The ‘Illiterate Boyfriend’ test

[Politesse]

Hors d’oeuvres is easily one of the most commonly mispelled and mispronounced words in the English language

C’est vrai! Quelle dommage.

Borrow words, once they enter common use in a new language, are no longer really the property of their original tongue. Or if they are, nearly everyone in the country is pronouncing hors d'oeuvres wrong. The French are well known for their uvular fricative Rs, which most Americans couldn't produce correctly if they tried.

I think most people have a joke name for hors d'oeuvres. We sometimes call them "horses ovaries". But usually we just say, "Bring out the Lay's potato chips, onion dip and Planter's peanuts!" and skip all the pretentious nonsense.

- Like, specifying your preferred brand names isn’t pretentious?
Planters indeed, you spoiled brat!

Well, no. If I was pretentious, I would insist on some expensive, organic chip brand where the pototoes were hand grown, picked, sliced, cooked and salted by French virgins living in a castle in the French Riviera. Lay's, made in a factory, is the chip of the common man...like me.

Ha! A lot of my students work at a Friro-Lay plant. Godawful employers, but I would agree that the chips are made by and for the common man. Of course, the conditions under which Chippy MacRiche's Artisan Potato Croquette Slices are produced probably do not greatly differ in practice.

 

[unapologetic]

Lay's, made in a factory, is the chip of the common man...like me.

It's Wise brand chips for me. I grew-up one block from the factory, dad knew Earl Wise, and schoolmates went to work there.

 

[steve_bank]

Wise chips, a blast from the past. Along with Yoo-Hoo and Hostess cup[cakes.

Never liked Lays chips.

 

[thebeave]

Hors d’oeuvres is easily one of the most commonly mispelled and mispronounced words in the English language

C’est vrai! Quelle dommage.

Borrow words, once they enter common use in a new language, are no longer really the property of their original tongue. Or if they are, nearly everyone in the country is pronouncing hors d'oeuvres wrong. The French are well known for their uvular fricative Rs, which most Americans couldn't produce correctly if they tried.

I think most people have a joke name for hors d'oeuvres. We sometimes call them "horses ovaries". But usually we just say, "Bring out the Lay's potato chips, onion dip and Planter's peanuts!" and skip all the pretentious nonsense.

- Like, specifying your preferred brand names isn’t pretentious?
Planters indeed, you spoiled brat!

Well, no. If I was pretentious, I would insist on some expensive, organic chip brand where the pototoes were hand grown, picked, sliced, cooked and salted by French virgins living in a castle in the French Riviera. Lay's, made in a factory, is the chip of the common man...like me.

Ha! A lot of my students work at a Friro-Lay plant. Godawful employers, but I would agree that the chips are made by and for the common man. Of course, the conditions under which Chippy MacRiche's Artisan Potato Croquette Slices are produced probably do not greatly differ in practice.

If you want a little nostalgia fun sometime, walk into the Frito plant and sing the Frito Bandito song!

 

[Tigers!]

It always amazes me how many people I know who have difficulty reading, let alone know proper spelling.

My brother in law has a bachelor's degree in business and has a middle manager position in the large company he works for. Yet he was never taught how to write a proper business letter and came to my wife and me for help writing an important one.

The arrival of email to the general public in the mid-90's exposed the horrible spelling and grammar of many family, friends and co-workers. Of particular concern was a cousin and uncle who were both teachers and a cousin-in-law who graduated from Villanova, but wrote as though he had a 6th grade education.

And yes, feel free to deconstruct my writing and point out all my errors. har har.

It is so tempting but I do not have the time nor bandwidth for such a feat.

And you will keep increasing the sample size.

 

[Tigers!]

Hors d’oeuvres is easily one of the most commonly mispelled and mispronounced words in the English language

C’est vrai! Quelle dommage.

Borrow words, once they enter common use in a new language, are no longer really the property of their original tongue. Or if they are, nearly everyone in the country is pronouncing hors d'oeuvres wrong. The French are well known for their uvular fricative Rs, which most Americans couldn't produce correctly if they tried.

Come again?

 

[Tigers!]

Hors d’oeuvres is easily one of the most commonly misspelled and mispronounced words in the English language, getting it wrong may be embarassing but it is hardly proof of illiteracy. And though I can readily guess at its meaning, I don't think I have ever encountered the word "diaphragmatic" before reading this article, and I would have to look up its "correct" pronunication, as either a voiced or silent G is plausible given the customary inconsistency with which American dialects handle borrow words from the Greek. I scored very highly on the GRE and passed the GWAR with flying colors, so not only am I officially literate, according to our local racists I am objectively a literary genius. A standardized test says so, after all.

