English pronunciation

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  • gordijigordiji Frets: 782
    I seem to be the only person left who pronounces ‘H’ as ‘aitch’.

    It’s appalling how far standards have fallen....

    Your not alone. I still like whither, thither & whence :o
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  • ESBlondeESBlonde Frets: 3576
    There seems to be a trend or desire to adopt new language and appear "with it" as we used to say. The adoption of jamaican street slang or americanisms like "needs gone" or "needs fixed" which irritate me every time. I know my generation also had their hippy language that was groovy and right on man, 
    Is this just a case of old man shouts at cloud?
    Europe ( including the UK geographicly) is changing, in 75 years the white ancestral people will be predominantly old and irrelevant while the second generation immigrants will fuel the economy and language will be hard to recognise. We couldn't understand English of 5 centuries ago, things are just changing faster because of  electronic communication.
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  • HAL9000HAL9000 Frets: 9551
    edited August 2020
    Showing my age here but when I was, I'd guess, maybe nine or ten my parents took me up to London to see The Black and White Minstrel Show (I'm embarrassed about this now but hey it wasn't my choice). Outside the theatre was a sign saying 'Black and White Minstrel Show - Pronounced Success'. As a youngster I honestly believed that this was a lesson on pronunciation.
    I play guitar because I enjoy it rather than because I’m any good at it
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  • scrumhalfscrumhalf Frets: 11262
    gordiji said:

    Your not alone. I still like whither, thither & whence :o

    And pray what is wrong with hither?
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  • HAL9000HAL9000 Frets: 9551
    scrumhalf said:
    gordiji said:

    Your not alone. I still like whither, thither & whence :o

    And pray what is wrong with hither?
    Do you still wend your way to the local hostelry to quaff ale?
    I play guitar because I enjoy it rather than because I’m any good at it
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  • Philly_QPhilly_Q Frets: 22516
    HAL9000 said:
    Showing my age here but when I was, I'd guess, maybe nine or ten, my parents took me up to London to see The Black and White Minstrel Show (I'm embarrassed about this now but hey it wasn't my choice). Outside the theatre was a sign saying 'Black and White Minstrel Show - Pronounced Success'. As a youngster I honestly believed that this was a lesson on pronunciation.
    Off topic, but I remember when I read Peter Pan there was a bit that said "if you read between the lines".  For some time after I thought reading between the lines of any printed matter was an actual technique which I was unable to master, no matter how much I screwed up my eyes.
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  • tony99tony99 Frets: 7076
    always worth bearing in mind in these discussions that there really isn't a correct English as such, just multiple varieties

    we don't have royal academies such as french or spanish that determine proper usage, even Queen's English or received pronunciation is just another variety


    Bollocks you don't know Bono !!
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  • HattigolHattigol Frets: 8176
    tony99 said:
    always worth bearing in mind in these discussions that there really isn't a correct English as such, just multiple varieties

    we don't have royal academies such as french or spanish that determine proper usage, even Queen's English or received pronunciation is just another variety


    True but I'm fairly sure that all varieties tend to capitalise the beginning of sentences and conclude them with a full stop?
    "Anybody can play. The note is only 20%. The attitude of the motherf*cker who plays it is  80%" - Miles Davis
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  • chillidoggychillidoggy Frets: 17136
    HAL9000 said:
    scrumhalf said:
    gordiji said:

    Your not alone. I still like whither, thither & whence :o

    And pray what is wrong with hither?
    Do you still wend your way to the local hostelry to quaff ale?
    Not these days, old chap. Haven’t you heard, there’s a bit of a flap on.


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  • merlinmerlin Frets: 6598
    edited August 2020
    The term "awesome" to describe pizza or a song (or a guitar) really drives me up the wall.

    Another thing that disturbs me is "no problem" when I thank someone. Why suggest that there's a problem in the first place?

    Worse still, "I'll just double check". Please just check once, or better still, just go and have a look. 
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  • merlin said:
    The term "awesome" to describe pizza or a song (or a guitar) really drives me up to wall.

    Another thing that disturbs me is "no problem" when I thank someone. Why suggest that there's a problem in the first place?

    Worse still, "I'll just double check". Please just check once, or better still, just go and have a look. 
    Awesome is way overused these days. As a result, when something is genuinely awesome I'm hesitant to use it.

    There are a few phrases & words that grill my goat, but on the whole I try not to let that stuff worry me too much: the whole English language is a melting pot of other languages & dialects, and the only constant in life is change. I'm 100% certain that most (if not all) of us are using words daily now that no-one had even heard when we were kids.

