Most misquoted quotes...

[BigBrodieFan]

My old boss used to pronounce the word 'entrepreneur' like this:

Awn-trep-iner

I about died in every business meeting I had with him.

[Buff]

I like to have fun with the pronunciation of certain words. For example

East, Breast, Beast. On of those words doesn't sound like the other.

Should beast be pronounced like breast (without the r, obvious)? If that is the case, what about the word "Best"? Why have Beast and Best if they should sound alike. So then, Breast should sound like Beast. Gee that just sounds weird, when saying it.

There are so many other examples. The english language is full of oddities.

[Komskies]

Originally Posted by Frank MetaMusil

Whil Wheaton

Cool Hwip.

[OBCT]

The common spelling, pronunciation and usage of et cetera (or, etc.) bug me because they're often wrong. It's pronounced as it's spelled, not "excetra".


From Wikipedia:
Et cetera (in English contexts pronounced /ɛtˈsɛtərə/) is a Latin expression that means "and other things", or "and so forth".

The one-word spelling "etcetera" is commonly used, and is accepted as correct by many dictionaries. It is also sometimes spelled et caetera or et cætera, and is often abbreviated to etc.

The phrase et cetera is often used to delete the logical continuation of some sort of series of descriptions. For example, in the following expression...

We will need a lot of bread: wheat, granary, wholemeal, etc.

... the "etc." stands for "and other types of bread". It is an error to say or write "and etc." in which the word "and" would be redundant. This would translate as "and and the rest".

[Cain]

It is incredibly frustrating with all these "new age" quoters thinking that they know anything at all. If only they would read and educate themselves about proper quotology they would realize the folly of what they do.

[MarchHare]

Everyone seems to know how to say "pediatrician" correctly, but for some reason most people mispronounce "pedophile". The root of the two words is the same, but common usage of "pedophile" sounds like the speaker is describing someone with a foot fetish.

[burn_this_city]

I hope you dont pronounce it peedofile.

Worse than that is hairissment, for harassment.

[You Need a Thneed]

Originally Posted by Buff

I like to have fun with the pronunciation of certain words. For example

East, Breast, Beast. On of those words doesn't sound like the other.

Should beast be pronounced like breast (without the r, obvious)? If that is the case, what about the word "Best"? Why have Beast and Best if they should sound alike. So then, Breast should sound like Beast. Gee that just sounds weird, when saying it.

There are so many other examples. The english language is full of oddities.

Cough, dough, tough, through.

The same four letter combination pronounced 4 different ways.

[The Yen Man]

I've noticed a lot of Americans pronounce "niche" as nich. I've always thought it was pronounched neesh.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by MarchHare

Everyone seems to know how to say "pediatrician" correctly, but for some reason most people mispronounce "pedophile". The root of the two words is the same, but common usage of "pedophile" sounds like the speaker is describing someone with a foot fetish.

Neither of these are mispronunciations, especially given that BOTH do not reflect the original pronunciation of the root: paidos in Greek, meaning, "boy". There are a number of other words that contain this root and reflect a variety of pronunciations: "pedagogy", "pedant" "pedantic", etc. If anything, our pronunciation of "pediatric" is the oddity.

[You Need a Thneed]

Originally Posted by The Yen Man

So how do people pronounce "Wednesday". I've only ever heard people say WENS-DAY. Shouldn't it be pronouced WED-NES-DAY?

Also, February is nearly always pronounced Febuary.

[Frank MetaMusil]

I find many people say nucular instead of nuclear.

[BigBrodieFan]

In the States, especially down South, if you ask someone a question and they don't hear you, they will respond with 'Do What?'

It often sounds like 'duuuwattt?'

Me 'How are you today?'
Southerner 'Do What?'
Me 'What's the weather like?'
Southerner 'Do What?'

I can't take the 'Do What?'

[czure32]

Originally Posted by STeeLy

From the Beatles' Lucy in the sky with diamonds
"The girl with colitis goes by."

Lucy's in a fight with Linus!

[driveway]

Originally Posted by MoneyGuy

Neil Armstrong said, "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

Apparently, he messed it up. He meant to say, "One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind." If you think about it, this one makes far more sense. Maybe the excitement of stepping onto the moon got to him. Either that or he was thinking, 'Crap, I hope get off this rock.'

That's not what he said at all. When he was interviewed by Walter Cronkite in 1979 on the 10th anniversary he told him that what he said was:

"One small step for a man, one giant leap for Manny Klein."

Cronkite of course was taken aback and asked him who the hell Manny Klein was.

Armstrong answered:

When I was growing up in Ohio, there was a time when we lived in an old brownstone walk up with incredibly thin walls. Our next-door neighbours were the Kleins. They used to argue night and day, incessantly going at each other. I particularly remember one cold night in November when I clearly heard Ms. Klein yell at her husband, "Manny, there will be a man on the moon before I put that in my mouth!"

[MarchHare]

Just thought of another one:

"Begging the question" is almost always used incorrectly. Most people use that phrase when they mean to say, "That prompts me to ask..." For example: "The government is spending more and more tax dollars on healthcare, but citizens are more dissatisfied than ever with our health system. That begs the question, how is all that money being spent?"

That's not what begging the question means. It's a very specific type of logical fallacy where the person making an argument assumes their initial premise to be true (when it may or may not be), therefore making their conclusion also true.

For example, the following is a type of argument that uses this fallacy:

A: "We know that God exists because it says so in the Bible."
B: "How do you know that the Bible is true?"
A: "Because it's the written word of God."

[troutman]

http://www.saidwhat.co.uk/quotes/misquotes/

"Beam me up, Scotty" - Gene Roddenberry

Captain Kirk never actually used these words on the Starship Enterprise, the closest in fact being the occasional "Beam us up, Mr Scott".

"Elementary, my dear Watson" - Conan Doyle (Sherlock Holmes)

This quote is not actually found in any of his books, but rather found in a film review in the New York Times, 19 October 1929.

"Why don't you come up and see me sometime" - Mae West

Never actually said. Probably alteration of her line in the film She Done Him Wrong "Why don't you come up sometime, and see me?"

"Let them eat cake". - Marie Antoinette

In fact, she actually said "Let them eat bread".

[Komskies]

Originally Posted by troutman

"Let them eat cake". - Marie Antoinette

In fact, she actually said "Let them eat bread".

I don't think that one is right either. It was actually "Let them eat brioche".

[rubecube]

So has anyone brought up the "Luke, I am your father" error?

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by troutman

"Let them eat cake". - Marie Antoinette

In fact, she actually said "Let them eat bread".

Wow. If that's true, then the CBE needs to take a look at where they're getting their grade 11 social studies textbooks from. I know for a fact it was written as "Let them eat cake" in my grade 11 textbook.