From: mumble@nomail.invalid   
      
   On 05/17/2014 01:40 PM, J.Pascal wrote:   
   > On Saturday, May 17, 2014 1:34:11 PM UTC-6, mumble wrote:   
   >> On 05/17/2014 12:04 PM, William Vetter wrote:   
   >>   
   >>> On Saturday, May 17, 2014 6:15:23 AM UTC-4, mumble wrote:   
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   >>>> On 05/16/2014 11:58 PM, J.Pascal wrote:   
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   >>>>> On Friday, May 16, 2014 11:13:06 PM UTC-6, William Vetter wrote:   
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   >>>>>> People who have not had formal education, but have learned primarily   
   from books, even though they may have learned more than many people who have   
   completed degrees, can teach themselves to pronounce unfamiliar words as they   
   are written.   
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   >>>>>> One afternoon, I was talking to a laboratory stockman at his counter.    
   He was excited because he had bought a new telescope, and wanted to use the   
   setting circles to find the Ring Nebula and so forth, and he was telling me   
   about sidereal time.  He    
   pronounced it "SIDE REAL."   
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   >>>>> Er....   
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   >>>>> Honest, I don't think I've ever heard that word spoken.   
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   >>>>> -Julie   
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   >>>> Back in olden times they had these devices called "dictionaries" that   
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   >>>> contained information on pronunciation in addition to specific meanings,   
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   >>>> and some few were taught to look up the words they encountered which   
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   >>>> were new to their personal vocabularies.  I think that I might still   
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   >>>> have a hardcopy dictionary around somewhere, covered in dust; new words   
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   >>>> seem to be added to the consensus vocabulary faster than dictionaries   
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   >>>> are published, and one is not always online when reading; so it goes.   
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   >>> He needs a reason to suspect that he pronounces side-real wrong, before he   
   tries to look it up.   
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   >> Maybe when you snorted at his pronunciation it planted the seed of a   
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   >> clue, if you were impolite enough to snort (or equivalent).  Many people   
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   >> seem to believe that they should never show disapproval at anything   
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   >> except (perhaps) barbecued human babies.  I think we're a sad lot, humans.   
   >   
   > Why do you think that a snort is appropriate?   
   >   
   > When my kids (grown up now) pronounce words incorrectly, I just tell them   
   the right pronunciation because their vocabularies are from reading, too.   
   >   
   > -Julie   
   >   
      
   This was supposedly someone adult enough to work as a laboratory   
   stockman, not some third-grader.  If he makes a living by knowing about   
   the various equipment used in a (whatever type of) laboratory, he ought   
   to be able to make himself competent to pronounce the words he has   
   chosen to speak.  Correct some of these people and they frown and call   
   you an asshole for insulting their intelligence, even if they've just   
   shown it's lacking.  The ones worth educating will ask in reply to a   
   snort or equivalent, the others indicate a need to find a better supply   
   house.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)