Pronunciation that makes you cringe

[Legs]

David Millar's pronunciation of 'travails' on last night's TdF rest day program. 

[Ben T]

Chris Evans on radio 2 completely omits a syllable from certain words, e.g. 'balloon', which he says as 'bloon'.   

[T42]

French commentators leave out half of "Kwiatkowski" - something like "Katofski".

We used to have an underboss called Kwiatkowski: we called him Kiwi.

[Andrij]

French commentators leave out half of "Kwiatkowski" - something like "Katofski".

We used to have an underboss called Kwiatkowski: we called him Kiwi.

That surname is three syllables - Kwiat-kow-ski - not, as British commentators tend to say Kwi-at-kow-ski.  And pronounce the 'w' as 'v'.

[T42]

French commentators leave out half of "Kwiatkowski" - something like "Katofski".

We used to have an underboss called Kwiatkowski: we called him Kiwi.

That surname is three syllables - Kwiat-kow-ski - not, as British commentators tend to say Kwi-at-kow-ski.  And pronounce the 'w' as 'v'.

The Germans made four of it as well, but Kiwi was German and did it too.

Then there's Castroviejo, that the French commentators pronounce Castroviero because French, like English, doesn't have a voiceless velar fricative and usually substitutes an R instead.

[Torslanda]

That's easy for you to say.

[T42]

When I was a kid there was often an ad in the paper that said "Say Noilly Prat and your French is perfect".

Imagine being in the pub: "Can I have an oily prat, please?"

[Pingu]

New-car-sul
Glars-go


I bet most southerners cringe when they pronounce Glastonbury.

I hope you won't mind if I stick with
"Paris"
Instead of "Par-ee"

(At least while I'm in the UK)
:-P

Us trying to explain to our French hosts that we were going to Rheims 

Mrs P's pronunciation was approved on this year's visit 

[Cudzoziemiec]

De Sisti's comment about Glastonbury is puzzling.

[Ham]

New-car-sul
Glars-go


I bet most southerners cringe when they pronounce Glastonbury.

I hope you won't mind if I stick with
"Paris"
Instead of "Par-ee"

(At least while I'm in the UK)
:-P

Us trying to explain to our French hosts that we were going to Rheims 

Mrs P's pronunciation was approved on this year's visit 

Are you certain she was't just clearing her throat in preparation for an attempt at Rheims?

[Pedaldog.]

In a Buk!  "I would of had to go too the office again... "

[T42]

New-car-sul
Glars-go


I bet most southerners cringe when they pronounce Glastonbury.

I hope you won't mind if I stick with
"Paris"
Instead of "Par-ee"

(At least while I'm in the UK)
:-P

Us trying to explain to our French hosts that we were going to Rheims 

Mrs P's pronunciation was approved on this year's visit 

Are you certain she was't just clearing her throat in preparation for an attempt at Rheims?

Just say rancid without the id.

[Basil]

Slightly amused that Ritula Shah seems to refer to the 'gilets jeunes'. 

If she means gilet jaunes, then this is the correct thread.
If she means jeunes gilets, then this should be in the grammar thread.

Ok. I'll get my dressing gown.

[T42]

IIRC one of Lawrence Durrell's characters referred to eastern ladies of doubtful reputation as jaunes filles.

[hellymedic]

I'm spending too long listening to Classic fm.

I wish Bach was not pronounced by some to rhyme with 'Lark'.

[Basil]

Woof woof.

[Paul]

Placate with a soft c. Not cringe, just curious.
Anyone else come across this?

[hellymedic]

Was the perpetrator Russian?

[Paul]

He was moving quickly now you mention it.

Sorry.

No, very English. I wondered if he’d learned it from reading it rather than hearing it . He seemed genuinely surprised when I told him it was a hard c, so much so that I thought I’d check here.

[FifeingEejit]

Then there's Castroviejo, that the French commentators pronounce Castroviero because French, like English, doesn't have a voiceless velar fricative and usually substitutes an R instead.

I just looked that up, is Standard English the only Germanic derived language not to have it?

I'm spending too long listening to Classic fm.

I wish Bach was not pronounced by some to rhyme with 'Lark'.

I'm sure I've heard it pronounced correctly in the mornings.


A bigger challenge would be to expect Van Gogh to be pronounced correctly...


or maybe even just Mallaig...

[hellymedic]

They aren't ALL guilty.
Presenters' proficiency with foreign tongues is very variable.
Some are cringeworthy, others are rather good.

[T42]

Hum. Someone from the Beeb's pronunciation unit once said in an interview that if newsreaders had pronounced Khrushchev properly nobody would have recognized it.

I watched a 90s documentary about submarines the other day. The 1990s Americans all said SUBmaREENers and the Brits subMARiners; however, the Americans in a 1950s clip they included said subMARiners.

I wonder if somebody important mispronounced submariner and nobody dared correct him, so the new version stuck.  I once read that the Thames rhymed with flames until George I got hold of it.

[citoyen]

Hum. Someone from the Beeb's pronunciation unit once said in an interview that if newsreaders had pronounced Khrushchev properly nobody would have recognized it.

Murray Walker offered the same excuse when picked up on his pronunciation of Ayrton Senna by the man himself - ie it's not that he didn't know the correct pronunciation, just that the viewing audience would have balked at it.

[FifeingEejit]

They aren't ALL guilty.
Presenters' proficiency with foreign tongues is very variable.
Some are cringeworthy, others are rather good.

I saw the billboard poster for them today, Bach to Bach, it might work in England, but in Scotland where its more common to pronounce a /x/ in when it should be a /k/...

Sent from my BKL-L09 using Tapatalk

[Pingu]

It's time to go Bach to basics.