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Whenever I see espresso spelled with an 'X' a little part of me dies inside.

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Or like when someone asks for a mocha latte but pronounces it like "MOE-CHA-LAW-DEE". GRRRR.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Friday, 2 May 2003 13:36 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh yeah, so um, do you have any things you're irrationally put-off by?

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Friday, 2 May 2003 13:36 (twenty-two years ago)

(Oh fuck, remove one of the "s"s from the thread title...god, way to be the thing I hate!!!! GRRRRR!)

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Friday, 2 May 2003 13:37 (twenty-two years ago)

the pond

― mark s (mark s), Friday, 2 May 2003 13:39 (twenty-two years ago)

the way the tags on my underwear itch the top of my ass.

― Chris V. (Chris V), Friday, 2 May 2003 13:40 (twenty-two years ago)

mugaccino

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Friday, 2 May 2003 13:40 (twenty-two years ago)

Too many things to count. I get too wound up too easily.

― kate, Friday, 2 May 2003 13:43 (twenty-two years ago)

What Kate said.

Though, on the topic in questions, the phrase "and I'll have a biscotti please" - no, you poxy fule, they are PLURAL words, you ignorant fuck!! Viz also panini, though at least the Crane brothers seldom proffer this abomination.

And I get kinda annoyed by people who see my name written down in front of them (mainly my surname, though someone on this bitch did call me Marc the other day :)) and then don't have the courtesy to spell it correctly.

― Mark C (Mark C), Friday, 2 May 2003 13:50 (twenty-two years ago)

I laugh a haughty laugh at your misspelling, nick. Serves you right.

― Andrew (enneff), Friday, 2 May 2003 13:50 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah totally. Misspelling the very word you get infuriated over the misspelling of in random diatribe = FREUDIAN SLIP FO SHIZZLE.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Friday, 2 May 2003 13:51 (twenty-two years ago)

I got wound up about something of this sort yesterday to the point where HSA found it amusing how wound up I was. And now I can't even remember what it was. Typical.

― kate, Friday, 2 May 2003 14:03 (twenty-two years ago)

I don't see any problem with anglicising words that English has borrowed from other languages, personally. I am as anal and pedantic as the next person, but that is just what language does isn't it.

― Archel (Archel), Friday, 2 May 2003 14:05 (twenty-two years ago)

I really hate people who say "Suh-weeet", except if you starred in Dude, Where's My Car.

― Carey (Carey), Friday, 2 May 2003 14:07 (twenty-two years ago)

no problem there.. suh-weeet

― ashton kutcher (electricsound), Friday, 2 May 2003 14:08 (twenty-two years ago)

a few of my friends still do that stupid "Whazzzzzzup" thing. I want to tell them "Here's whats up!" And kick them in the genitals.

― Chris V. (Chris V), Friday, 2 May 2003 14:08 (twenty-two years ago)

Aw, Carey, now I won't be able to come to your London FAP :(

― Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Friday, 2 May 2003 14:08 (twenty-two years ago)

So what's the singular of "biscotti" then?

― o. nate (onate), Friday, 2 May 2003 14:08 (twenty-two years ago)

Jerry, just let me get drunk and then tell me you were in Dude, Where's My Car.

― Carey (Carey), Friday, 2 May 2003 14:10 (twenty-two years ago)

I am giggling out loud at the thought of asking "Please, sir, may I have a biscottus?"

― kate, Friday, 2 May 2003 14:11 (twenty-two years ago)

archel - otm. maybe in 10yrs the only people that say 'espresso' will be total pedants, and even gastronomes like ed will say 'expresso'?

good example of folk etymology (well a bit like that anyway)

― ambrose (ambrose), Friday, 2 May 2003 14:12 (twenty-two years ago)

Biscotto? But if it never arises in singular form then you just have to ask for 'SOME biscotti', presumably.

― Archel (Archel), Friday, 2 May 2003 14:13 (twenty-two years ago)

Jerry, just let me get drunk and then tell me you were in Dude, Where's My Car.

Same here; I'd be all yours.

― Sean (Sean), Friday, 2 May 2003 14:13 (twenty-two years ago)

I say espresso. Does that really make me a pedant?

What is the correct pronunciation of "latte" anyway? I've always assumed that it is "Lah -tay", but only coz everyone I've heard talk abt it says it in that way.

― MarkH (MarkH), Friday, 2 May 2003 14:15 (twenty-two years ago)

If this is folk etymology, it doesn't reflect very well on the folk. They just can't bother to spell things properly, it seems. Lazy folk. Stupid folk.

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Friday, 2 May 2003 14:15 (twenty-two years ago)

The 'correct' pronunciation of latte is whatever you want, since we have taken the word out of Italy and now we can abuse it as much as we like bwhahahahahahaha! (NB. this is not true if you go to Italy and order latte.)

― Archel (Archel), Friday, 2 May 2003 14:20 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah, Archel totally OTM, and it's funny cuz I'm usually a big fan of (d)evolution-of-language, like when people complain about American southerner English and I think "well yeah, but geez American southerner English : "proper" English :: French : Latin" and then I think I should get over it.

And thus the "irrational" hatred of eXpresso. I should embrace it, but something about it...I. Just. Can't.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Friday, 2 May 2003 14:21 (twenty-two years ago)

(note: this all coming from a person who lives in Kentucky where the town-name spelled "Versailles" is pronounced "ver-SALES".)

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Friday, 2 May 2003 14:21 (twenty-two years ago)

If you go to Italy and order "latte" you'll get a glass of milk. Unless you order a laaaaah-tay, when you'll get a smack in the face for being an ignorant foreign ponce.

Biscotti, in coffee bars at least, are fairly sizeable biscuits, so people tend to order them one at a time. It should indeed be biscotto.

― Mark C (Mark C), Friday, 2 May 2003 14:26 (twenty-two years ago)

You don't want to get my mum started on the "Dutch" placenames in upstate NY. Of course, my mum's Dutch is actually Afrikaans, which diverged from real Dutch (in the opposite direction) around the same time as New York stopped being New Amsterdam.

