snob

There are some words my mom says that just drive me crazy! I've learned, over time, that it's best if I just leave it alone and don't say anything. Although my first instinct is to jump in and correct her. This requires tremendous restraint on my part. Instead, I hold the corrective dialogue in my own mind and pretend I didn't notice. Sometimes I do go a little further and intentionally introduce that word, pronounced correctly, of course, into my next sentence. I may even need to use that word in the next several sentences. Apparently, I'm doing a good job restraining my feelings of frustration because she continues to mispronounce these words, Mexico, Toille, Laguardia, etc. Now, don't think my mom is a complete idiot. In some situations, it's not quite a mispronunciation so much as a weird pronunciation. She insists on calling them Joe Jeans instead of Joe's and it drives me crazy!

To give her a little credit, my mom isn't the only one whose verbal flaws drive me crazy. Pretty much every day there are a few folks whose banter hits me like nails on a chalkboard. I'm continually biting my tongue to refrain from correcting or snapping at them. A girl I work with says, gifth. Not gift, but gifth. Seriously, I saw her tongue between her teeth when she said the word...twice. Other people enjoy slipping letters into words like pastorial instead of pastoral. what is with this? Do people just not hear the difference between these words? Are they not hooked on phonics? Are they trying to spice up life?

Or, am I just the only insane person who can't handle it?