Monday, July 11, 2011

Something got lost in the pronunciation.

In a couple of recent Blogs (What does Junket mean to you? & Are you Kosher or even Cosher?) I mentioned in passing, the dangers of mishearing and/ or the danger of mispronunciation. All this triggered in my memory, an event that happened over 20 years ago, when we first arrived in the then Republic of Transkei.
Until we had time to rent a place of our own, it had earlier been arranged for us that we would house-sit for 2 months for an American family going back to the States for that time. As it turned out, we arrived two days before they left, and so we got to meet them and their dog, which we would also be looking after, during that time. So that first day myself, our last born daughter and the wife of the American couple, went for a walk with the dog 'Spart'. Along the way my last born asked what the name of the dog meant a sit was unusual to her. I, in my mighty wisdom and all-encompassing knowledge, guessed that it was probably short for Spartacus! Which in hindsight probably wasn’t that logical for a female dog, was it?
Anyway, at that point our American hostess said that, “It might not be noticeable now but when we first got her; she had a big 'spart' on her. And so that is how she was called Spart!”
At that point both my daughter and I realized she wasn’t saying Spart, but actually saying Spot!
Well that was me! What are some funny or embarrassing mispronunciations that you have heard or made?

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