Cue my mum asking directions to "Hill-der-lund" or "Foor-hee-es-fille" and the locals having no idea that these refer to "Gill-duh-land" and "Vor-iss-ville".

― kate, Friday, 2 May 2003 14:27 (twenty-two years ago)

What really bothers me is not so much the spelling, but the lack of regard for the espresso itself. Nobody knows how to pull a nice, reddish, perfectly creamed and spotted shot anymore. And no one even knows how to steam milk. You know how sometimes in the coffee shop you hear them steaming milk, and it makes that horrible screaming sound? It shouldn't ever do that.

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Friday, 2 May 2003 14:27 (twenty-two years ago)

(Though I am in stitches imagining Kate ordering her snacks in Latin :))

― Mark C (Mark C), Friday, 2 May 2003 14:28 (twenty-two years ago)

mark - sorry i didnt mean that you (or i for that matter) are a pedant, i meant that maybe in the future we will say/write it as 'expresso' and not think anything of it. only people (the sort that say 'me-h-ico' for mexico...you dont do this do you?) that continue to say 'espresso' will be branded pedants in my hypothesis.

kenan - as far as i understand, the folk aspect is that people, trying to relate to the foreign word, connected 'espresso', with express, as in, served very fast, and so imagine that to be the root. ironically obviously bothe 'express' and 'espressere' (made that italian up) come from the same latin root, but the changes in meaning of the english (in that sense nayway) sort of sever the connection in peoples mind. i mean, i doubt people who ask for one are thing, 'oh yeah the water is sort of pushed out thru the coffee', hence espresso.

maybe it'll go the other way as more people consume/get used to espressos, and become more familiar with the original...

― ambrose (ambrose), Friday, 2 May 2003 14:30 (twenty-two years ago)

mark h - sorry i didnt mean that you (or i for that matter) are a pedant, i meant that maybe in the future we will say/write it as 'expresso' and not think anything of it. only people (the sort that say 'me-h-ico' for mexico...you dont do this do you?) that continue to say 'espresso' will be branded pedants in my hypothesis.

kenan - as far as i understand, the folk aspect is that people, trying to relate to the foreign word, connected 'espresso', with express, as in, served very fast, and so imagine that to be the root. ironically obviously bothe 'express' and 'espressere' (made that italian up) come from the same latin root, but the changes in meaning of the english (in that sense nayway) sort of sever the connection in peoples mind. i mean, i doubt people who ask for one are thing, 'oh yeah the water is sort of pushed out thru the coffee', hence espresso.

maybe it'll go the other way as more people consume/get used to espressos, and become more familiar with the original...

― ambrose (ambrose), Friday, 2 May 2003 14:30 (twenty-two years ago)

oh bollocks. sorry

― ambrose (ambrose), Friday, 2 May 2003 14:31 (twenty-two years ago)

I had never made that 'express' + 'espresso' = 'eXpresso' connection before, that really does put a neat spin on it...maybe I don't hate it so much after all.

.

No I still do.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Friday, 2 May 2003 14:50 (twenty-two years ago)

I did some serious research on this eXpresso business. The following posters are guilty as charged:

* I sound like a yuppie or something but really i just love expresso...
-- g (graysonlaneNOSPA...), October 18th, 2002.

*sadly I only know a little about industrial expresso makers
-- alix (lixibel...), January 8th, 2002.

*Coffee for enjoyment, capuccino or expresso for an immediate burst of caffeine goodness
-- brg30 (brg3...), January 9th, 2003.

*Last time I arrived in new york I had expresso before getting the subway into town, a couple of large cokes and a couple of pots of expresso when I go to where I was staying...
-- Ed (dal...), December 16th, 2002.

*Expresso and Cappucino are two different things, aren't they. Expresso comes in those little cups.
-- Chris V. (formerlypoopsmcge...), January 8th, 2003.

Thank you. That will be all.

― Sarah McLusky (coco), Friday, 2 May 2003 14:51 (twenty-two years ago)

I simply misspell everything other than espresso.

― Sarah McLusky (coco), Friday, 2 May 2003 14:52 (twenty-two years ago)

Et tu, Ed? Et tu?

― buttch (Oops), Friday, 2 May 2003 14:56 (twenty-two years ago)

But Ed is one of the worst spellers in the world!

― kate, Friday, 2 May 2003 14:58 (twenty-two years ago)

Ed is one of the worst spellers in the world. Luckily I am one of the better spellers in the world so it all balances out.

Also Anglo confusion = Expresso Bongo.

― suzy (suzy), Friday, 2 May 2003 15:03 (twenty-two years ago)

Look at the size of Cliff's bongos!

http://www.leosden.co.uk/graphics/cr_expresso.jpg

― Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Friday, 2 May 2003 15:12 (twenty-two years ago)

I think if you asked for a biscotto in an American coffee shop you would get a very strange look.

― o. nate (onate), Friday, 2 May 2003 15:21 (twenty-two years ago)

What's with the 'e'? Why not Xpresso?

― toraneko (toraneko), Friday, 2 May 2003 15:32 (twenty-two years ago)

yeah! That would be Xtreme!

― buttch (Oops), Friday, 2 May 2003 15:35 (twenty-two years ago)

I bet the Xmen and Xtina drink Xpresso.

― toraneko (toraneko), Friday, 2 May 2003 15:44 (twenty-two years ago)

At Xpressway Records.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 2 May 2003 15:46 (twenty-two years ago)

A) big ups to the HTML wizard what corrected the title of this thread...ME LOVEY YOU LONG TIME! :D

B) Xpresso - served to xstraight-edgex kids at X-Gameseses across the Earth! (wait, xstraight-edgex kids don't drink coffee...OH BOTHER!)

C) quoth the Harry Chronic Jr.-voiced character 'Dean McCoppin' from animated classic The Iron Giant: "I dunno kid, this is espresso...it's like coffeezilla."

