Doesn't particularly irk me, but the word "forte" (meaning strength) is usually mispronounced. It should be pronounced "fort," not "for-tay."

I'm sorry, but that is incorrect. "state of the art" does indeed mean the highest state of development, and not anything alluding to a status quo

"I am wanting to X" instead of "I want to buy X"

The use of "quotes" as emphasis.

Did you forget this one: "brang" Grrrrrrrrr:mad:

Also as to the question of "I axed...". The 36 year old mother of two I work with and mentoned above is black but in NO WAY would I say she uses "ebonics" OTHER THAN that one pronunciation. She is completely well spoken in every other regard.

There are a couple of similarly stupid language "things" (I don't know what else to call them) in the hispanic community (I am hispanic) that bug the crap outta me:

"I got off the car" - Say WHAT? You don't ride ON a car, so how can you get "off" it? Yet many hispanics will argue with you that it is correct....it isn't.....period.

The other one? When speaking to YOUR OWN SIBLING, saying for example, "Did you speak to my mother?" or "I was talking to my mother..." She isn't "your mother" she is mother to BOTH of you. So you would say, "...did you speak to mother?" Yet my own girlfriend who is terribly well educated uses BOTH of these expressions and though I've discussed them with her, she falls right back into both of them. Bugs the crap outta me.

You can get off the train, plane, bus or boat.

let 'em get off the car. :D


KT

I don't like ads that spell Katch words with a Kapital "k".

Saying $ 1.56 as "One dollar and fifty cent". ( cents )

I like to *use* the asterisk for emphesis.

I think "prolly" is funny on BBS's...or with BBS friends in person.
Regular conversation or type is a no.

"Me thinks" is a no.

"My bad" makes me crazy. It's like a fake "I'm sorry" with a slap.


KT

"Pacific" instead of specific. :mad:


KT

for free

It should be pronouced for-say since strength in French is force.

Fort is a modifier meaning extremely

Forte is an adjective meaning strong

Aurel, correct me if I'm wrong.

However, http://forums.pelicanparts.com/Dictionary.com says this:

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source
forte1 /fɔrt, foʊrt or, for 1, ˈfɔrteɪ/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[fawrt, fohrt or, for 1, fawr-tey] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
–noun 1. a strong point, as of a person; that in which one excels: I don't know what her forte is, but it's not music.
2. the stronger part of a sword blade, between the middle and the hilt (opposed to foible).


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[Origin: 1640–50; earlier fort < MF (see fort); disyllabic pron. by assoc. with forte2]


—Synonyms 1. talent, skill, excellence, strength, specialty; knack, bent.
—Pronunciation note In the sense of a person's strong point (He draws well, but sculpture is his forte), the older and historical pronunciation of forte is the one-syllable /fɔrt/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[fawrt] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation or /foʊrt/[fohrt]. The word is derived from the French word fort "strong." A two-syllable pronunciation /ˈfɔrteɪ/[fawr-tey] is increasingly heard, especially from younger educated speakers, perhaps owing to confusion with the musical term forte, pronounced in English as /ˈfɔrteɪ/[fawr-tey] and in Italian as /ˈfɔrtɛ/[fawr-te]. Both the one- and two-syllable pronunciations of forte are now considered standard.

I disagree. Forte, a noun meaning strength, comes from the musical term forte meaning loud, which is pronounced for-tay.

I agree with the forte dissenter Christien. There are words/names adopted in English that retain their native pronunciations.
-For example,
Monticello, Fillet Mignon, Forte, Chevrolet

FWIW, I was taught "fort" meant strength, and "for-tay" was predominantly a musical term indicating volume.

This is according to my dad, a one-time high school English teacher, and one of the most erudite people I've ever known.

red-beard, reading down on Dictionary.com (which I like and use frequently) you get to the American Heritage Dictionary definition:

American Heritage Dictionary for·te (fôr'tā', fôrt, fōrt) Pronunciation Key
n. Something in which a person excels.

Which makes it appear that it can be pronounced either way.

Someone should run to the libary and do some research.

Re: roots of the term: French fort, from Old French, strong, from Latin fortis. Note the lack of "e" in the French original.

Anyone got (Does anyone have...) an OED lying around? I'd defer to its authority. :D

JP

I thought it was Italian.

It has nothing to do with the youth of "today". I am 41 and I used the word "like" in that manner when I was 15 or 16 (around 1981/1982).

Another annoying word is "fustrated".

And just out of curiosity, am I the only person here who had to consciously learn how to pronounce the "r" in "February"? I learned to pronounce it incorrectly as a child.

JP - Thanks for the help with affect/effect. I may even try to use one of them today.SmileWavy

Janus -- I think you meant "effect/affect". Keep trying, it'll come. :p

r's are rare and wonderful. In Boston they go missing on many words (Car and Park) and relocate to words like Linda.

Libary. I hate it when I hear that!

My ex-wife like to use: "So don't I" when she meant to say "So do I", or really, she should have use "Me too!"

Too, I hate it when people start sentances with 'too'. My sister does this.

I thought "forte" was the feminine adjective for "strong". If it the noun is male, like "he is strong", or "il est fort" vs "she is strong" or "elle est forte". Maybe it's "il a fort" and "elle a forte" using "to have" instead of "to be" but the adjective works the same.

Been a few years though--high school french.

Re: forte

No Oxford on hand, here. I'm thumbing through my copy of Webster's New Twentieth Century Dictionary, 2nd ed. (1977). It says the word (meaning strength) is pronounced "fort." "Fortay" is a musical term.

However, dictionaries usually will go through revisions based upon common usage of language. So "new" words will be added, and obsolete ones (theoretically) deleted. If "fortay" is an accepted pronunciation, I'd be willing to guess that the publishing date is more recent, as it seems like we've all bastardized the proper pronunciation of the word for so long, no one really knows how it's supposed to be pronounced.

Was your ex from New England? I've heard that bizarre backwards-speak around here. But I've never heard it anywhere else.

When it hits my ears, it produces a painful cognitive dissonance effect in my brain...

;)

"prolly" instead of "probably"
"axe" instead of "ask" when spoken
double negatives when spoken "ain't never", etc...
"I could care less" instead of "I couldn't care less"