Phrases customarily mispronounced - "want to" etc.

[Stephen Tashi]

Some English phrases (e.g. "want to" "going to") are often not pronounced properly as distinct words by native speakers. I wonder if this explains why we see non-native speakers resorting to spellings like "wanna" and "gonna". Or perhaps non-native speakers write English in contexts ( chat rooms? ) where such spellings are customary?

Most of time, I will pronounce "want to" as "wantah". The word "to" also gets pronounced as "tah" or "tuh" in such phrases as "to do", "to see".

 

[Mondayman]

Where I live many of us watched a show called Trailer Park Boys, and we have adopted many of the 'Rickyisms' that have come from that show. For example,

Worst case scenario is "Worst case Ontario".
I told you so is "I toadaso".
Its not rocket science is "It's not rocket appliances".
Raccoons are "Rakens".
Caterpillars are "Canterpillars".

There are many more, and they are very silly and stupid, but it's funny to us.

 

[Stephen Tashi]

I told you so is "I toadaso".

Which reminds me of how often "you" is pronounced (in USA dialects) as "yah" as in "I told-yah"

 

[gmax137]

One of my favorites, a co-worker used to say about another,
"don' lissen to Bobby, haze ignernt"

 

[DaveC426913]

Some English phrases (e.g. "want to" "going to") are often not pronounced properly as distinct words by native speakers. I wonder if this explains why we see non-native speakers resorting to spellings like "wanna" and "gonna". Or perhaps non-native speakers write English in contexts ( chat rooms? ) where such spellings are customary?

Easiest way to spot a non-Torontonian is that he pronounces it Toronto.
Instead of Tronno.

Its not rocket science is "It's not rocket appliances".

A common malaphor here is "It's not rocket surgery."

 

[Klystron]

After moving from the Bay Area (Silicon Valley) back to Nevada, I put together several tech groups to build and operate data centers. A favorite term among the teams, used in conversation and presentations: moot.

"That plan's moot since we got the new servers."
"The racks provide direct current rendering the built in power supplies moot."
"Your point's moot." etc...

Most members used the term correctly. What set my teeth on edge: they all pronounced moot as mute; i.e., 'myoot'.

 

[Stephen Tashi]

Most members used the term correctly. What set my teeth on edge: they all pronounced moot as mute; i.e., 'myoot'.

Some people and dialects add extra syllables. Such as "pea-yew-knee" instead of "puny" (pew-knee). Some drop final "t's" such as "twennie" instead of "twenty".

But, technically, the topic concerns multi-word phrases.

 

[OCR]

Which reminds me of how often "you" is pronounced (in USA dialects) as "yah" as in "I told-yah"

Eh, yeah. . . I see that alot . .

.

 

[symbolipoint]

Mispronounciation, very obviously is because either for ease of saying, or contributed by accents. Nice observations!

 

[hmmm27]

Every morning, I go to the drive-thru for a coffee and a cruller. And, every morning, I say "cruhler", and the attendant - it doesn't matter which one, and it doesn't matter which location - corrects me, saying "crooler".

I just checked an online "pronunciation guide" and apparently it's either "cruhler"(yay team), or "crowler" (no idea).

Some English phrases (e.g. "want to" "going to") are often not pronounced properly as distinct words by native speakers. I wonder if this explains why we see non-native speakers resorting to spellings like "wanna" and "gonna". Or perhaps non-native speakers write English in contexts ( chat rooms? ) where such spellings are customary?

In casual context, I almost always type "wanna", "gonna", "toldja", etc. ... which is how I pronounce them. Except, when the audience is specifically a non-English speaker : what's the point of facilitating confusion ?

English is my first language : I get to play with it as I want.

You will, however, *never* see me screw up "brakes", "lose", "you're", etc. (hopefully... knock on silicon) : those people should be shot.

 

[Tom.G]

Augh, much of it is just Entropy grabbin' the language; 'specially contractions.

 

[DaveE]

nuclear - Listen up people, there is only 1 u!

 

[Bystander]

"Iguana go home..."

 

[Mark44]

Every morning, I go to the drive-thru for a coffee and a cruller. And, every morning, I say "cruhler", and the attendant - it doesn't matter which one, and it doesn't matter which location - corrects me, saying "crooler".

I've never, ever heard anyone pronounce it as "crooler". This wikipedia page, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cruller, gives the 'u' pronunciation as in "cut". Perhaps the attendant is from the north of England or from Scotland. In those places, "boot" and "book" are pronounced the same.

 

[hmmm27]

I've never, ever heard anyone pronounce it as "crooler". This wikipedia page, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cruller, gives the 'u' pronunciation as in "cut". Perhaps the attendant is from the north of England or from Scotland. In those places, "boot" and "book" are pronounced the same.

Honestly, it's not a word I use often : I just like the donut variety. Most of the attendants of that coffeehouse's drive thru's are "temporary foreign workers" of some sort or another, with English as a second (or third, or fourth, etc) language : perhaps the original French pronounciation is the "ooo" thing ?

