The Official Henry Higgins Thread

[Sharnita]

Pronouncing the s in Illinois.

[Brentwood]

Pronouncing the s in Illinois.

Oh! That reminds me. There is no "z" in Boise. It's pronounced BOY-see, not BOY-zee.

[debster79]

This particular spelling error just drives me crazy and I see it all the time:  "naval" instead of "navel". 

It's especially jarring when I'm in the midst of reading a love scene and suddenly the armed forces is involved?

[arkzak]

I don't think this is common at all, but I know someone who is overly fond of the made-up word "fastivious". She was describing someone as such and I was loath to correct her, so I did what I thought was the polite way to bring it up and used it in another sentence later, as "fastidious". (It's rather hard to just drop fastidious into a conversation and make it look innocent, I can tell you!).  I had to bite my tongue when I was immediately corrected in a very smug manner... grr.

I must agree with those who hate the use of "I axed her" - sounds rather homicidal. Don't get me started on their/they're/there and abused apostrophes. I frequent various boards on the net, one of which is geared towards people a little younger than I am, and every so often I have to just leave it for a while as the language butchery gets too painful to read. I think the latest reason for my running away screaming was the person who was misspelling "his" as "he's". Egads.

[Chonsil]

when it's just my husband and I (okay, now having serious crisis with you all reading this and wondering if I have that right)[/i

Break it down.  Would you say "when it's just I" or "when it's just me"?  [The answer is "me" ]

Aaaah! Well, thank you. I will try to remember this way of keeping things straight!

[Chonsil]

The word is sherbet.

Well I always thought it was sherbet too, but then I started looking it up, and all these dictionary sites say that sherbert is acceptable too. So perhaps this is one of those things that has come to be accepted through common misusage?.....Or do I put this info down to rather dodgy online dictionary resources?.....

[Brentwood]

The word is sherbet.

Well I always thought it was sherbet too, but then I started looking it up, and all these dictionary sites say that sherbert is acceptable too. So perhaps this is one of those things that has come to be accepted through common misusage?.....Or do I put this info down to rather dodgy online dictionary resources?.....

Dictionaries often include nonstandard spellings/pronunciations that are in common usage. This one wouldn't surprise me - people have been using "sherbert" since before I was born.

[Chartreuse]

The word is ANYWAY.  "ANYWAYS" makes you sound like an idiot.  G'aaaaaah!

[Scritzy]

The word is ANYWAY.  "ANYWAYS" makes you sound like an idiot.  G'aaaaaah!

I don't like "anyhoo" either. My blessed MIL used to say it and it would drive me nuts. Especially annoying is the way my sister writes it in e-mails: "Any who, everything is hunky dunkie" — which should be hunky-dory, if you want to use that term. I don't like it because the goons in my fifth-grade class used to say hunky-******* instead. (I don't know if the deleted word will get past the filter or not. It's the name of a Green Day album).

[Venus193]

"Any who, everything is hunky dunkie" — which should be hunky-dory, if you want to use that term.

For the record, I absolutely hate nonsense words.  They sound very childish and unintelligent.

[mathchick]

All fabulous examples.  Perhaps this thread should be called the Henry Higgins Academy.   Here's one from my past, used by an office manager [shudders]: 

"Don't axe me about that; I can't get pacific about it."

Obviously the correct word is "specific."

Perhaps she is violently opposed to that subject.

[mathchick]

And "orientated." It's ORIENTED

This is very common in Australia. I'm used to it now but it drove me crazy when I moved here.

I hate "I feel badly". It's "I feel bad." You should be using the adjective, not the adverb.

Feeling bad indicates an illness.  Feeling badly indicates a fingertip disorder.

[mathchick]

Misuse of apostrophes!!!!!!! I could write a book about that particular peeve of mine.

Yes!  When did apostrophes begin to mean, "Look out! Here comes an s!"?

[Pixie]

That reminds me of something funny one of my mom's friends told me once...she went on a date with a guy to a restaurant, and he asked her if she wanted some "Hor durveys."

Or, as Archie Bunker called them.....horse ovaries.

My family has called them that for years.... we actually have one recipe we named Horse ovaries  just because we couldn't come up with a better name.

[TangyBBQ]

I cannot stand it when tv sport commentators say dayboo, instead of debut.  When will they learn?!?