Funny ways of saying things...

[Nouw]

I couldn't help but wonder what the flying fuck a 'leftenant' was while playing Space Marine. A female lieutenant? A made-up rank in the 40K-verse? Little did I know at the time, that leftenant was the English pronunciation.

Ah, now, this I'll pick up on.

The word 'lieutenant' is (obviously) derived from the French phrase 'en lieu de le tenant'. But since England was conquered by the Normans, their pronunciation of 'lieu' was 'leuf' (and that's originally how they wrote it, since Norman French was a hash-up of Ile-de-France French, Breton French and Danish). As England went from Norman French to Aquitainian French, the spelling became 'lieutenant' but the pronunciation remained 'leuftenant'.

Then, in the early/mid 19th century, when the Americans wanted English to become markedly different from British English, they took one look at the word and though 'fuck it, we'll pronounce it the 'standard' French way'.

That is incredibly insightful. Thanks for the comprehensive answer!

 

[Rellik San]

Up until last year, I'd never actually heard anyone use the word; hyperbole, I'd seen it written and so always assumed it was pronounced "hyper-bowl" not "hi-per-bully".

But still nothing can beat one of my friends coming out with an all time classic; instead of "turret" he would always say "turrent" where this errant "R" came from no one knows, but there it was, also a great point of contention in my roleplay group for a while was the pronunciation of; "weaponry" with half the group adding an extra "a" in there to form; "weaponary", same thing for "arsenal" too, with an extra "a" in there.

 

[EeviStev]

The IT Crowd got me putting the emphasis on the first syllable of 'computer' (as opposed to the second)
Also I pronounce 'program' PROH-grum, with a hard O. I don't know why.

 

[Jolly Co-operator]

My dad pronounce the word "orange" like "oy-nge", and the word "wash" as "warsh". He's lived in Iowa his whole life, so I've never understood where those mispronunciations come from.

 

[Colour Scientist]

Up until last year, I'd never actually heard anyone use the word; hyperbole, I'd seen it written and so always assumed it was pronounced "hyper-bowl" not "hi-per-bully".

A friend of mine did that with epitome. She'd read it but had never heard it said aloud so she assumed it was "epi-toam".

I can't think of anything else off of the top of my head right now.
People where I live say "ye" instead of you(group of people).
Irish people are masters of saying things in funny ways but I have a total mental block right now.

 

[SckizoBoy]

I can't think of anything else off of the top of my head right now.
People where I live say "ye" instead of you(group of people).
Irish people are masters of saying things in funny ways but I have a total mental block right now.

One of the biggest one about Irish people is the 'th' sound. Why can't you pronounce it?! XD

I've never heard or met an Irish person who says the 'th' in words 'properly', not that I've a problem with it, it's rather endearing, just... odd. -_-

That is incredibly insightful. Thanks for the comprehensive answer!

Y'welcome! =_=

 

[Colour Scientist]

I can't think of anything else off of the top of my head right now.
People where I live say "ye" instead of you(group of people).
Irish people are masters of saying things in funny ways but I have a total mental block right now.

One of the biggest one about Irish people is the 'th' sound. Why can't you pronounce it?! XD

I've never heard or met an Irish person who says the 'th' in words 'properly', not that I've a problem with it, it's rather endearing, just... odd. -_-

Hey, I have thoroughly mastered my "th" sound.
Yeah, it is a pretty common theme though.
It's more "dem, dat, dese and dose" than "them, that, these and those".

We're still awesome though.

 

[Fluffythepoo]

I pronounce meme as "Me me"...when i first saw the word thats how i said it and it stuck. I need to make a concious effort to pronounce it properly in conversation xD

 

[kailus13]

Up until last year, I'd never actually heard anyone use the word; hyperbole, I'd seen it written and so always assumed it was pronounced "hyper-bowl" not "hi-per-bully".

A friend of mine did that with epitome. She'd read it but had never heard it said aloud so she assumed it was "epi-toam".

I can't think of anything else off of the top of my head right now.
People where I live say "ye" instead of you(group of people).
Irish people are masters of saying things in funny ways but I have a total mental block right now.

I managed to do the opposite with melancholy. I assumed it was nicked from the french and pronounced it mel-ahn-chol-e.

People in my area of England have a habit of saying "Hows [name] then?" instead of how are you, which is confusing when there's someone else with your name in the room.

 

[CManator]

As someone who had to study English as a second language, I can safely say that's it's the most messed up language ever. One of the trillion examples is when we say the word compile as "com-pyl", but then as soon as it becomes a noun (+tion) it's pronounced as "com-pih-lation". I just say "com-pie-lation" because it makes more sense and is more consistent.
I could go on for DAYS about all the discrepancies. Days.

As someone who had to study english as their only language, I agree 101% Even without slang there are so many exceptions and inconsistencies in spelling and pronunciation, it boggles the mind. No wonder a good chunk of us can't read. -_-

Really, it's not that hard, but a lot of people can't be bothered and I don't really blame them. I can only imagine how bad it is learning it after more structured languages.

OT: There's one off the top of my head.

I work nights, so when I arrive at 11pm, i say good morning to the normal people who are finishing their day. It usually gets a chuckle or at least a blank stare.