Have the rules changed?

[tvordlj]

I understand about regional accents which affect pronunciation but why can't the rules still be followed? I'm getting more and more annoyed by the pronunciation of "the"... specifically before a word starting with a vowel. You're supposed to pronounce it as "Thee" before one of those words, "thee egg", "thee evening" or "thee others" but in more and more commercials on television, it's been jumping at me, "the others" instead of "thee", over and over. I don't know if they think it's cute or down-home like but it's seriously irritating me! You might be a bit sloppy with your every day speech and say things like that but if you're trying to sell a product on the air, wouldn't it be prudent to pronounce things correctly? It's like the epidemic of misplaced apostrophes that seems to be running rife these days. Professional signs advertising "Pizza's" when they aren't talking about the something belonging to the pizza. Someone writing an email or article on a website with missing apostrophes or putting them where they don't belong. It looks unprofessional and it looks ignorant. I was in a pub in Toronto where the sign painted over the loos was "Ladie's" Sheesh!

Anyway.

Didn't go to the family party this afternoon because apparently the host isn't feeling too well either. An awful lot of people are suffering this flu this week! I thought i might be getting it back too, judging from the amount of time i spent in the loo this morning but all seems well at the moment (*knock on wood, er... porcelain?*) Tomorrow am supposed to hook up with my friend for a belated gift exchange and i *will* get out of this apartment even if the weather outside is frightful! (Well, cold, which it has been all week!)

My mailbox was filled with some quite diverse items today. In addition to a couple of bills (*paid with automatic debit*), there were a few christmas cards (Thanks kixie and naturalbornkaos), a newsletter from my MP (*bin*), and a packet of microwave popcorn! Cool!

I have lovely soft Ocean Salted and Lemony Fluttered (LUSH) hands and feet today. They feel and smell very nice! My dining room table is covered in stuff, two printers (one replaced with a new all-in-one) in various state of functionality, a cd burner (replaced by a dvd burner), a flat bed scanner (replaced with a new all-in-one), various cables and a battery charger. And ink for one of the printers. One printer needs a new print head cartridge and the other installs better with older Windows systems though it will go with XP as it was working on my puter ok. The scanner works very well. Have the software cd's for them all. What am i going to do with it all? (well, not the charger, that's new and it's not going anywhere). If anyone wants any of it, cheap, let me know.

Comments

[gramie-dee.livejournal.com]

I always pronounce the as thu, not thee. We stopped saying thee a few hundred years ago. ;)

Too bad about the party, I know you were looking forward to it. :(

[tammihayne.livejournal.com]

I didn't even realize it was a rule. Certainly was not taught to me in school. However, when thinking about what I say I do notice I tend to insert the extra "e" to make it a long ee sound but it is not long and pronounced but more run together with a long e sound like theeoffice.

[tvor.livejournal.com]

I was always taught that was the way but then, my junior high was run by grammar nazis. ;) It sounds better and it flows together much easier which is why it's supposed to be that way i think.

[steer.livejournal.com]

Hmm.. where I'm from it's usually pronounced t' or ' (a short glottal stop which really makes no sound but a slight choking and stops you talking for the length of time it would take you to say t' -- e.g. "You going down... pub?")

[tvor.livejournal.com]

well that's one way to get round the problem which goes back to regional accents. I think the south of the US tends not to say "thee office", pronouncing it the way i was taught not to :) I went to a school run by grammar nazis and some things just jump out at me.

[ephemera.livejournal.com]

you may now imagine me sitting here repeating 'the cat the office' to myself trying to spot if I have a different pronunciation or not ... I certainly can't say I've noticed or been bugged by it in other people, unlike the apostrophe thing....

[tvor.livejournal.com]

I think things like that stand out for me because of the strictness with which i was taught it in the past. I don't always speak or write with perfect grammar and in a casual environment it doesn't matter as much. I guess i feel that if you're putting yourself out there in the media, print, television, radio, whatever, in a professional circumstance, you should sound professional. These advert announcers all seem to be female too. Maybe they think it sounds cute? i dunno.

[minivanmom.livejournal.com]

Like the others I never was taught that and never realized it was a "rule". I've never noticed it in others and probably wouldn't know the difference or care if someone on the TV pronounced it "thee" or the other way or whatever. ha! I've also sat here and said things to myself to see how I say "the"... I'm sure everyone is wondering what the hell I'm doing!

[tvor.livejournal.com]

I know i know, i'm coming across very anal with this aren't i lol I think a lot of people probably pronounce the "thee" and don't even know they're doing it, because it does flow better.

[sammantha.livejournal.com]

sooo when will you have the xmas pics back???

[tvor.livejournal.com]

That's the problem with print film. Gotta finish the film first and since i didn't go to any other places this week like i thought i would be, i still have half a film left!! I may have to roll it back anyway, we'll see.