Phrases, Words and Mispronunciations That Bother You

[Jaylotw]

Western Pennsylvania/Pittsburg slang tends to hurts my ears:
Yinz
Jagoff

My dad’s father was from that area, and he had the Yinz pretty bad. Another thing I’ve noticed from Pittsburg lingo is “Couple-two-three.” As in, “I saw a couple-two-three guys out ice fishin.” My boss is a Western PA guy and he says it all the time. Also, names of stores etc. get a possessive “s.” Like, “I went to NAPA’s to get a wheel bearing” or “Are yinzez going to Sheetz’s? Get me some beers.”

Another curiosity of local language I’ve noticed in some of the more remote places: how road names are conveyed. It’s not Thunder Lake Road, it’s THE Thunder Lake Road. It’s not Wilson Rd, but THE Wilson Road.

 

[jpmcwjr]

An idiom used so frequently here that I see some foreign language members using it:

"I'm loving me some Mixture 69." The "me" is wrong grammatically, but who cares?

 

[jaytex1969]

While in the army, I once had an old battalion Sergeant Major who would always proclaim how he "loved to see his men soldiering!"

Soon after, we became aware that one definition of "soldier" (as a verb) is to "make a false pretense of work to avoid punishment".

From that time on, we emphatically concurred with the old dog that, yes, we WERE soldiering.


Merriam Webster has a similar entry:

 

[mawnansmiff]

One other word that Americans often get wrong is confusing the word 'ensure' with the word 'insure'.

I have even seen 1930's magazine adverts for Waltham (or was it Hamilton?) pocket watches stating to the effect of "To insure you arrive on time buy a Waltham pocket watch" .

Regards,

Jay. ?

 

[olkofri]

One other word that Americans often get wrong is confusing the word 'ensure' with the word 'insure'.

They also misspell 'enquire/enquiry'.

Inquire??

 

[jpmcwjr]

What, there are no uneducated folks in the UK or Canada??

 

[olkofri]

What, there are no uneducated folks in the UK or Canada??

Plenty: they're called 'university graduates'.

 

[frozenchurchwarden]

We grew up with words like "houtdo" and "agin"

You can hear slang like that creeping into common language all the time.
The word "To" is almost never pronounced anymore.
Pretty soon they'll be teaching kids to say "Ta" in school.

 

[frozenchurchwarden]

We no longer say I am gruntled (content). Disgruntled is the only commonly used term. Check those old dictionaries. Interesting.

My iPad spellchecker and dictionary includes "Gruntled" as a proper word.
In my entire life I have never heard it used that way.

 

[mawnansmiff]

"What, there are no uneducated folks in the UK or Canada??"

Of course there are, I even offered examples above where us Brits made errors.

Another example is a (currently barred) British TV journalist called Beth Rigby who always omits the letter 'G' from the ends of words such as in.....

"I went to 10 Downin Street hopin to speak to......"

Regards,

Jay.

 

[sumusfumus]

liberry for library
and Valentimes..

Lemme ax you a question...

"Conversate"....... When I hear this.....my blood pressure reaches stroke levels!

 

[sumusfumus]

You can hear slang like that creeping into common language all the time.
The word "To" is almost never pronounced anymore.
Pretty soon they'll be teaching kids to say "Ta" in school.

Ebonics......"Where you at"?

Idiots, matter.

 

[sumusfumus]

After the aggravating, disappointing, and frightening events over the last year(s).... smiling, doesn't come easy, for me. But reading through all these postings, worked. "Ya hear what I'm sayin' "?

 

[carlomarx]

"Begging the question" or "begs the question" instead of " that raises the question"

 

[jpmcwjr]

"What, there are no uneducated folks in the UK or Canada??"

Of course there are, I even offered examples above where us Brits made errors.

Another example is a (currently barred) British TV journalist called Beth Rigby who always omits the letter 'G' from the ends of words such as in.....

"I went to 10 Downin Street hopin to speak to......"

Regards,

Jay.

Oh, very U!

Just like Bertie Wooster!

 

[mawnansmiff]

"Just like Bertie Wooster!"

Nah, I don't have a personal butler or 'gentleman's gentleman' ?

Regards,

Jay.?

 

[Misanthrope]

Misusing “I” to sound “proper” in cases when “me” is correct.

That one winds me up whenever someone on TV does it.

 

[kola]

An idiom used so frequently here that I see some foreign language members using it:

"I'm loving me some Mixture 69." The "me" is wrong grammatically, but who cares?

yeah and there's "I be."

"I be getting me some beer tonight."

You can also throw in the "like" thing too. "I be like getting me some beer tonight."

 

[kola]

I knew it was all over years ago when the toy store "Toys R Us" came about. And they even took the R and flipped it backwards. Now it's cool and acceptable to spell things wrong. It seems to be more of a USA thing too, but I could be wrong.

 

[captainsousie]

yeah and there's "I be."

"I be getting me some beer tonight."

You can also throw in the "like" thing too. "I be like getting me some beer tonight."

If you had thrown in "literally" you would have completed the trifecta. ?