Mispronunciation at the BBC. Whatever next!

I like regional accents on TV too, but I did chuckle when I heard a business presenter say the other day that there was "trooble in't boardroom..."

Has anyone noticed that, as the 2012 Olympics, approaches a new type of athlete has appeared – the cheater. I heard this twice on the BBC news on the day the torch was lit.

Thinking about sport, I should like to know where Wemberley is. Perhaps someone from the London Assemberly (both heard frequently on the BBC) could tell me.

I think "skellington" is often used in a tongue-in-cheek way. I remember it from the old music hall song, 'A Mother's Lament', recorded in the 60s by Cream - these are the lyrics only:

lyricsplayground.com/alpha/songs/y/yourbabyhasgonedowntheplughole.shtml

I agree, nelliemoser. Most regional accents are fine so long as people articulate.

I love "skellington". It has a humourous appeal. Or do I mean humerus?

Why do some people say "marshmEllow" for "marshmallow? Is it an English usage as I never heard it when I lived in Scotland. I am also hugely amused by "skellington"

Its not so much pronunciation that I get angry about. I dont get too hung up on grammer unless it renders what is being said as ambigous. I can cope with local accents providing people sound the consonants in the words. Without these language is reduced to incomprenhensible vowel sounds. Its usually younger people who do this. "Is that known as estuary english"

I do not want a return to the oh so posh BBC english of the 1960s. But people could speak more clearly. There is a lady on Radio 4 gardeners question time who has a strong Lancashire accent but she is intelligible as she sounds the consonants.
An example of speakers with poor clarity the young girls who deliver news updates on BBC televison on the early evening. They appear to have been given a brief to sound trendy.
Or I suppose I could go for a hearing test.

Wot me?

jeni! Behave!

Probationer teachers in her class?
Good grief, are they that bad they have to go all the way back to primary school? [shakes head]

My particular pet hate is the way presenters and radio broadcasters put the stress in the wrong place and leave great gaps in their speech where there should be words. I can't think of an example just now but it happens all the time and other Gransnetters must have noticed it!
My friend works in a Primary School up here in Scotland and she sometimes has probationer teachers in her class. She has lost count of the number of times they use incorrect grammar without thinking, e.g.
'I've just went to the shops', and 'I done that last night too'. This is endemic where I live and I just think that sooner or later it will be the form that the majority use. They don't realise that they are using the incorrect form of the verb - we doubt that some of them know what a verb is - and consequently the children in their classes are not being picked up on their mistakes.

Exma instead of eczema drives me mad

A reporter on the news this morning (think it was BBC but could have been Sky!) referred to the Olympic 'atherletes'...

Grrr - I should have closed the apostrophe in 'Thank-ee' - like that!

Re the OP. Pronunciation is affected by fashion, as most things are. It's currently fashionable to pronounce 'oo' (short) as 'i', so that, to my ear, 'good' sounds like 'gid'. Similarly, 'oo' (long) is pronounced as 'ee', so that 'food' sounds like 'feed' (slightly exaggerated in both cases, but it gives you an idea).

The modern pronunciation of 'Thank you' sounds like 'Thank yee'; which reminds me of the very old-fashioned 'Thank-'ee, so perhaps that particular wheel has come full circle!

My particular wince-makers are: liquorish, eye-dyllic, and anythink/somethink/nothink.

I am fascinated by the way people speak, so I apologise if I'm coming over all pedantic and earnest!

It will warp (morph?) into a 'use' rather than a 'misuse' in time, just as previous linguistic changes have.

You can see the progression: could have > could've> could of. Teachers should be correcting these misuses, but clearly they aren't.

I get quite spitty with annoyance when newsreaders, commentators and politicians talk about meeting targets. You don't meet targets – you hit them. And you don't fail to meet a target – you miss it.

I'm also fed up with politicians taking decisions. They make decisions – whether they're tough or not.

I agree with Greatnan's point - the last Labour Government sounded as though it was full of Essex lads as they all enthusiastically affected glottal stops. I notice Ed Balls has toned his down considerably now he's in opposition!

Ha! Ha! blame the Americans for everything. Priceless!

Oh, I agree, pigeon, it's down to bad teaching, which is exactly why the young people saying 'could of' can't be blamed and why we have to put up with it. Presumably the parents didn't know the correct version either, or are parents who correct bad grammar in a minority?

I think they probably are.

Bags, I love regional accents but I don't think 'should of' is a regional thing. I just think it's a corruption of grammar that's happened due to poor teaching and parental standards. I've even seen it written as well as said.

Greatnan, actually I really do blame the Americans for everthing - I was just trying to sound reasonable.

Oh and I hate it when people call chips, fries. Not that I ever frequent fast food establishments of course. Nasty, unhealthy places (drool)

Oh, go on, Pigeon, do blame the Americans for everything - I will back you up! I think a lot of young people try to speak like Afro-Caribbeans because they think it is 'cool'.
It is much more annoying to me when ex-public school boys, like Blair, patronise the 'masses' by trying to speak like us. Much as I dislike Cameron et al, at least he seems to retain his normal way of speaking.

Ignorance, sadly, is an excuse, or reason, if you prefer. If you don't know 'could of' is wrong, how can you be blamed for saying it, especially when everyone around you does too?

People learn to speak by listening to and copying the speech and expressions of the people around them. An easy example of this is the acquirement of accents. My eldest two daughters were born in Scotland. When we moved to Oxford they gradually lost their Scottish accents and now sound merely English (I don't think anyone could 'place' them in a particular region of England though). Youngest child was born in Oxford and was picking up Oxfordshire ways of speaking until we moved back to Scotland. Six years on, she has a mild Scottish accent and no trace of Oxfordshire.

It's the same with diction and grammar and always has been. I agree that wrong things and some new things can be irritating, but I think one just has to shrug and accept it.

I do correct youngest DD's grammar and pronunciation, the latter usually because she has read a word before she has heard it spoken and, with English, how would one know!? She says I'm like Hermione Grainger.

Oh don't get me started on this topic!!

Has anyone else experienced 'should of' or 'would of' instead of 'should have 'etc ? There is just no excuse for this at all. It makes my blood boil.

And (this is slightly off subject) I hate it when people say 'spitting feathers' to describe being angry. As far as I'm concerned this expression means that you are thirsty, not angry. What they really mean is 'spitting fire and brimstone'.

And why have peple started asking for 'regular' servings of things (coffee usually) instead of standard or even small.

I blame the Americans (not for everything of course, just this specific thing).

I know we have to accept change, and accept that what grates on our ears sounds normal to others - but it is still damn irritating. Regarding the illogical use of 'innit', I tell myself it is just a new usage, which gives us the equivalent of the French n'est-ce pas or the German nicht wahr, but I still can't stand it, any more than 'haitch', or using 'decimated' to mean almost destroyed instead of 10% destroyed, or saying 'so-and so and I' when it should be 'and me', or 'could of' instead of 'could have'.......the list of linguistic irritants goes on!

What really bothers me is that these changes come from ignorance of how our language works. I love other changes, which are quite clever, such as the new use of 'mouse;. I think it is a lovely logical use of an old word to describe a bit of modern technology. Expressions such as 'snail mail' are great - so very logical.

But ignorance of our language is NOT bliss, well, not for me anyway!