Nothink

[taichiperson]

Not really a question, just an observation/moan. Has anyone else noted the number of people, including those who should definately know better, ie newsreaders who say 'nothink' instead of 'nothing'? Mind you, I have never had problems with spelling, as I can 'see' words in my head in the way they are spelled (or should that be spelt?!!).

[Suzyboo]

Then why did you spell definitely wrong?!

[Loosehead]

I know what you mean, I cringe when I hear some chav say " I ain't dun nuffink" so you've done something then!

[Quizmonster]

'Anyfink' and 'nuffink' have long colloquial pedigrees, both having appeared in writing in the 1890s. George Elliot and HG Wells were happy enough to use them....albeit in the appropriate mouths!
Newsreaders nowadays are perfectly happy to say 'vunribble' for 'vulnerable', 'Wensdy' for 'Wednesday' and 'Febry' for 'February', so I'm sure they feel just as free to say 'nuffink'.

[andy-hughes]

They all say "secatary" for secretary - |I am the first to defend slang and local dialects, but the BBC has always pontifiacted about its pronunciation - so maybe they should get these anomalies sorted out. (Or is that sawted ahhht?)

[delboy3]

I'm getting fed up with presenters saying "Briddish", "thirdy" and so on. In the words of Mr D Bowie, THIS IS NOT AMERICA!!

[jamesy boy]

And (mainly but not exclusively) childrens TV presenters who say 'draw-ring' instead of 'drawing'.

[Colortec]

And, curiously, very little of this happens amongst the Scots.

[FoxLee]

My little moan is when Pam Shriver is over here commentating on Wimbledon and she refers to sem-eye finals. She's over here speaking to the British so say it the way we would. It really bugs me.

[ontherocks]

Than kew.

[serendipity1]

yes i occasionally slip and say it myself, it aggravates me , dont mind so much others saying it , and yes how come you spelt "definitely " wrong ? funny though!!

[bearpup]

<pedantic rant>
My boss, who is educated, intelligent, and very capable has a bad habit of using 'nothink' and 'somthink' (I missed out the e because thats how he pronounces it!).

I don't bother to say anything as, if he finds something that annoys me he loves to wind me up deliberately ;-)

Recently he discovered my hatred for people using the word 'asterix' when they mean 'asterisk'. Soon the whole office was asking me how many asterixes are in f***k *ff!

Also people who say least when what they mean is fewest. This seems to be a common crime on the current rash of "vote for your favourite" type shows. You hear the presenter say "and the contestant with the least votes will be going home" No! the contestant with the fewest votes, or the contestant with the least number of votes will be going home!

Why can't the english teach their children how to speak? (Hmmm sounds like a catchy line for a song...)
</pedantic rant>

[tictactoe]

My pet hate is the female ITV newsreader (6.30) who says UZZ, instead of US...

[lonzuk]

It's like the British PM.

No one calls him Tony Blair it's always Tony Bleaugh.

Listen on the news next time.

[mormess]

Common annoyances:

David Bough-ee as in wow-ee as opposed to Bowie where the Bow rhymes with low as it should.

Drawring instead of drawing - there's no second 'r'.

Rappers who say 'axe' instead of 'ask'.

In Cardiff they say "Where's that to?" or even worse, "Where you toing?" Really!

[Gromit]

I believe this is an example of Estuary English, see link.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estuary_English

I first heard it on television in my youth (30 years ago). Grange Hill and Children Film Foundation films were all peppered with nuffinks and somefinks. It used to annoy me then. Now all these child actors have grown up and are in Eastenders and are inflicting nuffinks on 18million views 3 times a week. Because it is used on a popular tv programme, the offending pronunciation is speading throughout the country, and there is nuffink we can do about it.

[tingirl]

My ex-boss used to say 'nothink' - which always made me squirm - so whenever I hear it, it reminds me of her.

Other pet-hates of mine are 'fing' meaning thing and 'ekcetra' instead of etcetera. What's the excuse for mispronunciation?

Dialects and accents are all good and language needs to evolve but I believe standards are regressing a little.

[DiaKMS]

omg yes i have noticed - and it's definitely coming from people you wouldn't expect - e.g. simon cowell says it and he doesn't have the slightest hint of a cockney accent apart from when he says 'nothink'! it's really bizarre

[Bert]

Don't get me started. The number of people who pronounce "dissect" to rhyme with "bisect"is beyond belief. Plus, they usually mean "analyse" or "discuss" when they use it.
I have a boss who doesn't know the difference between "except" and "accept".
On the PM programme a few days ago, the BBC Washington correspondent spoke about some crisis or other building up to a "crescendo". He meant "climax", of course.