MIL Can’t Talk
September 30, 2008
For the record I generally get along with my MIL. I have come to terms with the fact that she is more formal than my own mother, that her sense of humor is so different from mine and dh’s, that she clearly needs to lighten up, that has a taste for frilly clothes. However, she does dole out some good advice, she has totally relaxed in some very important ways in the time that I have know her (10+ years). However, there is one thing that I cannot stand. That grates on my last nerve every time it happens.
The woman cannot pronounce very simple words or names.
Most recent example: She pronounced Joseph Biden Joseph Bidden. Holy crap. How many times has THAT name been spread across TV and radio air waves and she screwed it up! Thankfully Step-FIL corrected her (because I sure as hell wasn’t going to).
Other examples: Bacardi (as in the rum), Baracardi. BIL’s girlfriend (a bartender) at the time corrected her. Oh how we all laughed, me probably harder than the rest. Ambulance, Amblience. I have never corrected her on this one, I just let it go.
There are more I just can’t remember them right now. It drives me nuts. She has an advanced degree, she is an educated person. Why the hell can’t she pronounce the most simple of things correctly?
Entry Filed under: Mothers In Law (MIL). .
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1.
The Sane In-Law | September 30, 2008 at 10:10 pm
My mother is the same (I’m speaking on behalf of my husband since she’s his MIL). She says, “Walmartz” and “cousintz” (instead of cousins) and “piana” (piano) and my favorite? “Oldtimerz” instead of Alzheimers.
My advice? Stay in school kids or you will talk like this when you are in your 70’s.
2.
The Sane In-Law | October 1, 2008 at 2:57 am
Edited comment from Julie (since a good portion of her comment did not meet the requirements of commenting here – see tab “About the In-Laws” for said requirements):
“If it’s an actual adding syllables, rather than a dialect, then perhaps it is a legitimate speech therapy problem. My mother often does the same thing, and she has a legitimate speech problem and has to work hard to not say EVERY word wrong.”
3.
hopefulmother | October 3, 2008 at 3:53 pm
My mother calls the Swiffer a Swifter. Even though I’ve said it correctly in front of her MILLIONS of times. Oh well.
4.
TracyKM | November 27, 2008 at 11:44 pm
I’m just passing by after following a link from somewhere…but I have to chime in. My brother, and all 3 of my children have had/have now speech difficulties. They have different reasons for them, but it is quite possible that your MIL has a REAL problem with speech!!! My brother, now in his 20s, still has to think of how to say some words. My son, now 8, still needs to ‘practice’ saying some words, esp. new ones. My husband pronounces some words strangely, but because his parents have English accents (he doesn’t, but still has some different pronounciation). My mother even pronounces a few things oddly, due to summers spent in the Ottawa Valley.
Ambulance is actually a hard word for many people to say, regardless of age.
5.
Anna | January 6, 2009 at 3:15 pm
My MIL works with us and make lunch for my FIL and my son every day in our house (our home and office are connected). She calls it “the lunch”, which cracks me up to no end! I don’t know why she needs to add the article, but she does. I even made a joke about it once, and she laughed, saying she didn’t know why she did it, either. Heavy NJ accent, too.
My mother has always either mispronounced a few things, or adds the emphasis on the wrong syllable. Drove me nuts, too, but I’m reeeeeeaaaaaaalllly nitpicky.