Pronunciation Peeves
 

Is it just me or do people (and not just athletes anymore) confuse "it's" with "there are" all the time now?

Example:

Rube 1: Why is it so hot?
Rube 2: Because it's a lot of people in here.
Rube 1: It sure is.

TM

Pronunciation Peeves
 

Some stuff is regional. I come from a place where it's IN-surance, not inSURance.

Pronunciation Peeves
 

Yup.

At my southern college, a professor once tried to make a point about dialects, and asked a student from one of the boonier locales to identifty "that horn that sounds on the top of police cars."

His anticipated response was not a "SI-ren" but a "Sie-REEN."

Pronunciation Peeves
 

Boy, you really are a dtb wannabe, aren't you?

Pronunciation Peeves
 

In the place you come from, they incorrectly pronounce insurance.

Pronunciation Peeves
 

Which is why we do not look to rural hicks with comical yet undecipherable dialects for our pronunciation guides.

Pronunciation Peeves
 

I worry about those things too. I mean I actually worry about it. Not that it keeps me up at night, but sometimes it gives me pause.

Pondering in Podunkville
 

So, I'm hosting a mediation in my office today in one of my slip and fall cases. Here's the question -- if a client (a new in-house lawyer at W.T. Grants) is wearing a shortish skirt, and has nice legs, is it rude to look at them?

And by "look," I (no, really!) do not mean "leer" or "stare" or "drool over." I am actually making lots of eye contact. But I am sure that my occasional glances have not gone unnoticed. Rude?

(Apropos of nothing, I can hear the mediator yelling at plaintiff's counsel -- something about creating unrealistic expectations. Hah.)

Pronunciation Peeves
 

Well, some are so published, but they rarely become the standard.

Instead, they are invariably published straight to paperback and reside in the "humor" section of Waldenbooks.

Pronunciation Peeves
 

So do your horses chomp at the bit?

Pondering in Podunkville
 

Hey, she decided to wear the skirt, so she intended someone to notice!

At the same time, avoiding a leer/stare/drool is important. I know, it's hard being in the company of a sexy woman.

Pronunciation Peeves
 

I have never heard goldie other than in a hawn or locks context. Not a Canadian mispronunciation.

We pronounce everything correctly. Including nuclear, realtor and February. We are the best.

Pondering in Podunkville
 

Fenwick says that it depends (typical lawyer answer).

According to Fenwick's Law of Looking, if the client with the nice legs finds me repulsive, any number of glances is rude and creepy. If the client with the nice legs is neutral on me, a few discreet looks are acceptable. If the client with the nice legs likes me, I can stare at them droolingly, and she'll be fine with it (so long as I don't do it in front of her husband. Or my wife. Or the mediator.)

Pronunciation Peeves
 

I think the point was you'd be bugged by an American mispronounciation of a word you guys invented. Like when I hear "cereal killer" in Guelph.

And gol-die is big here, even if we call ourselves Hockey-Town.

Pondering in Podunkville
 

Why not the mediator? Does this depend on whether or not she thinks the mediator is hot, too?

OK, with that now on your mind, head back in there, sport!