than; then; and; an; advise; advice

[secular_mom]

I'm just curious, so please, don't take any offense. I see SO many women misuse these words on homeschooling message boards, and I'm wondering if it's just a VERY common typo, or if LOTS of people just don't know the difference?

 

Common mistakes I see: "If you can't find xyz, than try abc, an if that doesn't work than ask so-and-so for better advise about your problem."

 

:D

:auto:

Edited March 9, 2009 by secular_mom

[Aubrey]

I'm just curious, so please, don't take any offense. I see SO many women misuse these words on homeschooling message boards, and I'm wondering if it's just a VERY common typo, or if LOTS of people just don't know the difference?

 

Common mistakes I see: "If you can't find xyz, than try abc, an if that doesn't work than ask so-and-so for better advise about your problem."

 

:D

:auto:

 

I suspect it comes from hearing the words pronounced that way. Other examples of this are "sale" vs. "sell" and esp. cliches (because who even knows what most of them mean?). Apparently I'm brain-dead on any ex. of cliches that are misspelled, though. Anyway, I think it's the same thing--we hear the phrases said over & over but rarely come across them in print...well, at least not as much in a conversational tone, kwim? And they *sound* similar.

[Ellie]

It bugs the heck out of me. I see those mistakes everywhere. Did people not have Mrs. Engle in the fifth grade, who taught us the correct words and never let us misuse them???

[Pam "SFSOM" in TN]

I suspect it comes from hearing the words pronounced that way. Other examples of this are "sale" vs. "sell" and esp. cliches (because who even knows what most of them mean?). Apparently I'm brain-dead on any ex. of cliches that are misspelled, though. Anyway, I think it's the same thing--we hear the phrases said over & over but rarely come across them in print...well, at least not as much in a conversational tone, kwim? And they *sound* similar.

 

"Baited breath" (in place of the correct "bated breath") is one. Or you probably meant something like "voila!" or something.

 

Garrison Keilor says he had the opposite problem. Because he was a reader and not a talker, he carried around a whole collection of mispronounced words. I'm the same way, probably, to this day.

[Pam "SFSOM" in TN]

It bugs the heck out of me. I see those mistakes everywhere. Did people not have Mrs. Engle in the fifth grade, who taught us the correct words and never let us misuse them???

 

Pity the poor dyslexics, though. :-)

[SonshineLearner]

I always look twice at "there" instead of "their" or when people try to sound proper and misuse "I".

Carrie:-)

[kiana]

My friend (who's grading English at a university) says definately instead of definitely can lead to some amusing mistakes. The first word spellcheck suggests is 'defiantly' which results in papers where a student asserts 'I defiantly believe that ...'

 

And yeah, a lot of people I know were never taught the rules for when to use I/me, but just had 'and I' thumped into their heads so much at school that everything wants to go that way now.

[Guest Katia]

I'm just curious, so please, don't take any offense. I see SO many women misuse these words on homeschooling message boards, and I'm wondering if it's just a VERY common typo, or if LOTS of people just don't know the difference?

 

Common mistakes I see: "If you can't find xyz, than try abc, an if that doesn't work than ask so-and-so for better advise about your problem."

 

:D

:auto:

 

I'm not sure it's a common typo; I honestly think the people that type these errors are unaware of their mistakes. And yes, I also see it a lot on homeschooling boards.

 

And I agree with the poster that said it is perhaps the way people 'hear' them said...and so therefore think it is the correct usage. Although I can't remember them, I've also seen a lot of mistakes with common phrases; but I just giggle and move on. Everyone can't know everything.

[Karen FL]

Another common error is loose vs. lose. I see the same error at my job too.

[Punkinelly]

There are 2 that bug me, if anyone cares. LOL One is when people say "the reason why is because..." That is redundant. One needs only to say, "The reason is that..." "Why" and "because" are not needed there.

