Katy Perry mispronounced “hyperbole” her entire life

[Oriane 20,937]

36 minutes ago, StrawberryBlond said:

No, most of us don't get words that complicated at high school level. Shakespeare is as difficult as it gets and you won't find words like that in his works. It's a very niche word, there's a reason why I was well into my 20's by the time I even heard it spoken and realised I was saying it wrong. I'm more shocked when people mispronounce words that are in everyday use. I've heard "duvet" and "mega" being mispronounced even when there's not the issue of 2 different pronunciations (my mum and I have a constant battle over how "adorable" is pronounced because I insist there's 2 correct ways of saying it and say the 'ador' bit like French but she insists you say it like there's an e at the end). My Belgian uncle who's been living here since the 70's occasionally sees a word that he's never before yet knowingly mispronounces "quiche" and bizarrely had never heard the word "circuit" before (he pronounced it like "cirkwee") despite working with computers for years. The only time that I think it's ok to laugh is when it's literally a case of how this person could've never possibly known this word or clearly knows how it's said but is for some reason, choosing to say it their own way.

I meant that, at least in French literature lessons, we learn a lot of ways to analyze texts and a lot of tools that writers use, and the hyperbole is one of them, along with all other figures of speech. Of course you will rarely find "hyperbole" in a text, but if the author is using a hyperbole, the student has to recognize it and point it out in exams. I'm curious how it works in other countries, I assumed it was the same everywhere.

I'm actually surprised that all these words you mentioned that come from French are pronounced the French way unlike "hyperbole". As a non-native English speaker, obviously there are a lot of words that I mispronounce without knowing it, and I'm shocked when I realize it. As for French words, once in a while you get a surprise with some words. It must be so hard for non-French natives though, our spelling is so confusing  I still can't get over the fact that "femme fatale" is just pronounced "fem" and not "fam" in English, it sounds so wrong to me.

[StrawberryBlond 14,820]

1 hour ago, Oriane said:

I meant that, at least in French literature lessons, we learn a lot of ways to analyze texts and a lot of tools that writers use, and the hyperbole is one of them, along with all other figures of speech. Of course you will rarely find "hyperbole" in a text, but if the author is using a hyperbole, the student has to recognize it and point it out in exams. I'm curious how it works in other countries, I assumed it was the same everywhere.

I'm actually surprised that all these words you mentioned that come from French are pronounced the French way unlike "hyperbole". As a non-native English speaker, obviously there are a lot of words that I mispronounce without knowing it, and I'm shocked when I realize it. As for French words, once in a while you get a surprise with some words. It must be so hard for non-French natives though, our spelling is so confusing  I still can't get over the fact that "femme fatale" is just pronounced "fem" and not "fam" in English, it sounds so wrong to me.

No, we just call that exaggeration. Or say that someone's using a simile or metaphor for effect. It's just one of those words that no one actually uses unless they're trying to be fancy. "Hype" is common, but its extended form, hyperbole, is certainly not.

Language rules are weird, especially when it comes to the exceptions we have. How we flat-out change names of countries and even people's names, to suit our languages are a classic example. And let's not get started on names in Gaelic Irish and Scots that look nothing like how they're pronounced. I actually don't have a problem with French spelling and pronunciation, partly because I did study it. I just have to know there's a French word incoming. If it's a French word I've never seen, I may well mispronounce it and then wonder if it's a foreign word as it didn't sound right. I didn't even notice the femme fatale example until you said it. It's just like, when talking in my own language, I subconsciously comply to my native tongue's rules. I'd probably pronounce it differently if I was talking nothing but French. It is weird how we change the sound of words that we should easily be able to say as well. I've discovered that native English speakers have some of the widest vocal abilities across all the countries of the world. We can seem to make just about any vocal inflection with our mouths and do so easily. The only exception being those very difficult African languages that utilise clicks. If we find this stuff so easy, why do we modify so many foreign words to sound more English?

[Oriane 20,937]

10 minutes ago, StrawberryBlond said:

No, we just call that exaggeration. Or say that someone's using a simile or metaphor for effect. It's just one of those words that no one actually uses unless they're trying to be fancy. "Hype" is common, but its extended form, hyperbole, is certainly not.

Language rules are weird, especially when it comes to the exceptions we have. How we flat-out change names of countries and even people's names, to suit our languages are a classic example. And let's not get started on names in Gaelic Irish and Scots that look nothing like how they're pronounced. I actually don't have a problem with French spelling and pronunciation, partly because I did study it. I just have to know there's a French word incoming. If it's a French word I've never seen, I may well mispronounce it and then wonder if it's a foreign word as it didn't sound right. I didn't even notice the femme fatale example until you said it. It's just like, when talking in my own language, I subconsciously comply to my native tongue's rules. I'd probably pronounce it differently if I was talking nothing but French. It is weird how we change the sound of words that we should easily be able to say as well. I've discovered that native English speakers have some of the widest vocal abilities across all the countries of the world. We can seem to make just about any vocal inflection with our mouths and do so easily. The only exception being those very difficult African languages that utilise clicks. If we find this stuff so easy, why do we modify so many foreign words to sound more English?

Oh that's interesting, here the teachers push us so much to know about all of these.

Yes, I can't understand how we went from "Beijing" to "Pékin" in French for example, sometimes adapting the spelling/pronounciation a bit to fit the language is fine, but sometimes it has nothing to do with the original word. I think it should be as close as possible to the original one, in case you need to communicate with people from there, or who speak other languages. I have no idea how hard it is for foreigners to get used to the French pronounciation, if there's a point where you just start to understand how it works, or if it never actually gets easier and you just have to learn every existing syllable. I don't ask myself this question but then I see people being confused at "eau" being pronounced "o" and I understand that this is all very weird from the outside. But same as you, there are so many English words that we use in French, and we butcher the pronounciation to say it the French way, and when someone pronounces it right, it's surprising. Recently someone was telling me about PayPal and it took me a few times to understand it, because in French we're just so used to saying "pay pâle" instead. Wow, that's interesting to know about the vocal abilities. That makes it sad that English is the most used language, and native English speakers don't have as much use learning other languages than other cultures.

[Anderson123 38,218]

It’s Gaga not Ga Ga. 

[TheOriginalOne 10,641]

This was also her after watching Drag Race