Kevin's Watch

It drives me crazy when someone spells a word wrong on a forum or listserv discussion and everyone answering the post copies the misspelling.

Currently, one of my lists is discussing "exzema" (actual spelling=eczema).

When people say 'somethink' instead of 'something'.

I hate it when I see somebody in the turning lane for 48 miles before they are going to turn. It gets so bad that I will even pull in the turning lane in front of them and make them go around me. Altering my path seems like a good sacrifice to hopefully make those people feel like morons.

What about "ekcetera"? That's another one that drives me crazy. As well as "nucular" for "nuclear."

Acrost

MsMary wrote:What about "ekcetera"? That's another one that drives me crazy. As well as "nucular" for "nuclear."

"Nucular" is a good one! I know it drives Lucimay crazy as well. She'll go nuclear on anyone who uses the other version.

Speaking of words and pronunciation, what has bugged me lately is the tendency to confuse "route" with "rout" when saying it. My sense of proper English is to say "route" just like the word "root." However, I often hear people say "route" like "rout" (as in "about"). But a "rout" is a totally different thing. Is this an American convention? Have people in the US always pronounced "route" as "rout?" Whatever the case, I'm hearing Canadians talk like that too. I'd say this irritates me as much as "nucular" irritates Luci.

Matrixman wrote: Speaking of words and pronunciation, what has bugged me lately is the tendency to confuse "route" with "rout" when saying it. My sense of proper English is to say "route" just like the word "root." However, I often hear people say "route" like "rout" (as in "about"). But a "rout" is a totally different thing. Is this an American convention? Have people in the US always pronounced "route" as "rout?" Whatever the case, I'm hearing Canadians talk like that too. I'd say this irritates me as much as "nucular" irritates Luci.

Either can be correct for route.

Matrixman wrote:

MsMary wrote:What about "ekcetera"? That's another one that drives me crazy. As well as "nucular" for "nuclear."

"Nucular" is a good one! I know it drives Lucimay crazy as well. She'll go nuclear on anyone who uses the other version.

Speaking of words and pronunciation, what has bugged me lately is the tendency to confuse "route" with "rout" when saying it. My sense of proper English is to say "route" just like the word "root." However, I often hear people say "route" like "rout" (as in "about"). But a "rout" is a totally different thing. Is this an American convention? Have people in the US always pronounced "route" as "rout?" Whatever the case, I'm hearing Canadians talk like that too. I'd say this irritates me as much as "nucular" irritates Luci.

I get into trouble for LOTS of words I mangle! Just ask Lucimay!!

In my defense - I did grow up in Boston!!

But what gets me is people who wash their dishes and say "waRsh the dishes!" PEOPLE!! There is no R in wash!!!!

My aunt used to say "warsh." It amused me.

Thanks, MsMary. I guess I was taught a "stricter" kind of English (British English, I assume) - the kind that doesn't allow "route" and "rout" to cut deals under the table.

I have to say that pronunciation issues bother me, also. Especially when it's radio announcers. They should know better.

Some errors I've heard:

* A classical music announcer played a Bach "suit" (like a suit of clothes, instead of a "suite" - pronounced like "sweet.")

* Last week a newscaster referred to the "Kamatchka" peninsula when she clearly meant "Kamchatka."

* I heard an announcer say "Yuk-a-tan" instead of "Yoo-ka-tahn" when referring to Yucatan.

Those are just the examples I can think of off the top of my head.

My pet peeve is knowing that the atmosphere oxidized 3 billion years ago. Things would be much simpler if we were monomers and polypeptides.

I overheard a tourist on the Santa Fe plaza the other day, a wife asking her husband if he enjoyed his fajitas...she said "fa-gee-tas".

That's as bad as my 4th grade teacher. My mother was born in El Paso, Texas, on the Mexican border, so she grew up with Mexican food and cooked it for us. I definitely knew that the word "tortilla" is pronounced "tor-tee-ya" but when I correctly pronounced it that way while reading a story aloud at school, my 4th grade teacher corrected my pronunciation to tor-till-ah (to rhyme with Atilla, as in the Hun ).

Instructors that stuttor (a speech impediment is no laughing matter, but dammit, why must you teach!)

Smoking! I need not give details, my abhorrence of it is exemplified in just about every way in the Tank.

The Pope...he just does.

E.D. commercials...

I hate E.D. commercials...just this past sunday Russ and the boys were watching the NFL games and those *BLEEP* E.D. commercials would come on and the boys would all ask..."what is erectile dysfunction???"

UGH!!!!

It always shocks me a little when I hear those ads on the radio. You didn't mention stuff like that out loud when I was a kid.

Furls Fire wrote:E.D. commercials...

I hate E.D. commercials...just this past sunday Russ and the boys were watching the NFL games and those *BLEEP* E.D. commercials would come on and the boys would all ask..."what is erectile dysfunction???"

UGH!!!!

LMAO!

...now that is hillarious.

Concord New Hampshire is prounounced Conkerd. not Concord. (that is a grape, a place in Mass or Cali.)

I hate it when I hear Nevada and the second and third syllables rhyme. I hate it when people say "Tee-vas" instead of "Tay-vas" when referring to the sandals, especially when they're correcting me. "Boo-fay" instead of "buh-fay," "peench" instead of pinch. I really hate people singing Frosty the Snowman to me, especially since nobody knows more than the first two lines. I've been known to get into fights over people chewing with their mouth open. Anybody who turns on their turn signal after they're already half way into the other lane deserves to have their license suspended.

Hmm. What else? People who don't put their napkin in their lap after unfolding their silverware. People who don't hold doors open for someone right behind them, and people who can't find the decency to nod or say thanks when someone holds it for them. People who walk two or three people abreast sloooowly in the mall or other high pedestrian traffic areas. People who aren't aware that everyone within a fifty foot radius doesn't want to hear the conversation with the person right in front of him, 100 if they're laughing. People who jump into a new line at the grocery store instead of asking the person in front of them if they'd rather move. People who spend more than 30 seconds looking for correct change. Cashiers who ask, "Do you have 'x' cents?" The way every cashier just assumes you want to pay debit. Clerks who won't stop talking to their coworkers when someone walks into the store.

The theme music to Supernanny (stupid writers' strike). I end up repeating it over and over like I have downs syndrom. The Coast Guard commercial can fit here with the line "I am the protector in the dark." Recruiting commercials in general, especially for the Navy. Commercials that don't show or in any way extol the virtues of their product. The guy that does the J. G. Wentworth commercials (I say "wwwilburrrr" after every line).

But the number one spot has to go to people who let their dogs crap on other people's lawns, especially mine.