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Pedants' corner

Hare's breath

(110 Posts)
Elrel Sun 24-Sep-17 23:20:16

Nooo, 10 o'clock news. Did anyone else hear 'hare's breath' instead of 'hair's breadth'? The newsreader was describing the incident with the coach narrowly avoiding disaster in the Austrian Alps.

Baggs Thu 28-Sep-17 21:33:53

Heard an American on a video clip say veehickle today. He did it more than once too. He was an excellent debater. Really excellent. Haven't heard someone argue anything so strongly for aeons.

MaizieD Sat 30-Sep-17 11:17:24

Late to the party...

Something that is really bugging me is the use of 'like' as a substitute for 'as though' or 'as if'. You use 'like' to compare two or more things, not to say that something is likely to happen.

Baggs I think there is a very fine line to be drawn between local accents and mispronunciation. I sometimes wonder if we'll end up with a situation where interpreters are needed as we pass from region to region. (It actually happened in the 18th century) hmm

grumppa Sat 30-Sep-17 14:07:32

"Can I get?" drives me mad, especially when used by DD2, who should know better. Mercifully, her children aged 9 and 6 both say "Please may I have?" to the lady in the school tuck shop when we indulge them. If this is what they have been taught at school, well done the teachers!

LornaS Tue 03-Oct-17 11:43:33

Also I can't stand the modern way of saying sixth.To me 'sicth' sounds as though they've got a speech impediment

Ana Tue 03-Oct-17 11:57:50

Yes, and 'fith'.

Christinefrance Tue 03-Oct-17 12:00:30

Yes why do people pronounce it like that Lorna its so irritating.
Last night the BBC told us something was ' very unique'
The words 'diffuse' and 'defuse' have different meanings but are often confused.

Tweedle24 Tue 03-Oct-17 12:18:23

There was an interview this morning with a highly respected CEO of a group of companies. Every reply to a question was preceded by,"So...". Grrrrrr!

stephenfryer Wed 04-Oct-17 16:10:09

And chyuld instead of child!

Baggs Wed 04-Oct-17 16:30:22

Chyuld has been around at least since I was nine, which was when we moved to Lancashire. My mum used to complain about us saying chyuld but it's what everyone else around us said so we carried on until we moved somewhere else (mum's still in Lancs) and learned different pronunciations.