Fustrating, Frustrating; Supposably, Supposedly
Nov 2nd, 2006 by dank
Is it just me, or is it really really annoying when people say words wrong? It’s not just that they are mispronouncing the words, they actually don’t know that the letters that make up the word are different than the way they are saying them.
Take for example the word frustrating, or frustrated, or whatever form of the word you want to use. I know someone who uses this word often, yet somehow either believes that the “r” doesn’t exist, or finds it too hard to pronounce it. He says “fustrating.” I get very fRustrated every time I hear him say it. I’ve tried saying the word back to him putting extra emphasis on the “r” sound, but it isn’t catching on with him. The weird thing is that this is an educated, smart dude. That makes it extra fRustrating.
I’m thinking about doing an intervention. To this point, I’ve just tried to be polite and ignore it. Should I confront him? Get it out in the open? Your input is appreciated.
Another annoying word that is commonly mispronounced is supposedly. How many times have you heard people pronounce it “supposably?” It drives me crazy! I listen to talk radio sometimes in my car and one of the hosts of a popular morning drive time show here in Utah consistently pronounces it as “supposably.” And what’s worse, this guy is actually a newspaper columnist for the Salt Lake Tribune. Unbelievable. He actually makes a living by writing the English language yet he is unaware that the word is SUPPOSEDLY.
Oooo, you’ve hit one that I have strong feelings on as well. What is the deal with mispronounced or made up words? Ever said you are doing to “unthaw” or “dethaw” something? Essentially you are saying you are going to freeze it. Neither of those words exist. You thaw something out of the freezer. I’ll invite a friend over here that I know has more examples to comment on because we have had this conversation before.
I’ve got to admit, this really erks the heck out of me. I know someone (not saying any names) who always says “fanthom” rather than “fathom”, as in being able to fathom an incredible idea. But, don’t DARE correct the person. That’s a no-no. Better to think you’re right and sound like an idiot. Okay, maybe that’s a bit harsh. Better to think you’re right and sound like… hmmm… how can I put this nicely… gimme a minute… Got it! Better to think you’re right and sound like an idiot. Hey, if the shoe fits…
Romell – this reminded me now of one I forgot! I grew up in Washington (State) and one that gets our goat (us Washitonions) more than anything is the phantom “R” that some people, and yes I am pointing the virtual finger at a particular region in the east) insist on throwing in there. Warshington? Huh?!?!
Oh this irks me too! The one that gets me the most, is that at my workplace, so many people, and even executive level, say “aks” instead of “ask”. “So I aksed her….” Drives me crazy!!
How about the old “I says.” “I was talking to my sister and she says…” That’s another irker for me. I could go on all day. The aks one is great, or is it axe? LOL
This is so me. I am very easily annoyed by people adding or omitting letters from words. One of the worst~ A man I work with says the word ideal all of the time. The problem is that he is not referring to the best situation, but an idea that he has had. He also uses the supposably word. There are many other examples from this same person, however I will refrain, as I could go on and on and on….
My ant was trying to be hep with me one day, so in making convertsation wit me, she says, “Books of Mormon” to me. Yeah! I says, “Get atta hee-a!” How ’bout dat, huh?
What about when you’re IMing with your teenaged niece or nephew and they spell the same way that they talk? This makes me nuts! Here’s an example:
“Yo Aunty, wuz up wit u? My car iz runnin louzy theze dayz. How u bin?”
When some kid sends me a message like this, I just want to reach into my monitor and grab him or her by the shirt collar and ask them, “Where in the world did you go to school, Cracker Jack High?”
My Pop always said I should have joined the convent. I would have made a really good mean nun.
Jeremy, I grew up in Illinois. I can identify with you on the Warshington thing. I always knew if a person was not a native of the state when they called it Illi-noise. :)
There’s a guy on sports radio here in Phoenix who says “supposably”all the time. It drives me crazy. On the same station, there’s another “journalist” who says things like “Me and Bob went to lunch.” I would like to know what college these people attended so I can can make sure I don’t send my children there.
“Supposably” gets on my last nerve too. Almost like fingers on a chalkboard. I mentioned it once to someone who says it that way and they told me it was a real word and to go look it up. Being the always inquisitive researcher that I am, I did. Guess what I found…it’s a word! An honest real word, or so says the Oxford English Dictionary (my reference of choice). So I went back to him with my findings. I told him he was correct…sortof…but he was using it incorrectly! By the way, it works for presumed as well as supposed. Supposedly and presumedly are past tense and supposably and presumably are future tense. They are based on the words supposable and presumable, which means they are capable of being supposed or presumed. Go figure!
