• News
    • Campus
    • Local
    • World
  • Arts and Entertainment
    • Performing Arts
    • Visual Arts
    • Music
    • Film
    • Fashion
  • Lifestyle
    • Campus Happenings
    • Community Happenings
    • Food
    • Business
    • Travel
    • Calendar
  • Opinion
  • Sports
  • Video
    • Globe News
    • What’s Bruin
    • Bruin Lens
    • Film
    • Music
    • Globe Shorts
  • Radio
Search
41.6 F
Salt Lake City
Saturday, February 4, 2023
  • Newsletter Signup
  • Contests
  • About The Globe
    • Staff
    • Jobs
    • Issue PDFs
Sign in
Welcome! Log into your account
Forgot your password? Get help
Privacy Policy
Password recovery
Recover your password
A password will be e-mailed to you.
The Globe The Globe
The Globe The Globe
  • News
    • Campus
    • Local
    • World
  • Arts and Entertainment
    • Performing Arts
    • Visual Arts
    • Music
    • Film
    • Fashion
  • Lifestyle
    • Campus Happenings
    • Community Happenings
    • Food
    • Business
    • Travel
    • Calendar
  • Opinion
  • Sports
  • Video
    • Globe News
    • What’s Bruin
    • Bruin Lens
    • Film
    • Music
    • Globe Shorts
  • Radio
Home Opinion Dear Dick: Respect for language
  • Opinion

Dear Dick: Respect for language

By
Stephen Romney
-
September 14, 2011
0

Dear Dick,

As a student, I enjoy studying other cultures and other languages. So it is incredibly irksome when people mispronounce foreign words. Now, I’m not talking about the people who do it by accident. That would be something you would probably complain about. I’m talking about the people who do it on purpose and think they’re absolutely hilarious.

Granted, there are some foreign terms that are mispronounced to this day simply because the term stuck. The most notable example of this would be karaoke, pronounced carey-okey in the United States even though the term came from Japan, pronounced kah-rah-oh-kay in Japanese. We can thank World War II for terms such as these. However, there are times when people pronounce foreign words, particularly Spanish words, incorrectly in order to get a laugh.

The chief example in this case is when people mispronounce the Spanish word for thank you, “Gracias.” They pronounce the first half as “grassy” while they pronounce the other half with a short vowel “a” and then add an extra “s,” the full word not being something I would write in a letter.

Now, I’m not saying that nobody should do this. Not in the slightest, since this is common in sketches and skits that are making fun of obnoxious tourists. It’s just the people who do it in the middle of a conversation and expect uproarious laughter that need to be hurt.

The reason why I’m complaining about this to you is because if there’s anybody I know that would start this trend, it would be you. So the point that I’m making here is that, quite frankly, you’re not funny. You’re just being insensitive and asinine. The same goes for anybody who laughs at that kind of humor. They are just as insensitive and asinine, if not more so.

To reiterate, purposefully mispronouncing foreign words for the sake of comedy, at the expense of the language and associated culture, is not funny. It’s incredibly juvenile and insensitive. Anybody who laughs at that kind of thing is just as dumb. It would be in your best interest to stop this behavior before you say it around the wrong person.

Sincerely,

Stephen Romney, and the rest of the world.

  • TAGS
  • culture
  • Dear Dick
  • language
  • respect
Stephen Romney

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

Two audience members, seated left, listen to panel discussion

Former chair of the Northwestern Shoshone Nation details Salt Lake’s historical significance

Native Drum Group at SLCC Powwow

SLCC powwow to reunite Indigenous community after two-year hiatus

Group of traditional dancers

Hispanic Heritage Month: What it means to students

Aerial view of Guanajuato, Mexico

‘Ni de aquí, ni de allá’: Navigating two cultural identities

Woman wearing bandage after receiving vaccination

Understanding vaccine hesitancy in Utah’s Latino community

The Globe
ABOUT US
About The Globe
Staff
Jobs
Issue PDFs
FOLLOW US
  • About The Globe
  • Staff
  • Contact Us
  • Jobs
© 2023 The Globe