 

The other thing is so common that professional speakers and writers of all kinds make this mistake *all the time* and I fear it will become "correct." They will say, "Everyone needs to bring their books in today." "Everyone" is singular, so the word "their" should actually be "his." Is everyone afraid of saying "his"??? "Their" is plural.

 

His, his, his. See? I'm not afraid to say "his." :lol:

 

Thanks for letting me get that off of my chest.

 

Mary

[ElizabethB]

Garrison Keilor says he had the opposite problem. Because he was a reader and not a talker, he carried around a whole collection of mispronounced words. I'm the same way, probably, to this day.

 

Me, too!

 

Luckily, they are all words that don't come up in normal conversation, so I've never been found out.

 

The grammar thing jumps out at me, too. Even some well educated people who are good readers make these mistakes, but I've found that all of my remedial reading students make these mistakes, my online phonics lesson 31 explanation says the following:

 

QuickTime, 15 min, 4.1 mB Teaches: grammar (their, they're, there; it's, its; your, you're; two, too, to)

[Pam "SFSOM" in TN]

I'm not sure it's a common typo; I honestly think the people that type these errors are unaware of their mistakes. And yes, I also see it a lot on homeschooling boards.

 

And I agree with the poster that said it is perhaps the way people 'hear' them said...and so therefore think it is the correct usage. Although I can't remember them, I've also seen a lot of mistakes with common phrases; but I just giggle and move on. Everyone can't know everything.

 

I type quite fast, and I "hear" every word I'm typing in my head. So "two" sometimes comes out my fingers as "too" without a filter, there/their, etc. If I don't proofread, lord knows what I'll leave hanging out there for the world to see.

 

I do know better. Honest. But my fingers don't always.

[Nicole M]

I always look twice at "there" instead of "their" or when people try to sound proper and misuse "I".

Carrie:-)

 

Oh, sweet heavenly day! The "I" misuse drives me insane. I manage a performance space at a small college and I will never forget the message that read, "Will the harpsichord be available for Brandon and I's recital?" That type of thing happens all the time. I wonder if these kids are trying to drive their professors to drink.

[Nicole M]

Garrison Keilor says he had the opposite problem. Because he was a reader and not a talker, he carried around a whole collection of mispronounced words. I'm the same way, probably, to this day.

 

I love those, though, the mispronounced big words. Once my friend said to her sister, "Honey, I hate to DEE-ter you from using new words, but it's actually pronounced de-TER."

 

My son recently referred to Hobbes' book Levitation. And just yesterday my other son said, "Stop that internal racket!"

 

But I digress. You may return to the typo conversation now.

[Aubrey]

"Baited breath" (in place of the correct "bated breath") is one. Or you probably meant something like "voila!" or something.

 

Garrison Keilor says he had the opposite problem. Because he was a reader and not a talker, he carried around a whole collection of mispronounced words. I'm the same way, probably, to this day.

 

Yup. Baited breath. That cracks me up. And "defiantly" instead of "definitely." When the misspelling leads to different meaning, I really enjoy that.

 

Mispronunciation due to reading more than talking? Hmm...sounds like you've been eavesdropping on dh & me. He's started correcting my (already bad) pronunciation in the last yr or so. Makes me realize that...I don't actually know how a lot of stuff is *supposed* to sound, lol...just how *I* think it should sound.

 

Until I realized...most of the time, he doesn't know any better than I do. He just imagined something else in his head when he was reading! :lol:

 

Speaking of which, I have to know. Is it expats or expates? (Er...pronunciation, not spelling.) Until I have a solid sound to hear in my head, I'm going to have to avoid all those threads. :001_smile:

[Pam "SFSOM" in TN]

Speaking of which, I have to know. Is it expats or expates? (Er...pronunciation, not spelling.) Until I have a solid sound to hear in my head, I'm going to have to avoid all those threads. :001_smile:

 

Pats.

 

(Think repatriation.)

