More Ear-itating Word Abuse
|
|
Although Arnold Schwarzenegger's star has faded, the erstwhile weight lifter-actor-governor hasn't quite left the building. Recently, a phonics teacher e-mailed her exasperation with broadcasters who mispronounce the first syllable in "Schwarzenegger," saying "swartz" instead of "shwartz." "There IS a difference!" she said. "It's gotten to the point that it's like nails on a chalkboard when I hear it."
As for me, I've heard it "swartz," "shwartz," "shvartz," and even "shvozz." I've heard it three, four, and five syllables. The man's name is a minefield—I wonder if anyone except him says it right. This may be the rare occasion when I have some compassion for announcers . . .
Or maybe not. Shouldn't you broadcasters make it your business to know how to pronounce a name—I mean, isn't that your job? What else do we ask you to do besides saying the words right? OK, "Schwarzenegger" is one thing, but how about a common American name of six letters: To most people, former Vice President Dick Cheney is "CHAY-nee." But in the early days of the George W. Bush administration, Cheney's wife announced that the proper pronunciation of the family name was "CHEE-nee." No one paid attention. Now, all these years later, the only broadcaster who's careful to say "CHEE-nee" is MSNBC's Chris Matthews.
No one butchers names like sportscasters: Back in the 1960s, the Chicago White Sox baseball team acquired a pitcher named Johnny Buzhardt. Then a strange thing happened: Up till then, his name had always been pronounced "BUZZ-hart," but when the Sox got him, their great announcer Bob Elson started calling him "Buh-ZARD." The pitcher's wife only added to the confusion when in an on-air interview she quipped, "I'm Mrs. Buh-ZARD, wife of Johnny BUZZ-hart."
Let's go to some more misbegotten ear-torturers:
Short-lived This is not the lived of "She lived well." The i is long, as it is in "live entertainment."
Integral Why do so many people say "in-tra-gul" despite the spelling? It's "in-ta-grul."
February See that r after the b? You do? Apparently we're in the minority. Every year in late winter, I wince to turn on the radio or TV and hear "Feb-yoo-ary" (or "Febber-ary"). Is "Feb-roo-ary" really so hard?
Controversial Four syllables, not five. Say "con-tra-VER-shul," not "con-tra-ver-see-ul."
Et cetera (etc.) Pronounced "ick-settera" by high-paid communicators who mysteriously think et is pronounced "ick."
Dour The correct pronunciation is "doo-er."
Schism Two things about this word: you rarely hear it, and when you do, it's wrong: don't say "skizzum," say "sizzum."
Heinous, grievous, mischievous First, please note there's no i before the o in these words. Why, then, have I heard seasoned professionals say "hee-nee-us"? It's "hay-nus." Similarly, "grievous" is a two-syllable word: "GREE-vus." The most tortured is the third one, which so many mindlessly pronounce "mis-CHEE-vee-us." Make that "MIS-cha-vus."
This classic grammar tip by our late copy editor and word nerd Tom Stern was first published on August 4, 2013.
|
View and comment on this
article on our website.
|
|
Free BONUS Quiz for You!
[[firstname]], because you are a subscriber to the newsletter, you get access to one of the Subscribers-Only Quizzes. Click here to take a Pronouns Quiz and get your scores and explanations instantly!
We will be adding many more quizzes this year to our already substantial list of quizzes. If you have suggestions for topics we have not yet covered, please send us a message at help@grammarbook.com.
|
Hundreds of Additional Quizzes
at Your Fingertips
Subscribe now to receive hundreds of additional English usage quizzes not found anywhere else!
Teachers and Employers
Save hours of valuable time! You may assign quizzes to your students and employees and have their scores tallied, organized, and reported to you! Let GrammarBook.com take the hassle out of teaching English!
"Fun to test my skills."
"The explanations really help ... thanks!"
"I can select the quizzes to assign to my students, and then the results are reported to me automatically!"
|
|
Don't need all the quizzes?
You can now purchase the same quizzes individually for ONLY 99¢ each.
Purchase yours here. |
If you think you have found an error in a quiz, please email us at help@grammarbook.com
|
 |
The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation
by Jane Straus, Lester Kaufman, and Tom Stern |
The Authority on English Grammar! Eleventh Edition Now Available
An indispensable tool for busy professionals, teachers, students, homeschool families, editors, writers, and proofreaders.
Available in print AND as an e-Book! Over 2,000 copies are purchased every month!
The publisher of The Blue Book, Jossey-Bass, A Wiley brand, is offering a 35 percent discount for those of you who order the book through Wiley.com. Shipping and tax are not included. Simply go to bit.ly/1996hkA and use discount code E9X4A.
Offer expires December 31, 2020.
|
Wordplay
|
 |
English In A Snap:
68 One-Minute English Usage Videos FREE |
Learn all about who and whom, affect and effect, subjects and verbs, adjectives and adverbs, commas, semicolons, quotation marks, and much more by just sitting back and enjoying these easy-to-follow lessons. Tell your colleagues (and boss), children, teachers, and friends. Click here to watch.
|
|
