Bad Language Part Two

It's nice to see a bit of response to my last post, I'd begun to wonder if anyone was still reading my contributions to the blogosphere.

There's a few more words to add to my Bad Language list.

Thanks Pop for reminding me about good old
12. "vunerable", a venerable contribution to the list for sure. Where the "L" does the "L" disappear to? (There is a private joke between my dad and I dating back over twenty years on the subject of the word vulnerable).

I remembered the next day a couple that are regularly heard, on radio and TV and in the real world:

13. Simily and its brethren, Particuly and Reguly. People plain refuse to use the "lar" that should come before the "ly". I admit it can make the words a little more clumsy to pronounce, but the absence of the "lar" "lar" "lar"s turns the words into non-words. I regularly hear particularly said wrongly, and similarly similarly is abused as well.

14. There is a whole raft of words ending in "er" which are almost universally mispronounced in Australia. Ponda, Rememba, Gardna, Amba, Mista, Wonda etc etc, the list goes on and on. I'm not claiming immunity on this one, I hear myself do it all the time. Perhaps if Australia had been spelt Australier it might have been a better influence on our speech?

15. Noi. One that I never used to notice until pointed out to me by an American friend and that is now reaching epidemic proportions is Noi, the nasally negative which ought to be pronounced "no". Kiwis are often made fun of for their funny way of pronouncing "i" words, fush n chups being the common cannon fodder, but Aussies are just as guilty of butchering their "iii"s, replacing them with "oi"s. It is more an issue of accent and dialect than ignorance or laziness in this particular case I think but "Oi've lost count of the toimes oi've heard footy commentators descoibing a player as loining up for a shot at goal."

16. Medcine. This one surprises me and I often think I detect an English influence in the mispronunciation of "medicine", clearly a three syllabled word but often shrunk to two. James Lush on ABC radio does it all the time.

17. Enviroment. More subtle than most but many people drop the "n" that belongs between the "o" and the "m". We need to take more care of the "environment" in my view.


The list is not exhaustive or complete, feel free to keep suggesting additions via comments.

Before I finish I'll just share a classified ad in this week's local paper that caught my attention:

LOST: Dad's camera, Fuji Finepix S5700, with bag, Broadwater area. Need it ASAP before Dad finds out. Please contact Busselton police.