My husband and I won’t listen to MI Ch 5 news as the ‘reporters’ have to be the worst educated in the country..
‘I went accrosT the street.’ is a common mispronounciation in MI and yes… Point it out and they deny vigerously that they ever said it. Hey I can’t spell very well,(lol) but at least I can speak the language correctly.
Michigan has to have the poorest educators in the whole country, because ‘most everyone’ uses the worst possible grammer.
Thank God, some people who think like I do…everyone I know thinks I am a pain in the *** because I hate the fact that so many people kill the English language. My friend always says supposably even though I have corrected her many times. I hate when people say pitcher for picture it drives me crazy…I hear it on the TV all the time and from people who should know better. What’s with it? Isn’t that the first thing you learn in school?
what about “intensive purposes”? and for those military folk out there, when someone says “i tactfully acquired it” when they mean they “tactically acquired” an item?
bothers me to no end. i also hate the confusion between your, you’re and yore, their, there and they’re.
embrace the apostrophe people. it’s not that hard of a concept.
I hate to wreck your world, but supposedly and supposably are both words, though they have fairly similar definitions. To be supposable is essentially equivalent to being fathomable; thus the adverb supposably can describe an idea which may well exist, though there is no connotation that it in fact does. Supposedly would more accurately describe an idea which may be thought by many to exist but has a connotation of doubt.
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=supposedly&r=66
Although it irks me too, they are both perfectly acceptable words to use. Even though the two words exist and have similar definitions, I’m sure that people often get them mixed up.
This one took me back to a time when I was very young but still completely capable of being annoyed by my peers. Elementary School. And here we go. Ballyball (volleyball) Cimmanim (Cinnamon) Magitch (Magic) and although I suppose credit could be given to the individual’s accent, I’ve always hated people saying “Member?” in place of REmember.
I just got into this argument with my wife and daughter because my daughter kept saying “supposably” (which now after typing it the spell check even says that it’s wrong). They went on to try and prove me wrong showing me that “supposably” is in the dictionary. Which they went on to show me on Wikipedia. However I gleefully told them that they were STILL using it wrong based on the definition.
I’m with you lot, hearing chronic mispronunciation of words, or usage of words in the entirely wrong context, drives me up the wall. My wife says I’m a language snob, so I’ve given up trying to correct anybody – it’s not worth the grief I get.
I think we all (in this post) understand that supposably is indeed a valid word, but come on – how many times have you heard it said and it was actually used in the correct context? Never, I’m guessing. No, it is being completely abused.
All right, how about when people attempt to use longish words/phrases which are clearly beyond their educational level, presumably to sound more intelligent – and use them wrongly of course? Like the people you see being interviewed on the news. As an example, “I seen him coming at me, and I was under suspicion he was gonna pull a gun, so I advanced myself towards the door in order to, um, evacuate myself from the situation.”
Another thing that frosts me is the utter disregard of consonants, notably T and G. It may be a midwest thing:
I’m going huntin’.
It’s winner outside.
I’m freezin’.
I am twunny years old.
We were up in the moun’ins
I could go on.
I’m on board with most all the posts above. When I hear people use incorrect words in the context of their statements, I feel as if their ignorance and, quite frankly, their stupidity, are on full display. When so-called “experts” on news programs are obviously straining their brains to form a sentence that that SOUNDS “sophisticated,” all of their credibility is lost in my mind.
On a similar but somewhat different note, the use of the word “like” is something that seems to have spread through our culture like a virus. I also cannot STAND when people use the word “cause” in place of the word “because.” When I hear people use “cause” and pepper their sentences with the word “like,” I cringe. For example, “So like, my friend called me this morning and told me that like his girlfriend went crazy and like flipped out last night. I guess she like stayed at her friends house ’cause she was like real mad.”
The public education system in America has intentionally dumbed-down the curriculum. They no longer teach Phonics and they no longer teach students the classic books. If people read, their language skills inprove, and if students were tought the importance of language and the proper use of language, they would be much better served. The least amount of words needed to make a point, the better understanding of language a person has.
I wish I had known about this site earlier!
I appreciate a lot of the comments above; they actually have made my evening. I’ve had a frustrating time with a co-worker at a job I will no longer have, after tomorrow, and from his “supposably”s to his “meridian”s instead of “median” (as in the island in the middle of the street), I am OVERJOYED to be free of him.
I know no one’s perfect, but Joe’s rant above rubbed me the wrong way; writing “inprove” [sic] and “tought” [sic] is not a great way to make your point.