[Suzanne in ABQ]

I love those, though, the mispronounced big words. Once my friend said to her sister, "Honey, I hate to DEE-ter you from using new words, but it's actually pronounced de-TER."

 

That's so funny, 'cause that's almost exactly the word I mispronounced as a teen. Only, I was reading and came across "DET-er-mined" (with a long /I/). It was a long time, and several mispronunciations (in my head) before I figured out that I actually knew that word! :D

 

Oh! De-TER-mined! I get it!

[Ellie]

There are 2 that bug me, if anyone cares. LOL One is when people say "the reason why is because..." That is redundant. One needs only to say, "The reason is that..." "Why" and "because" are not needed there.

 

The other thing is so common that professional speakers and writers of all kinds make this mistake *all the time* and I fear it will become "correct." They will say, "Everyone needs to bring their books in today." "Everyone" is singular, so the word "their" should actually be "his." Is everyone afraid of saying "his"??? "Their" is plural.

 

His, his, his. See? I'm not afraid to say "his." :lol:

 

Thanks for letting me get that off of my chest.

 

Mary

We are kindred spirits, Mary. "The reason why is because" makes me especially crazy. :tongue_smilie:

[Ellie]

Pity the poor dyslexics, though. :-)

So true. :-)

 

When I taught in my little one-room school, I had several students who couldn't hear the difference between, say, "pin" and "pen." Not exactly the same as being dyslexic, but still...spelling class often involved big discussions and sometimes just the reminder when to use which word regardless of how the dc pronounced it.

[elbac]

"Baited breath" (in place of the correct "bated breath") is one. Or you probably meant something like "voila!" or something.

 

Garrison Keilor says he had the opposite problem. Because he was a reader and not a talker, he carried around a whole collection of mispronounced words. I'm the same way, probably, to this day.

 

I have the same problem. Thankfully the most recent of my finds is escaping memory, because it seriously gave me one of those "wow, I'm the biggest dork EVER!!" moments. All these years, and I never put two and two together that the word that I was hearing occasionally (it's not frequently used) was the same word I'd been mispronouncing - thankfully in my head, lol - when reading. :001_huh:

[katemary63]

This is too funny! I am a transplant from WI to AR.

 

Since I have come here, these are the mistakes I see and hear ALL THE TIME. They are clearly misunderstandings due to pronunciation. Many are routinely printed right in our local newspaper!

 

Are instead of our: "You can eat at the buffet are order an entree."

Pin instead of pen: "For sale, 60" round pin." (or dog pin)

Sale instead of sell: "I have a tractor I need to sale."

Steel instead of still: "It is so steel. There is no breeze."

 

I actually went to the bank drive up and asked to borrow a pen. The lady said, "WHAT?" THREE TIMES! I politely repeated, "My I borrow a pen? Three times. She says, "You want a sticker?" (My daughter was in the car.) Finally, I gestured with my hands like I was writing something. This is her response word for word. "OH my, you want a PIN! Girl, you talk so proper, I had no idea what you were say'in!"

 

I am quite certain that here in AR, most of the people who are making the above mistakes, have NO IDEA they are using the wrong word. It is the way they hear it and the word they always use in that circumstance.

 

Here is my favorite. Because of how they have always heard it said, some people here think that the table that sits at the end of your couch with a lamp on it is an "intable". I've actually seen this in print.

Edited March 9, 2009 by katemary63

[ElizabethB]

This is too funny! I am a transplant from WI to AR.

 

Since I have come here, these are the mistakes I see and hear ALL THE TIME. They are clearly misunderstandings due to pronunciation. Many are routinely printed right in our local newspaper!

 

Are instead of our: "You can eat at the buffet are order an entree."

Pin instead of pen: "For sale, 60" round pin." (or dog pin)

Sale instead of sell: "I have a tractor I need to sale."

Steel instead of still: "It is so steel. There is no breeze."

