tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4464222071440015933.post6165937064040999732..comments2024-01-23T17:14:04.067-05:00Comments on Jaltcoh: Getting it wrong -- language editionJohn Althouse Cohenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11703450281424023177noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4464222071440015933.post-44441865921735595202010-07-21T10:29:33.614-04:002010-07-21T10:29:33.614-04:00kcom: You could ask her!kcom: You could ask <a href="http://www.metafilter.com/user/14401" rel="nofollow">her</a>!John Althouse Cohenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11703450281424023177noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4464222071440015933.post-35288934347328080362010-07-20T22:30:26.967-04:002010-07-20T22:30:26.967-04:00I want to know more about the "old bean"...I want to know more about the "old bean" talk.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4464222071440015933.post-65481289942194924662010-07-17T19:47:43.531-04:002010-07-17T19:47:43.531-04:00Pres. Carter mispronounced "nuclear", an...Pres. Carter mispronounced "nuclear", and he'd been a nuclear engineer.Ralph Lhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07915708905660273961noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4464222071440015933.post-8510517024211665222010-07-17T19:09:38.881-04:002010-07-17T19:09:38.881-04:00I thought misled and mizz-uhled were different wor...I thought misled and mizz-uhled were different words for a <i>very</i> long time. I can't pinpoint the moment when I realized misled was <i>not</i> pronounced mizz-uhled, but I know that I read it as such for a <i>very</i> long time.Jenniferhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12824506338738265111noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4464222071440015933.post-9769533497461789552010-07-17T17:56:53.890-04:002010-07-17T17:56:53.890-04:00For a long time I misused "nonplussed" a...For a long time I misused "nonplussed" all the time. I thought it described when a person took something in stride, i.e., "She was nonplussed by the uproar." But it actually means kind of the opposite. I've heard an awful lot of people misuse it in a similar way.knoxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13231876226573540476noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4464222071440015933.post-69828305771134766602010-07-17T17:54:32.856-04:002010-07-17T17:54:32.856-04:00Bill Clinton also pronounced it "nuke-you-ler...Bill Clinton also pronounced it "nuke-you-ler." (Obama pronounces it "nuke-lee-er," as you can hear starting at 1:55 of <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmRi2IvAh04" rel="nofollow">this clip.</a>) Of course, if so many people "mispronounce" it (especially people in high office who are speaking in very formal settings), that raises the question of whether it actually is a mispronunciation or an acceptable variant. Mispronunciations that are based on reading a word without hearing it pronounced by anyone else -- like "segue" as one syllable, or "infrared" rhyming with "scared" -- are the ones that are most clearly mispronunciations. Bush, Clinton, and others are doing the opposite: their pronunciation of "nuclear" has <i>less</i> connection to the spelling than the "nuke-lee-er" pronunciation. If they're aware that some people pronounce it as it's spelled, but they simply feel more comfortable saying "nuke-you-ler" (which would be understandable since "ular" is a more common ending in the English language: "molecular," "particular," etc.), perhaps we shouldn't consider it an error.John Althouse Cohenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11703450281424023177noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4464222071440015933.post-18075029783953625232010-07-17T15:39:56.554-04:002010-07-17T15:39:56.554-04:00I was well into high school before I realized that...I was well into high school before I realized that ridiculous was actually not spelled "rediculous" (which said as much about my pronunciation of the word as it does my spelling).<br /><br />Of course there's the whole nuclear pronunciation, which, although attributed to President Bush, had been mispronounced by several presidents before him, so I read. It just goes to show that even Presidents can go much of their adult professional lives without being corrected or figuring out the "proper" way to say/spell a word. Fun topic.Anthonyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16727823728241579132noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4464222071440015933.post-75274375407961263872010-07-17T13:03:12.789-04:002010-07-17T13:03:12.789-04:00Jacques Cousteau looked better in a speedo.Jacques Cousteau looked better in a speedo.El Presidentehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16810633399405341591noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4464222071440015933.post-30463134917950263492010-07-17T12:18:47.230-04:002010-07-17T12:18:47.230-04:00I remember a Lorrie Moore riff somewhere about how...I remember a Lorrie Moore riff somewhere about how she was disappointed when she realized that Jacques Cousteau and Jean Cocteau had nothing to do with each other.Ann Althousehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01630636239933008807noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4464222071440015933.post-87160269677743155362010-07-15T16:41:25.747-04:002010-07-15T16:41:25.747-04:00I only learned how to tie my shoe laces correctly ...I only learned how to tie my shoe laces correctly this year.Jason (the commenter)https://www.blogger.com/profile/16045360562791361484noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4464222071440015933.post-4716041595057210082010-07-15T09:48:08.092-04:002010-07-15T09:48:08.092-04:00I knew you'd post a comment about "dilemn...I knew you'd post a comment about "dilemna"!<br /><br />I used to have the same misconception.<br /><br />I remember a bunch of us talking about this at a family reunion.John Althouse Cohenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11703450281424023177noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4464222071440015933.post-64171876984888874012010-07-15T09:37:47.108-04:002010-07-15T09:37:47.108-04:00As your mother knows, I had the same "dilemna...As your mother knows, I had the same "dilemna" conception (not misconception!), and I still do. The word used to be spelled with a silent n and it's not anymore. That is, I originally inhabited a universe in which it's spelled with a silent n, and at some point I switched tracks, imperceptibly, into an alternate universe where it's spelled with a double m. The proof was that in my youth, people used to *say* "dilem-na" to be funny. (Occasional individuals here and there shared the same experience.) What other differences there are between the two universes -- if there are any -- is not known. I used to assume, dramatist fashion, that the switch had taken me into a more dangerous universe, but now I think it may well have been the opposite.Richard Lawrence Cohenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01951947957345891398noreply@blogger.com