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Are any of you aware of the Harvard Dialect Survey which was compiled several years ago? I participated in the study. Here's a link to the results of the survey. Dialect Survey Results Some of the pronunciations, words and phrases are hilarious! (It wasn't meant to be funny, but some of them really do crack me up!) The entire thing is very interesting. Be sure to click on each item in the list to see the breakdown reflecting the different pronuniciations, etc. in the different geographical locations. Enjoy!
Are any of you aware of the Harvard Dialect Survey which was compiled several years ago? I participated in the study. Here's a link to the results of the survey. Dialect Survey Results Some of the pronunciations, words and phrases are hilarious! (It wasn't meant to be funny, but some of them really do crack me up!) The entire thing is very interesting. Be sure to click on each item in the list to see the breakdown reflecting the different pronuniciations, etc. in the different geographical locations. Enjoy!
Thanks for the link. I enjoyed it.
I was born in Massachusetts and moved to Arizona as a young teen. I had to learn some new words in the English language, , so I totally connected with some of them.
My own experience of hearing someone pronounce a word entirely wrong - but phonetically - was with my own son. He and his cousin were perhaps 12 and 13 at the time. They often played video games together and would come out and tell me all about this Cha Os (long o) something or other. The word they were saying made sense only because there are weird names on video games.
One day I was in my son's bedroom while they were playing this game and he pointed out to me what they were talking about. There was 'Chaos' the infamous Cha Os. I gently corrected them and we still laugh about it to this day.
I heard one today. The guy said "porn" when he meant "pawn"!
You know what I found fun? We had an exchange student, and he'd say or use a word correctly, and I'd just kind of give him a look like, "Huh?" So he'd be sitting there, second guessing himself on how he said something.
Chlorine, fluorine, bromine, iodine. Is it 'eye-o-dine' or 'eye-o-deen'? I have always said 'eye-o-deen' because my very first chemistry prof said it that way, and because it makes the word "match" with the others. I hear some other people say it that way too, but that pronunciation also gets me funny looks.
I have a labmate from the Bahamas and she pronounces capillary as ca-PILL-a-ree. I think it's cute.
Chlorine, fluorine, bromine, iodine. Is it 'eye-o-dine' or 'eye-o-deen'? I have always said 'eye-o-deen' because my very first chemistry prof said it that way, and because it makes the word "match" with the others. I hear some other people say it that way too, but that pronunciation also gets me funny looks.
I have a labmate from the Bahamas and she pronounces capillary as ca-PILL-a-ree. I think it's cute.
The British pronunciations of quite a lot of multisyllabic words are different from American. There is also /alyu-MIN-yum/ and /an-TIM-ony/ on the periodic table.
The BBC reported on our war in /nica-RAG-you-a/ and they drive /jag-you-ers/ and they buy /PRAHD-youce/ from the greengrocer, but they make /PROE-gress/.
There was apparently a hymn with the words "gladly the cross I'd bear" and kids who sang it thought it was "Gladly: the cross-eyed bear." Anyone know the name of the hymn?
No, but I remember my father laughing about that one.
There was also the 23rd Psalm: Surely good Mrs. Murphy shall follow me all the days of my life...
And The Lord's Prayer: "Our Father, who art in heaven, how do you know my name?"
My favorite is "16 Bestial Virgins" from "Whiter Shade of Pale". I have a lot of trouble with virgin references. Having myself once said "The Disney virgin of Snow White" on the radio.
I had a book once with those misheard lyrics.
My favorite is "She's got a chicken to ride."
I had my own misheard lyric a few years ago. My daughter was listening to Gwen Stefani's "Hollaback Girl" on the radio and I heard "I ain't no Harlem Black Girl." I see by that site that I am not the only one.
Last edited by Mightyqueen801; 06-12-2010 at 11:02 AM..
The biggest diffence in pronunciation of a word that I've come across is 'buoy'.
In the US it's pronounced 'bu-ee'
In the UK it's pronounced 'boy'
But what about "schedule"?
At about age 8 I was corrected by my English grandmother who said I should pronounce "schedule" as SHedule instead of SKedule, but my father quickly sprang to my defense by asking then why isn't "school" (SKOOL) pronounced SHool by the English?
Gotta love the inconsistencies!
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