Do you get annoyed when people pronounce words differently?

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I'm not sure that there is such a thing, as in a book of pronunciations for the whole English language. But news stories from the wire services have a pronunciation guide for difficult words and names. There is a large book on how to pronounce the names of classical composers and musicians, but that's of very limited usefulness. I get copy to read, which usually has pronunciation guides for words I already know how to pronounce, and the ones that are ambiguous have nothing. So to answer your question, I think it's more a term than an actual reference manual.

There are many ways to pronounce words. Pronunciation is nothing but group consensus, mainly based on geography. It does not fall into the realm of fact. When dictionaries tell you how to pronounce something, they are not giving you a fact about that word. They are guiding you towards something that will be understood by speakers of the language. The point of language is to get other people to understand you by sharing in their consensus of how to use language. This isn't physics. This isn't math. This is group consensus, something that changes over time and from place to place.

No. You must pronounce everything my way, or you are wrong.

Hehe, just kidding.

Ah, RhettOracle, thanks for the prompt response. I think I have an admiration for radio announcers because of their ability to enunciate everything they say.

Haha

Not really.... But if I have to keep correcting them, then yes, it would annoy a little.

certain things drive me up the wall. My mother insists on saying the first syllable of 'virginia' like 'vagina' so you think she's going to say 'vagina' when she says 'vuhginia'. It drives me completely insane.

Hmm, so is it more "kill-o" or "keel-o"? Or would that be a matter of accent and not pronunciation?

"Pinguins" is standard pronunciation where I live.

Well, yes.

It did not help that we shifted towns a lot, so I was always among alien talkers. Each one worse than the last.

Would you happen to be from southern Ohio? I've notice many people, especially from the Cincinatti/Dayton area (most of my travels have been along 75) tend to have more of a southern accent. (I grew up as far north in the state as you can get)

Sometimes people go along with a pronounciation that is easier,even if it's not technically correct.I discovered recently that Mount
Everest should in fact be pronounced Eve-(as in Steve) rest because that was how the person it was named after pronounced their own name.I don't think anyone in the world gets annoyed by it not being pronounced Eve-rest !

yes! i hate that. it drives me insane. my anthro professor this semester say words like homologous differently than i do, and it drives me up the wall. i try to be respectful and take in other people's accents and the like, but... i can only take so much before i have to say something to someone. usually it is in the form of repeating the word however i say it softly under my breath. though i have gotten into a friend's face about it, once. they thought i was trying to be funny. needless to say, they were not amused...

but that would be the true Vuh-gin-i-a pronunciation.

Repost:

No because I was made fun of for how I talked when I was a child.

I took an anatomy class in college and knew a lot of the American pronounciations. Everything was fine until the professor spoke and I heard his British tongue. Nothing against Brits, mind you. My expectation of the "correct" way to say body parts was shattered.

I guess I do get annoyed when people mispronounce words. I don't usually correct them though; I just keep it to myself and try to get over it.