Yeah, some people pronounce 'one' as 'wun' mainly Yorkshire people I have to say.

The bath (barth), dance (darnce), grass (grarss) bugs me a little but mostly it goes over my head.

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by misskittyfantastic
The bath (barth), dance (darnce), grass (grarss) bugs me a little but mostly it goes over my head.

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Since, apparently, you're supposed to pronounce Bath (the place) as baah-th, my friends and I were trying to teach Jesse Lacey (from our favourite band, Brand New) how to pronounce it when we met him (he's from New York) and he couldn't figure it out. Eventually my friend Sophie said "Like a sheep! Baaah!" And he finally got it, but in his accent it sounded hilarious

(Edited by Linz 01/04/2003 19:02)

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by misskittyfantastic
The bath (barth), dance (darnce), grass (grarss) bugs me a little but mostly it goes over my head.

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OK, so I'm getting a bit of a North vs.South vibe here. Have to point to Linz's post though... southerners don't add an 'r' to the above words as northerners usually claim, we just use a different vowel sound. It's a long 'a' rather than a short one - like at the end of 'baa' as opposed to the beginning of 'accent'.

I don't care how other people pronounce words, I just wish they wouldn't ridicule each other for it. Regional accents are fascinating and need to be preserved and appreciated. I had to switch local radio stations when the presenter would not shut up about the way Sophie Ellis Bextor pronounced dance. He's a Geordie in Manchester and was in no position to criticise, I thought.

Oh dear... that reads a bit like a rant

Naughty Lori *smack*

Accents don't really bother me, nor do different dialects. But mis-pronunciations *do*. If I had a penny for each time I corrected a child who pronouced 'think' as 'fink' or 'finger' as 'thinger' I'd be very rich! And before you say anything I'm not just complaining about that because it makes my life that teeny bit harder it really does just irritate!

Just to put the shoe on the other foot, it wasn't until I worked in a place that wasn't in Yorkshire that I realised that to say "I aren't doing that." was not grammatically correct!

My Grandma used to tell me off for putting a glottal stop in teh middle of Butter (as if it had only one T) now it really bugs me if i hear anyone lese doing it!

I remember a conversation my mum had with my little cousin a few years ago:

Cousin: Can I have a glass of wa'er?
Mum: Water has a t in it.
Cousin: I don't want tea, I want wa'er

i really really REALLY hate it when people say "drowned" instead of "Drown" and therefore "Drownded" instead of "drowned".

This really drives me mental!

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by Sydney
My Grandma used to tell me off for putting a glottal stop in teh middle of Butter (as if it had only one T) now it really bugs me if i hear anyone lese doing it!

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I have to admit, even though I'm getting better at NOT doing this -if I'm chatting with some of my very broad accented friends I still drop back into it!

But you wouldn't believe how posh she sounds around my mother

I must admit to being a glottal stop user, and I tend to use Ds rather than Ts, example: You'd 'bedder'(better) believe it.

Has the whole caling buses 'buzzes' been mentioned yet? That's actually been incorporated into our bus system now. Blackburn Transport have taken on the mascot of a bee, and have 'Mini buzzes' and the recent-ish 'Low Floor Buzz'

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by Teresa
I remember a conversation my mum had with my little cousin a few years ago:

Cousin: Can I have a glass of wa'er?
Mum: Water has a t in it.
Cousin: I don't want tea, I want wa'er

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That would be me with the "wor'er"and "bu'er" and even where I used to live it was "Cha'am" rather than chatham, I really don't pronounce my T'sss the kids tend to do the same but worse!!!!