 

I actually went to the bank drive up and asked to borrow a pen. The lady said, "WHAT?" THREE TIMES! I politely repeated, "My I borrow a pen? Three times. She says, "You want a sticker?" (My daughter was in the car.) Finally, I gestured with my hands like I was writing something. This is her response word for word. "OH my, you want a PIN! Girl, you talk so proper, I had no idea what you were say'in!"

 

I am quite certain that here in AR, most of the people who are making the above mistakes, have NO IDEA they are using the wrong word. It is the way they hear it and the word they always use in that circumstance.

 

Here is my favorite. Because of how they have always heard it said, some people here think that the table that sits at the end of your couch with a lamp on it is an "intable". I've actually seen this in print.

 

Funny! I've run into some problems myself as a non-Arkansas native.

 

This is our 3rd assignment in Little Rock. Our first assignment, I had just started tutoring. My remedial reading students all guess wildly at words and often drop endings off of words (toy for toys, dress for dressing, fall for fallen, etc.), my first few Arkansas students, I thought they were guessing pin for pen and pen for pin, then I realized it was just a pronunciation issue! Also, those with a strong accent say "fixin for fixing," I was correcting them until I realized they were reading the whole word, that was just the way they pronounced it! Now, I just make sure they know there is a g there and let them pronounce it however they want. I do try to teach them the difference between short i and short e, but many cannot hear or say the difference.

[katemary63]

My remedial reading students all guess wildly at words and often drop endings off of words (toy for toys, dress for dressing, fall for fallen, etc.),

 

:lol: My MIL, born and raised in AR, as a matter of course, does NOT pronounce the last syllable of the last word in any sentence. When I met my DH, In IL, where his family had lived for 35 years, though you couldn't tell it by their speech patterns, I just couldn't figure out what she was saying. It took me forever to learn to use the context to finish the word. ( Sometimes it just wasn't obvious!) My DH says he just never noticed. HUH?? Then, when we came down here ( her home town) on our "honeymoon" :lol: I met all her siblings for the first time. Sure enough, they all do it too! Uncle Gub ( pronounced Gube :lol: ) even says, "Tedra" for my DH's name, which is Tedrick, IF it is the last work in a his sentence! WIERD!

 

MIL also interchanges plural for singular and visa versa. She says, 1 years and 2 year.

[Philothea]

When I see people make mistakes, I try to forget about them. They are easy to make with children tugging at you and other distractions.

[ElizabethB]

:lol: My MIL, born and raised in AR, as a matter of course, does NOT pronounce the last syllable of the last word in any sentence. When I met my DH, In IL, where his family had lived for 35 years, though you couldn't tell it by their speech patterns, I just couldn't figure out what she was saying. It took me forever to learn to use the context to finish the word. ( Sometimes it just wasn't obvious!) My DH says he just never noticed. HUH?? Then, when we came down here ( her home town) on our "honeymoon" :lol: I met all her siblings for the first time. Sure enough, they all do it too! Uncle Gub ( pronounced Gube :lol: ) even says, "Tedra" for my DH's name, which is Tedrick, IF it is the last work in a his sentence! WIERD!

 

MIL also interchanges plural for singular and visa versa. She says, 1 years and 2 year.

 

Yes, very weird!

 

I am glad I had 3 or 4 students from a state where the accent was not an issue (New Mexico, but I know enough Spanish to figure out the Spanish/English issues), or I would have taken years to separate out the Arkansas weirdness from the sight word induced weirdness! Also, since we're military, most of our friends are military, and even our neighbors didn't have strong accents, but many of my remedial students did.

 

It is very hard to understand when the last part of the word is chopped off. I can understand the horrible lisping Spanish that they speak in Spain and the Spanish from every other country except Cuba--they speak version of Spanish with the last part of every word chopped off. I actually find Italian easier to understand than Cuban, and I know maybe 20 Italian words (it's very similar to Spanish, however.)

