Swaven deboner. Correcting others' pronunciations
Harry Dewey (Fri, 11 Apr 2003 03:49:41 PDT)

Someone wrote about the pronunciation of 'Clivia':

It's not???????

Of course it is. You understood EXACTLY what plant she was talking
about, didn't you?

Was exchanging information about clivias the purpose of your
conversation, or was it her desire to be impressed by your knowledge of
how Mr. Clive pronounced his name?

I hope she said to herself "What can I do to comfort my friend? Oh,
yes, I'll ask him how HE pronounces it."

I hope she then actually said "Oh dear, I've always wanted to know the
correct way to pronounce that! You've really made my day. Thank you so
much!"'

But are you sure she was impressed by your superior knowledge? Or did
she wonder about your toilet training (as surely you -- and everyone
else -- must be wondering about mine)? What on earth is it that impels
us to correct others?

It does require a certain amount of inner security and self-confidence
to adopt someone else's pronunciation -- no matter how outlandish you
may think it is -- without batting an eye, or pausing to catch your
breath, and, above all, without giving her a clue that -- once you're
out of earshot -- you're going to continue using your own utterly
superior pronunciation. The trick is not to wince, or swallow hard, as
you adopt your partner's barbarism. You don't want to risk having her
think you a snobbish linguistic terrorist, as some thug once described
-- on PBS yet! -- those who publicly bemoan the pronunciational
idiosyncrasies of others. Bite your tongue (totally unobtrusively) and
let her believe you to be swaven deboner, two traits that used to be
hugely admired in Minnesota, where everyone's IQ is above the state average.

Bless you for reading this far.

Harry Dewey, Beltsville, Maryland USA zone 7a