Words that bother me

[Brad Dorsey]

...del Gesu pronunciations....

 

I met a guy who pronounced it "del guess who."  And I heard of someone pronouncing "Guarnerius" as "gonorrheas."

[romberg flat]

I think the root cause of the problem is that the English speaking world never adopted Mark Twain's excellent proposal regarding spelling and pronunciation ...

think about how easy it would be now !

http://www.i18nguy.com/twain.html

There is written…

 

For example, in Year 1 that useless letter "c" would be dropped to be replased either by "k" or "s", and likewise "x" would no longer be part of the alphabet. The only kase in which "c" would be retained would be the "ch" formation, which will be dealt with later. Year 2 might reform "w" spelling, so that "which" and "one" would take the same konsonant, wile Year 3 might well abolish "y" replasing it with "i" and Iear 4 might fiks the "g/j" anomali wonse and for all. Jenerally, then, the improvement would kontinue iear bai iear with Iear 5 doing awai with useless double konsonants, and Iears 6-12 or so modifaiing vowlz and the rimeining voist and unvoist konsonants. Bai Iear 15 or sou, it wud fainali bi posibl tu meik ius ov thi ridandant letez "c", "y" and "x" -- bai now jast a memori in the maindz ov ould doderez -- tu riplais "ch", "sh", and "th" rispektivli. Fainali, xen, aafte sam 20 iers ov orxogrefkl riform, wi wud hev a lojikl, kohirnt speling in ius xrewawt xe Ingliy-spiking werld.

 

...and it's great! Almost like my native language!

This could be the only chance for those who are bothered by all English words.   

[JohnCockburn]

I met a guy who pronounced it "del guess who."  And I heard of someone pronouncing "Guarnerius" as "gonorrheas."

Isn't the correct pronunciation "Jess-oo"?

Which is arguably closer to "guess who" than "Jay-zoo"…..

as for the other thing...

 

 

my name is pronounced "coburn" by the way...

[Will L]

A fun thread!  We can never have too many things to bitch and moan about.  That's half, or more, of the fun.  Thanks, Stephen.

 

 

Regarding "del Gesu" (excuse the lack of accent grave), I don't know that this is Italian; it certainly IS French, and if so it would not be pronounced "Djaysu." The D would not start the sound.  It would be "Zhay" or possibly "Yay."  And the single "s" is pronounced "z."  And the "u" should ordinarily be a very acute clipped "yew."  If it IS Italian, I still doubt it would start with a D sound.

 

Argue with me. Or set me straight.   That's the rest of the fun.  

[romberg flat]

Problems with English aside, when think about the word connected with violin making, here it is:

Suppose it is about secret varnish recipe…

[Will L]

Now that I think about it:  "ground" bugs me to no end.  And in particular:  "GOLDEN GROUND."  grrr!  

[Ron1]

"We hates it."

 

Stephen, great morning chuckle as I read your post using Sméagol's voice.    I was a bit disapppointed when half way through your rant you went out of character.  I will usually be guilty of adding the latin names of plants and critters because common names often mean different things depending on where you live.  And bugs,  we hates it when people refer to all arthropods as bugs!

 

I've been drinking winter boks lately.  A lot of the local pubs brew ther own.  I'll drink the next one for you. 

 

Cheers,

Jim

 

I live close to Milwaukee- almost as good as close to Germany, when the subject is beer.  "Bock" beer, these days, is a fake copy of what used to be a seasonal treat.  Around the end of the year, breweries would clean out their vats.  The dark thicker sludge taken off the bottom during this operation, was called bock, or sometimes referred to as "Christmas beer".  It was only available during that season, and was special.  Nowadays 'bock' beer is 'brewed' just to satisfy a mis-informed market.

 

I agree with Stephan- I, too, become ridiculously angered at certain words or phrases- mostly the ones that folks use because the think they are fashionable.

 

When did Angela Merkel become Ahngula Maerkel?  (Newscasters are some of the worst).

 

[H.R.Fisher]

 My uninitiated contemporaries always do a silent hiccup when I mention "F-Holes"

[chungviolins]

I hate when someone says " I made a Strad (or Del Gesu) copy of 17xx year."

 

Violin is not a paper!

 

You cannot put original and produce a copy of it at the end of the line.

 

KY

[Jim Bress]

I live close to Milwaukee- almost as good as close to Germany, when the subject is beer.  "Bock" beer, these days, is a fake copy of what used to be a seasonal treat.  Around the end of the year, breweries would clean out their vats.  The dark thicker sludge taken off the bottom during this operation, was called bock, or sometimes referred to as "Christmas beer".  It was only available during that season, and was special.  Nowadays 'bock' beer is 'brewed' just to satisfy a mis-informed market.

 

I agree with Stephan- I, too, become ridiculously angered at certain words or phrases- mostly the ones that folks use because the think they are fashionable.

 

When did Angela Merkel become Ahngula Maerkel?  (Newscasters are some of the worst).

 

Hmmm, I quess I'm part of the misinformed market.  I don't know if it's a proper Bock or brewed.  I thought all beer was brewed.  All I know is that it's dark, tasty and only available for a short while during the winter.

 

Cheers (while it lasts),

Jim

[jezzupe]

Frankly not a big fan of the word "Gamboge" can't we just call it yellow?

[DGV]

Frankly not a big fan of the word "Gamboge" can't we just call it yellow?

 

Yellow poison?

[Rue]

... 

When did Angela Merkel become Ahngula Maerkel?  (Newscasters are some of the worst).