[Bee]

I vote common typo.It isn't just hsing boards.I see all kinds of mistakes when people write or type.Sometimes I ignore it.Sometimes I laugh.No one should be discouraged from writing because they are afraid someone else is going to correct their grammar. I know I make mistakes but sometimes I don't bother to go back and re-read what I wrote before I hit "enter" and sometimes I don't want to be be bothered to look up the rule of grammar or spelling. Sometimes I want to write the way I talk because I just feel like doing it.

[MyThreeSons]

I see this mistake often as well:

 

when you lose something, you need to look for it, and when your dog gets loose, you may need to look for it, but they're not the same.

[MyThreeSons]

I do try to teach them the difference between short i and short e, but many cannot hear or say the difference.

 

A couple of years ago, one of the big churches here had a pre-Easter ad on the television. The voice-over said, "Lint is not just something you pick off your sweater. It's an important time in the church year."

 

I thought it was hilarious, but when I told others about it, I received blank looks in return.

[MyThreeSons]

It bugs the heck out of me. I see those mistakes everywhere. Did people not have Mrs. Engle in the fifth grade, who taught us the correct words and never let us misuse them???

 

I didn't have Mrs. Engle; my Dad was a technical editor and writer. He was also very particular about how we spoke. To this day, I don't say "I screwed up" when I make a mistake, because that's not proper.

[MyThreeSons]

And I agree with the poster that said it is perhaps the way people 'hear' them said...and so therefore think it is the correct usage. Although I can't remember them, I've also seen a lot of mistakes with common phrases; but I just giggle and move on. Everyone can't know everything.

 

I think this is one where the mistake comes from the hearing:

 

If I could of done it differently, I would of. It should read "If I could've done it differently, I would've." Better yet, "If I could have done it differently, I would have."

[Paz]

I know that both of my kids use than and then interchangably. My 19 year old ds did this the other day as I was editing a paper he had to turn in. I explained the difference to him again. For my dc's I always thought it was because they needed tubes in their ears early on so the didn't hear the slight difference in sound between the a and the e in those words so they have difficulty distinguishing which one is correct. As an English major this drives me crazy when they make that mistake. I don't really notice it much on the boards here though. Probably because I am usually so tired when I read these boards that I'm making enough errors of my own. :lol:

[katemary63]

A couple of years ago, one of the big churches here had a pre-Easter ad on the television. The voice-over said, "Lint is not just something you pick off your sweater. It's an important time in the church year."

 

I thought it was hilarious, but when I told others about it, I received blank looks in return.

 

:lol::lol: This kills me! The blank stare I mean! The person who wrote that ad and the people who "got" is, have NO IDEA they are using the wrong words.

 

My VETERINARIAN posts on a horse forum and always types "are" instead of "or". Now, how do you get through vet school like that???

[katemary63]

I think this is one where the mistake comes from the hearing:

 

If I could of done it differently, I would of. It should read "If I could've done it differently, I would've." Better yet, "If I could have done it differently, I would have."

 

Yeah, I SEE this ALL THE TIME in our local paper - in print, written by paid writers.

[Parrothead]

Well, I'm probably one that uses than/then incorrectly. Until I read this thread I thought the only difference was a regional pronunciation. Now I know then=when.

[Pam "SFSOM" in TN]

 

I am quite certain that here in AR, most of the people who are making the above mistakes, have NO IDEA they are using the wrong word. It is the way they hear it and the word they always use in that circumstance.

 

Here is my favorite. Because of how they have always heard it said, some people here think that the table that sits at the end of your couch with a lamp on it is an "intable". I've actually seen this in print.

 

A "chester drawers" was my favorite when growing up. I really thought, like a Duncan Phyfe table, that there was a piece of furniture named for somebody named Chester. :001_huh: :lol:

 

Another regionalism that I love is "Arsh tater." Irish potato, aka white potato. And "play purty," which is a toy, or "play pretty." "Purtinyear" is "pretty near," for "nearly" as in "He's purtinyear" done, I reckon." And "commencin' to" which is interchangable with the infamous "a'fixin' to." "Did you see that youngin? He's was a'commencin' ta stuff them Arsh taters up his nose." And "I reckon." "Eh, law, I reckon it's the carboretor. *sigh*"

 

And I was in my twenties before I could hear the difference in "pen" and "pin" and "can" and "kin." I remember standing in speech class and having the professor patiently repeat the words and just being baffled. I still pronounce them incorrectly when I'm in a hurry. And "agin" for "again."

