Why the global elite gave up on spelling and grammar

Post by glitchc » Wed, Mar 11, 2026, 7:37 PM UTC

nayuki wrote: post #168

FpUser wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here in Toronto area city of Vaughan pronounced as (/vɔːn/ or /vɑːn/) like in "dawn" or "gone" Imaging me fresh from USSR asking someone how do I get to ... and getting blank stare

There are a handful of neighborhood and street names used in Toronto (not necessarily from Toronto) that have unusual pronunciations. Here I'll give some triples of (English spelling, actual pronunciation (IPA), a naive pronunciation (IPA)): (Yonge, [jʌŋ], [jɑndʒ]); (Strachan, [sdʒɹɑn], [ˈsdʒɹa.tʃæn]); (Tecumseth, [tə.ˈkʌm.zi], [ˈti.kəm.sɛθ]); (Markham, [ˈmɑr.kʌm], [ˈmɑrk.hæm]), (Etobicoke, [ɛ.ˈtoʊ.bɪ.koʊ], [ɛ.ˈtoʊ.b…

Post by rkomorn » Wed, Mar 11, 2026, 7:38 PM UTC

tracker1 wrote: post #157

rkomorn wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm always amused by some mispronunciations that stray farther away from the original than necessary. My favorite is probably crepe, which Americans pronounce like an almost diphthong-y craype (or crape like grape I guess) when crep (like step) would do just fine and be closer to the original. But as a native French and basically-native American speaker, I also couldn't really care less about it, or about things like…

The plural is what gets me though crepes (just sounds weird as krehps vs krayps).

Post by madcaptenor » Wed, Mar 11, 2026, 7:43 PM UTC

loloquwowndueo wrote: post #146

FpUser wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here in Toronto area city of Vaughan pronounced as (/vɔːn/ or /vɑːn/) like in "dawn" or "gone" Imaging me fresh from USSR asking someone how do I get to ... and getting blank stare

Typical in Toronto - remember there’s only one T in “Toronto”

Post by sebzim4500 » Wed, Mar 11, 2026, 7:46 PM UTC

bloak wrote: post #48

teachrdan wrote: post #30

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There's also the British penchant for deliberately mispronouncing French words. I have heard "renaissance" pronounced "reh-NAY-sance", "fillet" pronounced "fill-it", "valet" as "val-it" and so on. I think it's a national point of pride to pronounce the words of their neighbor incorrectly.

"Valet" and "cadet" is an interesting pair: they rhyme in French (/va.lɛ/ and /ka.dɛ/), but rhyming them in English would be ... unusual. If there were just French words pronounced in a French way and English words which came from French and are now pronounced in an English way that would be bad enough but in fact we have a whole spectrum of bastardisation.

Post by nivertech » Wed, Mar 11, 2026, 7:47 PM UTC