I've always felt I was able to speak fairly well.
And I've always found myself obsessing for several hours (who are we kidding...days...) when I mispronounce something, particularly when I know how to pronounce it but it somehow slips out wrong anyway. I want to grasp at the air and shove the word back into my mouth before anyone takes notice. I remember one day in particular, when I pronounced "heir" like "hair". That one stuck with me for a while...
Turns out I have a new neurosis to add to the list.
I can't pronounce t's in the middle of words.
All my life, I have never noticed this problem.
It wasn't until I was in San Francisco when this realization first began to surface.
I was speaking with my friend Alex (from Italy) and suggested we go somewhere to get some gelato.
"Eh?" he responded.
"Let's go get some gelato."
A blank stare was his only reply.
"C'mon... you have to know what gelato is. You're from Italy. You know... ge-la-to..." I found myself trying to slow it down, like he somehow had just totally lost his grasp of English.
Nothing.
"Italian ice cream?" I asked.
"Ohhhh... You mean "gela-To," he said as he slowed it down for me and worked the word out phonetically.
"Yeah. That's what I said," I replied, exasperated.
"No. You said gela-Do," he replied, correcting me.
I thought maybe it was just him, but it turned out that everyone else at the hostel from America was able to pronounce it correctly.
Great.
Maybe it is a Midwestern thing.
I found myself struggling to say it correctly, having to slow way down and sound it out phonetically, awkwardly fitting in the "t" in place of the "d".
The obsession slowly faded from my mind over time until I came here.
Then others noticed it.
"Wait... you'd like to be a 'rider'?"
"No. A 'writer'."
Blank stares.
Crap.
After some close and slightly obsessive self-analysis, I have compiled a short and far from complete list of words that I can't pronounce.
Metal/Mettle.
Writer.
Gelato.
Little.
Neurotic.
Notice.
Butter.
Batter.
Flutter.
Tomato. (Although I seem to have no problem pronouncing "potato"... go figure.)
Although this did lead to me realizing there is at least one word I can say correctly:
"Craptastic."
Great.
I end up taking English lessons from people who speak it as a second language.
More on this laDer as it develops.
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6 comments:
Haven't you ever listened to Mayor Daley! He's the Mayor of ChaCaugah. Dat's da city of da finess police force. Dis is a true fac. Dem Swede's just can't understand us midwesterners. Day shoud com ta da sow side and listen ta da inner city language. I got trouble wid dat. Just axe me.
Dad
Fat Fat Sez "You speak just as goodly as him" No worries!
Id's all about the shape of the words. The t and the d take up roughly the same amount of space both horizondally and verdically so they are compledely inderchangable.
-$
Yes it IS the SHAPES OF THE WORDS!! IVE been saying that for years!!!!!
--Fat Fat---
I didn't ever notice this before but I do the same thing! I pronounce all the words you listed with a "d" also. I also can properly pronounce potato! It must be a midwest thing.
so you with the T's, me with the S's and Eric with the R's. I say we blame the parents!
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