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Plurals like passersby are difficult to remember, especially when speaking. Honestly, she was applying the rules of English as she knows them, which is to just add an "s" to the end of word when it doubt. We don't have that many irregular plurals and the few we do have are changing, as language does ("fishes" is becoming an accepted pluralization of fish). I wouldn't hold it against her for too long.
I agree, PanTerra.
Pet peeve: the way people pronounce jewelry. It is JEWELry not JEWLERy. Unfortunately more often than not I hear them say (right now on the Today Show) JEWLERy. Why?
Same with ath-A-lete vs athlete and real-A-tor vs realtor.
I agree, PanTerra.
Pet peeve: the way people pronounce jewelry. It is JEWELry not JEWLERy. Unfortunately more often than not I hear them say (right now on the Today Show) JEWLERy. Why?
Same with ath-A-lete vs athlete and real-A-tor vs realtor.
Wow, you've never heard of dialect? There are at least three different ways to pronounce the word caramel in the US alone. I know of at least two different ways to say the word library. Don't get me started on pin/pen. I generally say com-fer-ta-ble when I say the world comfortable, but most people say comf-ter-ble. Which way is "correct"? I think that both are.
Four countries (USA, UK, AU, & NZ) speak English as their native (and often only) language, and nearly one hundred others have it listed as an official language (one their citizens learn from birth usually). That's billions of native English speakers. Can we really expect billions of speakers all over the world to say every word the same way?
Not gonna happen. We can't even get the four official English speaking countries to agree on how to spell every English word (neighbor/neighbour). And there are vowel shifts happening in the US as we speak (look 'em up) so if pronunciation makes you twitch, I'd stop watching TV.
Wow, you've never heard of dialect? There are at least three different ways to pronounce the word caramel in the US alone. I know of at least two different ways to say the word library. Don't get me started on pin/pen. I generally say com-fer-ta-ble when I say the world comfortable, but most people say comf-ter-ble. Which way is "correct"? I think that both are.
Four countries (USA, UK, AU, & NZ) speak English as their native (and often only) language, and nearly one hundred others have it listed as an official language (one their citizens learn from birth usually). That's billions of native English speakers. Can we really expect billions of speakers all over the world to say every word the same way?
Not gonna happen. We can't even get the four official English speaking countries to agree on how to spell every English word (neighbor/neighbour). And there are vowel shifts happening in the US as we speak (look 'em up) so if pronunciation makes you twitch, I'd stop watching TV.
Honestly I disagree that those can be chalked up just to dialect. When letters are swapped or letters added that don't exist in a word, that isn't dialect.
You don't go to the store and ask to see a jewler when speaking about a particular stone..."That's a really nice ruby jewler!"
...or 50% more. Of what? There needs to be some sort of baseline established.
Well, I understand 50% more as meaning 1.5 times the original quantity. But 4 times less is not logical when attributing real positive values, as that would be a negative quantity. 4 times more is understandable, but 4 times less?
Wow, you've never heard of dialect? There are at least three different ways to pronounce the word caramel in the US alone. I know of at least two different ways to say the word library. Don't get me started on pin/pen. I generally say com-fer-ta-ble when I say the world comfortable, but most people say comf-ter-ble. Which way is "correct"? I think that both are.
Four countries (USA, UK, AU, & NZ) speak English as their native (and often only) language, and nearly one hundred others have it listed as an official language (one their citizens learn from birth usually). That's billions of native English speakers. Can we really expect billions of speakers all over the world to say every word the same way?
Not gonna happen. We can't even get the four official English speaking countries to agree on how to spell every English word (neighbor/neighbour). And there are vowel shifts happening in the US as we speak (look 'em up) so if pronunciation makes you twitch, I'd stop watching TV.
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