We call them "horses doovers" in Australia.

 

[Tigers!]

The trouble is challah is that even if you've heard it, there's disagreement between Hebrew speakers themselves about whether it's a velar or uvular fricative, and either way, American English doesn't normally include either phoneme, so a well-meaning person might mispronounce what they hear, not having heard it accurately. There's also a weirdness about where the emphasis lands, which is different betwern Yiddish/Hebrew and the most common US English pronunciation.

Brits, meanwhile, just happily pronounce it wrong and don't invest much time worrying about it.

Well it is called the English language and not the American language.

Personally I blame Microsoft.

 

[Tigers!]

We all know I can't spell. But I read a lot.
I never use “hyperbole”, “hors d’oeuvres”, “thyme”, “epitome”, or “fuchsia”. But I've heard them often enough that I could use them correctly.
I have never encountered “gnocchi” “diaphragmatic” “challah”.
Now that I've looked them up, I have no use for them and will forget them by tomorrow. Still don't know how they are pronounced and don't care.

Could somebody post the full list?

Talk to Politesse or thebeave about that.

 

[Don2 (Don1 Revised)]

Hors d’oeuvres is easily one of the most commonly misspelled and mispronounced words in the English language, ....

It’s interesting to use hors d'oeuvres as a pronunciation test when the "correct" English version is technically a butchered version of the actual French. Ironically, I would have pronounced this correctly in French in junior high school, but only learned the popular Anglicized version later in life as I gained more socioeconomic privilege. It feels like several of the words on this list measure cultural exposure rather than actual literacy, though I do not have issues with most of them.

 

[unapologetic]

Never liked Lays chips.

Lays bleaches their chips. I can taste the difference, they're bland and pale.

I pronounce it the same way as I spell it: or-derves.

 

[steve_bank]

I like Kettle Brand plain salted, and vinegar.

I would think which junk food a couple prefers has a lot to do with compatibility.

You could czll it junk food literacy Th ability to converse at length about junk food.

 

[bilby]

Knowing that "hors de combat" means "unable to continue fighting", I concluded that "hors d'oeuvres" meant "unable to continue egging".

Then it was pointed out to me that the French use the word "oeuvre" to mean "a body of work". So presumably "hors d'oeuvres" actually means "quit early for lunch".

 

[Politesse]

The trouble is challah is that even if you've heard it, there's disagreement between Hebrew speakers themselves about whether it's a velar or uvular fricative, and either way, American English doesn't normally include either phoneme, so a well-meaning person might mispronounce what they hear, not having heard it accurately. There's also a weirdness about where the emphasis lands, which is different betwern Yiddish/Hebrew and the most common US English pronunciation.

Brits, meanwhile, just happily pronounce it wrong and don't invest much time worrying about it.

Well it is called the English language and not the American language.

Personally I blame Microsoft.

We've had an undue influence over the last century or so, but all dialects are valid.

 

[Politesse]

Hors d’oeuvres is easily one of the most commonly mispelled and mispronounced words in the English language

C’est vrai! Quelle dommage.

Borrow words, once they enter common use in a new language, are no longer really the property of their original tongue. Or if they are, nearly everyone in the country is pronouncing hors d'oeuvres wrong. The French are well known for their uvular fricative Rs, which most Americans couldn't produce correctly if they tried.

Come again?

The classic Parisian R is a uvular (produced by air passing along the uvula, the dangly thing at the back of your throat) fricative (specifically caused by creating friction at the juncture as opposed to closing the passage, say). Though the further south and west you go the less predictable things get. In Carcassone, one hears many a gent roll his Rs like a Spaniard! Scandalous.

 

[Tigers!]

Hors d’oeuvres is easily one of the most commonly mispelled and mispronounced words in the English language

C’est vrai! Quelle dommage.

Borrow words, once they enter common use in a new language, are no longer really the property of their original tongue. Or if they are, nearly everyone in the country is pronouncing hors d'oeuvres wrong. The French are well known for their uvular fricative Rs, which most Americans couldn't produce correctly if they tried.

Come again?

The classic Parisian R is a uvular (produced by air passing along the uvula, the dangly thing at the back of your throat) fricative (specifically caused by creating friction at the juncture as opposed to closing the passage, say). Though the further south and west you go the less predictable things get. In Carcassone, one hears many a gent roll his Rs like a Spaniard! Scandalous.

I share your disgust.