OMG! My co-worker turned my attention to this blog and my fingers are positively tingling with the story that I have to share.
I knew a 30 year old woman who, when telling her stories, would say, “Now remind you…”
It would sound like this, “I went to the market to get eggs, butter and milk. The he called me and asked me to pick up soap. NOW REMIND YOU, I asked him what he needed before I left and read him back his list and said that was it. NOW REMIND YOU this happenened last time and it made me mad so why would he do it again?!?
LOL
I was too embarrassed for her to even correct her. I also feared a slight learning disability there…
Supposably is a valid word, though not typically used correctly. Too many people use it to mean “supposedly,” as you’ve pointed out.
However, the words “supposable” and “supposably” are legitimate words.
Lol!! my hangups are “irregardless” (which I know shows up in many dictionaries, but only because so many people were incorrectly using it), “supposably”, “The proof is in the pudding” or ” It is the proof of the pudding”, and “a whole nother” (as in, “but that is a whole nother story…”).
I’d never heard “intensive purposes” before, Chris, but I love it!
I was horrified when I called NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s office yesterday (Department of Crime) and got aks, aksed and supposably all in one conversation. Good Grief!
I have a supervisor that will tell me to stroll down on my computer when she wants to point out a pacific item to me. She will also tell me to leave my reports on her dest. I love her, but her speech habits drive me bonkers. Another of my pet peeves is reinterate.
It is totally FUSTRATING…(lol!) to hear people pronounce words wrong. In the office, I can be involved in a project and when it happens, my attention just shifts to the “misdeed.” And then I think to myself, “how important is it?” The answer is: “not very.” Even though I am a writer, I can still forgive for as He said, “Forgive them, they know not what they do.” And He was talking about something FAR more important than this. So my suggestion: Let it go. It’s not worth it! But, thanks for this site and an opportunity to sound off.
I cannot believe how overused and misused the word “got” is. What has happened to the words “has” or ” have”?
“He got to run fast” No !!! He “has’ to run fast.
“He’s got talent” What about he HAS talent?
“He’s got a really nice car.” Why not say he has a really nice car.
“On this table we got oranges, apples and bananas.”
GOT….GOT…..GOT……GOT……GOT………
aaaaaaaaah
One day just count how many times you hear someone use the word got in place of the words has or have. You will be astounded.
The doctor says I got ammonia.
The food was contaminated with human species.
I don’t understand. Can you be more pacific?
Please pay your late fees at the libary.
She awokened up with a headache again.
Grampa has old timers disease.
His very close veins look like a road map.
North Korea now has a new killer bomb.
It’s a kewpon for 20 cents off.
Just aks and I’ll post more.
The words I hate to see misspelled/mispronounced are “weird” (really spelled “wierd”), and “exspecially” (really “especially”) And it’s funny… the author of this post actually misspells the word “wierd” in the 2nd paragraph, second to last line. ALWAYS REMEMBER!!! ” ‘i’ before ‘e’, except after ‘c’ ”
Just my 2 cents.
Actually, Mike, you appear incorrect. Multiple online dictionaries list “weird” as the correct spelling and show no entry for “wierd”. So, this is an apparent exception to the rule.
Now, what we need to invent or rediscover are an appropriate adjective and adverb for the nound “integrity”. Back in the 1400s-1600s words such as integrous and integriously were used. Anyone else struggle with describing someone filled with integrity (i.e. “he did a truly integrous job”) and found the need to (re-)invent a word?
By the way, I preciate all the examples given; specially the ones supposably about the twunny year old warshing clothes while aksing a question about the most impactful job he ever got; but that’s a whole nuther story.
I would just let it go. After all you probably say “comfterble” don’t you? Most of us do.
None of you are perfect, you simply want to believe you are. You point out the flaws in others to assure yourself you are superior. Work on your own imperfections-first admit you have them-and leave others to work on theirs. Of those who have responded, I actually know a couple, and one of you is the most disturbed person I have ever met-that would be a certain manager at one of the worst apartment complexes in Temple. She is a rambling, babbling moron, yet has the nerve to post a comment against someone else.
none of us IS perfect, you mean.
Lance-
About the examples you posted.. To be honest, I say all of those, possibly even leaving out the t in ” huntin’ “. I usually write very well, but I live in Texas and therefore think that yes – you might be correct about your ‘midwest’ theory. If you’re that attached to consonants… watch out. xD Although I have to say – I don’t mind people speaking differently, it’s just when they don’t keep to the proper English language for writing that I have a problem, but unfortunately it’s hard to do one way A and the other way B, if that makes sense.
