Anaptyxis

Driven to boredom by the big news networks (CNN and BBC), I have lately resorted to watching Sky News.  This is not because Sky News is an improvement, but rather because it was the only one left that didn't annoy me with its either screaming-aint-news-sexy CNN-style delivery or mumbling-half-asleep BBC-style delivery.  And I can't work out what the NZ newsreaders (sorry, "journalists") are trying to say.

But, alas, my patience has been pushed to the point where, as of today, all my news will be from the print media (although this, too, is trying my patience - a blog is likely to follow in time), and fellow bloggers who have a higher tolerance level than me.

My first warning to Sky News came when I stopped watching the sports news on the basis that the accents of the sports news readers was uncultured and grating.  They all come across as brash, cocky, arrogant and, in urgent need of elocution lessons.

My second warning came after I started noticing glaring spelling errors in the pop up info, and in the annoying little news ticker tape thingy at the bottom of the screen that keeps distracting my attention.  Initially, my good nature gave them the benefit of the doubt and I simply assumed it was fast-typing errors (but a spell check doesn't take long).  Sadly, I was misled.  The errors were, in fact, due to a lack of literacy.  Noticeable frequent errors include (correct spelling in parentheses in case anyone from Sky News is reading this): creul (cruel), Indain (Indian), Minster (Minister), alot (a lot), thankyou (thank you), occassion (occasion), liquify (liquefy), wierd (weird), and, the final straw for me, Feburary (February).

Today, I gave up Sky News for good following several versions of anaptyxis.   For those readers now wondering why I have given up on Sky News because of an apparent allergic reaction, anaptyxis is the incorrect insertion of a vowel to break up a troublesome consonant cluster, as in the common mispronunciation "mis-chee-vee-us" (mischievous is correctly pronounced "mis-che-vus").

Anaptyxising has its place, of course.  In French, for example, Parc des Princes (a big stadium in Paris) as is pronounced par-kuh-des-princes.  And the Japanese borrowings of English words often involve anaptyxis, such as "hottu doggu" for hot dog, and "Macadonalado" for McDonald's.

But, and here's the key, French and Japanese are not English.

I have been patient with Sky News, but, to date, I have collected nine examples of anaptyxis.  Enough is enough.  The following words must forevermore be pronounced correctly in my presence:

WORD	RECOMMENDED	CARELESS
athlete	athlete	ath-e-leet
burglar	bergler	berg-a-lar
battling	batling	bat-e-ling
disastrous	dizastrus	disaster-us
film	film	fillim
grievous	greevus	gree-vee-us
lightning	lite-ning	li-ten-ing
remembrance	remembrance	re-member-ance
umbrella	umbrela	um-bere-la

 
And, while I'm on this rant, where did the word "hospitalised" come from?  Am I correct in understanding that a footballer was turned into a hospital after breaking his ankle?