Degredation of society & speech
I've long suspected (and in some regards known) that everything in this society has been slowly falling apart. Ya ever start to wonder if someone's pronouncing something ... wonky? Oh I know, everyone does it from time to time. I mean in a setting where it would be spreadable. Like a virus or something. Where someone in some position to be overheard by lots of people would hear this mispronounciation or whatever, and come to accept it as correct. Somewhere that it could easily be viewed as the proper way to do things, even though it really ISN'T. That sort of thing. I suppose it all goes back to that whole thing about potatoes.... is it 'potato' or 'potatoe'? Sigh. Does it bloody matter?!? If it hadn't been pointed out that the majority of us spell it w/o an e, would the rest of us (and the next generation) have even realized there was anything the least bit wonky about it? If it hadn't been a slow-news-day where news journalists were scrambling for something to talk about, would it have ever come up?
Don't go answering so quickly. Misspellings and mispronounciations have been going on all around us by athoritative persons for ages now! How do you think the English language got so messed up in the first place? And these days, the British speak so differently from the Americans that it could almost be two different languages! Americaneese and Britlish! I haven't really settled on Americaneese as a good term for it, but I rather like the ring of 'Britlish'. =) Anyway, on occasion, I've heard commercials on the radio (or half heard them when I'm not really listening) where I've thought to myself, 'that word just doesn't sound quite right!' Haven't you? I've never quite been sure, as they're usually words that I don't hear too often, or don't get used much, or I wasn't paying much attention or whatever... so I'm usually not quite sure. But personally, I would have thought that if you're being paid professionally to speak in a radio advertisment, that you would at least be capable of pronouncing the word correctly. So there's always been this niggling thought in the back of my head when I believed it was mispronounced. That maybe I was the one who was wrong, that it was my vocabulary with the mispronouncement, not the announcer. I mean... that person got PAID to say that word that way... surely it's correct...
Today, I heard an advertisement twice on the radio. I don't remember which car it was for because my mind stopped listening to the details of the offer and the car when I heard the announcer/speaker pronounce the word lessee.
...
...
There I go again. This is why I just don't understand this thing called 'reality'
In looking up the correct spelling for the word, I tried Merriam-Webster's online dictionary because I knew they would have not only a pronounciation guide, but a pop-up-window (w/o needing an account) wherein you could actually hear the word being pronounced.
What I don't understand, is why a form of 'lease' is pronounced so completely different from it's base word. Shouldn't lessee be pronounced more like leasee? For that matter, why did the spelling change so much? All my life I've heard legaleese and it's always been pronounced more like leas-ee than less-ee. When did it change? Why do online dictionaries agree with it? I'd mentioned it to my dad he seemed to think that it was because the announcer (who didn't have an accent) had learned to speak properly in England (there's that Britlish again!) He thinks that's how they pronounce it in England. This would explain a lot. But... usually dictionaries mention things like different pronounciations, and this entry didn't. I don't want to learn to speak Britlish. Britlish is hard to understand. Guess I'll have to stop using phrases like 'bloody'. And I did so like the term! It's just not fair! (or should that be faire?)
Forget it, I hate the English language, grammer and spelling just as much as I hate Accounting or Networking. None of those work consistently or do what you expect them to. And just when you think you've got the exceptions down and the screwed up rules figgured out, they switch on you & you're lost all over again. I've literally seen networking setups that are correct and *should* be working, but aren't... then for no apparent reason at some later time once everyone that was working on them has given up on the project, it will suddenly work correctly. I've never been able to explain it, I've never met anyone who could. I don't have a cert for most computer things, but then, I tend to know better what I'm doing with a computer than most of the people I've met who do have those certs. Tell me why, I as a non-certified computer tech, am asked how to do things by those with those certifications. I give up. I've heard people pronounce words one way for years, then suddenly as if overnight, they start pronouncing them differently, and no one seems to have noticed the change. Wake me up when I've finished paying off my current car, and it's time for me to 'lesse' or buy my next car.
Don't go answering so quickly. Misspellings and mispronounciations have been going on all around us by athoritative persons for ages now! How do you think the English language got so messed up in the first place? And these days, the British speak so differently from the Americans that it could almost be two different languages! Americaneese and Britlish! I haven't really settled on Americaneese as a good term for it, but I rather like the ring of 'Britlish'. =) Anyway, on occasion, I've heard commercials on the radio (or half heard them when I'm not really listening) where I've thought to myself, 'that word just doesn't sound quite right!' Haven't you? I've never quite been sure, as they're usually words that I don't hear too often, or don't get used much, or I wasn't paying much attention or whatever... so I'm usually not quite sure. But personally, I would have thought that if you're being paid professionally to speak in a radio advertisment, that you would at least be capable of pronouncing the word correctly. So there's always been this niggling thought in the back of my head when I believed it was mispronounced. That maybe I was the one who was wrong, that it was my vocabulary with the mispronouncement, not the announcer. I mean... that person got PAID to say that word that way... surely it's correct...
Today, I heard an advertisement twice on the radio. I don't remember which car it was for because my mind stopped listening to the details of the offer and the car when I heard the announcer/speaker pronounce the word lessee.
...
...
There I go again. This is why I just don't understand this thing called 'reality'
In looking up the correct spelling for the word, I tried Merriam-Webster's online dictionary because I knew they would have not only a pronounciation guide, but a pop-up-window (w/o needing an account) wherein you could actually hear the word being pronounced.
What I don't understand, is why a form of 'lease' is pronounced so completely different from it's base word. Shouldn't lessee be pronounced more like leasee? For that matter, why did the spelling change so much? All my life I've heard legaleese and it's always been pronounced more like leas-ee than less-ee. When did it change? Why do online dictionaries agree with it? I'd mentioned it to my dad he seemed to think that it was because the announcer (who didn't have an accent) had learned to speak properly in England (there's that Britlish again!) He thinks that's how they pronounce it in England. This would explain a lot. But... usually dictionaries mention things like different pronounciations, and this entry didn't. I don't want to learn to speak Britlish. Britlish is hard to understand. Guess I'll have to stop using phrases like 'bloody'. And I did so like the term! It's just not fair! (or should that be faire?)
Forget it, I hate the English language, grammer and spelling just as much as I hate Accounting or Networking. None of those work consistently or do what you expect them to. And just when you think you've got the exceptions down and the screwed up rules figgured out, they switch on you & you're lost all over again. I've literally seen networking setups that are correct and *should* be working, but aren't... then for no apparent reason at some later time once everyone that was working on them has given up on the project, it will suddenly work correctly. I've never been able to explain it, I've never met anyone who could. I don't have a cert for most computer things, but then, I tend to know better what I'm doing with a computer than most of the people I've met who do have those certs. Tell me why, I as a non-certified computer tech, am asked how to do things by those with those certifications. I give up. I've heard people pronounce words one way for years, then suddenly as if overnight, they start pronouncing them differently, and no one seems to have noticed the change. Wake me up when I've finished paying off my current car, and it's time for me to 'lesse' or buy my next car.