Sunday, August 20, 2006

Top 10 word peeves

Being in Singapore, a melting pot of gibberish and inaccurate languages, sometimes it is really annoying to hear words that are incorrectly pronounced.....well...not that I am free from that cos being in Singapore, you tend to get affected by the inane terrible english language we have been using and I am of no exception but there are just some words that will make me hit the roof and create some ruckus inside....here we go

#10 Salmon
this is really bad in Singapore....it got to such an extent where people would not be able to understand what you are talking about if you correctly pronounced the word.....there were a couple of instances where I said "sa-mon" and people do not understand it. In the end I had to say, can I have the "sell-mon" ....talking about going to their level...

#9 Stephen
ok Stephen should be pronounced as Steven...there is no such thing as "stef-fen".......unless you are from europe.

#8 Three
I am guilty of this ...I used to pronounce it as "tree" and am only recently making a conscious attempt to change it...so use me as a role model eh.....but its pretty hard to change after 20 years of "one two tree"

#7 Often
You should pronounced this as "Ofen" not "Of-ten"......

#6 Girl
this is those words where you think oh it is easy...how can you mess it up...oh believe me....people still do not know how to pronounce it.....it actually works your tongue and you obicularis(sp?) oris muscles..your mouth should be somewhat like a goldfish mouth while saying it..so it should sound like "gurl" instead of "ger"

#5 Regardless
There is no such thing as irregardless and it is amazing to see people who speaks almost perfect english making such a tragic mistake. "-Less" already says ''without'' so there is no need to repeat the same sentiment with "ir-." So when you say irregardless you are actually contradicting your staement...Smart eh

#4 Film
Please don't pronounce it as "fillum". It is a major major big turn off. You can substitute the [l] as [w] ("film" [fiwm}, "palm" [pawm]). Try it.

#3 Didn't
this one I am not sure but i think only Singaporeans shortened it to "din". This will push my button....seriously.... " I din know about it", "Din you know", " I din do it". ARRRRGGGHHh.........save me....but then sometimes I think I say that too.....just like "three" I am making a conscious attempt to change...heh

#2 Pronounciation
Follow me "Pro-nun-ciation"

#1 Rendezvous
Just learn the word just in case you have to make a trip down to hotel Rendezvous. It will save you some face.....

Ain't I a complex person.....