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A few minutes ago, I received a phone call, and this is very close to a verbatim account of the conversation that ensued:
Caller: Hello, Mr. Retriever?
Me: Yes
Caller: This is Rich, from XYZ Chim-a-nee cleaning services, and I want to make you aware of a special that we are having this month on chim-a-nee cleaning.
Me: I don't have a chim-a-nee
Caller: Do you have a furnace or a fireplace?
Me: Yes, I have a furnace
Caller: Well, then you have a chim-a-nee!
Me: Nope! I do NOT have a chim-a-nee. ("Click", as Retriever terminates call...)
If you were hiring somebody to do telephone solicitation for your chimney cleaning company, wouldn't you first determine if that person was actually able to pronounce "chimney"?
This made me laugh! That is how I pronounced the word 'chimney' when I was a kid. Of course, I learned how to speak from my mother, basically, since Dad was always working. My mother is first-generation American and she learned how to pronounce words from her mother, who was a Romanian immigrant, and not proficient with English.
Thank goodness I had a passion for reading. I'd come across ordinary words like 'chimney' and realize I was pronouncing them all wrong. I made a concerted effort to change my manner of speaking and how I pronounced words.
This made me laugh! That is how I pronounced the word 'chimney' when I was a kid. Of course, I learned how to speak from my mother, basically, since Dad was always working. My mother is first-generation American and she learned how to pronounce words from her mother, who was a Romanian immigrant, and not proficient with English.
Thank goodness I had a passion for reading. I'd come across ordinary words like 'chimney' and realize I was pronouncing them all wrong. I made a concerted effort to change my manner of speaking and how I pronounced words.
Not mom's fault; I can't really blame her.
I think that lots of us had problems with some word pronunciations when we were kids. I think that is to be expected. But, how does an adult who can't pronounce "chimney" correctly wind up being hired for a position where he has to say that word--perhaps--a few hundred times each day?
I think that lots of us had problems with some word pronunciations when we were kids. I think that is to be expected. But, how does an adult who can't pronounce "chimney" correctly wind up being hired for a position where he has to say that word--perhaps--a few hundred times each day?
I would guess that either no one has ever corrected his pronunciation, or the owners of the business also pronounce it that way!
I think that lots of us had problems with some word pronunciations when we were kids. I think that is to be expected. But, how does an adult who can't pronounce "chimney" correctly wind up being hired for a position where he has to say that word--perhaps--a few hundred times each day?
I work at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on the safety team during race events, and often ride the tram to get to my assigned position, which is the pagoda. The team drivers call out the locations before the stop. One of the drivers, a woman who had worked there for a number of years, always calls the pagoda the begonia.
"Next stop, THE BEGONIA!"
I have always assumed she was illiterate because if she could read at all surely she would know the large Pagoda sign wasn't pronounced "Begonia."
"pain irradiating from my shoulder to my back and neck."
Hmmm...It could be a medical condition that seems to afflict many people as they age, namely, "Arthur-itis".
I believe that this results from an inflammation of the...Arthur.
"Yes, everybody got saved by God`s grace and was eccepted as a child of God to his church. Since then you are under the Law of God, wich is the New Testement is a foundation. In other words ,after eccepting Jisus ,only your works are legitimate "licence" if you will that you are a God`s child."
This was a comment on a news story today.All I can say is, "Mercy!"
Friends, we represent a minority, but Literature is on our side. With so many fine books to be read, so much to be studied and known, there is no need to bore ourselves with this rubbish.
- Edmund Wilson
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Take heart
