I talk a lot. It's something I've always done. I say what is on my mind and don't stop until there is nothing left to say. Sometimes, this gets me into trouble, and other times it helps me to clear the air and has alarming, and sometimes, hilarious results. As somebody who talks a lot, there is one thing I hate more than TXTSPK."Do you understand the words that are coming out of my mouth?" -- Carter
"What's that?" you ask incredulously.
Well, reader, that thing I loathe more than TXTSPK is mispronunciation of common words in a non-intentional way. Earlier today, while talking to somebody, who shall remain nameless for the sake of her shame, she uttered the word, "paradigm". However, she pronounced it phonetically, as if she had never heard the word spoken out loud. You know what, no, I was wrong. It isn't the mispronunciation that taps into a primal wellspring of ire. Instead, it is the response I get when I politely, and privately correct the mispronunciation.
Today, we talked after her mispronunciation, I just casually mentioned the proper pronunciation of the word, and things did not end up the way I intended. I guess you can't help but seem like a self-impressed cuntbag when you correct somebody, but I feel like I tried very hard to not be a cunt with it. I was very polite, and very private. I didn't bring it up around other people, and I was careful not to belittle her in any way. I would prefer it if I was corrected whenever I said something incorrectly. As a child, I always had the distinct encouragement to seek clarification whenever I encountered a word that I wasn't entirely certain of the pronunciation of.
Grammar, punctuation, these things I can forgive, but blatant ignorance of words that every high school senior should know is just plain lazy. If you have never heard a word spoken, I feel like you should look it up. Don't even get me started on people who can't comprehend the International Phonetic Alphabet. It's pretty effective at telling you how to pronounce those words that you can't understand. I'll even forgive using words incorrectly as long as you say them correctly. You know what, I'll even forgive pronouncing names incorrectly. As long as you speak the name phonetically, I will forgive it, but in return you need to pronounce every other word in the english language correctly. (I'll even forgive mispronunciations in foreign languages.)
So, question time: How do you correct somebody without sounding like a pretentious douche tool?
To be fair, a lot of early/advanced readers have this problem. When you read books as a child that have words the grown-ups don't use with you yet, you learn what they mean years before anyone let's you know that you have been pronouncing them wrong inside your brain! It's a very tough habit to break!
ReplyDeleteEpitome and subtle were my big ones, and I still find myself saying "sub-tull" more often than the correct way. It feels like I'm using slang if I say "suttle!" Luckily epitome was a bit easier to re-train and it no longer rhymes with "gnome" coming out of my mouth.
So, I would say "teehee, you must have been an early reader!" And explain why. That way you are calling them a gifted child instead of an idiot :D. Even if they are just the latter, they'll probably be all excited someone finally thought they weren't.
I love your posts, Josh! Keep it up!