    Knowing how to use words properly is great though: my friend who was the bass player in my last band used to hate with a passion most of the metalcore bands we tended to end up gigging with; he would quite often tell them after their set that they were 'amazing', which they always took as a compliment :lol:
    Too much gain... is just about enough \m/

    I'm probably the only member of this forum mentioned by name in Whiskey in the Jar ;)

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  • merlinmerlin Frets: 6598
    Awesome is way overused these days. As a result, when something is genuinely awesome I'm hesitant to use it.

    There are a few phrases & words that grill my goat, but on the whole I try not to let that stuff worry me too much: the whole English language is a melting pot of other languages & dialects, and the only constant in life is change. I'm 100% certain that most (if not all) of us are using words daily now that no-one had even heard when we were kids.

    Knowing how to use words properly is great though: my friend who was the bass player in my last band used to hate with a passion most of the metalcore bands we tended to end up gigging with; he would quite often tell them after their set that they were 'amazing', which they always took as a compliment :lol:
    I agree that it appears as a "melting pot", but I think that it's due to laziness and people's inability to need or understand specific meanings. 

    It's the same thing as the loss of melody in music. There is so little melody in popular culture and young people don't seem to need/want it anymore. Commercial music is like commercial "speak".  
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  • DLMDLM Frets: 2513
    merlin said:
    The term "awesome" to describe pizza or a song (or a guitar) really drives me up the wall.
    @merlin meet the truly awesome @thomasross20 :heart:

    ;)

    Wor Tiggs might still overuse the word, but he really is. :love:
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  • prowlaprowla Frets: 4896
    People who silentify H's incorrectly get on my wick!

    "An 'isroric" - no; it's "a historic"!
    "An 'otel" - no; it's "a hotel"!

    Heir, heirloom, honour, honest, hour.

    The pronunciation of the letter itself as "an aitch" or "a haitch" seems to be less clearly defined.
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  • prowlaprowla Frets: 4896
    merlin said:
    The term "awesome" to describe pizza or a song (or a guitar) really drives me up the wall.

    Another thing that disturbs me is "no problem" when I thank someone. Why suggest that there's a problem in the first place?

    Worse still, "I'll just double check". Please just check once, or better still, just go and have a look. 

    I once had a conversation with someone who kept saying "No problem at all", but I'd never suggested there was one in the first place!

    I do sometimes say "I'll double-check", when I have checked something, but then do a further check to make sure...
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  • prowlaprowla Frets: 4896
    boogieman said:
    Hattigol said:
    Not so much pronunciation as grammar but my biggest peeve is kids starting every other sentence with a completely unnecessary 'Wait...'

    Inherited from garbage American kids' TV programmes. 

    Awful.
    Wis. Also “so” to start every sentence. Drives me nuts. 

    My wife pointed out that Kirsten, the ceramics lady in The Repair Shop, says “actually” all the time. It’s probably just a vocal tic, but once you notice it’s impossible to un-hear. 

    Anyway, whatever...
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  • vizviz Frets: 10647
    edited August 2020
    (I can’t help feeling secretly pleased that my innocent thread on the varied pronunciation of ough has been appropriated for a pedantic rant about misuse of the English language.)
    Roland said: Scales are primarily a tool for categorising knowledge, not a rule for what can or cannot be played.
    Supportact said: [my style is] probably more an accumulation of limitations and bad habits than a 'style'.
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  • HattigolHattigol Frets: 8176
    boogieman said:
    Hattigol said:
    Not so much pronunciation as grammar but my biggest peeve is kids starting every other sentence with a completely unnecessary 'Wait...'

    Inherited from garbage American kids' TV programmes. 

    Awful.
    Wis. Also “so” to start every sentence. Drives me nuts. 

    My wife pointed out that Kirsten, the ceramics lady in The Repair Shop, says “actually” all the time. It’s probably just a vocal tic, but once you notice it’s impossible to un-hear. 
    In another 'you won't now be able to unhear this', the lady who does the medical briefings with BoJo starts every  and I mean EVERY, passage of speech with the word 'so'.
    "Anybody can play. The note is only 20%. The attitude of the motherf*cker who plays it is  80%" - Miles Davis
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  • LastMantraLastMantra Frets: 3822
    viz said:
    (I can’t help feeling secretly pleased that my innocent thread on the varied pronunciation of ough has been appropriated for a pedantic rant about misuse of the English language.) 
    It's, like, literally awesome dude.
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  • tony99tony99 Frets: 7076
    how do you say bath?

    do you say it "bath" like the vowel in "rat", or "bath" like the vowel in "car"?

    and which is correct?
    Bollocks you don't know Bono !!
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