I will say in advance that I do not pretend to perfect grammar. Still, there are idiosyncrasies of speech that sometimes irks me. A case in point is pronouncing white as wite. It is particularly annoying to me, to hear the White House called the Wite House.
Some years ago, one of the TV game shows, I think it was Jeopardy, had a category like: spelled differently, but sounds the same. Two of the words used were whine and wine. The person who made up the category may have pronounced whine as wine, but the pronunciation is not the same for the two words. Wine is wine; whine is ‘hwine.’
If someone were told to stop wining, I would think he/she was being told to quit drinking. If I heard them say, “Stop whining,” I would think they were trying to stop a fussy complaint. [Oh, am I whining here?] If you say wite for white, do you say wat/wot for what? What about which; do you say which, or witch? Do you say wen, for when? If you can say what, you can say white. Don’t take my word for it. Look up the pronunciation key in the dictionary for these WH words.
If we speak of our country’s official home for our president and family, past or present, let’s remember, that our presidents and their families, live in the WHITE HOUSE. We’ve probably all heard, at some point the phrase, "get the H out" of something. I want to put the H back in those WH words, where it belongs.
I couldn't agree more though the words bothering me are not the same. I cannot stand to hear thumb pronounced tum. Tum makes me think of tummy, which I see as childish. When someone pronounces "thumbnail" as "tumnail," it really bothers me. Also, leaving the h sound off of words that begin with h - such as hope - sounds really strange to me.
ReplyDeleteYour point is well made but I suspect that within a few years, no one will remember that there was a difference and that the pronunciation in the dictionary will be rewritten. Most people don't pay any attention to those subtleties any more. Many words are shortened and mispronounced intentionally because it takes less effort. Good grammar and correct pronunciation are actually an obstacle to be overcome when people use communication tools like twitter and texting. I'm afraid we have traded speedy, electronic "infomercials" for the robustness of a conversational dialogue that not only pronounces words correctly but selects words that give specificity and vividness to the thoughts and ideas being shared.
ReplyDeleteComments: Great. I like comments. I could certainly be irked by the things mentioned in Comment #1, and Comment #2 sounds as if there is an irk or two lurking there. I stongly suspect you're comment is on target.
ReplyDeleteI have to add V's and W's to my comment above. I've heard people switch these letters on words. Some say "You have on a nice 'west' today - meaning 'vest', and "I got good 'walue' for my money" - meaning "I got good 'value' for my money. I ignore it, but it sounds so strange to me.
ReplyDeleteI also agree completely with the second comment though I resent changes that move us downward in our English language skills. As things change, I will remember the differences (if I am still here and my brain still functions) and regret the slide into even more careless speech than we have today.