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Can you say shibboleth
(lemmy.world)
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this post was submitted on 12 Mar 2024
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Well, if we don’t know what someone means then what’s the point of language? You’d just be talking past one another…tho yeah, some “mistakes” are easy enough to reconcile in your head and you get what the other person is trying to convey
There is no better way to come off as a pretentious asshat in my mind than to stubbornly stomp a foot and declare "my way of pronouncing this word is correct and everyone else is wrong."
Language evolves, and some folk can't handle it.
Yes language evolves, but words only mean things when both parties understand them. Having a general consensus is helpful both in the present and looking back from the future.
Exactly. Which is why correct pronunciation is a good thing - otherwise you're the pretentious asshat who's stomping the foot.
How do you define "everyone", though?
Buddy of mine and I were discussing the word "buoy" a while back. His "everyone" is UK based, and pronounce it "boy". My "everyone", being in the Northeast US, pronounce it "booee". Who's correct? I'd rather use the pronunciation that doesn't make me sound like a pedophile, depending on the content in the rest of the sentence: "I took the boat out to the end of the bay and picked up the buoy... That was quite a rough ride."
Stomping your foot and demanding the other person stick to your pronunciation is a bit unreasonable in that situation, ain't it?