Why can’t people pronounce “especially”?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do so many people say “ex-specially”?

I want someone to do a PSA or YouTube tutorial coaching people on how to break it down and say it correctly.

Eh-specially.

No X.

I wish this didn’t bother me as much as it does.

It's the same reason people say expresso. It's called epenthesis. e + /sp/ is a spicy combo that's not very common in English, so speakers will shift to /ksp/ "ex" because it's easier to say and more familiar. English is full of these...feb-yoo-ary because "br" is a more challenging cluster. We learn words by ear first and sometimes those motor patterns become automatic long before spelling enters the picture.

Sure.

But wouldn’t you correct your kid if they said ex-presso?

I'd model it for my kids, but I wouldn't police or correct adults. OP asked why and linguistics explains the variation.

[Anonymous]

Some people just weren’t taught the correct way and weren’t corrected. You work with kids to say different letter sounds and they also have speech therapy.

Specifically is also often said wrong. My coworker drives me crazy saying it wrong.

[Anonymous]

My “favorite” is acrosst.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I secretly find it cute when people mispronounce words like that because it is more like a dialect (like people in certain areas saying warsh instead of wash or dropping vowels) and I don't need to notify anyone else when I hear it, feel aggravated or start a thread

Op here.

Warsh doesn’t bother me.

Dialects are endearing.

But I just can’t write off “ex-specially” as a dialect.

To me it sounds like the mispronunciation of a child. We’ve all heard a 4 year old make such a mistake. It just sounds child-like more than anything else.

Perhaps the simplest approach would be to enlarge your understanding of what dialects (and accents and pidgins and creoles and languages) are and how they develop. Or you could choose to indulge your just-can’t and wallow in being bothered. It sounds like you’re soliciting support more than you’re actually trying to overcome your desire to “correct” people who don’t speak like you. Perhaps you could learn to code switch, OP. How many languages and dialects do you speak? Learning a few more might be a great way to expand your vocabulary and occupy your mind.

FWIW I am fully bilingual and I studied linguistics in college along with other foreign languages that I haven’t fully mastered.

I’m not sure how code switching or dialects apply when we are talking about white Americans mispronouncing the word especially unless there is some midwestern or East Coast dialect where it is common knowledge that the word especially is pronounced differently. If *this* is actually a thing, then please enlighten me and I’ll finally disabuse myself of this admittedly bizarre pet peeve.

Do you walk about saying you're going to Par-ee and Roma this summer or are you going to Paris and Rome as pronounced inaccurately by English speakers? Do you correct people who say they're going to Milan instead of Milano?

From your linguistics studies you would have learned/learnt that people from different regions and countries speak English differently. Surveys can pinpoint quickly if you're from Texas, Maine, London, Glasgow or Sydney.

Pronouncing a foreign city using the English version doesn’t strike me as a mistake. It would obviously be incorrect to pronounce it Paris with the S if one was speaking French.

Fair point about regional dialects and pronunciation. Pray tell, which area of the USA is known for pronouncing especially with an X?

I don’t think it’s a dialect issue…particularly since I’ve heard UMC white people from across the country make the mistake.

Wash/Warsh is a dialect.

Water/wadder/waiter is a dialect.

But adding an X where it doesn’t exist seems to be a mistake more than anything else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Because some people have difficulty with it. Like ask, library, and breakfast.

It's not like they're saying a totally different, unrecognizable word. You know what they are saying and you're choosing to get huffy about it. Chill.

Wait, how do people say "breakfast"?

Brake-fast. How do you say it, racist?

That's an accent, like when people say BE-gul instead of Ba-gul for the word bagel.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I secretly find it cute when people mispronounce words like that because it is more like a dialect (like people in certain areas saying warsh instead of wash or dropping vowels) and I don't need to notify anyone else when I hear it, feel aggravated or start a thread

Op here.

Warsh doesn’t bother me.

Dialects are endearing.

But I just can’t write off “ex-specially” as a dialect.