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Friday, 2 May 2003 15:46 (twenty-two years ago)

I have this same reaction when I see "alot".

― luna (luna.c), Friday, 2 May 2003 16:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Physically able people who take the elevator down one floor annoy me.

― bnw (bnw), Friday, 2 May 2003 16:10 (twenty-two years ago)

oh god bnw - yahtzee

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Friday, 2 May 2003 16:13 (twenty-two years ago)

*mindmelds with bnw and luna*

― Mark C (Mark C), Friday, 2 May 2003 16:26 (twenty-two years ago)

Physically able people who take the elevator down one floor annoy me.

But what's worse is that they push the button and WAIT for the elevator just as long as it would take to walk down those stairs!

(When I used to deliver sandwiches to various bidness buildings around town, I got a big kick out of walking in, watching people wait for the elevator as I hit the stairs, climbing 10 flights of stairs, getting out, delivering the food, and then as I'm walking back to the staircase I pass them just getting out of the elevator. YOU POXY FULES MUAHAHA!)

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Friday, 2 May 2003 16:30 (twenty-two years ago)

I've had ENGLISh teachers who marked me wrong for writing "a lot", using the 90º tilted parenthases to indicate a and lot were meant to be as one. oh glory.

― Fivvy (Fivvy), Friday, 2 May 2003 17:13 (twenty-two years ago)

I get bent out of shape whenever I see "donut" instead of "doughnut"

― Chris Barrus (Chris Barrus), Friday, 2 May 2003 17:18 (twenty-two years ago)

doUGHnut bitch to thread stat!

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Friday, 2 May 2003 17:19 (twenty-two years ago)

Also, "alright" is technically all wrong.

― o. nate (onate), Friday, 2 May 2003 17:28 (twenty-two years ago)

yeah, the "lr" just got dropped into that word out of nowhere.

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Friday, 2 May 2003 17:40 (twenty-two years ago)

There's one floor and a basement in my library. I am the only person I have ever seen take the stairs.

― buttch (Oops), Friday, 2 May 2003 17:43 (twenty-two years ago)

sarah mclusky is my hero. its official.

― kephm, Friday, 2 May 2003 18:44 (twenty-two years ago)

when i am doing 85mph down the freeway and someone shoots out in front of me & then drops down to 50pmh, a little part in me wrinkles up and dies.

― kephm, Friday, 2 May 2003 18:54 (twenty-two years ago)

your wang?

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Friday, 2 May 2003 18:55 (twenty-two years ago)

nickalicious in being f-n hilarious SHOCKA!

sarah mclusky is my hero. its official That's nice. May I ask why?

― Sarah MCLUsky (coco), Friday, 2 May 2003 19:01 (twenty-two years ago)

If you go to Italy and order "latte" you'll get a glass of milk. Unless you order a laaaaah-tay, when you'll get a smack in the face for being an ignorant foreign ponce.

I was in a café in Spain recently and asked for a caffe con leche and got given a glass of hot milk with a tea bag in. I didn't complain because it it was very nice.

Not dropping the 'caffe" when I want a caffe latte is an article of faith with me, even though the barista don't give a fuck.

Quark Xpresso = a revolting health drink.

― N. (nickdastoor), Friday, 2 May 2003 19:02 (twenty-two years ago)

++May I ask why?

for your serious research, sarah! i am so over tired right now--oh i never made it to the throwing muses last week.

― kephm, Friday, 2 May 2003 19:16 (twenty-two years ago)

++your wang?

hahahaha um no, last i check my wang wasnt "in me".
dont know how god dishes out the wangs in 'tucky.

― kephm, Friday, 2 May 2003 19:23 (twenty-two years ago)


I think if you asked for a biscotto in a boston coffee shop you would get half a pot of scalding coffee thrown in your face.

― kephm, Friday, 2 May 2003 19:27 (twenty-two years ago)

haha, all this vitriol. Who is the US going to start a war with next? (Note that I spend more time ranting about this kind of thing than genuine world problems too - it's just funny when it's one of the things that doesn't bother you. If it were apostrophes, I'd be indignant.)

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Friday, 2 May 2003 19:52 (twenty-two years ago)

I hereby declare war on anyone from this point forward who says "schizophrenia" (or its derivatives) to refer to multiple personality. (Any ILXORs who have done this in the past will get an amnesty.)

I also inwardly bitch and mutter when I hear "normalcy." Normality is a perfectly fine word, why not use it?

― j.lu (j.lu), Friday, 2 May 2003 20:09 (twenty-two years ago)

Normalcy is also a perfectly fine word and dates back from at least the 1850s.

― Chris P (Chris P), Saturday, 3 May 2003 04:20 (twenty-two years ago)

THANX

― rat, Saturday, 3 May 2003 23:46 (twenty-two years ago)

Rat, you're not very grateful to Chris's proferring of information (or are at least highly cynical).

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 4 May 2003 00:41 (twenty-two years ago)

Xpresso - served to xstraight-edgex kids at X-Gameseses across the Earth! (wait, xstraight-edgex kids don't drink coffee...OH BOTHER!)

De-caf clearly. Making it the most pointless drink ever.

― Anna (Anna), Monday, 5 May 2003 08:02 (twenty-two years ago)

Quark Xpresso = a revolting health drink.

ANYTHING named after that so-called company of evil bastards can't help but be REVOLTING. Whoever came up with that name should be SHOT.

"irregardless" also drives me up the wall.