[WTMindy]

I type quite fast, and I "hear" every word I'm typing in my head. So "two" sometimes comes out my fingers as "too" without a filter, there/their, etc. If I don't proofread, lord knows what I'll leave hanging out there for the world to see.

 

I do know better. Honest. But my fingers don't always.

 

Yup! That is the case with me too. Sometimes I read back over something that I submitted and I'm horrified to realize that I used the wrong "here/hear" or something ridiculous like that. I really do know the difference, but my brain moves on high speed auto pilot when I'm typing and I don't usually take the time to proof read. That goodness for the edit feature on this board, eh?!?

[Ellie]

When I see people make mistakes, I try to forget about them. They are easy to make with children tugging at you and other distractions.

It might be easy for a busy mother, but when it's your church's bulletin, or a professionally produced sign in a place of business, that's a whole different story, lol.

[Pam "SFSOM" in TN]

It might be easy for a busy mother, but when it's your church's bulletin, or a professionally produced sign in a place of business, that's a whole different story, lol.

 

Yabbut you know, I'd hate for people to be scared away from posting here. That's what's behind all my "well, we're only human" talk.

 

Although "there is no 'is because'" and "people are not 'whiches'" are truly maxims to live by. LOL ("Are truly maxims by which to live," if you want to be very pure.)

[Punkinelly]

I hope no one is offended by these and afraid to post. It's all in good fun, and I make mistakes, too, even the same ones I have mentioned. LOL

 

So, may I ask a question about pronunciation?

 

I am from the northern panhandle of WV, not far from Pittsburgh, so many say I sound like I am from Pittsburgh. That said, I now live in northeast Indiana. There is a pronunciation I keep hearing here that I wonder about. Is it regional? Here is an example. Instead of saying "getting," they say, "getteen." The "ing" is changed to "een." The weather lady says, This eveneen, it'll be raineen."

 

Argh! I hear this often. I don't get it. I suppose they do not even hear themselves saying it.

 

Now, if my friend does not stop saying "dinnit" for didn't, I might scream. LOL Her kids say it now, so I wonder how that works with teaching phonics. :blink:

[cougarmom4]

Out here in Utah, people pronounce the 'ing' very distinctly...I guess I'm used to the 'eveneen' and 'raineen' rather than 'eveninG' and 'raininG' (with a hard g). It drives my husband crazy. I've just assumed it's a regional thing and not necessarily a correct/incorrect pronunciation, but maybe I'm wrong.

[Punkinelly]

Out here in Utah, people pronounce the 'ing' very distinctly...I guess I'm used to the 'eveneen' and 'raineen' rather than 'eveninG' and 'raininG' (with a hard g). It drives my husband crazy. I've just assumed it's a regional thing and not necessarily a correct/incorrect pronunciation, but maybe I'm wrong.

 

It does sound regional, doesn't it? I've not heard it before, yet most people here seem to say it. Knowing that actually makes it easier to take because I know they are not just being lazy. LOL

[MamaT]

I grew up in the South, and there are SO many words that are mispronounced. We were thinking about naming our first child Sarah if it happened to be a girl - until I heard my mil say the name. She pronounced it Say-rey. I'm glad it was a boy.

 

My second son was a big reader and he could read words, know what they meant, but if he tried to say them - he put the em-PHA-sis on the wrong Syl-LA-ble. He had been through many years of Latin and seemed to put the emphasis on the second syllable. Like the time he asked for a pair of A-DI-das tennis shoes. We still tease him.

