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Mis-pronunciations that incite people


StormWolf01

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There's the obvious big one. This one is more a variant of what side of the big water you live on.

"Aluminum".

 

 

 

I don't have a problem with American pronunciations of words, what really annoys me is someone with an English accent using them, I have no idea why it annoys me so much but it really does.

 

I'm the opposite, can listen to a Brit accent all day but not an American accent. Why change words to uniquely American differing from the rest of the English speaking world? The obvious one, A - LUME - IN - UM, us

 

Australians also mispronounce it, ALA - MIN - YEM everywhere else it's AL - YOU -MIN - I - UM. The word Herb has an H but is pronounced 'erb' lol. The letter Z is pronounced Zee but everywhere else it's Zed, including Canada :smile:

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Aluminum and Aluminium are actually spelled differently as well as pronounced differently.

That explains it then, I was wondering why the i was ignored...there is no i :smile:

 

Mom is another difference in pronunciation and spelling, Aus pronounce and spell it mum :smile:

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I'm not that bothered honestly pronunciation varies according to accent as much as anything else so long as you can understand what they're saying thats good enough for example "bath" is pronounced ba'th i.e. a very short clipped "a" sound in the north whilst in the south its "baath" or "barth" i.e. a long "aa" sound both are valid pronunciations at least over here.

 

I have found that the people who most commonly mispronounce words do so because they have never heard the word spoken. These people tend to encounter new words by reading them versus hearing them in conversation. I also find people who read a lot are more interesting, so I don't mind if they mispronounce a word or two here and there. I'll suffer the well read and erudite over the unread bombast, any day.

 

Thats true of scientific words as often as not it can sound comical they way people pronounce them different to what you're expecting but with many of them there simply isn't an official pronunciation so its just a valid as yours

 

Mom is another difference in pronunciation and spelling, Aus pronounce and spell it mum :smile:

 

For americans its "mom" (canadians too?) everywhere else its "mum"

Edited by soupdragon1234
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Mom, Mum; is it possible someone out there doesn't find either of them expressing the meaning of Mother?

 

Mom in some cases is an adopted name to describe a woman caring for the children of someone else.

 

Marriage to the Father of the children makes her a Mom, not mother. Of course the dictionary may have a new set of definitions, making the word seem set to mean even the woman who gave birth to the children be referred to as Mom.

 

Mum in what respect does it hold for the female in question? Is she the birth mother?

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I might be wrong on this one. So most definitely correct me, if so.

But isn't "mum" also used as "ma'am"?

I'm pretty sure Codsworth does that quite a bit, in Fallout4.

 

Interesting, is that in the US, we use "mum" completely differently. Such as "Mum's the word" Or, don't talk about that.

 

It's also very interesting (and confusing!) speaking with people where certain letters are pronounced VERY differently.

 

The very first time that my mother (who is Korean) asked me if I wanted "lice" I was like...WHAT???

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I remember a guy from the Deep south USA with a real strong southern accent that used several words that I mistook for other meanings. One I recall was what I thought meant part of a shoe. He was telling me where abouts he was from.

 

He said, It's just over the heel from ... a cities name I would recognize.

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HAHAHAHA OMG it's been sooooo long since I have heard old country directions like that! :laugh:

 

Turn right at ol' farmer Brown's place, drive a spell, then turn left at thuh ol' grainree...

Uh. WTF is old Brown?

 

Its not just the deep south. Here on the East Coast, we have a very high number of latin speaking immigrants. So a lot of the "I" pronounced "E" here too. And "E" pronounced "eh" or "ay".

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I might be wrong on this one. So most definitely correct me, if so.

But isn't "mum" also used as "ma'am"?

I'm pretty sure Codsworth does that quite a bit, in Fallout4.

 

Interesting, is that in the US, we use "mum" completely differently. Such as "Mum's the word" Or, don't talk about that.

 

It's also very interesting (and confusing!) speaking with people where certain letters are pronounced VERY differently.

 

The very first time that my mother (who is Korean) asked me if I wanted "lice" I was like...WHAT???

 

I've no idea what codsworth means but ma'am is short for madam i.e. an honorific prefix addressing a female of importance and nothing to do with "mum". Its also pronounced differently depending on where you're from "mai'm" in the US but "mah'm" over here which I guess is where you're confusing the two. "Mum's the word" is also used the same here too but I've no idea why it should mean keep your mouth shut though its possibly related to mumble, mumbling, i.e. silent or inaudible speech. Theres also "keep mum" which means the same thing.

 

Language is a funny thing.

Edited by soupdragon1234
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I've no idea what codsworth means but ma'am is short for madam i.e. an honorific prefix addressing a female of importance and nothing to do with "mum". Its also pronounced differently depending on where you're from "mai'm" in the US but "mah'm" over here which I guess is where you're confusing the two. "Mum's the word" is also used the same here too but I've no idea why it should mean keep your mouth shut though its possibly related to mumble, mumbling, i.e. silent or inaudible speech. Theres also "keep mum" which means the same thing.

That's spot on soupdragon, mum only means mother here (Australia) I've never heard this "mums the word" before, I'm perplexed how that even remotely translates to "shut up" lol :)

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