― Chris Barrus (Chris Barrus), Monday, 5 May 2003 09:24 (twenty-two years ago)

two years pass...
"You know what I hate? Star Wars fans: get a friggin life, you boring geeks. You know what I hate? People who mispronounce words, like 'acrost,' and 'pacific' for 'specific,' and 'expresso' instead of 'espresso.' You know what I hate? People who drive slow in the fast lane, God these people do not know how to drive. You know what I hate? The WB network!!!! Oh Jesus, Mary Mother of God Almighty, I hate that channel with all my heart and soul." - Excerpt from Eric Harris' diary

― ,,,,,,,,,,,,, Tuesday, 28 February 2006 14:52 (nineteen years ago)

so that's where nickalicious went

― s1ocki (slutsky), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 14:55 (nineteen years ago)

harris & klebolds diaries are a veritable new answers page

― ,,,,,,,,,,,, Tuesday, 28 February 2006 15:05 (nineteen years ago)

yeah, seriously, what's up with expresso?

― AaronK (AaronK), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 15:08 (nineteen years ago)

its street.

You know what I hate? The WB network!!!! Oh Jesus, Mary Mother of God Almighty, I hate that channel with all my heart and soul

Nice choice of words. Only last sunday night i said "christians must hate the WB, what with all the witchie shows". Jesus too. I can see Mary getting a kick out of Charmed though.

― sunny successor (katharine), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 15:16 (nineteen years ago)

;)

― ,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Tuesday, 28 February 2006 15:23 (nineteen years ago)

didnt post that

― ,,,,,,,,,, Tuesday, 28 February 2006 15:24 (nineteen years ago)

There's a Mexican restaurant (well, tex/mex/american, but you know what I mean) with a lunch menu item called the "Expresso Burrito." As far as I can tell, it's a big burrito with refried beans, rice, and your choice of meat inside. But it gets to the table really fast and all the food is inside the tortilla...

― mike h. (mike h.), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 17:00 (nineteen years ago)

Sugar Shack
Jimmy Gilmer and The Fireballs

There’s a crazy little shack beyond the tracks
And ev’rybody calls it the sugar shack
Well, it’s just a coffeehouse and it’s made out of wood
Expresso coffee tastes mighty good
That’s not the reason why I’ve got to get back
To that sugar shack, whoa baby
To that sugar shack.

― andy --, Tuesday, 28 February 2006 17:06 (nineteen years ago)

coffeehouse, knoxville style:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/gypsyfrocksbedlam/ExpressoHouse1.jpg

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 17:17 (nineteen years ago)

Well, maybe they give you your coffee really quickly, letting you cut ahead of all the people who also want food.
Nice tulips!

I'm usually a big fan of (d)evolution-of-language

I hear you, Nick. A HUGE wave of irritation sweeps over me when I hear "Mee-chele Norris" from NPR pronounce her own name. You're a midwestern American, lady! It's MIH-SHELL!!!!
I always parrot her, in a high nasal voice. I can't help it. She makes me think of the SNL French teacher.
Oh! Oh! Once I heard an NPR person pronounce "penchant" in the French manner. That was almost the death of me, right there. It's a miracle I lived to tell the tale.
That said, I pronounce and spell latte and espresso in the euro manner, and scorn the "ceasar salad" people.
Just so y'all don't get the wrong idea about me.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 17:21 (nineteen years ago)

hey sometimes 'expresso' means 'express train,' like in the Gilberto Gil song

― Haikunym (Haikunym), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 17:25 (nineteen years ago)

Once I heard an NPR person pronounce "penchant" in the French manner

I do this. I didn't realise there was any other way to pronounce it. Do you rhyme it with 'trenchant'?

In France the waiters call an espresso an 'express' with an X. I think the Spanish do too.

― jz, Tuesday, 28 February 2006 17:31 (nineteen years ago)

*Expresso and Cappucino are two different things, aren't they.
This post wins the daily double.

― Redd Harvest (Ken L), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 17:38 (nineteen years ago)

i've actually suspected inwardly for some time -- without wanting to ask, for fear of exposing my hicksterism and provoking a nickalicious-style logistical beatdown -- that "expresso" actually is the rightest, oldest way to say it. or at the very least, that it would actually be quite easy to find a little café in italy where all their signage was spelt w/and "x" and no one had ever given it a second thought.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 17:41 (nineteen years ago)

Haikunym, i love "expresso 222"

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 17:48 (nineteen years ago)

you forgot a 2 (dois)

― Haikunym (Haikunym), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 17:49 (nineteen years ago)

There's no X in the Italian alphabet. Which isn't to say you're necessarily wrong about the little cafe.

― Paul Eater (eater), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 17:49 (nineteen years ago)

I do this. I didn't realise there was any other way to pronounce it. Do you rhyme it with 'trenchant'?

YES!!!!!
Shame on you, jz! Reform your pronunciation NOW. Webster doesn't even give that thing you do as an option.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 18:25 (nineteen years ago)

There's no X in the Italian alphabet. Which isn't to say you're necessarily wrong about the little cafe.

QFT. Go stand in the corner, Hand.

― Markelby (Mark C), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 18:30 (nineteen years ago)

Quit Fucking Tacos?

― Dan (Hein?) Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 18:32 (nineteen years ago)

Shame on you, jz! Reform your pronunciation NOW. Webster doesn't even give that thing you do as an option.

It's the standard pronunciation in Britain. I've never heard anyone here say penchant to rhyme with trenchant.

― Alba (Alba), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 18:33 (nineteen years ago)

Except for people who say 'tron-CHON'.

― Tehrannosaurus HoBB (the pirate king), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 18:34 (nineteen years ago)

(never mind, I used Google)

― Dan (The Internet Has An Answer For Everything) Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 18:34 (nineteen years ago)

I've never heard anyone anywhere say penchant to rhyme with trenchant.

― Rotatey Diskers With Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 18:35 (nineteen years ago)

Main Entry: pen·chant
Pronunciation: 'pen-ch&nt, esp British 'pän-"shän

― Dan (Thank You, Merriam-Webster) Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 18:36 (nineteen years ago)

WTF is Barry on about with his QFT? I looked it up too but that's a crappy internet thing too far. "Quoted for truth"? Who would ever say that?