To me it sounds like the mispronunciation of a child. We’ve all heard a 4 year old make such a mistake. It just sounds child-like more than anything else.

Perhaps the simplest approach would be to enlarge your understanding of what dialects (and accents and pidgins and creoles and languages) are and how they develop. Or you could choose to indulge your just-can’t and wallow in being bothered. It sounds like you’re soliciting support more than you’re actually trying to overcome your desire to “correct” people who don’t speak like you. Perhaps you could learn to code switch, OP. How many languages and dialects do you speak? Learning a few more might be a great way to expand your vocabulary and occupy your mind.

FWIW I am fully bilingual and I studied linguistics in college along with other foreign languages that I haven’t fully mastered.

I’m not sure how code switching or dialects apply when we are talking about white Americans mispronouncing the word especially unless there is some midwestern or East Coast dialect where it is common knowledge that the word especially is pronounced differently. If *this* is actually a thing, then please enlighten me and I’ll finally disabuse myself of this admittedly bizarre pet peeve.

Do you walk about saying you're going to Par-ee and Roma this summer or are you going to Paris and Rome as pronounced inaccurately by English speakers? Do you correct people who say they're going to Milan instead of Milano?

From your linguistics studies you would have learned/learnt that people from different regions and countries speak English differently. Surveys can pinpoint quickly if you're from Texas, Maine, London, Glasgow or Sydney.

Pronouncing a foreign city using the English version doesn’t strike me as a mistake. It would obviously be incorrect to pronounce it Paris with the S if one was speaking French.

Fair point about regional dialects and pronunciation. Pray tell, which area of the USA is known for pronouncing especially with an X?

I don’t think it’s a dialect issue…particularly since I’ve heard UMC white people from across the country make the mistake.

Wash/Warsh is a dialect.

Water/wadder/waiter is a dialect.

But adding an X where it doesn’t exist seems to be a mistake more than anything else.

It’s not a dialect. It's more of a non-standard variant. We all use them. EX just happens to annoy you, so you label it as a “mistake.” If we put your speech under the same microscope, I promise we’d find a few “errors” that will bother someone else as much as this bothers you.

[Anonymous]

Why do some people say dater for data

Why do I say Marilyn for Maryland

Why do some pronounce the L in salmon

Why do so many people say I seen him last week instead of a saw him last week.

Sometimes it’s regional, sometimes it’s how they hear it, sometimes it’s how their family said it.

[Anonymous]

People pronounce an 'x' in especially ("ex-specially") due to a phenomenon called linguistic analogy, where the brain applies the sound pattern of common "ex-" words (like expect or extra) to less common "es-" words. This "ks" sound addition is a common speech pattern, sometimes associated with regional dialects, particularly in the Southern US.

[Anonymous]

Some people say "breffest" for breakfast and "liberry" for library.

It's something about the two constants together that can be hard to pronounce for some.

We all know what they're saying. It's not a big deal.

[Anonymous]

Fustrated

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My “favorite” is acrosst.

My pet peeve is people who add an S to anyway. Anyways. Sounds like a valley girl. No "s" people.

[Anonymous]

They are the same people who drink EXpresso

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People pronounce an 'x' in especially ("ex-specially") due to a phenomenon called linguistic analogy, where the brain applies the sound pattern of common "ex-" words (like expect or extra) to less common "es-" words. This "ks" sound addition is a common speech pattern, sometimes associated with regional dialects, particularly in the Southern US.

Thank you for posting an actual explanation!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do so many people say “ex-specially”?

I want someone to do a PSA or YouTube tutorial coaching people on how to break it down and say it correctly.

Eh-specially.

No X.

I wish this didn’t bother me as much as it does.

Are you racist?

They just asked a question.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why do so many people say “ex-specially”?

I want someone to do a PSA or YouTube tutorial coaching people on how to break it down and say it correctly.

Eh-specially.

No X.

I wish this didn’t bother me as much as it does.

Why can't people (you) use punctuation correctly?