What Annoying Grammatical or Pronunciation *Error* Did You Come Across Today?
- Thread starter tybrad
- Start date
dyche01
"Buy high. Sell low"
If you call 'Aluminium' 'Aluminum' - then why don't you guys spell/say 'Uranium' 'Uranum' - or maybe you do!
For the same reason you call z, 'zed' but you don't call b 'bed' and c 'ced' and d 'ded' and g 'ged' and so on. And for the sake of completeness, do you call lanthanum and molybdenum, 'lanthanium' and 'molybedenium'?
The suffixes -um and -ium are used to Latinize words that don't exist in Latin. In Latin itself the '-um' suffix ends many neuter words, such as the word for iron, 'ferrum'. The '-ium' suffix was used by the Romans to create abstract nouns out of adjectives, much the way we use '-ness' in English. For example, the adjectives 'quick' and 'happy' become the nouns 'quickness' and 'happiness'. In biology the use of these suffixes has created a mess. For example the word describing a finger-like projection made by a cell is a combination of the Latin 'filo-' and the Greek '-pod' to make 'filopod'. Many people go on to add an '-ium' for good measure, creating 'filopodium' a Latin-Greek-Latin sandwich of a word.
Since the Romans used the good old fashioned '-um' for most metals (e.g. metallum and ferrum) and didn't think of them as abstract nouns we should probably use '-um' for all of them. But, of course, language is a living thing that doesn't follow logical rules and it's probably not worth getting worked up over an '-ium' or 'um'
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Radio
Welcome to the Hotel California
Sit and love your place
Sit and love your place
Sit and love your place
Sit and love your place
This is at least what I understood in the last decades...
Welcome to the Hotel California
Sit and love your place
Sit and love your place
Sit and love your place
Sit and love your place
This is at least what I understood in the last decades...
Crazyblocks
Active Member
Niche
Nich or neech
It is pronounced as nich
Nich or neech
It is pronounced as nich
toxcrusadr
Omelette au Fromage
Language is more than just a living thing, it's a doggone mess. 
MaxxVolume
Lunatic Member
He may have been referring to the Irish clan, as related to actress Erin Moran ("Chachi Loves Joanie")
MaxxVolume
Lunatic Member
Naaahh....too close to "itch"....how about "neesh" ? (It IS, after all, a French word, yes ?)
toxcrusadr
Omelette au Fromage
Well I looked up "niche" on dictionary.com and they pronounced it 'nich'. I was surprised since, yes, it is a French word. I don't know much about French so whether the French pronounce it that way, I have no idea.
They do not.
MaxxVolume
Lunatic Member
I guess a lot has to do with your geographical location....for instance, in France, the word "pipe" is pronounced "peep" (and is also synonymous with "blowjob"), so if you mention to a French girl that you would like "Le Peep", she will either smack your face, or pleasure you `til the cows come home....
My wife works with a gal who insists on calling albacore tuna "Abercrombie". Does that count?
MaxxVolume
Lunatic Member
Many people from Staten island tend to transpose their "A"s and "ER"s, so, when that light bulb goes off in your head, you had "an idear".... on your feet, you might wear "sneakiz", your brother drives a "Honder Accawd", drinks beeah, and says "I`m ovuh HEAH now !" And, if someone calls you a "Loyuh", they are not assuming you belong to the legal profession, rather, you are stretching the truth, or telling a fib....funny stuff, this language/dialect business, eh ?
Suppos-ebly, instead of supposedly. Heard this from an engineer at my company today. This has got to be a midwest thing. I always hear this one.
S.J.
S.J.
MaxxVolume
Lunatic Member
Also, the midwest version of "insurance", which usually comes out something like "inn-shernce".
Don't even get me started!
"Less" instead of fewer -- less is for an undefined quantity, fewer is for a specific number. Baseball announcers always talk about "less than 100 pitches" and it should be "fewer than..." One of our local announcers always says "heighth," when it should be "height." And then there is the totally random use of apostrophes. Sigh.
"Less" instead of fewer -- less is for an undefined quantity, fewer is for a specific number. Baseball announcers always talk about "less than 100 pitches" and it should be "fewer than..." One of our local announcers always says "heighth," when it should be "height." And then there is the totally random use of apostrophes. Sigh.
You mean like when people insist on using apostrophe's on their plural's?
And how about the Gratuitous Use of Capital Letters on words where they aren't required? You know, like some famous Twitter users I could name?
toxcrusadr
Omelette au Fromage
Dahbeetis.
Also, people who call persons "that." As in "There is a lady at work that likes anchovies." People are WHO, objects are THAT.
Also, people who call persons "that." As in "There is a lady at work that likes anchovies." People are WHO, objects are THAT.
dyche01
"Buy high. Sell low"
Reminds me of a joke:
A pirate walks into a bar. He has the requisite eye patch, hook for a hand, and a peg leg. In addition, he has a large ships steering wheel embedded in his crotch. He hobbles up to the bar and orders a drink. The bartender gestures toward the steering wheel and says, "Wow, that must be painful."
The pirate responds, "Arrr, it's drivin' me nuts!"
<rimshot>