― Alba (Alba), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 18:37 (nineteen years ago)

I've obviously never heard an American say the word "penchant", which strikes me as fairly incredible

― Rotatey Diskers With Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 18:38 (nineteen years ago)

One of the less shameful aspects of Americanism, what we can cling to amidst international scorn for our global-bully behavior, is our penchant for correct pronunciation of certain words.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 18:39 (nineteen years ago)

... considering I've been listening to Americans yakkin' away a dime a dozen since I was so high (xpost)

― Rotatey Diskers With Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 18:40 (nineteen years ago)

And yet not for the word 'penchant', ironically. (xpost)

― Tehrannosaurus HoBB (the pirate king), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 18:41 (nineteen years ago)

To be honest, I've no idea why we in Britain haven't anglicised the word, but we haven't. I suppose there are a few words like that. Buffet. Some people do say Buffet to rhyme with (Little Miss) Muffet, but I always assume they're being cute.

― Alba (Alba), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 18:42 (nineteen years ago)

... or American?

― Rotatey Diskers With Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 18:42 (nineteen years ago)

The idea anyone would say "pen-shahn" Francy-style is giving me the giggles. Please, people. Be proud of your langwidj. I bet you say "accoutruh-mahn" too, you weedy bitches.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 18:42 (nineteen years ago)

No.

― Alba (Alba), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 18:43 (nineteen years ago)

I actually use both penchant and penchant depending on the context. A pervert may have a penchant for exposing himself in public as opposed to the gourmet's penchant for exposing himself to novel foodstuffs.

Haven't the Brits anglicized the pronunciation of 'fillet'?

― M. White (Miguelito), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 18:44 (nineteen years ago)

Yes.

Tracer, do you actually pronounce buffet with a hard t?

― Alba (Alba), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 18:44 (nineteen years ago)

Tracer Hand, I marry you.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 18:44 (nineteen years ago)

How about "restaurant"?

― Paul Eater (eater), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 18:45 (nineteen years ago)

It's a French word, why shouldn't it be pronounced in a French way? You'll be telling me next that you pronounce "schadenfreude" as "shade-en-frood"

― Rotatey Diskers With Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 18:45 (nineteen years ago)

How about bouquet? Is that a BOOCKET for you, sir?

― Alba (Alba), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 18:45 (nineteen years ago)

americans have kept the pronunciation of buffet so we can rhyme it with "all-day" on insterstate-exit restaurant signs.

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 18:45 (nineteen years ago)

penchants vs. leanings

― M. White (Miguelito), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 18:46 (nineteen years ago)

I prefer predeliction

― Rotatey Diskers With Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 18:47 (nineteen years ago)

I prefer hard-ons.

― Alba (Alba), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 18:48 (nineteen years ago)

i love it when people say "kwess-a-dill-a" instead of "quesadilla"

― latebloomer: where dignity goes to die (latebloomer), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 18:48 (nineteen years ago)

My wife knows a woman who pronounces "boutique" as "booty-queue".

― Dan (Obviously She Is OTM) Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 18:48 (nineteen years ago)

I could use an all-day buffet on the interstate RIGHT NOW. Ceasar salad notwithstanding.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 18:49 (nineteen years ago)

I do too, Dadaismus, but penchant literally means 'leaning' in French.

― M. White (Miguelito), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 18:49 (nineteen years ago)

for "buffet " i use the more American "pig-out station"

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 18:49 (nineteen years ago)

Or simply 'all you can eat trough'.

― M. White (Miguelito), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 18:50 (nineteen years ago)

TS: trough vs though vs through vs rough

― Dan (I Love English) Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 18:51 (nineteen years ago)

Results on Google:
espresso 42,400,000
expresso 12,500,000

― Paul Eater (eater), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 18:52 (nineteen years ago)

My brother insists he heard two Glasgow *neds discussing the downmarket clothing chain, Hoi Polloi, but pronouncing it as Hwa Pollwa (French y'see)

(*that's another thread)

― Rotatey Diskers With Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 18:52 (nineteen years ago)

My ex used to refer to "putting on the feed-bag."

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 18:53 (nineteen years ago)

on knoxville's "airport motor mile" there was a big all-day, all-you-can-eat place called Robert's, and when i was like 8 years old i went there with my family, saw the enormous 5-gallon tub of sour cream and simply couldn't believe my good fortune, dipping two fingers in and sticking them in my mouth. bon appetit!

i have always gotten the meaning of hoi polloi reversed, and the confusion is so deep now that i believe it to be intractable. i inherited this from my mother. who may have, in fact, inherited it from someone else.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 18:54 (nineteen years ago)

I prefer "ho pollo".

― Dan (Chicken Slut!) Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 18:55 (nineteen years ago)

bon appetit!

No doubt pronounced "bon-appy-tit"

― Rotatey Diskers With Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 18:56 (nineteen years ago)

I just came across this page of mispronounced words. I'm glad they point out the t in often is silent but what's this about pronouncing the a in "miniature"? That just sounds ridiculous to my ears. I don't think I've ever heard anyone say mini-a-ture, but maybe I'm cloth-eared.

― Alba (Alba), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 18:56 (nineteen years ago)

I always say "mini-a-ture".

― Dan (But I'm A Pretentious Fucko) Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 18:57 (nineteen years ago)

In America, we pronounce "aubergine" like this: EGG PLANT

― Haikunym (Haikunym), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 18:58 (nineteen years ago)

Me too.

xpost

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 19:00 (nineteen years ago)

And at least Americans can pronounce their Rs!

― Rotatey Diskers With Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 19:00 (nineteen years ago)

Whaddya mean, Dadaismus? The only people I've ever heard pronounce the last 'r' in America or in Canada were Brits.

― M. White (Miguelito), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 19:02 (nineteen years ago)

"Most speakers of American English have a rhotic accent. Outside of the United States, rhotic accents can be found in Barbados, most of Canada, Ireland, Wales, and Scotland. In England, rhotic accents are found in Northumbria, the West Country, and parts of Lancashire. Other areas with rhotic accents include India (particularly in southern India and Maharashtra where the R's are rolled), Philippines, and Otago and Southland in the far south of New Zealand's South Island, where a small Scottish influence is apparent."

