Saturday, February 13, 2010

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?

7 comments:

clare said...

Hee hee, I like your point about "hospitalised". What about radio news? That's my prefered option, it's up to date, and there's no chance of spelling mistakes.

Opinionated Libertarimum said...

Ah, silly me. Forgot about the old wireless. Thanks! Hopefully the anaptyxis count will be low.

Kiwiwit said...

It's Hobson's choice, really, when it comes to news in this country. Having just done a rant myself on TVNZ news (http://bit.ly/aD4rBk) I can sympathise with your dilemma. At least the BBC covers real news as opposed to the gossip and innuendo TVNZ and TV3 fill their news hours with. Unfortunately the print media is just as bad. The Bin Liner (otherwise known as The Dominion Post) is the worst with its front page usually full of stories about cats in trees and whingers who feel they haven't received enough money from the taxpayer. Even their international news section is filled with opinion prices rather than actual news. Boycott them all and get your news from the Internet!

medusa said...

Fox News is THE news channel to watch on TV and the kiwi blogs are best for local news. We cancelled printed media and stopped watching government TV news three years ago, best thing we ever did! I can't believe ANYBODY would watch CNN, MSNBC, BBC or SKY news. They are all corrupt obama loving climate change liars. Grrrrrrrrrr!!!

Oswald Bastable said...

Don't get me started no 'disrespected'!!!

Opinionated Libertarimum said...

Medusa, I like the angle of Fox New, but the screen is always so busy. I feel exhausted after watching Fox News, and assaulted while I watch it. But I quite enjoyed the radio this morning!

Opinionated Libertarimum said...

Os, I cringe.