 

[Mark44]

perhaps the original French pronounciation is the "ooo" thing

The word "cruller" originated as the Dutch "kruller," although Dunkin' Donuts sells what they call a "French cruller."
From what I can tell based on the wiki page I quoted, there is no association with French, despite the term "French cruller."

 

[sysprog]

The word "cruller" originated as the Dutch "kruller," although Dunkin' Donuts sells what they call a "French cruller."
From what I can tell based on the wiki page I quoted, there is no association with French, despite the term "French cruller."

The French got it from the Dutch, and the English got it from the French, whence the term 'French cruller'.

Honestly, it's not a word I use often : I just like the donut variety. Most of the attendants of that coffeehouse's drive thru's are "temporary foreign workers" of some sort or another, with English as a second (or third, or fourth, etc) language : perhaps the original French pronounciation is the "ooo" thing ?

As @Mark44 said, the word 'cruller' is from Dutch 'kruller', meaning 'thing that curls' (in the 'is curled' sense), from 'krulen', 'to curl' $-$ it's related ancestrally to our word 'curl', and refers to the pastry being twisted $-$ in US English, its preferred pronunciation is so as to rhyme its first syllable neither with that of 'crueler', as in French, nor with that of 'culler' or 'luller', as in British English, but with 'fuller' or 'puller'.

 

[OCR]

...meaning 'thing that curls'...

Well. . . it looks offal ! .

.

 

[sysprog]

That looks like what is usually called a 'twist' $-$ Dunkin' Donuts French crullers look like this:

 

[robphy]

"expirement"
"expresso"
"mispronounciation"

 

[DrClaude]

The topic of the OP is discussed at around 2:58.

 

[Mark44]

"mispronounciation"

Or "pronounciation."

 

[sysprog]

Let Stalk Strine was a fun book $-$ If you're not Australian, you might find that it works better if you consciously allow a bit of imitation Aussie accent to enhance your appreciation $-$ eeza pige feet chin smexits: [oops $-$ the page I linked to says that its content is reproduced there without permission, so I removed the link] $-$ the following excerpt is limited to the few 'a' entries $-$ I trust that it's thereby brief enough to be covered by fair use doctrine $\dots$

                        LET STALK STRINE
                        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A lexicon on modern Strine usage.

- A -
=====Air Fridge: A mean sum, or quantity; also: ordinary, not extreme.  As
in: The air fridge person; the air fridge man in the street.

Airman: See "Semmitch".

Airpsly Fair Billis: Quite pleasant. (See also Naw Shaw.)

Airp's Trek: Mon painting in the ark ellery. (See also Contempry.)

Aorta: The english language contains many Greek, Latin, French, Italian
and other foreign words, e.g. valet, vampire, vaudeville, vox-humana,
hippocrepiform, etc.  Strine, similarly, is richly studded with words
and phrases taken from other, older tongues.  Many of these have, with
the passage of time, come to possesses meanings different from their
original ones.  Two typical examples are the German words Eiche
(Pronounced i-ker; meaning oak-tree) and Ersatz (pronounced air-sats;
meaning substitute).  Both these are now Strine words, and are used in
the following manner: `Eiche nardly bleevit', and `Ersatz are trumps,
dear, yegottny?
   However, it is English which has contributed most to the Strine
vocabulary.  Strine is full of words which were originally English.
Aorta is a typical example.
   Aorta (pronounced A-orta) is the vessel through which courses the
life-blood of Strine public opinion.  Aorta is a composite but
non-existant Authority which is held responsible for practically
everything unpleasant in the Strine way of life; for the punishment of
criminals; for the weather; for the Bomb and the Pill; for all public
transport; and for all the manifold irritating trivia of everyday
living.  Aorta comprises the Federal and State legislatures; local
government councils; all public services; and even, it is now thought,
Parents' and Citizens' Associations and the CSIRO.
   Aorta is, in fact, the personification of the benevolently paternal
welfare State to which all Strines - being fiercly independant and
individualistic - appeal for help and comfort in moments of frustration
and anguish.  The following are typical examples of such appeals.  They
reveal the innate reasonableness and sense of justice which all Strines
possess to such a marked degree:
   `Aorta build another arber bridge.  An aorta stop half of these cars
from cummer ninner the city - so a feller can get twirkon time.'
   `Aorta mica laura genst all these prairlers and sleshers an pervs.
Aorta puttem in jile an shootem.'
   `Aorta stop all these transistors from cummer ninner the country.
Look what they doone to the weather.  All this rine! Doan tell me it's
not all these transistors - an all these hydrigen bombs too.  Aorta
stoppem!'
   `Aorta have more buses.  An aorta milkem smaller so they don't take up
half the road.  An aorta put more seats innem so you doan tefter stann
all the time.  An aorta have more room innem - you carn tardly move
innem air so crairded.  Aorta do something about it.'

Ark Ellery: See "Airp's Trek".

Arm Arm: A childs' appeal to its mother for help.  As is: `Arm arm, makim
stop.'

Ashfelt: Asphalt.

