Unlearning? Mis-relearning?

[bironic]

It never occurred to me that the word "nuclear" could be mispronounced until I heard people say "nucular." Since then, I've had to pause to make sure I'm about to say it right.

Similarly, I never had trouble with "prefrontal cortex" until I watched the SGA episode where Sheppard mangled it as "prefrontral cortrex." Now, as I keep coming across the phrase in readings, I stumble over it in my head, adding and subtracting "r"s. What the hell.

Does anyone else have this problem?

Comments

[purridot.livejournal.com]

I mispronounce grisly all the time! (I want to say "gr-EYES-ly" instead of "grizzly"). I also used to pronounce maniacal "may-ni-ACK-al" until a prof corrected me ;-)

And I still have trouble with scintillating -- I want to say it with hard "c" (thanks to Latin).

English is hard :-(

[bironic.livejournal.com]

:) I used to say mis-CHEE-vee-ous, and I'm pretty sure I shared your guess on maniacal for a while. (It makes *sense* that way!)

But have you ever learned a word the "right" way and then heard the "wrong" way and started getting confused?

[purridot.livejournal.com]

I'm confused all the time, mostly.

It is annoying sometimes to mispronounce Classical names just because "that's the way we say them" rather than how they are really pronounced (e.g. Alcibiades, Caesar, etc.)

[bironic.livejournal.com]

And Latin is usually so promising, with letters that sound like they should.

(Which syllable gets the stress in Alcibiades the Latin way, anyway?)

[purridot.livejournal.com]

Emphasis should be on the second "a", and a hard "c" (since it is a kappa)

[bironic.livejournal.com]

*facepalm* And by Latin I meant Greek.

Neat.

[purridot.livejournal.com]

I know you did!!!

[bironic.livejournal.com]

I didn't realize, even with the "-es" and everything, until you said "kappa." D'oh! Hindsight is 20/20. Unless you're tonight's House patient.

[daasgrrl.livejournal.com]

Ha. Not quite the same thing, but I have acquired the definite tendency to say 'math', and have to monitor myself accordingly XD

(I've just noticed my icon is even called "math". D'oh!)

[bironic.livejournal.com]

And the U.S. once again embraces the "lower class" version. :D Who needs that extraneous "s," anyway?

[elynittria.livejournal.com]

Yes! Both in speech and in writing, I'm influenced by what I've heard or seen most frequently. For example, I've started pronouncing "been" like a Canadian ("bean") rather than a Philadelphian ("bin") as a result of too much SGA. And I always have to look carefully at "its" and "it's" to make sure I have them correct in my own written correspondence because I've just seen them used incorrectly way too many times elsewhere.

Edited to fix typo. *facepalm*

[bironic.livejournal.com]

The stupid, it's contagious!

I wonder if frequency of use relates to nuclear/nucular and prefrontal/prefrontral, too -- since they don't come up that often (er, although that may be changing), you don't get to reaffirm them over and over in your head.

p.s. A professor was telling us the other day about how a story of his got lifted wholesale into someone's textbook and he didn't know until the publisher called him to ask if they could make a change for their third edition. Reminded me of your recent thing.

[pwcorgigirl.livejournal.com]

Could living in Boston, the land the mangled 'r,' be aggravating this condition in any way?

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Hmmmmm. :) No, fortunately, the accent is not too present on campus.

[euclase.livejournal.com]

No, but my malapropisms are alive and well. And contagious. ;)

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Look out! :)

I think it is a sign of how interconnected/unconventionally connected your artistic brain is.

[kabal42.livejournal.com]

I never though that "epitome" could be pronounced wrong until someone told me they had thought it was "Epi-tome" (if that makes sense?). Now I get it wrong half the time *headdesk* It's so embarrassing.
I also can't pronounce schedule because of someone making fun of it on a show once. I almost consistently say "skedule" instead. Argh.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

*g* You, however, have the excuse of English being your thousandth language. Which you speak better than many native speakers do.

[kabal42.livejournal.com]

Well... It's still bloody annoying! :-) But thank you *blushes*

[takes-a-fairy.livejournal.com]

*snorfles*

It's pretty common for many people to get the wrong em-PHASIS on the wrong sy-LAB-le. I'm fairly well read and still manage to do it, too.

For example:
Ur A' nus is actually UR' anus. Both just sound bad, heh!
Yes, I used to read that word epitome as epi-TOME until I heard it aloud, too.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

I think Uranus is pronounced that way only because people laughed too much otherwise.

[takes-a-fairy.livejournal.com]

LOL! Ur prolly right! =D

After thinking about it, I discovered that I mostly do that with names of products and businesses.

Like Mc A' fee rather than MAC' a fee (the anti-virus software brand)

[ignazwisdom.livejournal.com]

Always. Always, always, always. It's worse with spelling, though.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

As long as it's not "potatoe," we can still be friends.

Okay, we can be friends even if you spell it "potatoe."

[ignazwisdom.livejournal.com]

I don't usually do "potatoe." I have, though, had to stop myself and ask if "ludicrous" isn't possibly spelled "ludacris," or "ridiculous" "rediculous," etc.

Fuck people who can't spell or pronounce shit.

[bironic.livejournal.com]

:D

If you were into Harry Potter, you would also have Riddikulus (or is it Ridikkulus?) to contend with. Gah.