Thread: Things we Americans Say Wrong

Hey CoffeeCup & Marcus, I was "gonna" post this in the "Been thread" but decided to let it have its own little thread...


Hope that you enjoy... and make certain you watch it all the way to the end.

When two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking
i before e except after c (when you hear ee)
Did the rules really help anyone? With all the exceptions to the rules I think the only way to learn to spell English words correctly is to remember them all and that is to say it can never happen ever.

Sometimes saying words correctly is just too difficult so we add the alternate pronunciation to the dictionary. Hey, it worked for species, coupon and associate.

And the proper way to say those nowadays would be? Is the way he pronounced them conventional or alternate or it is American vs. British thing?

Originally Posted by alexB

Sometimes saying words correctly is just too difficult so we add the alternate pronunciation to the dictionary. Hey, it worked for species, coupon and associate.

And the proper way to say those nowadays would be? Is the way he pronounced them conventional or alternate or it is American vs. British thing?

Q-pon OR Koo-pon?? Just for the record... I say Koo-pon.

So is Q-pon an acceptable alternative pronunciation, or a regional dialect, or just plain wrong? If a person says Q-pon does she or he gives an illiterate vibe?

Did the rules really help anyone? With all the exceptions to the rules I think the only way to learn to spell English words correctly is to remember them all

I believe that rules do help (even with all the exceptions). When we were first graders we've started our study of English with learning transcription/reading/spelling rules. There ARE patterns, and we could read rather well before we actually could say anything coherent (or even understand what we were reading). I think it made us 'decent" spellers and eliminated a fear of unfamiliar words.