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For Sell and I will sale this for $. Is this error just a Southern thing?


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I don't think we have that particular one around here as a swap like that, but there IS a local dialect that has the "long a" sound pronounced as a "short e", as in those things on the ends of your fingers are called "fingernells". Because of this a lot of people do pronounce "sale" as "sell", so things at the store sometimes are said to "go on sell". But most people here SPELL it right, they just SAY it wrong. And I don't think I've heard anyone use the "I will sale this" variation. The "short u" sound also gets the same treatment, as in "steady" and "study" are pronounced almost exactly the same--sort of somewhere between an eh and an uh. Oh, and "or" gets pronounced "ar" by locals, and often vice versa. Makes me cringe sometimes.

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Being from the south, this thread bothers me. I'm not an uneducated hillbilly just because I was born in tn!

 

 

I don't think that's the way it was meant... at least not by me. I was born in TN and all my family lives here as well. My own sister writes sale instead of sell and it drives me nuts.

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I am somewhat comforted to know that this error is an issue of education and not locale. I never thought about pronunciation contributing to the error, but in fact, it does make sense. Many of my friends here pronounce email as "e-mell" and they will go to the mill, "meal."

 

I've been on Craigslist a great deal lately and it has really stuck out, along with chester drawers and chase lounge. :D

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I've been on Craigslist a great deal lately and it has really stuck out, along with chester drawers and chase lounge. :D

 

Someone on FB posted recently looking for their lost "Chiwawa." I thought it was a new kind of dog (mix) until I said it out loud in my head -- then I realized it was lazy spelling. LOL.

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I am somewhat comforted to know that this error is an issue of education and not locale. I never thought about pronunciation contributing to the error, but in fact, it does make sense. Many of my friends here pronounce email as "e-mell" and they will go to the mill, "meal."

 

I've been on Craigslist a great deal lately and it has really stuck out, along with chester drawers and chase lounge. :D

 

:lol: My favorite term on CL is "slay bed"....I mean really? Do we use a bed to kill someone? People should really look these things up since they are actually using a computer to post them.

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:lol: My favorite term on CL is "slay bed"....I mean really? Do we use a bed to kill someone? People should really look these things up since they are actually using a computer to post them.

 

Well....there is Procrustes....he had a "slay bed"

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:lol: My favorite term on CL is "slay bed"....I mean really? Do we use a bed to kill someone? People should really look these things up since they are actually using a computer to post them.

 

 

Spade for spayed is a popular on on the local CL. And the ever popular loose for lose. And Dotson for Dachshund. :D

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Actually, I'm pretty sure that's how they do it in Quebec. (8$)

 

Umm, yeah, but I see it on things for sell in the Midwest.

 

Okay, I know, entirely toooo cheesy. :lol:

Edited by jadedone80
a little too sassy
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I didn't mean it like that... I just never saw people confuse the two until I moved to TN. I just assumed it's because the two words are said the same and people just don't realize they're spelling it wrong.

 

Same. We lived in a VERY tiny town in TN and I'm telling you the newspaper made for a great grammar lesson. ;)

 

Not EVERYONE in TN or the South speaks that way, but I will say that's where I first noticed it. However, I know someone from OK, MI, & CA who also use the words poorly as well as other words {done did, etc.} and it drives me BATTY.

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I'm from the South, and never confused the two even though I have always heard them pronounced the same. My mother has a very Southern accent, but she doesn't make grammar and spelling mistakes. Ignorance and carelessness can exist anywhere; having lived overseas in quite a few countries, as well as in several regions of the U.S., I've seen some form of these kinds of mistakes everywhere I have lived.

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I think it's a southern thing... it drives me crazy too.

 

I think it stems from the fact that 'sell' and 'sale' sound the same with most southern accents.

You mean there is a difference in the way that they sound? I'm from the South...I know how to use both words correctly, but I have always thought that they were homophones...

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You mean there is a difference in the way that they sound? I'm from the South...I know how to use both words correctly, but I have always thought that they were homophones...

 

Sale rhymes with ale

Sell rhymes with bell

 

I've lived in the south most of my life, and many of the regional accents pronounce them the same.

 

As a born and bred southerner, I'd like to say not all southern accents sound alike. Louisiana is a different accent from Georgia and they both sound different from Kentucky. I can't stand watching a movie about the South and listening to the muddled accents. Get it right guys!

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Uhh, yeah, must be a southern thing because we all know that people from the South have no idea how to speak well or use grammar correctly:confused:

 

yep. I get your sarcasm.

 

I'm from the deep South and NO one in our circle speaks like that. But here in the midwest I hear "we wuz" and "I'm out TO so and so's" instead of "I'm at." Really?

 

Bad grammar makes me cringe, but I wouldn't go so far as to comment on it unless I felt the need to defend my Southern heritage.

Edited by Remudamom
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Sale rhymes with ale

Sell rhymes with bell

 

I've lived in the south most of my life, and many of the regional accents pronounce them the same.

 

 

Oh...kay...So, I'm guessing that ale, sale, bell and sell don't all rhyme then?

 

Even though I've never heard them pronounced differently. But then again, I'm Hard of hearing, possibly have Menieres disease, so I miss-hear things all. the. time. Meantime sounds like meemtime to me. I just KNOW the difference...

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Oh...kay...So, I'm guessing that ale, sale, bell and sell don't all rhyme then?

 

Even though I've never heard them pronounced differently. But then again, I'm Hard of hearing, possibly have Menieres disease, so I miss-hear things all. the. time. Meantime sounds like meemtime to me. I just KNOW the difference...

 

No, they don't all rhyme. :)

 

sale/ale have a long a sound like ape

sell/bell have a short e sound like elephant

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i'm in the south. i don't believe it's a southern thaang because i don't recall seeing that mistake - (or maybe i just don't buy enough, lol). all regions are flawed though. i'm from the north, live in the south, and have also lived out west. believe me. each place breeds intellectual ignorance.

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I really think the "Is this a southern thing?" is not so much because "Southerners are uneducated" but because people are more likely to confuse words if they sound alike, and they sound more alike in the south.

 

I usta see people write "usta" instead of "used to" in Wisconsin sometimes. (it's a long u) -- it's said that way and so someone who's writing phonetically will spell it that way.

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I really think the "Is this a southern thing?" is not so much because "Southerners are uneducated" but because people are more likely to confuse words if they sound alike, and they sound more alike in the south.

 

I usta see people write "usta" instead of "used to" in Wisconsin sometimes. (it's a long u) -- it's said that way and so someone who's writing phonetically will spell it that way.

 

That's a possibility, I've seen signs in the south for "Farwood for Sale" too.

 

So I guess it could be ignorance combined with a southern accent. I'm sure there's plenty of that up north too, but with different words!

 

Here's one that's universal: "duck tape" lol

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