Things you were shockingly old when you learned

That "arms akimbo" means hands on hips with elbows out (the George Reeves Superman stance), not arms flailing about.

That the name pronounced "al-o-WISH-us" is the same word as the name spelled "Aloysius."

How did your head spell it before?

My name is Alloy Zeus, look upon my works, ye mighty...

Until the moment of revelation (which may have come while reading the back of an Elvis Costello album), I'd never really thought about how al-o-WISH-us was spelled.

Marsala and masala are not at all the same thing.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dd-XieyVQAAcWu6.jpg:small

comes up on jeopardy every so often

What do you call a dude with the misfortune to still be named “Elbridge” in 2018

Probably “Gary”

wait the *pronunciation* of 'gerrymander' comes up on jeopardy?

it's a hard game

pronounced jame

Only recently occurred to me that the name of the Bumper-to-Bumper auto parts chain refers to what's between the front bumper and back bumper, not in the human centipedal use that traffic reporters employ during a jam.

on a similar tip, I used to think collision centers were places where they conducted crash tests, not auto body shops where they repair the damage caused by motor vehicle collisions

fwiw I didn't know the correct pronunciation of Gerry until now, despite the fact that I live a little behind the gerrymander's neck and used to live on his butt/thigh. in a better world, it would be considered a point of local pride to live within the original gerryymander, and there'd be pizza places named after him, highway signs tracing the path from head to tail, commemorative statues in every town common, tshirts and bumnper stickers sold in every local gift shop, etc.

He's not remembered for any of that

puts me in mind of

https://www.theonion.com/it-is-my-hope-that-i-will-be-remembered-as-a-great-man-1819583650

Though it may be immodest of me to say, it is my dearest hope that I, the Fourth Earl of Sandwich, shall be remembered as a great man by all. I long to know what will be foremost in the everyman's thoughts when he hears the name Sandwich. Will it be my Lordship of the Admiralty? Or my able and devoted service as Secretary of State? Either is a fair guess, I believe.

Yet, part of me suspects that it will be an object that is destined to bear my name for eternity, just as people now have begun to refer to a metal stove as a Franklin, after its inventor. Other men, as well, have been so honoured, and I must note that none of these other so-called great men represented England at the Breda Conference negotiations.

There, now I am thinking! Perhaps it will be treaties that will come to be known for eternity as Sandwiches. Great leaders of countries will say, "Let us enact a Sandwich, that our two nations shall cease to be enemies. By the terms of this most sacred and honorable Sandwich, let us have peace in our great lands." That would be a most fitting tribute to me, considering my tireless contributions to the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748.

OK so I had no idea that those SoBe drinks from the 90s were called that after South Beach. I never really thought about it and didn't know that was an abbrev for South Beach. Was there last month and saw some lizards and then thought of the bottle and had a light bulb moment.

SoBe began as the South Beach Beverage Company, a drink manufacturer based in Norwalk, Connecticut from 1996-2001.

what in tarnation

SEE??

In breaking news for Elbridge T. Gerry, if everyone pronounces gerrymander as 'jerrymander', then they are pronouncing it correctly. It's a word, not a person, and you are being the worst kind of pedant.

For me the word where that comes into play is "forte" as in "basketweaving is my forte."

Its origin is from French, and refers to the strong point of a sword. There is no accent on it and it is supposed to be said "fort" (according to the worst kind of pedant).

If you say "for-tay," like the musical term for "loud" (which comes from Italian), you're technically wrong but everyone will know what you mean. But if you say it "fort" people will look at you funny (except for a few chance pedants).

As a consequence I avoid it in speech, preferring "strength" or "strong suit" or "specialty."

I prefer thang

I don't really think that's correct. The etymology is correct. The fact that the French word is one syllable is correct. But now literally no one would know what you mean if you said something was "your fort", so while it would be true to the etymology it's not really correct.

basketweaving is my foray

The best way to navigate "forte" is go with single-syllable pronunciation in heavily accented French, pause meaningfully, arch eyebrow.

p'tit con

Incredibly, my Apple dictionary does give "fôrt" as an acceptable pronunciation for "forte". I think if you're going to do that, though, you should go all the way and use a guttural "r" and proper French "o" sound.

Hadrian OTM, essentially.

on the French tip: that sunning-yourself chair is actually called a "chaise longue", pronounced like the English word "long". it just means "long chair".

How else do you pronounce it?

Going to admit btw that I had always assumed the "forte" in "spreading butter on toast is my forte" did come from the musical dynamic marking.

I always assumed Sobe was asian tea inspired because Sobe = Soba noodles in my mind.

I think the pronunciation of foreign words in the context of a different language comes down to the actual language you are speaking plus local dialect. If you're American speaking English, it's perfectly acceptable to say for-tay and chayz lounge.

fine but anyone who says “ninety-nine luft ballooooons” is ripe for a boot up the arse

(figuratively – i am not physically abusing anyone)

Yeah, that's a little different. I consider the other words mentioned to be English words derived from French. You aren't speaking French when you say forte in an English sentence. Luftballons is definitely not an English word, as evidenced by Nina saying "red balloons" in the English version.

The old department store chain Kresge didn't go out of business in the '60s like I thought, they just changed their name to Kmart.

Didnt know about the forte/fort thing but I usually say something silly like "in my wheelhouse" anyway like the ass I am.

chayz lounge.

no

Why not?

Luftballons is definitely not an English word, as evidenced by Nina saying "red balloons" in the English version.

my point is more the english-german-english construction which ignores the actual name of the song and is just lazy, like “the tour de fraaaance”

Yeah, it's wrong, but doesn't really raise my hackles. I'm much more sensitive to what I perceive (right or wrong) as "snooty" pronunciations.

xp

Apparently the English substitution of "lounge" dates back some 200 years, so it isn't exactly a modern bastardization.

then you get into that sociolinguistic bullshit of “well enough people get it wrong so it’s just official now”

I mean, that's often how languages work.

never heard anyone say "chaise lounge" before, must be American English? tbf it's not something I hear said very often.

The one that always got on my tits was once one Hell's Kitchen I heard them refer to a turbo rizodo.

It's a turbot risotto.

surely you don't pronounce the "t" in "turbot"??

All of this is fine provided I can still pronounce the s in Paris

and as long as i can pronounce the "v" in PVRIS

Why not?

I'm fine with shez or shayz or Hyacinth Bucket-ing it, but it's a case where it feels wilfully erasing to eradicate the notion that this is a foreign phrase

especially when people with "normal" Australian accents switch to a nasal ocker for those two words, just to make the point that they're not saying nothing posh or fruity, alright?