Author Topic: Words that you can never, ever say right (Read 14272 times)

scottneb · « **Reply #50 on:** August 19, 2005, 10:18:55 AM »

It's a rogue accent.

Yes, she's from Utah. I'm not sure where she got it from.

Jonathon · « **Reply #51 on:** August 19, 2005, 10:23:09 AM »

Weird. Does she pronounce any other vowels differently, or is it just the short a sound? Where are her parents from?

scottneb · « **Reply #52 on:** August 19, 2005, 10:32:47 AM »

Her dad's from Podunk, Idaho and her parents live right next to where her mom grew up (in Podunk, Utah).

Her family lived in Texas for a few years while she was still growing up. Maybe that's where it's from.

Jonathon · « **Reply #53 on:** August 19, 2005, 10:34:23 AM »

I don't think so. That accent is characteristic of the Northern Cities Shift, which stretches from New England out to the Upper Midwest. Mackillian has it. :fear:

My only answer is that your wife is just plain weird. Of course, she married you, didn't she?

scottneb · « **Reply #54 on:** August 19, 2005, 10:35:36 AM »

You have a good point, Jon.

saxon75 · « **Reply #55 on:** August 19, 2005, 11:06:44 AM »

That sounds more Chicagoan than New Englander to me.

Jonathon · « **Reply #56 on:** August 19, 2005, 11:28:03 AM »

Actually, I think you're more or less right. The biggest centers of that particular shift are Chicago and Detroit, though it spreads out to Minneapolis and Syracuse, so I guess it's not really a New England thing. But I do know that Jamie does the a > ee-a thing.

saxon75 · « **Reply #57 on:** August 19, 2005, 11:29:46 AM »

It's settled, then: Jamie is weird.

scottneb · « **Reply #58 on:** August 19, 2005, 11:31:27 AM »

Wow, I'm totally confused.

Are you talking about my wife? Or another Jaimie?

Jonathon · « **Reply #59 on:** August 19, 2005, 11:33:46 AM »

Maybe we're talking about all Jamies.

I was specifically talking about mackillian, though.

pooka · « **Reply #60 on:** August 19, 2005, 11:38:08 AM »

I get that with candy. It may only be with back consonants. It does not feel unnatural to say mayonnaise that way. Though I doubt I would do that saying Brad. (I was born in Maryland and grew up mainly by D.C.)

dkw · « **Reply #61 on:** August 21, 2005, 05:13:07 AM »

I cannot say "processor." And for some reason "word processor" is even harder than "food processor."

User · « **Reply #62 on:** September 24, 2005, 12:01:37 PM »

Well for the longest time I couldn't say Laura right. I would always say "Lara." I also can't say Asterisk.

kojabu · « **Reply #63 on:** September 24, 2005, 09:34:07 PM »

Whenever I try to say my dad's insurance company - Horizon Blue Cross, Blue Shield - I can't. It's the Blue Cross that gets me every time.

Porter · « **Reply #64 on:** September 24, 2005, 09:40:15 PM »

I say everything correctly. It's the rest of y'all that don't follow suit.

Ela · « **Reply #65 on:** September 25, 2005, 10:04:04 AM »

Last night I tripped over the word etymological.

Mr. Anderson · « **Reply #66 on:** September 25, 2005, 10:05:55 AM »

Pshhh. That's an *easy* word to say...

Ela · « **Reply #67 on:** September 25, 2005, 10:23:41 AM »

Well, it was uncharacteristic for me to trip over it. Maybe I was just tired.

Mr. Anderson · « **Reply #68 on:** September 25, 2005, 05:10:50 PM »

I tripped over it trying to read it.

Ela · « **Reply #69 on:** September 25, 2005, 07:08:46 PM »

Mike · « **Reply #70 on:** September 27, 2005, 10:01:44 AM »

For a while I had trouble with "georeference". This was something of a problem at my last job, as I had to talk about georeferenced data fairly frequently.

Mr. Anderson · « **Reply #71 on:** September 27, 2005, 11:12:42 AM »

Quote

Thinking back on it, several (bigger) words ending in "ology" or "ological" trip me up. There's just something about how they flow.

Ela · « **Reply #72 on:** September 27, 2005, 03:07:36 PM »

Some of them are tricky to pronounce.

Samarkand · « **Reply #73 on:** November 15, 2005, 01:28:03 AM »

Specificity. Cruel, cruel word.

Teshi · « **Reply #74 on:** November 15, 2005, 09:09:06 AM »

Ottawa.

Now, I can pronounce it two ways, actually:

1. Ottawa (with the t)
2. Oddawa

The second is the way people expect it to be said. The first is the way I would prefer to say it because I happen to have learnt it that way. When people ask me where I'm from, there's always an internal struggle between Ottawa and Oddawa before something mangled comes out.

If I do say Ottawa, people always ask where, or repeat "Oshawa"? which is another Ontario city. Then I have to say Oddawa. No one expects the ts in Ottawa.

If I say Oddawa, chances are it'll be so mangled that I'll end up repeating it anyway before someone graciously translates and saves me from being more embarrassed than I already am!

It's a loosing battle and I think saying "the nation's capital" would be a little pretentious.