Assprad: Excessively preoccupied with domestic order and cleanliness.
As in: `She's very assprad - she keeps Rome looking lovely.'  This is a
feminine adjective only; there does not appear to be any exact masculine
equivalent, although the noun Hairndiman conveys something of the same
meaning.  Strine women may be assprad; Strine men may be hairndimen; or
`clever with their hens.' (See also Gloria Soame.)

 

[George Jones]

"leads/provokes to the question" often is mispronounced as "begs the question".

 

[DaveC426913]

"leads/provokes to the question" often is mispronounced as "begs the question".

Heh. Not really a mispronunciation, but certainly a very common misuse of the phrase.

Begging the question means assuming your conclusion in your premise: "God is real because the Bible says so, and the Bible is from God."

 

[phinds]

Easiest way to spot a non-Torontonian is that he pronounces it Toronto.
Instead of Tronno.

Similarly, at least when I was young, Baltimorians did not say "ball T more", or "Ball tah more", they said "Bal'mer".

 

[gmax137]

at least when I was young

I have a feeling these local 'dialects' are disappearing, at least in the US. As more people seem to relocate, and more often. I have a few friends that have never been more than a couple of hundred miles from where they grew up, but that's pretty rare these days.

 

[phinds]

I have a feeling these local 'dialects' are disappearing, at least in the US. As more people seem to relocate, and more often. I have a few friends that have never been more than a couple of hundred miles from where they grew up, but that's pretty rare these days.

Plus the effect of TV folks, newscasters especially, all using a "standard" accent, generally thought of as mid-Western

 

[Mark44]

Along the lines of the local pronunciations of Toronto and Baltimore, we have some cities here in Washington state that defy the efforts of transplants:
Sequim (pronounced Squim)
Puyallup (pronounced Pyu-al' - ip)
Yakima (pronounced Yack' - i - mah)
Spokane (pronounced Spo- kan')

We have lots of place names honoring Indian tribes - Snoqualmie, Snohomish, Skykomish, Skokomish, Samish, Sammamish, Swinomish, Snahappish, Duwamish, Quinault, Quilleute, Quilcene, and others.

One small town's name is Pe Ell, named after the local Indians' mispronunciation of the name Pierre. Another small town is La Push, a misspelling of the French term for mouth (of a river) La Bouche.

 

[phinds]

Along the lines of the local pronunciations of Toronto and Baltimore, we have some cities here in Washington state that defy the efforts of transplants:
Sequim (pronounced Squim)
Puyallup (pronounced Pyu-al' - ip)
Yakima (pronounced Yack' - i - mah)
Spokane (pronounced Spo- kan')

I've posted this on the forum before, I'm sure but this thread reminds me strongly of the following story

Family vacationing in Florida stop in the town of Kissimee for lunch and are having a very mild argument about whether it's pronounced "kah SEE me or KISS uh me" so as the dad was paying for the meal he asked the cashier "how do you pronounce the name of this place". The cashier gave him SUCH a look and very slowly and clearly articulated "BUR GER KING"

 

[some bloke]

As an English person, my 2 biggest peeves is watching anything American where they refer to:

"Soddering" - by which they mean "Soldering", which is a means of joining metal using "Solder".
"Aluminum" - by which is meant "Aluminium", which has an "I" in it.

"First Come First Serve" is another one - it's "served".
"taken for granite" - the wrong way of saying "taken for granted"As a man from Devon, I once worked with a man with a very broad devonshire accent. He would often talk about "Goaf", which I worked out meant "Golf". he also liked "Goad" (gold).

 

[gmax137]

"Soddering" - by which they mean "Soldering", which is a means of joining metal using "Solder".

Hmm, as an American I have to wonder how you pronounce it? If I try to vocalize the ell it just gets twisted. Do the English make it sound kind of like the first part of "soldier"?

How about "I could care less" -- grrr, talk about missing the point.

 

[gmax137]

"Aluminum" - by which is meant "Aluminium", which has an "I" in it.

"Aluminium" sounds as funny to me as "potassum" or "sodum" so I can see your point. But, I will go with whatever Alcoa says on this one.

 

[Mark44]

"Aluminum" - by which is meant "Aluminium", which has an "I" in it.

The American spelling has just one 'i' in it. The UK spelling has two 'i's.
When this metal was discovered by Sir Humphry Davy, he called it alumium (1808), then changed the name to aluminum. We in the US have kept the original name, but British editors in 1812 decided that they knew better than the discoverer.

 

[phinds]

The American spelling has just one 'i' in it. The UK spelling has two 'i's.
When this metal was discovered by Sir Humphry Davy, he called it alumium (1808), then changed the name to aluminum. We in the US have kept the original name, but British editors in 1812 decided that they knew better than the discoverer.

Well, what it is, really, is that the British want to stay as far away from the French as possible. The French throw away (in pronunciation at least) lots of perfectly good letters (e.g. Fresnel is NOT "fres nel", it's "Fre nel") so the British decided to go the other way and add letters at random, to both spelling and pronunciation.