Listen for this—you'll be surprised how often you hear it: People are increasingly using "shtr" in their speech instead of "str". Example: A commercial announcer talks about "crispy shtrips" instead of "crispy strips". Or a newscaster reports on a "conshtruction project" instead of "construction project".
If you listen closely, you'll hear it frequently: Jay Leno does it way too often. It's also becoming common in national TV ads, and I've heard it from the lips of several newscasters here in Orlando.
The worst offenders seem to be today's "Gen Y" types. I recently sat through a 45-minute marketing seminar during which the 25-year-old female presenter used it constantly, repeatedly saying things like "shtructure", "conshtrain", "shtraight", "shtrike", and so forth. In all, she used this lazy, faulty pronunciation more than 100 times during that brief seminar!
Does anyone know how this got started? I first remember hearing it several years ago in a TV commercial—a couple of hip-hop dudes were promoting the "power shtripes" in a new deodorant.
Finally, how is it that TV announcers, news broadcasters, and others are being allowed to perpetuate it? Does anyone even care?
Shouldn't this lazy way of speaking be shtricken from our lexicon?
If you listen closely, you'll hear it frequently: Jay Leno does it way too often. It's also becoming common in national TV ads, and I've heard it from the lips of several newscasters here in Orlando.
The worst offenders seem to be today's "Gen Y" types. I recently sat through a 45-minute marketing seminar during which the 25-year-old female presenter used it constantly, repeatedly saying things like "shtructure", "conshtrain", "shtraight", "shtrike", and so forth. In all, she used this lazy, faulty pronunciation more than 100 times during that brief seminar!
Does anyone know how this got started? I first remember hearing it several years ago in a TV commercial—a couple of hip-hop dudes were promoting the "power shtripes" in a new deodorant.
Finally, how is it that TV announcers, news broadcasters, and others are being allowed to perpetuate it? Does anyone even care?
Shouldn't this lazy way of speaking be shtricken from our lexicon?