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by misskittyfantastic
Blackburn Transport have taken on the mascot of a bee, and have 'Mini buzzes' and the recent-ish 'Low Floor Buzz'

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And their fares and crappy punctuality pack quite a nasty sting, too. (I'm really, really sorry for that one! Seriously, I couldn't resist! [/grovel])

*/me suddenly realises his horrific "sense of humour" is going to have him facing T21 firing squad, and very soon if he isn't careful*

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by Alan
*/me suddenly realises his horrific "sense of humour" is going to have him facing T21 firing squad, and very soon if he isn't careful*

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*BANG*

Couple of things. I do have a sense of humour, and have followed this thread in this light. Trust me, if you bother to stick to the end, I will (attempt) to be funny. However, I do think this has flagged up some slightly serious issues that aren't usually acknowledged. I'll flag up the serious bit so those that want to can easily skip it. And while Stoo has pointed out the correct method of pointing out how to report an offensive thread, that's not what I want to do. I don't want to close this thread, I'm not horrified, I just think some of the things people have said deserve closer examination, although I believe everything said has been meant well.

[OK, this is the serious bit. The Easily offended should skip this]

I agree with Demona. Much of what has been talked about seems to me to be border line racist. That kind of innocent racism that no one realises they're doing, but is none the less.

Most of the mispronunciations people (and I mean that in general, not just here) complain about can be split into two issues - regional dialect and anti-americanisms. Both are the same issue, but Americans get the worst of it, with the assumption they are too stupid to know better.

On a daily basis I hear people mispronouncing place names, especially Yorkshire ones. Not because Yorkshire place names are mispronounced more often, but that I'm the only Yorkshire person around here, so the only one who knows the correct pronunciation for the more obscure ones. The way southerners mispronounce Keighly never ceases to crease me up. And I do it as well. We all do. I only recently found out the correct way to pronounce Bicester. And we all mispronounce foreign places: Venezia, Roma, Napoli being easy ones that spring to my mind.

But we all understand each other, which is the point of language. If I say but'er you will all know what I mean. Most people mispronounce Oxymoron, but we still understand each other.

And I also agree with Lori's point. I like accents. I like diversity. I don't want us all to sound the same. As long as we are capable of understanding one and other, then what is the harm? Isn't it better to be amused and/or charmed by different/wrong pronunciations instead of being angered by it?
[End of pompous self-righteous boring bit (I hope)]

Anyway, for the record, it's gras, baf and wat'er - not graaaaaaaaass, baaaaarth and warter. You suffeners all talk funny .. I mean wrong.

I dont think I can criticise because my accents a strange cross between widnesian (woolyback yey! ) and scouse! But I do hate the way widnes people put 27 o's in 'no' so its like 'Noooooooooooooooooooooo'

How do you say patronise, because I say it Pa-tronise but my english teacher says pay-tronise??

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by Jayjay
The way southerners mispronounce Keighly never ceases to crease me up.

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OK, clear this one up for me now then... is is Keelee or kee-h-lee or some other variant I've not yet heard?

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And we all mispronounce foreign places: Venezia, Roma, Napoli being easy ones that spring to my mind.

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Aside from not affecting an Italian accent, I wasn't aware I was mispronouncing them. D'oh.

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Most people mispronounce Oxymoron, but we still understand each other.

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I'm even more confused now. Ox-ee-mor-on... what is there to mispronounce?

Eve - AFAIK, pay-tronise is the US pronunciation.

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by Lori
OK, clear this one up for me now then... is is Keelee or kee-h-lee or some other variant I've not yet heard?

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It's actually Keith-lee.

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by In a State of Dan
(quotes)
It's actually Keith-lee.

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Who's he then?

OK, as Dan said, it's Keith-Lee. No idea who is/was, but that's how it is pronounced.

As for the Italian place names, my point is we Brits mispronounced Venezia (sat it as it looks) as Venice, and same for the rest. We did it centuries ago, and solidified the errors in our spelling. But as they are easy to pronounce, even with an english accent, I find this a little baffling.

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by Lori
I'm even more confused now. Ox-ee-mor-on... what is there to mispronounce?

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In fact, the correct pronunciation is Ox-Sim-A-Ron. Check the OED if you don't believe me.

And it's definitely pa-tronise where I come from. But in the end it's all about vowel sounds, which is the definition of accent, pretty much.