mean sunk-cost fallacy'? - then realise a split second afterwards that you sound like a dick.

So what to do in those situations?

Tactful deafness is one strategy. But my take on language is that it's meant to clarify. If you didn't know there was a psycho-economic theory about why people spend - which was, after all, the point of the item - you'd probably be interested to know more about it. But you won't if wrong information is circulated, AI-like, by apparent authorities like the BBC.

What do my co-pedants think - keep it zipped and don't be so pedantic; or tell people the error of their ways?!

I took it as WR giving PA the opportunity to correct herself. As a long-standing broadcaster on a consumer programme, she is probably familiar with the term.

I'm all for telling them the correct phrasing. If someone had told Pooja before she went on radio then we wouldn't be having this conversation.

But it's a doggy dog world

😉

Correcting the guest would be making an arse of one's self.

Doggy dog 😍

In a social situation, yes. But what about a broadcaster like the Beeb - no obligation to accuracy? Though with their love for the podcast, maybe everything's a social situation now.

We're discussing Winifred not Nick.

Have to say, I had a completely different mental picture when I saw the thread title…

I meant I'd expect Nick R to correct a guest, but that's a news programme. I like him on Today.

@ruethewhirl , great user name.

So many ghastly mistakes from the thriving young broadcasters now. Especially on the World Service.
No excuses. They have a team to help.
A few days ago:

Piedmont- Peedmonty
Aegean - Aggie Ann.
Agreement - Agg ruh mont

My soul dies a bit every time and that's before we even start on the grammar.

One kid actually said she thought that the Bayeux Tapestry was already in England. Maybe confused with the Elgin marbles.

I think the pronunciation unit (if it still exists) has some incorrect pronunciations.

There are some place and personal names that seem to get mispronounced consistently.

Yes, my favourite was someone reading out a poem on the radio containing the word 'cotoneaster' and pronouncing it 'cotton easter'. I'm sure the poet was delighted with the mangled metre!

Admittedly it's an obscure word if you're not a gardener. But if a broadcaster isn't familiar with a word, surely it's just being professional to check how it's pronounced. Pedants are always being accused of being 'superior', but to me it's more arrogant not to care.

Just googled and I was surprised to find the pronunciation unit does still exist!

There's a full-size replica of the Bayeux Tapestry in Reading Museum. It was embroidered by a load of Victorian women in Staffordshire and then brought to Reading by Henry Palmer (of Huntley & Palmer's biscuits.) So it might not be such an odd mistake to make.