Bayer is pronounced like buyer

Status
Not open for further replies.
I was discussing "overwhelm" and "underwhelm" with my wife today, and why we don't say "whelm."

It turns out that "whelm" used to be a word, meaning either to capsize or to to be inundated by waves, depending on which definition you look at. Overwhelmed was an emphatic form that has dislodged the original word in usage.

So, "underwhelmed" is basically a BS word that has no meaning etymologically related to the original root word and it started as a joke in 1956. But it's a word I rather like. Just a reminder that language evolves.

http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-whe1.htm
 
Well, since everyone decided to make up their own words and sounds and we now have 7,000+ languages across this giant rock, it better have the capacity to evolve.
 
The best word ever was hyperbole, second to hysteresis neither of which trip off the tongue in the correct way. During a long running summer season with a comedian here in the UK, I'd challenge him every show to get a nominated word into the act somewhere. These two tripped him up - they're impossible to just 'drop in' as normal words are - these two always need your brain to engage to make them pronounce properly.
 
My mother in law had a hysteresis they needed a hyper,bole to put it in after the operation.....
I can wait...... I 'm here all week!
 
I’ve secretly wanted to tell people that my name is John but it is pronounced the same as “sassafras”. And that would be the correct pronunciation, since I say it is.
 
JPNola said:
I’ve secretly wanted to tell people that my name is John but it is pronounced the same as “sassafras”. And that would be the correct pronunciation, since I say it is.
Click to expand...


"No, no, my name is spelt Raymond Luxury-Yacht, but it's pronounced Throatwobbler Mangrove"
 
There is also the thing where the correct pronunciation sounds pretentious. I remember when some gave Obama grief for using the correct pronunciation of “Pakistan”. As an American, using the correct pronunciation of “Paris”, ‘pair-we’, sounds pretentious.

Most English news mispronounces Vladimir Putin’s name. My understanding is that it is pronounced “vluh-deemer poo-teen”. And “Russia” is pronounced “ruce-yuh”.

I refuse to pronounce Nevada correctly. The correct pronunciation is just so hard on the ear.
 
JPNola said:
There is also the thing where the correct pronunciation sounds pretentious. I remember when some gave Obama grief for using the correct pronunciation of “Pakistan”. As an American, using the correct pronunciation of “Paris”, ‘pair-we’, sounds pretentious.

Most English news mispronounces Vladimir Putin’s name. My understanding is that it is pronounced “vluh-deemer poo-teen”. And “Russia” is pronounced “ruce-yuh”.

I refuse to pronounce Nevada correctly. The correct pronunciation is just so hard on the ear.
Click to expand...

Most Brits find Americans [miss-]pronouncing things humorous.
 
Well, we aren't in England.

We speak "American-English".

There are dialect varieties in dozens of countries.
 
If there are six types (I meant dialects for all languages, btw), do most Brits also find other English-speaking individuals [miss-]pronouncing things humorous?

Or just Americans?
 
JPNola said:
Most English news mispronounces Vladimir Putin’s name. My understanding is that it is pronounced “vluh-deemer poo-teen”. And “Russia” is pronounced “ruce-yuh”...
Click to expand...
That's because English vowels - and many consonants - are different from Slavic, so any British, American or Australian speaker will have an accent while speaking Russian and vice versa. Which reminds me of mispronouncing Yan-kiz. Many years ago.
 
I always get a kick out out of the Buzzfeed lists that show our cultural, social and language differences like "25 things people from the UK find weird/don't understand about America" and other variations of that. Some of the gems that I see often are:

"Why do Americans call petrol "gas" when it's a liquid?" Because it's short for "gasoline".
"Wait, do Americans really put water in the microwave to heat it up???" or "Why do Americans use a microwave to heat up water for tea instead of a kettle?" Because if it's just for a cup or two, it's quicker and easier.
"Can someone American explain this to me?" *picture of a carton of 1% milk* Does this mean that they only have whole or skim milk across the pond?
"Do Americans actually have school buses or is that made up in the movies?"
 
Run&Gun said:
"Wait, do Americans really put water in the microwave to heat it up???" or "Why do Americans use a microwave to heat up water for tea instead of a kettle?" Because if it's just for a cup or two, it's quicker and easier.
Click to expand...

True in the US but it was explained to me that the UK has a 240V 13Amp system so electric kettles in the UK are far faster than the 115v (lower amps?) US kettles which are (were?) far slower. Therefore the UK has grown up using a(n electric) kettle for boiling water for tea/coffee especially if for more than one person. For a single cup the microwave might be faster than a single cup of water in the kettle but habit would use the kettle.

As for accents this is much loved by Brits, French, Germans and Italians

in particular "Good Moaning" is now part of UK culture IT is of course a Micky take on how the British fare on French pronunciation.

 
NorBro said:
For the record, Americans think the British accent is pretty amusing as well.

The best part about it all is both aren't really aware of it.
Click to expand...

Which British accent? Buckhingam? Council housing? Scotland? And last I checked, Texans and Bostonians sound radically different.

Oddly enough, I'm one of the only people I've ever met who doesn't have an accent. ;)
 
JAMedia said:
Correction. YOU might be overseas but we are in England.


Yes, you don't speak English.



There are six types of English
English and 5 others of which American-English is one (South African, Indian, Australian and another I will have to look up)
Click to expand...

I heard a theory that the British Empire collapsed because they were too busy correcting their subjects' pronunciation and adding an unnecessary "u" everywhere
 
ahalpert said:
Which British accent? Buckhingam? Council housing? Scotland? And last I checked, Texans and Bostonians sound radically different.

Oddly enough, I'm one of the only people I've ever met who doesn't have an accent. ;)
Click to expand...

All of 'em.
 
ahalpert said:
Which British accent? Buckhingam? Council housing? Scotland? ...
Click to expand...
Jon Miller, mostly known for his baseball work, did play-by-play in the old North American Soccer league in the late 1970's for San Jose Earthquakes. The American soccer was in its infancy then, with very few quality local players, and so the league only required two domestics per side. Thus, the rosters were very international, with players coming from all over the world (except the USSR, which had KGB to keep players from defecting). Miller said it was very difficult to do post game interviews since many a foreigner didn't bother much with learning English. Finally, after a match against Vancouver, Miler's expectations were sky high because he planned an interview with Willie Johnston, a legendary Scottish winger at the tail end of his career. And quite a character, famous for his various hijinks. Well, Miler thought it was going to be easy. He said he couldn't understand Willie at all.

Here's Willie, some thirty years later.

 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top