However, I wholeheartedly agree about many things: apostrophes, text-talk, ‘an ideal to drawl a pitcher of wooves on the rufftop’ (how my best friend speaks, but luckily I don’t mind much)… I also always wondered about the logic behind ‘weird’ being the correct spelling and for the longest time ignored the red ink corrections of it in my papers until finally I gave in and made it an exception. I wish grammar was taught more thoroughly in grade school; I think my (so far) success is because I love to read.
Despite the feeling of growing annoyance as fingers were pointed in more recent posts, I’m glad to post this. Reading about people more anal than myself makes me feel better ^_^, but on the other hand, if this many people feel this way, it’s a shame that so many still blunder around, speaking in a way that’s on the opposite end of the spectrum from ‘concise’. I know I’m not perfect, but at least I try.
you people are idiots. and ‘rommel weekly’, ERK is not a word. It is IRK.
Hey 20 Joe, it’s not just America. It’s Canada, the UK, Australia. It’s every supposedly English speaking country. Why? Because kids are too dumb, lazy and indulged to have the dicipline to learn the correct usage of words like ‘like’, ‘supposedly’ ‘thaw’ etc etc ad nauseum. I’ve had it. I give up and so have the schools. If you want to know something that made my hair stand on end, the University I was attending (as a mature student, not one of these spoiled, overindulged brats) is considering allowing ‘MSN speak’ to be accepted in papers and exams! The mind boggles! BUT, I think I may have the clincher: in Australia, they talk about ‘farewelling’ someone; ‘jackpotting’ and, also, pretty much everything here is an ‘icon’. How’s that!?! Mind boggling.
Really Joe 20? “If people read, their language skills inprove, and if students were tought the importance of language and the proper use of language, they would be much better served. The least amount of words needed to make a point, the better understanding of language a person has.” Several things here: ‘IF people read’? Don’t you mean “WHEN”? ‘tought’ is not a word. You mean “taught”. “least amount of words”. You mean fewest words. And don’t end a sentence with ‘has’. Eesh. Either get it right, or don’t post. And by the way, not for Joe but whoever fancies himself king of the spelling “wEird” is correct. It is I before E except after C, or when sounded like A as in neighbour or weigh. OR WEIRD! Or ROTWEILLER, or many others. Read more and you might learn. And lastly, (i promise) AKS is a real word. It is in the Bible. Read it people, before you assume it’s ignorance, or ebonics or something stupid like that.
Here are a few more that will drive you nuts! Where I work, we finished our audit and some people kept using this word in a sentance: Physical year instead of fiscal year. It is NOT physical year, it is fiscal year; fiscal meaning money made during a specific period.
The other phrase that drives me nuts is when the weather produces rain, people say, “It was pouring down rain”. Well, YES rain falls down due to gravity, so OF COURSE it was pouring DOWN. Rain falls DOWN, and that should be assumed by the speaker. Now, if there was a hurricane, and wind was blowing the rain sideways, then they would probably say, “…pouring down rain sideways”.
And yet, one more for the heck of if, anyways instead of anyway. There is only one WAY, and not a multitued of WAYS, so it’s ANYWAY.
Sally, the word is weird, not wierd. There are no accepted dictionaries the show the spelling wierd. The i follows the e to indicate to the reader that the e has the long vowel sound (ee).
The only instance of the spelling wierd that I was able to track down has the following meaning:
“Wierd is a graphical, stack-based esoteric programming language. Programs are defined as a pattern of symbols resembling wires (the name is a pun on “weird” and “wired”). A pointer moves along the wires, and interprets the angle of any bend in its path as an instruction.”
Also, check out the following sight: http://alt-usage-english.org/I_before_E.html , for more information on the i before e rule. About half way down the page it clearly states that weird is one of the exceptions.
Karen, it’s “if there WERE a hurricane”. Research the subjunctive versus indicative moods. :)
shouldnt you have said “is it really really annoying when people say words INCORRECTLY” and not “wrong”?
I hear people say “fustrated” all the time. Today I had to google it just to see if I was wrong. Good grief people – IT’S FRUSTRATED!
Its ok to be wrong. It is also ok to politely correct someone. No one wants to sound ignorant. If any of you are really annoyed by a coworker’s pronunciation of a word, simply check the dictionary to make sure you are correct and politely correct them the next time you hear the offending word. Take them aside, don’t do it in front of others, be kind, and most people will appreciate it.
Please use discretion with this advice obviously.