Really annoying things people say

[milly143]

I'll do this here instead of on another thread that made me think of it. Does it annoy you when people use words in the wrong way or use the wrong word in a sentence?

For example, my boyfriend frequently says the word "went" instead of "gone". Like, "We could have went there". It reeealllly grates on me.

[chrissa1]

Yes flip, "tret" is a Geordieism.

[sophie_1003]

Playbill; if that's your argument how on earth do you pronounce beverage, average, coverage and storage??

[daffy654]

I have a couple of people on my FB friend list who sometimes put updates such as "led in bed watching telly". I have so far managed to not correct them.

[mike11111]

Gararj is the French pronunciation, garradge the English one.

[sophie_1003]

Yay; I'm not French, hee hee!

[mike11111]

Chambers lists three pronunciations for garage, all equally valid.

[sophie_1003]

Yes that's fair enough Mike; I'm still interested as to how Playbill's argument stands up against the words I listed though! It's the same as my mum arguing that scone has a long 'o' because you say bone; my argument against it is the word gone!

[BAKERS DOZEN]

People who return things back - no just return it please.
Architect designed houses and flats - well who else would do it?

[mike11111]

That is the "beauty" of English being a non-phonetic language. How foreigners cope with the numerous different pronunciations of the combination "ough" I'll never know. I've forgotten just how many there are.

[sophie_1003]

14 if I remember correctly although I may have plucked that out of thin air! There's also a thing where a word is presented which seems like gibberish but can actually be read using the various ways of pronouncing the different bits.

[mike11111]

I think it was George Bernard Shaw who demonstrated that you could spell fish as "ghoti".

[sophie_1003]

Ah yes! Think there's one for potato as well.

[mike11111]

Gh = f as in cough.
O =i as in women
Ti =sh as in station

[BAKERS DOZEN]

Mike - bough, cough, ought, rough and probably some others.

[sophie_1003]

Though a rough cough and hiccoughs ploughed through him, he houghed the horse with thorough thoughtfulness. Nine apparently; don't know where I got 14 from!

[fliptheswitch]

I laughed out loud at "beverage, average" etc. I do say bev-er-raarge, but mainly as a joke. You make a good point Sophie.

[Euphemia]

Reminds me of the confusion caused to some French students by the billboard heading "Exhibition pronounced success".

[mike11111]

The one I remember from the early 70s was the hoarding outside the Victoria Palace Theatre: "The Black and White Minstrel Show - pronounced success!"

[Playbill]

sophie-1003

You win with those examples! Maybe it comes down to how you learnt to pronounce the words at school. And I was taught to pronounce 'garage' in that way.