I'm not sure what you're getting at here...do we pronounce her name 'correctly' in German (which is easy enough for English speakers to pronounce in this instance) or do we obligate her to hear her name being pronounced in an anglicised form?

My middle name is Angelika...and it is pronounced Ahn-gay-lik-ah. It is NOT pronounced An-gel-ick-a.

My cousin's name is Joachim. Pronounce Yo-ach-im. Since English speakers can't managed that soft ch sound (sorry...forgot what the proper grammatical term for it is) he has settled for Yo-auk-im.

[DGV]

I'm not sure what you're getting at here...do we pronounce her name 'correctly' in German (which is easy enough for English speakers to pronounce in this instance) or do we obligate her to hear her name being pronounced in an anglicised form?

My middle name is Angelika...and it is pronounced Ahn-gay-lik-ah. It is NOT pronounced An-gel-ick-a.

My cousin's name is Joachim. Pronounce Yo-ach-im. Since English speakers can't managed that soft ch sound (sorry...forgot what the proper grammatical term for it is) he has settled for Yo-auk-im.

 

Nothing is worse than anglicizing Chinese names like Zhiqian Zhu.

[MeyerFittings]

Ditto on "at the end of the Day"

 

My horrors:

 

Please listen because our menu options have changed.

 

Please leave a message, your call is very important to me.

 

Please get out of the car Sir.

 

I'll let you go.

[Peter K-G]

Vieuxtemps

Zygmuntowicz

Why can't we outlaw long, hard-to pronounce names that are spelled nothing like how they are supposed to be pronounced?

(just think how much easier life would be if "Noon" was the maker that everyone talked about)

I think the root cause of the problem is that the English speaking world never adopted Mark Twain's excellent proposal regarding spelling and pronunciation ...

think about how easy it would be now !

http://www.i18nguy.com/twain.html

Learn Finnish! Everything is spelled and pronunced exactly and if a word is missing it's invented, a new Finnish word is added. Finns will never learn English (or another language). Language -> Lan - gu - a - g - e ... It's not even possible for Finns! It's impossible. And there is a cultural/philosofical thing to it also, it's impossible to learn the "language" without emotional knowledge of this original species - Finns just are made of something else, they are rock solid! Be impressed - I am...

[Kimmo89]

Yes.

 

Tiffirent lankuake.

 

Sometimes it can be really hard. Thinking the words is easier, but when you need to talk it.

 

 

 

Kimmo

[Rue]

Chinese names can sometimes be a little harder...and might have to be anglicised a bit more than German names...but most of the Chinese names I use I get quite close to pronouncing properly.

And I'd rather use a person's Asian name than the English name they were given at some point (usually by an English teacher). Although I leave it up to them. One of my previous students prefers Steve to Seung Bum (even though there's a fairly well know actor with the same name).

I get really annoyed when other people feel they have a right to decide what they will call you. I think you should be called what you want to be called.

Now...we did...to keep things easy...anglicise our daughter's name. She answers to both pronounciations. And that's fine because that's what we decided to do.

[romberg flat]

This guy has no problem with pronunciation, accents, words or tongues. We should learn from him…

 

[Rue]

Gee thanks...now I want to sing "La Plume Du Meine Mozzarella"  

[Will L]

I get really annoyed when other people feel they have a right to decide what they will call you. I think you should be called what you want to be called.

 

I'm amazed sometimes that business people still used terms, "Slick, Boss, and Ace."  I'm sure there are others I can't think of right now.  But the other day at a tire company the guy kept  calling me Boss.  I was not quick witted enough to say, "Don would be better, or you can call me Don Vito.  There have been those who have called me Boss before;  funny, they can't be found."

 

Doesn't happen in violin shops where the repairman is putting a new corner on your Strad.  Never: "Hey Boss, you sure must of banged hard into sumpin'."

 

 

 

[Peter K-G]

Yes.

 

Tiffirent lankuake.

 

Sometimes it can be really hard. Thinking the words is easier, but when you need to talk it.

 

 

 

Kimmo

 

Kimmo,

 

You Rock!

(me rantahurrit emme ikinä pääse teidän tasolle )

[James M. Jones]

Tad ,Tad ... as in a small bit ,use as, in to cut off a Tad... or scoot it over just a Tad...

  for no particular reason ,....  Tad Tad Tad ........it just sounds weird...IMHO.

[martin swan]

"Just pop your PIN number in for me ...."

Objectionable on so many counts.

 

1. use of the non-specific catch-all verb "pop"

2. overly familiar "just" used in attempt to set a non-commercial tone

3. the N of PIN stands for "number", so pointless repetition

4. "for me" - inappropriate personalisation 

 

But this is still on the nursery slopes of irritating service-industry speak.

What sends me into an apoplectic rage is this kind of conversation  ...

Starbucks barista (hang on, maybe "barista" deserves its own post) : "Hi, what can I get for you today?" (as opposed to yesterday or tomorrow)

Me (already alienated) : "A small Americano please"

Barista : "Not a problem ..."

 

If someone can tell me what's intrinsically problematic about ordering a coffee in a coffee shop, then maybe I can find some meaning in the inane utterance "not a problem".

[James M. Jones]

No justification either ...

   Martin does remind me of something I do harp on is when people say ..."I'm just a " fill in the blank ...or when wiffy says we'll" just" ...XYZ ....there is no such thing as "Just make" anything as if it requires an amount of energy and consideration that is almost to small to measure . 

 so there that two ...Just and Tad ....