Grammar/Pronunciation Thread

[Swami Dring]

This is the place to vent your spleen and to educate your fellow man on common misuses of the English language.

Firstly, the word "mischievous". Note that there is no i or e between the v and the o.

This is a three syllable word, people.

It is NOT pronounced miss-chee-vee-uss, no matter how many morons pronounce it that way.

Miss-ch-vuss. Ok?

[Sappho]

dis iz like fully sic. awesomeness even! i mean like OMG i can like say stuff about like um... you know, words and stuff and like wots hot an' not you know?

in franga which is like where i used to catch the train? for work? when i was like working? but i'm not cause like i got holidays and stuff? anyways, they had this place right, called Quayside? but like, people couldn't say it proper? they said like qwayside? So yeah, it was like OMG, that is so dumb! then... the counsel like made a decision? and they said Quayside was gonna be called Bayside? but like that is so dumb. i mean why didn't they just tell 'em that it's not qwayside it's like keyside spelt stupid like?

So um yeah.. that's it?

[AiA in Atlanta]

what gets me recently are the morons who because of the pronunciation of the brand name "Pentium" don't know that the "ti" has a "sh" sound. "Consortium" isn't pronounced con-sor-tee-um and I cry when I hear it.

[IQSRLOW]

When I see someone type or say "I could care less" instead of "I couldn't care less" make me mad enough to punch babies

[mantra]

When I see someone type or say "I could care less" instead of "I couldn't care less" make me mad enough to punch babies

Haha. I remember using that phrase a few years ago and you pulling me up on it. Pity you didn't understand the context it was being used in.

....the original expression, of course, was I couldn’t care less, meaning “it is impossible for me to have less interest or concern in this matter, since I am already utterly indifferent”. It is originally British.

Why it lost its negative has been much discussed.

Attempts to be logical about I could care less also fail. Taken literally, if one could care less, then one must care at least a little, which is obviously the opposite of what is meant. It is so clearly logical nonsense that to condemn it for being so (as some commentators have done) misses the point. The intent is obviously sarcastic — the speaker is really saying, “As if there was something in the world that I care less about”.

[boxy]

If that's why people use "I could care less" (which I highly doubt in most cases), then it is a sarcasm fail

[AiA in Atlanta]

When you "err," do you "air" or "ur"?

[Sappho]

When you "err," do you "air" or "ur"?

I could care less AiA, indeed, I often care less about such things as this, but for you... I'll find space for a care factor. Being unsure about this, I have usually tended towards using both. I 'air' and 'ur' my 'err' although do err on the side of 'ur'. How ever I do it, I always like to get that 'ee' sound in there somehow so that it is never quite a 'air' or 'ur'.

[AiA in Atlanta]

When you "err," do you "air" or "ur"?

I could care less AiA, indeed, I often care less about such things as this, but for you... I'll find space for a care factor. Being unsure about this, I have usually tended towards using both. I 'air' and 'ur' my 'err' although do err on the side of 'ur'. How ever I do it, I always like to get that 'ee' sound in there somehow so that it is never quite a 'air' or 'ur'.

Thank you for finding space in your care factor for me but I sense that I am being "harris'd" or should I say I am being "ha-RASSED"?

[Sappho]

Well, in my neck of the woods, if it were happening, and it is not, it would be harassed and not hariss'd.

Ohhh... what about schedule... how do you say that one... I was raised to believe that there is no shhhh is schedule.

And I say 'aitch' for 'h' too.