But...

"Areas with non-rhotic accents include Africa, Australia, Malta, most of the Caribbean, most of England (especially Received Pronunciation speakers) most of New Zealand and South Africa. Singapore and Malaysia are also two examples of countries in Asia with a non-rhotic accent."

― Rotatey Diskers With Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 19:05 (nineteen years ago)

Your accent it is so, eh, rhotic.

― M. White (Miguelito), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 19:06 (nineteen years ago)

OK, I've looked in dictionaries and the "miniature" thing must be another US/UK thing, though Chambers does give the 4-syllable version as an option too.

― Alba (Alba), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 19:06 (nineteen years ago)

OMG Alba, that page of mispronounced words/phrases has made my day.

DON'T SAY: a blessing in the skies
DO SAY: a blessing in disguise

DON'T SAY: For all intensive purposes
DO SAY: For all intents and purposes

DON'T SAY: doggy dog world
DO SAY: dog-eat-dog world

― Dan (But What If It IS A Doggy-Dog World?) Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 19:08 (nineteen years ago)

I'm pretty I've heard some posh people pronounce "miniature" with 4 syllables

― Rotatey Diskers With Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 19:08 (nineteen years ago)

The world is even worse than you think if you think it merely a "doggy-dog world." Sorry to be the bearer of such bad news.

― Dan (ROFFLE) Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 19:08 (nineteen years ago)

Alba's list must be for Americans as most of those mistakes I've never heard anyone make in my life. I would agree with 'February' though - this word is impossible to say correctly. I normally go for 'Feb-ree' or 'Feb-u-ree', or when I'm feeling wild 'Fe-brew-ee'.

― Tehrannosaurus HoBB (the pirate king), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 19:11 (nineteen years ago)

Science proves that most Americans are posh!

That page is totally wack, though. "Parl-y-a-ment"????

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 19:11 (nineteen years ago)

DON'T SAY: persnickety
DO SAY: pernickety

You may think us too pernickety to even mention this one. It is a Scottish nonce word to which U.S. speakers have added a spurious [s].

― Dan (I Misread That As "Ponce") Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 19:13 (nineteen years ago)

I don't see why 'Febrewarry' is more difficult to say than 'Febyewarry'?

How about mischievous pronounced as 'mischeeveeus'?

― M. White (Miguelito), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 19:13 (nineteen years ago)

A Scottish nonce? Who's a Scottish nonce?

― Rotatey Diskers With Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 19:15 (nineteen years ago)

missCHEEVeeus is my favorite, which is why I say it ALL THE TIME (mostly just to bug my wife though).

― Haikunym (Haikunym), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 19:15 (nineteen years ago)

Here a nonce, there a nonce, everywhere a nonce nonce.

― Laurel (Laurel), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 19:18 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.enter.net/~rainsong/expresso.gif

― R.I.P. Concrete Octopus ]-`: (ex machina), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 19:21 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.popsike.com/pics/vinyl-sniffer/20040313/4001992792.jpg

― Rotatey Diskers With Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 19:22 (nineteen years ago)

I think I'm going to become an dog trainer just so that I can call my memoirs "It's a Doggy Dog World"

― Alba (Alba), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 19:24 (nineteen years ago)

x-post -- I still can't believe there was actually a movie called that.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 19:24 (nineteen years ago)

Lady Mondagreen, etc...

― M. White (Miguelito), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 19:25 (nineteen years ago)

Wasn't Espresso a trademark? Ergo "Expresso Bongo"

― Rotatey Diskers With Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 19:25 (nineteen years ago)

i have always gotten the meaning of hoi polloi reversed

Maybe you're confusing it with "hoity-toity."

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 22:25 (nineteen years ago)

nucular nuclear The British and Australians find the American repetition of the [u] between the [k] and [l] quaintly amusing. Good reason to get it right.

This makes me want to mispronounce it purposefully, actually.

Does anyone know people in real life who actually make most of the mistakes on that page??? Besides ones that are pretty obviously just accenting issues? Psychopaaaaaaath.

― Allyzay Rofflesberger (allyzay), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 22:33 (nineteen years ago)

when i was a kid i said "elementary" as "el-e-men-TARE-y", which my parents thought was cute so they didn't tell me it wasn't how most people said it. thx, parents.

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 22:55 (nineteen years ago)

Fucking Americans always talk about being disinterested in the wrong sense: "He loved the movie, I was bored, disinterested."

No, you fuck, You were uninterested.

― paulhw (paulhw), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 00:50 (nineteen years ago)

I don't think that's anything to do with being American at all. Millions of people across the English-speaking world use "disinterested" to mean "bored". The attempt to draw a line between uninterested and disinterested has a long and Canute-like history, surely?

― Alba (Alba), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 00:55 (nineteen years ago)

Whenever I see Canute being pilloried for the thing he mocked a little part of me etc

― mark s (mark s), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 00:58 (nineteen years ago)

I try to make the distinction without being too schoolmarmish about it, which behavior makes me nauseous, I mean nauseated.

Proposed new spelling for caffeinated beverage of thread title:
ejpresso

CAN UTE SEE?

― Redd Scharlach (Ken L), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 01:00 (nineteen years ago)

ur all cnuts.

― Alba (Alba), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 01:03 (nineteen years ago)

One I dont get from that link upthread: the claim about aks vs ask:

This mispronunciation has been around for so long (over 1,000 years) that linguist Mark Aronoff thinks we should cherish it as a part of our linguistic heritage.

? Apart from the joke on Futurama, and maybe a couple other americans on TV, I don't think I have ever heard anyone say "aks" unless they were being silly. Surely it isnt "over 1,000 years" widespread!?

― Trayce (trayce), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 01:09 (nineteen years ago)

Completely different. disinterested: the thing / event does not have political implications or dividends. vs uninterested: your attention is not grabbed.

― paulhw (paulhw), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 01:09 (nineteen years ago)

Yes, WE KNOW.

