Wednesday, February 10, 2010

This morning I heard a newsreader pronounce the word nuclear as 'nucular'. Why do they do that? If you can say 'clear' you can say 'nuclear'. Is it a fashion? Like the new pronunciation of good as 'gyid' or 'gyed'. What are these media types up to? Do they have bets on whether they can effect a change in the pronunciation of particular words?
Whoever bet that he or she could get broadcasters to pronounce 'to' as 'teh' won that bet. Now they are all going 'teh eat', 'teh Iraq', the annoying twats.
There is also a tendency for middle class types on the telly and radio to pronounce 'sort of' as 'sudduf' and 'kind of' as 'canna'. Why? We Hull proles have always said 'caanda' for 'kind of', but we didn't go to public schools. That's our dialect, our right, not an affectation. I don't know, maybe it's what they call 'Estuarian', the distorted imitation of prole-speak adopted by the trendy middle class.
Finally, 'Sco'lun' for Scotland; every weatherperson has adopted this version. Again it has always been our way to drop the T and say Sco'land, but that lot used to pronounce the T. What has changed?

7 comments:

fleming said...

"Actually I'm suggesting that your rulers act democratically within an allegedly democratic institution. Stop bullying, stop bribing, stop undermining. Of course I realise that that suggestion is straight out of LaLa Land. Israel is your friend, OK, keep watching your taxes go to sustain a moribund nation, and welcome its refugees when they apply for residence in the USA.
This is my final comment on this posting, flem. Reply if you must, I'm moving on. No doubt you'll be prepared to spring into action the next time I denounce capitalism."

Now Jemmy, you can better than this, I know it! The UN is not a democratic body in any sense. It seeks to be a governining body. But only with the authority of its charter. No country HAS to abide by it and many dont. No country is going to let a bunch of other countries "tell" it what to do. Perhaps you are familiar with IRAN?

So my taxes are going up because of what we send to Israel? Hardly, but good try. Our monies to Israel are a mere drop in the bucket, and practically nothing if you consider they turn around and spend most of it on arms purchases from US companies. A much bigger drag on our taxes is all these entitlement payments to the underclass. Now that is a reduction a spending I can get behind! LOL

So what, you believe without the US financial support Israel is overrun by arab hordes? Come on now.

The only reason the US has the extrordinary military and economic power it does is because it has a functioning (though not perfect) capitalist system that rewards successful risk takers and motivates others to achieve at their highest level. Gosh Jemmy its really that simple. Or maybe you think people dont need motivation, or that money or power or the chance of landing a better looking "life partner" doesnt motivate people? If so, you are back in LaLa land :)

Jemmy Hope said...

fleming, you are in danger of being labelled a monomaniac. This posting was about the pronunciation or mispronunciation of the English language. Leave it out, mate!
I'm not very knowledgeable about internet jargon, so I'm going to have to look up the word "troll" to see if the definition fits you.

fleming said...

OK, Ill stop Jemmy. But be real. In no way did I "hijack" this thread or take others away from the subject matter at hand. There were no others! :)

However in the interest of harmonious relations with the blog provider, and in recognition of the value of broader discussion topics, I shall refrain from bringing previous topics into new posts.

Jemmy Hope said...

Cheers, flem, and I'll try and have a go at capitalism and US foreign policy on a regular basis.
You've noticed - it's just you and me around here.

fleming said...

Indeed Jemmy, you may need to incorporate some modern "marketing tactics" to get your viewership comments up. Free food always works for me. Is that one of those narly capitalist things, or do socialists/anarchists dig free food too? And which one are you by the way? :)

Jemmy Hope said...

I'll just describe myself as a non-aligned socialist, flem. I've yet to find a political party that I trust, and I haven't found an anarchist 'organisation' that's any good at organising. The system's screwing me and my class, and I'm yelling 'rape' rather than lying back and pretending to enjoy it.
I prefer to keep my tiny niche in cyberspace free of crass commercialism; quaint idea I know, but old habits die hard.

fleming said...

Its your blog, Jemmy, so its your call on whether "crass commercialization" is the way to go or not.

Its not that I dont see your point completely. Just that, often in life, reality intrudes. For example, with my business. I get paid for my advice. I am well educated, experienced and spent countless hours staying up on the latest happenings.

Plenty of times people have pumped me for info and then not hired me. This isnt outright theft, but it sure feels like it. So I have no choice but to engage in "commercialization" -- if I am going to pay my bills and contribute to society.

Such is the reality of life, in my experience, Jemmy.