I Just Can't Say It

[zil]

Does anyone else have words that are just so boring when spoken correctly that you can't do it anymore?  For example, I can't remember the last time (in spoken language) I called an elevator an elevator.  I now call it an evelator.  It sounds much more interesting that way.

In Moscow, one of my co-workers only ever called a calculator a gonkulator.  At some point, we started calling the waffle iron a wafflenitsa ("nitsa" being an ending tacked onto some Russian words to make them feminine - "stroitel" = construction worker (male), "stroitelnitsa" = female construction worker).  Yes, call us sexist, but do it in another thread - preferably in a language whose nouns have genders.   (And yeah, "puppy" is now "pupechka".)

Some place or other, I've heard a computer called a computator (rhymes with tater).

So, what words do you find so yawn-inducing that you've had to replace them with a more interesting variant?

[NeuroTypical]

Someone recently told me about the Christian roots of double-entry ledger accounting.  Apparently it's very closely tied with the whole sin/repentance modes of thought from the 1400-1500's.   So as I go through my job as a budget person, I've added a whole lot of references to sin and absolution and whatnot.

That said, budgeting was totally exciting before I spiced things up.  No really!  Sometimes, we bean counters go to parties and stare at someone ELSE'S shoes!  What a hoot!

[Guest]

37 minutes ago, zil said:

Does anyone else have words that are just so boring when spoken correctly that you can't do it anymore?  For example, I can't remember the last time (in spoken language) I called an elevator an elevator.  I now call it an evelator.  It sounds much more interesting that way.

In Moscow, one of my co-workers only ever called a calculator a gonkulator.  At some point, we started calling the waffle iron a wafflenitsa ("nitsa" being an ending tacked onto some Russian words to make them feminine - "stroitel" = construction worker (male), "stroitelnitsa" = female construction worker).  Yes, call us sexist, but do it in another thread - preferably in a language whose nouns have genders.   (And yeah, "puppy" is now "pupechka".)

Some place or other, I've heard a computer called a computator (rhymes with tater).

So, what words do you find so yawn-inducing that you've had to replace them with a more interesting variant?

Just JAG-ify it.  Fancify it.  Sesquipedalianify it.  Just say it in another language with a cognate for it.  Computer = computador (Spanish).  Elevator = ascensor (not a real cognate, so change it) ascensionator.

[zil]

18 minutes ago, Carborendum said:

Just JAG-ify it.  Fancify it.  Sesquipedalianify it.  Just say it in another language with a cognate for it.  Computer = computador (Spanish).  Elevator = ascensor (not a real cognate, so change it) ascensionator.

I wasn't asking how I should modify words.  I already do that kind of thing, though usually as the exception.  I'm asking if you have words to which you do that kind of thing as the norm, and just quit using the correct word altogether (or for the most part).

[Guest]

13 minutes ago, zil said:

I wasn't asking how I should modify words.  I already do that kind of thing, though usually as the exception.  I'm asking if you have words to which you do that kind of thing as the norm, and just quit using the correct word altogether (or for the most part).

No.  I'm OCD that way.  I just can't do that on a consistent basis.

[Fether]

1 hour ago, zil said:

Does anyone else have words that are just so boring when spoken correctly that you can't do it anymore?  For example, I can't remember the last time (in spoken language) I called an elevator an elevator.  I now call it an evelator.  It sounds much more interesting that way.

In Moscow, one of my co-workers only ever called a calculator a gonkulator.  At some point, we started calling the waffle iron a wafflenitsa ("nitsa" being an ending tacked onto some Russian words to make them feminine - "stroitel" = construction worker (male), "stroitelnitsa" = female construction worker).  Yes, call us sexist, but do it in another thread - preferably in a language whose nouns have genders.   (And yeah, "puppy" is now "pupechka".)

Some place or other, I've heard a computer called a computator (rhymes with tater).

So, what words do you find so yawn-inducing that you've had to replace them with a more interesting variant?

I always put -alone (Spanish pronunciation) at the end of words I use a lot. When playing Settlers of Catan, instead of saying “give me some brick”, I say “I need dat brickaloneses“ or in ticket to ride I say “Imma lay down sum trainalones.” Or when playing Bang! I say “BANGALONES!!”. All of which of course is said with an awful Mexican accent

This of course comes from the Spanish word for pants, which is pantalones. 

[Guest]

3 minutes ago, Fether said:

I always put -alone (Spanish pronunciation) at the end of words I use a lot. When playing Settlers of Catan, instead of saying “give me some brick”, I say “I need dat brickaloneses“ or in ticket to ride I say “Imma lay down sum trainalones.” Or when playing Bang! I say “BANGALONES!!”. All of which of course is said with an awful Mexican accent

This of course comes from the Spanish word for pants, which is pantalones. 

I think that is a common sort of thing in Spanish.  It's difficult to pickup on wordsmithing in a foreing language.  But my companion told a joke quite often that gave me a glimpse.  Being Asian (and truly all the Latinos I worked with didn't know the difference between the countries).

Q: "How do you say handkerchief in Japanese?"  (he said it in Spanish).
A: "Sacomoco!"

I was puzzled what on earth that meant.  But I eventually got that it was a wordsmithing thing.  Made sense.

[SilentOne]

"Regular" Term	My Version
Barnes & Noble	Barnsy Noble
Mac & Cheese	Macky Cheese
Beef & Broccoli	Beefy Broccoli
DVD	Divid
CD	Sid

I also intentionally mispronounce my sisters' names and the word telephone in various ways. I think my favorites for the latter are Teflon and flelly-tone.

P.S. Has the display font on here changed in the last few weeks? It seems different.

