Saturday, May 22, 2010

Say it right


Here's a word that I hear mispronounced so often I looked it up to make sure
I wasn't the dumb ass.
How do
you say "realtor"?
  1. Does it sound like reel-ugh-ter?
  2. Or real-ter?
  3. Or re-uhl-ter?
  4. None of the above
The correct answer is "3" but mostly I hear "1".

When I first moved to Houston, I gave my boss an address on Bissonnet Avenue but being from Louisiana, I articulated it with a French pronunciation: Bis-so-nay. She corrected me and imperiously stated "here in Texas, we pronounce all the letters in words". Huh, how about that? She was taking me task for sounding like a rube while she and the rest of Houston mangled FRENCH with their "Bis-son-net"(yep, with a "t" at the end). Thanks for correcting me,
putain.

So, just for kicks, I just Googled "commonly mispronounced words" for you good people and found a list of 100 at pbs.com
Well, butter my butt and call me a biscuit, I've been saying "Bacchus" incorrectly all this time plus "pathos". Feeling superior to me yet? Check out the list and I'll bet you'll be surprised at a few. Having a hard time saying "Bak-us" instead of "Bahk-us", which incidentally, is the name of huge New Orleans Carnival krewe and their parade. New Orleans folks saying it wrong all these years? For true?

(Click on the links for an audible pronunciations. Look for the speaker icon.)~~You're welcome~~

3 comments:

Kittie Howard said...

I had fun with your links! Thanks. From the way some Texans talk, there's a center-of-the-universe marker on every corner.

Gail Dixon said...

Well, I didn't see 'prah-leens' on the list. Everyone in Texas, and really every other state but Louisiana pronounces it 'PRAY-leens' which drives me #%&*(! crazy!

SkitzoLeezra said...

Ya'll are cracking me up!
Kittie - you're right. My mom has said the same for years. She's convinced it's because they teach Texas history at every grade level whereas Louisiana offers it twice in 12 years.
La Belle - when I hear "prayleens" or "pee-cans" or "crayfish", it's like nails on a chalkboard. If not said correctly, surely it cannot be enjoyed to its fullest.

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