Words that piss me off.

[P3nT4gR4m]

Arthur MillerBrown pronounced it "Fa-Yar"

ETA - mixed up my arfurs 

[rong]

orientate - i feel this should not be a word.  one does not get orientated or disorientated, one gets oriented or disoriented.  it pisses me off cuz i looked it up and it was in the dictionary. 

But then "Orientation" would be "Oriention", and that just sounds stupid.

i believe "Orientation" to be "Orient" with the suffix -ation at the end.  Much like "Lament" and "Lamentation"

"Lamentate" sounds even stupider (sic) than "Orientate"

the problem probably arises from thinking too much in terms of Masturbate and Masturbation.  As opposed to Relax and Relaxation.

[Golden Applesauce]

i pronounce it aloo-minum.  and, yeah, i only ever say nucular in jest.

speaking of pronunciation: i get a kick out of the word "fire" because if you go by the grade school "hand clapping" method of counting syllables, it seems to have two.  but i'm pretty sure it is technically a one-syllable word.  what cracks me up is that i can't ever seem to pronounce "fire" monosyllabically without sounding like i have a southern drawl.

Don't worry, phonetically it's two syllables.

For who?

Is "far" two syllables for you, as well?

I'm not sure how to explain it clearly without linguistic mumbo jumbo, but in the case of "fire" the r is it's own syllable. Far is different because the r at the end is not it's own syllable, but rather the coda to the syllable "fa".

(Don't take my words as gospel, though, because accents can vary wildly. It's just that for me, pronouncing "fire" as a true single syllable sounds extremely ridiculous.)

Yeah, there are at least two major ways to pronounce words like "fire" in U.S. English. The most common way is the two-syllable, where you pronounce it Fye-err.  The one syllable way is the accent in which the word is pronounced something like F(u)rrrr, which is more or less specific to the greater Appalachian region.  In that accent, "fire" and "bear" rhyme, and you can make a pun about the Three Wise Men being firefighters because "afar" and "a fire" are pronounced identically (as in, "We came from afar/a fire.")

(Also, the way I say it, I'd consider "far" to be a dipthong - in between "fur" and "fire.")

[Mangrove]

Even worse than 'whatever' is 'whatev'. It suggests a whole new level of apathy and indolence.

Improper use of the possessive apostrophe is particularly annoying to me.

[Payne]

Even worse than 'whatever' is 'whatev'. It suggests a whole new level of apathy and indolence.

Improper use of the possessive apostrophe is particularly annoying to me.

own'ed

[MMIX]

Even worse than 'whatever' is 'whatev'. It suggests a whole new level of apathy and indolence.

Improper use of the possessive apostrophe is particularly annoying to me.

Yes, but bad though "whatev" is I reckon "meh" is just as bad. Its not a word, its not an abbreviation, its just a kind of disinterested grunt. I mean, ffs, did they go to all the trouble of inventing the interwebs so we could go back to just grunting at each other . . . !



Edited for clarity

[Payne]

Even worse than 'whatever' is 'whatev'. It suggests a whole new level of apathy and indolence.

Improper use of the possessive apostrophe is particularly annoying to me.

Yes, but bad though "whatev" is I reckon "meh" is just as bad. Its not a word, its not an abbreviation, its just a kind of disinterested grunt. I mean, ffs, did they go to all the trouble of inventing the interwebs so we could go back to just grunting at each other . . . !



Edited for clarity

Blame The Simpsons. Also, I rather like "meh".

[MMIX]

Meh, I'm torn . . .

[Golden Applesauce]

Even worse than 'whatever' is 'whatev'. It suggests a whole new level of apathy and indolence.

I think anybody who says "whatev" is trying to sound apathetic and indolent, though.  Which just means its a word that's very effective and conveying a sentiment that pisses you off.

[P3nT4gR4m]

Even worse than 'whatever' is 'whatev'. It suggests a whole new level of apathy and indolence.

I think anybody who says "whatev" is trying to sound apathetic and indolent, though.  Which just means its a word that's very effective and conveying a sentiment that pisses you off.

I've never heard anyone say "whatev" if I ever do I guarantee I'll be on the news shortly afterwards

[Jenne]

For words like "fire"--yes, there's an added glide in there for some dialects--a "y" sound that can make it more than one syllable or VOWEL SOUND that you hear when it's spoken.  So it comes out "Fie-yer" rather than "fire" as all one vowel sound.

And yes, some words like "whatev" carry connotative value like disdain or flip behavior for some dialects, but that wouldn't be across the board with every English language user, certainly.

[LMNO]

Hendrix also went for two syllables:  "Let me stand next to your fi-yar..."

[Richter]

"Coupon", specifically when people pronounce it "kew - pon", not "coop- on", like and decent person out too.

Everyone knows what a coupon is.  Even when it's some insipd, valueless shit, like a payment coupon for your loans, which only serves to remind your dumb ass to send the monthly bill in. 

If you go around asking for a "Kew - pon", I'm going to make it a point to direct you to the aisle with the "Tampax" and "Depends"

[Dysfunctional Cunt]

"Coupon", specifically when people pronounce it "kew - pon", not "coop- on", like and decent person out too.

Everyone knows what a coupon is.  Even when it's some insipd, valueless shit, like a payment coupon for your loans, which only serves to remind your dumb ass to send the monthly bill in. 

If you go around asking for a "Kew - pon", I'm going to make it a point to direct you to the aisle with the "Tampax" and "Depends"

That is really a dialect issue.....  being from the south the COU of my COUPON does lean more towards CUE as opposed to COO.  To me the COO pronunciation just sounds odd..... 

[The Good Reverend Roger]

"Coupon", specifically when people pronounce it "kew - pon", not "coop- on", like and decent person out too.

Everyone knows what a coupon is.  Even when it's some insipd, valueless shit, like a payment coupon for your loans, which only serves to remind your dumb ass to send the monthly bill in. 

If you go around asking for a "Kew - pon", I'm going to make it a point to direct you to the aisle with the "Tampax" and "Depends"

That is really a dialect issue.....  being from the south the COU of my COUPON does lean more towards CUE as opposed to COO.  To me the COO pronunciation just sounds odd..... 

Well, yes.  Proper English IS, of course, strictly forbidden on your side of the River.