Edited May 17, 2018 by SilentOne

[zil]

8 hours ago, SilentOne said:

P.S. Has the display font on here changed in the last few weeks? It seems different.

Yes, it seems considerably smaller.  Not sure if the typeface has changed.

[Connie]

Most of my changing of words doesn't come from finding the original word boring but from how my kids said it when they were little or how my family said things growing up. So we call magazines "mazagines" because that is how my oldest daughter said it when she was small. We call the remote control a "clicker" and a rubber spatula a "kid cheater" because that is how I grew up saying them. And we still call Popsicles "spockitas." I believe I posted the story to that one a long while ago in another thread.

[zil]

7 minutes ago, Connie said:

clicker

But do you know why it was called the clicker?  My grandparents had at least one remote which made that audible clicking sound (much like a dog trainer does now):

...it would depress a bit of metal inside and on release, the metal would click.  I suspect, but have never bothered to find out, that the receiver responded to this sound.

[JohnsonJones]

Interesting thing.  I suppose I'm too old school in some instances and technology adverse.  I never had a remote control for a TV until around 10 years ago.  Up until that point we still used the TV buttons regularly.  It wasn't until we finally got one of those LCD TVs around 2008 that we finally started using remote controls.  The TV's seemed to lose the functionality they used to have with their buttons previously and using a remote control was necessary in order to even turn on the TV comfortably (or you have to find the button that turns it on and they tend to put those buttons in strange and hard to reach places these days, or harder to reach than when TV buttons were easily accessible).

I tend to lose the remote half the time or my grandkids are leaving them places where I cannot find them (but I shouldn't blame the grandkids, even if they ARE the ones who use the remotes the most).  Just this week I had to go and buy a universal remote and program a new remote for two of our TVs. 

[zil]

Why mow the lawn when you can low the mawn instead?  It's so much more interesting, lowing the mawn.

[Sunday21]

We use French-English because it caused our teachers to emit steam from their ears and turn interesting colours. So A demain ...see you tomorrow! Becomes Abdomen (and pat your tummy!) 

Always pronounce all foreign words as though you hail from Texas with a bucolic smile on your face ...as the government is bankrupting the country to make us bilingual in hopes that the country will not split apart. As if increasing communication would actually help! It is a gentle illusion that keeps us together!  

[Sunday21]

On 5/16/2018 at 6:48 PM, zil said:

Does anyone else have words that are just so boring when spoken correctly that you can't do it anymore?  For example, I can't remember the last time (in spoken language) I called an elevator an elevator.  I now call it an evelator.  It sounds much more interesting that way.

In Moscow, one of my co-workers only ever called a calculator a gonkulator.  At some point, we started calling the waffle iron a wafflenitsa ("nitsa" being an ending tacked onto some Russian words to make them feminine - "stroitel" = construction worker (male), "stroitelnitsa" = female construction worker).  Yes, call us sexist, but do it in another thread - preferably in a language whose nouns have genders.   (And yeah, "puppy" is now "pupechka".)

Some place or other, I've heard a computer called a computator (rhymes with tater).

So, what words do you find so yawn-inducing that you've had to replace them with a more interesting variant?

What the world needs is more neighbourhood entrepreneurs in the form of 12 year olds with lawn mowers.

[zil]

19 minutes ago, Sunday21 said:

We use French-English because it caused our teachers to emit steam from their ears and turn interesting colours. So A demain ...see you tomorrow! Becomes Abdomen (and pat your tummy!)

We did this in Moscow too.  The most common was to change do svidania (good bye) to "dog spit on ya".

[Sunday21]

30 minutes ago, zil said:

We did this in Moscow too.  The most common was to change do svidania (good bye) to "dog spit on ya".

Love it! 

[zil]

Broccoli.  I never pronounce it brockly, let alone brock-o-lee.  It is bracoli (like e. coli).  (Until composing this post, I never thought about how I pronounce the first syllable, and only a second ago, I resolved never to think about it again.)

[Guest MormonGator]

I can never pronounce the word " Pyrrhic" as in "Pyrrhic victory" a victory that might be strategic but comes at great loss to your cause.  

Edited June 4, 2018 by MormonGator

[zil]

3 minutes ago, MormonGator said:

Pyrrhic

Only a drunken cat can say that word!

[anatess2]

Well, at least you deliberately said the word funny...  Benedict Cumberbatch (Dr. Strange) didn't know he couldn't properly say Penguins.  He found out after he watched his BBC narration about penguins.  Nobody in the production told him either!  They just went with it!  Hah hah.

 

[zil]

17 hours ago, zil said:

Only a drunken cat can say that word!

C'mon, that was a good sideways pun.  "purr" + "hic" = drunken cat. Sigh.

(Yes, I know, it's not "purr", it's "pier", but it looks like it could be prrr, which is close enough to purr!  Big sigh.)

[Vort]

26 minutes ago, zil said:

C'mon, that was a good sideways pun.  "purr" + "hic" = drunken cat. Sigh.

(Yes, I know, it's not "purr", it's "pier", but it looks like it could be prrr, which is close enough to purr!  Big sigh.)

I only just got it on rereading it just now. Last night when I read it, I was wondering, "Isn't it pronounced PEER-ick? What am I missing?"

[NeuroTypical]

18 hours ago, MormonGator said:

I can never pronounce the word " Pyrrhic" as in "Pyrrhic victory" a victory that might be strategic but comes at great loss to your cause.  

Any other RWBY followers now sobbing uncontrollably into their breakfast cereal, or just me?

[Fether]

Every time I see this thread, I think of this scene from ‘The Edge’ (which I have never actually seen)

 

Excuse the language the last 5 seconds