[Barb_]

"Baited breath" (in place of the correct "bated breath") is one. Or you probably meant something like "voila!" or something.

 

Garrison Keilor says he had the opposite problem. Because he was a reader and not a talker, he carried around a whole collection of mispronounced words. I'm the same way, probably, to this day.

 

Me too...although I'll admit I've never seen 'bated breath' in print. Learn something new every day.

 

Barb

[katemary63]

I love the "ing" into "een" thing. That is something I have never noticed or heard before - ever. I guess it's only "wrong" if you spell it wrong! I do wonder how people teach phonics with such heavy accents. There are a few words I had to teach my daughter that sounded out differently then the way WE say them JUST because of our regional pronunciation - but not very many. 2 or 3??

 

I am dying to know how the PS teachers do it? I've never been in a primary classroom here and really, I'm so curious. For instance, very few vowels or vowel/ consonant combinations are pronounced the way....say...abeka clue words are used.

 

EX:

 

long i in bake, here they say "bike"

short e in pen, here they say "pin"

ay in pray, here they say something close to "pry" or even "prah"

er in verse, here they say "varse"

ir in Bird, here they say "Bard"

ur in nurse, here they say "narse"

oi in oil, here they say "awl"

short i in still, here they say steel. "Pill" would be "peel"

short o in on , here they say awn, mom is "mawm"

 

There is little or no distinction between the sounds of many words that are not traditionally considered homophones. (bake/ bike, still/ steel, pill/ peel, pray/pry, war/ wire/ were, oil/ awl, and of course pin/ pen)

The fact is, that if a teacher here spoke in her classroom the way the Abeka phonics clue words are used, the class would not understand her. So, would she just say:

"ar in varse" when she was reading "er in verse" etc.?

And would the teacher who says "runneen" say

"een" in "runneen" when they were reading "ing in running"?

I can see bringing up regional differences if there were just a FEW but here, it is ALL different. How do you explain it to the kids?

 

 

And to top it all off, here is a funny story about people from different regions of the US. I went camping on a 4-H trip w/ my kids. There were several other 4-H families that we did not know. Early in the morning, a woman came out of her tent and we started chatting, getting to know each other. She said that Dawn was still sleeping. Dawn liked to fish. Dawn this and Dawn that. 30 minutes later, Dawn came out of the tent. He was very large, hairy and had a pot belly! I laughed so hard I almost peed my pants. I thought Dawn was her daughter. But no, "DON" was her husband!

 

I know this is all off topic from the original thread, sorry.:D:D

Edited March 9, 2009 by katemary63

[Barb_]

A "chester drawers" was my favorite when growing up. I really thought, like a Duncan Phyfe table, that there was a piece of furniture named for somebody named Chester. :001_huh: :lol:

 

Another regionalism that I love is "Arsh tater." Irish potato, aka white potato. And "play purty," which is a toy, or "play pretty." "Purtinyear" is "pretty near," for "nearly" as in "He's purtinyear" done, I reckon." And "commencin' to" which is interchangable with the infamous "a'fixin' to." "Did you see that youngin? He's was a'commencin' ta stuff them Arsh taters up his nose." And "I reckon." "Eh, law, I reckon it's the carboretor. *sigh*"

 

And I was in my twenties before I could hear the difference in "pen" and "pin" and "can" and "kin." I remember standing in speech class and having the professor patiently repeat the words and just being baffled. I still pronounce them incorrectly when I'm in a hurry. And "agin" for "again."

 

Pam, where DID you grow up? You are channeling my great-g'ma. She died when I was 17. She was a mountain hillbilly girl through and through, so although I was born and raised in Ft. Lauderdale, I'm fluent in hillbilly speak. You put a lump in my throat with the above post.

 

What about "terreckly?" As in, "I'm aimin' to head up yonder terreckly..."