It would be nice if disinterested and uninterested had those nice distinct definitions. It would be totally neato. But people have used "disinterested" to mean not interested in the YAWN sense since at least the 17th century and trying to force them to stop is maybe a bit of a loser's errand.

― Alba (Alba), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 01:14 (nineteen years ago)

That's not true, Alba.

― paulhw (paulhw), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 01:15 (nineteen years ago)

What's not true?

― Alba (Alba), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 01:16 (nineteen years ago)

Your historical distinction. (And let's not quote the unreliable online etymological dictionary...)

― paulhw (paulhw), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 01:17 (nineteen years ago)

I don't even know what the unreliable online etymological dictionary is!

― Alba (Alba), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 01:19 (nineteen years ago)

I just read the whole usage note in the Webster's Tenth, but basically I am bored and uninterested in this topic. In fact I mainly look at the dictionary for the pictures, in this case the ones of the discus thrower and the distaff spinner.

Is this the thread where I can mention the American character in Martin Amis's Night Train who says "I treated her with the upmost correctitude"?

― Redd Scharlach (Ken L), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 01:19 (nineteen years ago)

alba there was apparently a GAP, at least officially: fowler says that the OED called "disinterested in the YAWN sense" 'qy.obs', so it used to be so but now ain't, but then in the 1933 supplement withdraw 'qy.obs' bcz usage had brought back the obsolete usage

fowler ends: "A valuable DIFFERENTIATION is thus in need of rescue, if it is not too late." (in 1965?)

― mark s (mark s), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 01:22 (nineteen years ago)

so you are basically right and paulhw is basically wrong: in that WAY back in the day they weren't distinct but then someone came along and said LET'S MAKE EM DISTINCT so they did only it didn't stick or the memo wasn't send round to everyone and the old but now wrong usage never quite quite went obs even tho the OED folks hoped it had but had to admit defeat

fowler can be contrarian but he isn't being here i don't think (if he was he'd been saying GIVE UP IT'S ALL OVER

― mark s (mark s), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 01:24 (nineteen years ago)

i don't know what 'qy' means and fowler doesn't translate -- he obviously expects us all to have OEDs just to hand

― mark s (mark s), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 01:26 (nineteen years ago)

My SOED says q.y. = "query," but I don't get it.

― Redd Scharlach (Ken L), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 01:29 (nineteen years ago)

haha i just noticed that the blurb on the back says "Indispensable entries on disinterested, due to, jargon, sociologese, and which, that, who"

― mark s (mark s), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 01:29 (nineteen years ago)

Maybe qy = "quixotically"?

Where I come from we say "undispensable."

― Redd Scharlach (Ken L), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 01:29 (nineteen years ago)

Not.

― Redd Scharlach (Ken L), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 01:30 (nineteen years ago)

oh right, well in that case it means "query: obsolete?" ie "this may be obsolete, guys -- anyone know different?"

― mark s (mark s), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 01:31 (nineteen years ago)

It kind of stands to reason. Why would two negatively-loaded prefixes, added to an existing word with two meanings neatly evolve such that one prefix was understood to refer to one sense of it and one to the other. Language doesn't work like that!

This is from the Cambridge Guide to English Usage, fwiw:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v417/albaalba/yawn.gif

― Alba (Alba), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 01:34 (nineteen years ago)

but then someone came along and said LET'S MAKE EM DISTINCT

Has this kind of thing ever worked? (I would qy like to know).

― Alba (Alba), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 01:36 (nineteen years ago)

I love that "The files were kept open" in the Cambridge guide entry btw. It makes lexicography sound like a CSI offshoot!

― Alba (Alba), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 01:39 (nineteen years ago)

i am tempted to argue that IN THE ORIGINAL LATIN dis- and un- have quite seperate prefix usages except it's late and i have no bulb in the passage and cannot find my latin dictionary to show if it's so in this case (it is in others but i can't remember any of em)

― mark s (mark s), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 01:43 (nineteen years ago)

I'm sure you're right, but all this hinges on the two different (related) meanings of "interest", not the nuances of the prefixes.

― Alba (Alba), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 01:48 (nineteen years ago)

It is late though, and coincidentally, the bulb in my bedroom has just gone.

― Alba (Alba), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 01:49 (nineteen years ago)

bah there is only one (related) meaning anyway, they totally overlap

full divergence in latin is when differentiation tends to be fixed, but i'm not sure this was one

(why is there no word "unvergence"?)

― mark s (mark s), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 01:51 (nineteen years ago)

the lights are going out all over europe -- i do not think we will see them lit again in our bedtimes!

― mark s (mark s), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 01:52 (nineteen years ago)

Alba's link is entertaining. Some observations...

I don't think I've ever heard anyone, even on the BBC, pronounce "diphtheria" correctly.

Fillum for film is a British as well as an American regionalism. My g/f pronounces it like this.

I have mentally been pronouncing "lambast" wrong for my entire life.

I have never heard anyone say "spit and image" instead of "spitting image".

― Si.C@rter (SiC@rter), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 01:59 (nineteen years ago)

I have mentally been pronouncing "lambast" wrong for my entire life.

Me too, according to that page. But my dictionary gives both pronunciations and also two spellings (lambast or lambaste). Maybe it's another UK/US thing.

Fillum for film is a British as well as an American regionalism. My g/f pronounces it like this.

Fillum is mainly thought of as an Irish thing over here. Maybe Geordie too.

That page is WRONG about duck tape!

― Alba (Alba), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 02:05 (nineteen years ago)

And diphtheria (in Britain).

― Alba (Alba), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 02:08 (nineteen years ago)

Fillum for film is a British as well as an American regionalism. My g/f pronounces it like this.

Fillum is mainly thought of as an Irish thing over here. Maybe Geordie too.

Don't let her hear you say that. She's from Sunderland :)

― Si.C@rter (SiC@rter), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 02:13 (nineteen years ago)

I think I feel an almost irrational disdain for any family that has a family name sign on their door with an apostrophe-s used incorrectly, "The Dobson's" etc.

― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 03:11 (nineteen years ago)

Irregardless of what the usage notes say and what the rest of you choose to do, I personally am going to maintain the dis-/un- distinction.

― Redd Scharlach (Ken L), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 04:28 (nineteen years ago)

see further under dis

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 04:30 (nineteen years ago)

I could bring up a bunch of Jersey-specific examples, except that some of them border on charming.

For example, I've heard several people in offices I go to for my job refer to a "stapler remover." Does it remove staplers?

Once I was teaching an SAT class in Hamilton, NJ, and the word "spigot" was used in a question. An Italian kid yelled out "Mr. Saltzman, What's a spi-GOT?" I explained to the class that it was the thing on a faucet that turns on and off the water. "No," he insisted, "that's a spicket."

― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 04:32 (nineteen years ago)

see further under dis
This thread is starting to get a little long - I hadn't realized the enormity of it.

― Redd Scharlach (Ken L), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 04:37 (nineteen years ago)

I think I feel an almost irrational disdain for any family that has a family name sign on their door with an apostrophe-s used incorrectly, "The Dobson's" etc.

It might just be that part of the sign has fallen off, and originally it said "The Dobson's Door".

(Mind you that would still be wrong, as it's a family, not just one person, so it should be "The Dobsons' Door") (Unless, in addition to having a butler and a maid and a cook, this family have another domestic servant known as a dobson, and he alone may enter the house via this door)

― Tehrannosaurus HoBB (the pirate king), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 09:35 (nineteen years ago)

it should be "The Dobsons' Door"
Or even "The Gates of Hellgrammite."

― Redd Scharlach (Ken L), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 12:52 (nineteen years ago)

It was pointed out to me that the word "flaccid" is almost universally mispronounced as "flassid," when the correct pronunciation is actually "flack-sid." Since then I haven't been able to use the word. "Flassid" is just so much better. So much more flaccid.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 15:49 (nineteen years ago)

just say "can't get it hard".

― the kit! (g-kit), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 15:50 (nineteen years ago)

Do you have to use the word "flaccid" often, Beth :(

― Markelby (Mark C), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 15:58 (nineteen years ago)

Staple remover:

http://www.cyberimport.com/image_o/office/stapler/staple_remover/srsr001.jpg

They work well.

― (jacob) (ockle boc), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 16:09 (nineteen years ago)

Disused vs. unused

― M. White (Miguelito), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 16:39 (nineteen years ago)

Do you have to use the word "flaccid" often, Beth :(

Yes, but only in reference to my own ability to tear myself away from the computer.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 17:34 (nineteen years ago)

Why has jacob posted a picture of a staple remover?

― Alba (Alba), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 17:36 (nineteen years ago)

spitting image/spit and image - I'm not sure I've ever heard the latter, 'correct' version but then I have grown up in a post- rubber puppet world I guess.

― Archel (Archel), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 17:38 (nineteen years ago)

It's probably a bit like "all mouth and no trousers", which was once "all mouth and trousers".

― Alba (Alba), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 17:39 (nineteen years ago)

(and still is, in proper Yorkshire places, I think)

Spit and image vs. Spitting Image vs SPITTEN Image

― Alba (Alba), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 17:42 (nineteen years ago)

Spitten image makes sense. Also it sounds better than 'spunked image'.

― Archel (Archel), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 17:44 (nineteen years ago)

disgruntled vs ungruntled

― mark s (mark s), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 17:57 (nineteen years ago)

disgusted vs ungusted

― Alba (Alba), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 17:59 (nineteen years ago)

All mouth and no trousers sounds like an ideal night in.

― Markelby (Mark C), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 18:35 (nineteen years ago)

suddenly i'm ungruntled AND ungusted :0

― mark s (mark s), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 18:38 (nineteen years ago)

It's a most unturbing image.

― Alba (Alba), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 18:41 (nineteen years ago)

Cheaper than a hot dog with unmustard
I said your posts all soft and I'm ungusted

― Redd Scharlach (Ken L), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 18:42 (nineteen years ago)

I am glad that, after earlier attempts, by myself and others, to unravel the thread, it has raveled itself up again quite nicely.

― Redd Scharlach (Ken L), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 18:43 (nineteen years ago)

Is it time, yet, for someone to link to "How I Met My Wife"?

― Laurel (Laurel), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 18:49 (nineteen years ago)

I don't know. Not if it includes reference to Barry being fellated.

― Alba (Alba), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 18:55 (nineteen years ago)

unfellated vs disfellated

― mark s (mark s), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 19:02 (nineteen years ago)

It's a continuum.

― Alba (Alba), Wednesday, 1 March 2006 19:06 (nineteen years ago)

five months pass...
does anyone outside the u.s. northeast say "i was hysterical laughing" (as in "she told me this story last night and i was hysterical laughing")? it's not incorrect really, but it's a peculiar usage that i've only heard among white women of a certain age in new york and new jersey.

― rudy huxtable can't fail (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 4 August 2006 15:14 (nineteen years ago)

by that i mean working-class italian chicks in brooklyn.

― rudy huxtable can't fail (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 4 August 2006 15:22 (nineteen years ago)

OH MY GOD, JODY I raise that question all the time!!! My ex said it, he was from Rockland County (parents orig from Italian Bronx). And my Jewish boss from Rockland Cty says it, too. Normally it would drive me crazy but this phenomenon is so WEIRD I can only laugh (unhysterically).

― Laurel (Laurel), Friday, 4 August 2006 15:27 (nineteen years ago)

hahaha! no, it's definitely more widespread than just rockland county.

― rudy huxtable can't fail (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 4 August 2006 15:31 (nineteen years ago)

Hoi polloi upthread - winds me up when people say 'the hoi polloi' :(

― beanz (beanz), Friday, 4 August 2006 15:33 (nineteen years ago)

awesome

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Friday, 4 August 2006 15:36 (nineteen years ago)


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