Just heard on an(other) NBC promo for the final episode of "Friends" - "It's the end of an arrow."

???

The pointy end or the tickly end?

Era? Just a guess.

It could have been worse. The pronunciation could have been eee-ruh.

I saw yout subject line and immediately wondered why folks hereabouts can't teach their children how to be quiet, but I just got back from the library :-(

Alan Moore

LOL@AMoore!

Yes, Dorian! Lots of that goes on and it's mind boggling! I've heard many many blunders like that. One lady I know - for the word "specifically" uses "pacifically"!! Is it laziness or lack of education?

The misuse of words that sound somewhat similar comes initially from mishearing. Children learning the language do it all the time.Usually they substitute a word from their memory-bank as they guess that that was said, rather than assume it's some new word they've never heard of. Until they see the word written or hear it clearly in context the misuse passes uncorrected . You may hear a child singing 'Home, home on the range/ Where the dear little elephants play' (no, dear it's 'where the deer and the antelope play '...). In adult life we'll do the same, malapropism. The Sheridan character herself, Mrs Malaprop, was given some contrived ones but 'the very pineapple [pinnacle] of politeness' and ' (his word is)a sufficient accommodation [recommendation]' have the air of a genuine substitution of a known word for the unknown one.

Mispronunciation is from misreading ; somebody sees a word written, mispronounces it and the mispronunciation gets passed on. With English spelling, who can blame them if they are surprised to discover later that 'schism' is sizz-um or that the town Wymondham in Norfolk is Winned-um?

The late British comedian Hylda Baker built her act on these misuses (' I can say this without fear of contraception') but hers were usually scripted to suggest Freudian insights into her thoughts,unconscious mental stumbling ( as are some of the, unscripted, Bushisms perhaps) rather than mishearings .

I recently e-mailed a columist for a national newspaper to express my support for something controversial she had said in her column. To my surprise she answered, saying her feedback so far had been overwhelmingly in favour "despite my Editor's predilections." Or had he simply predicted?

quote:

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Originally posted by FredPuli:
With English spelling, who can blame them if they are surprised to discover later that 'schism' is sizz-um ...

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Interestingly, those 'mispronouncing' it (although the pronounciation is common enough to have made it into the dictionary) as ski-zum are actually closer to the pronounciation of the latin and greek roots.

I, personally, often mistype there/their in chat, though I obviously know the difference and am not prone to that mistake elsewhere (though I did make it at least once here).