 

Barb

[Punkinelly]

And to top it all off, here is a funny story about people from different regions of the US. I went camping on a 4-H trip w/ my kids. There were several other 4-H families that we did not know. Early in the morning, a woman came out of her tent and we started chatting, getting to know each other. She said that Dawn was still sleeping. Dawn liked to fish. Dawn this and Dawn that. 30 minutes later, Dawn came out of the tent. He was very large, hairy and had a pot belly! I laughed so hard I almost peed my pants. I thought Dawn was her daughter. But no, "DON" was her husband!

 

I know this is all off topic from the original thread, sorry.:D:D

 

I like where this thread is going. LOL It is quite entertaining, imho.

Edited March 9, 2009 by Punkinelly

[Punkinelly]

And to top it all off, here is a funny story about people from different regions of the US. I went camping on a 4-H trip w/ my kids. There were several other 4-H families that we did not know. Early in the morning, a woman came out of her tent and we started chatting, getting to know each other. She said that Dawn was still sleeping. Dawn liked to fish. Dawn this and Dawn that. 30 minutes later, Dawn came out of the tent. He was very large, hairy and had a pot belly! I laughed so hard I almost peed my pants. I thought Dawn was her daughter. But no, "DON" was her husband!

 

I know this is all off topic from the original thread, sorry.:D:D

 

 

I wonder, too, how phonics is taught under those circumstances. Really, just curious, not criticizing. I tried to ask that of a lady who said, "acktopus" instead of "octopus" and she was quite confused at my question. LOL

 

Now, I would like to know how you pronounce "Dawn" differently than "Don." Where I come from, they are the same, so if I am wrong, please help me with that. When I was a kid, my pastor made fun of me for that thing exactly and I never did get it. LOL I pronounce them both "Don."

[elegantlion]

Now, I would like to know how you pronounce "Dawn" differently than "Don." Where I come from, they are the same, so if I am wrong, please help me with that. When I was a kid, my pastor made fun of me for that thing exactly and I never did get it. LOL I pronounce them both "Don."

 

 

Here's something I found about regional differences. It explains some of the Don/Dawn differences, although I tend to hear them the same way.

 

http://www.pbs.org/speak/ahead/change/changin/summary/

[Punkinelly]

Now, I would like to know how you pronounce "Dawn" differently than "Don." Where I come from, they are the same, so if I am wrong, please help me with that. When I was a kid, my pastor made fun of me for that thing exactly and I never did get it. LOL I pronounce them both "Don."

 

 

Here's something I found about regional differences. It explains some of the Don/Dawn differences, although I tend to hear them the same way.

 

http://www.pbs.org/speak/ahead/change/changin/summary/

 

Ohh, I see. It would be weird for me to say "Dawn" that way. LOL That site explained a lot. Thanks for posting it. I love the topic of linguistics.

Thanks for posting the link.

[katemary63]

Now, I would like to know how you pronounce "Dawn" differently than "Don." Where I come from, they are the same, so if I am wrong, please help me with that. When I was a kid, my pastor made fun of me for that thing exactly and I never did get it. LOL I pronounce them both "Don."

 

:lol::lol::lol: That is SO funny! Well, here goes. Where I come from ( not saying it's right or wrong!) we say Don with a short o like on, John and baton with the same vowel sound as bother, cot and father. Dawn rhymes with lawn or fawn or pawn with the same vowel sound as saw, all or caught.

 

Well, as I sit here at my desk, there is a copy of Merriam-Webster's Rhyming Dictionary. I opened it up to -ON. There are several possible ways that -ON can be pronounced. They list Don under pronunciation #1 ALONG WITH dawn, both with the vowel sound in father, cot or bother. Under pronunciation #3, they list dawn, (but not Don) having the vowel sound in all or saw or caught.

 

So, apparently, according to Webster, you can pronounce Don like Dawn IF you say them both like father. But you can NOT pronounce Don like Dawn if you say Dawn with the vowel sound of caught or all! Follow me??:lol::lol:

 

This is funny and now I am confused. :D