Lose $$ because of vernacular
December 23rd, 2012 at 3:11:11 PM permalink | |
Pacomartin Member since: Oct 24, 2012 Threads: 1068 Posts: 12569 | Contestant Renee Durette lost $3,850 was on the game show "Wheel of Fortune." She had asked for the letter 'g' as one of her letters, but when she pronounced the winning anwer - "Seven Swans a Swimmin" they disallowed her answer for dropping the letter 'g'. Approximately 60% of English speakers pronounce gerund -ing differently from participial -ing . In such cases, the gerund form is pronounced /ɪŋ/, so if she had said "Swimming is good exercise" she would pronounce the g. The participial form is pronounced /ɪn/ . This actually reflects the older etymology of the two forms, as the participial form originally did not have a g, so these speakers are not actually "dropping the g" in the historic sense. So while the pronunciation " Swimmin' " while not standard is actually used by the majority of people in the country. I wonder how the show's producer would handle the backlash if the contest used AAVE. |
December 24th, 2012 at 12:48:42 AM permalink | |
odiousgambit Member since: Oct 28, 2012 Threads: 154 Posts: 5055 | I've always thought the show was needlessly cruel in a lot of ways I'm Still Standing, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah [it's an old guy chant for me] |
December 27th, 2012 at 7:10:36 PM permalink | |
TheCesspit Member since: Oct 24, 2012 Threads: 23 Posts: 1929 | I doubt you could tell if I pronounce the 'g' or not... It is said that your life flashes before your eyes just before you die.... it's called Life |
December 28th, 2012 at 4:06:29 AM permalink | |
Pacomartin Member since: Oct 24, 2012 Threads: 1068 Posts: 12569 | In the first 40 minutes of the first presidential debate, Senator Obama used 84 gerund-participles, and dropped 8 g's. A g-dropping rate of about 10% is not at all out of line for someone in his position — in comparison, in the same period of the same debate, Senator McCain dropped 10 g's in 66 opportunities. I guess that the President better not try to play WOF.
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December 28th, 2012 at 7:13:52 AM permalink | |
Mosca Member since: Oct 24, 2012 Threads: 22 Posts: 730 | This whole thing sounded like only a partial story to me, so I did some research. 1) Contestants on WoF are instructed, multiple times, that pronunciation is important. An ex-contestant said that it is drilled into them. If you watch the show frequently, you'll notice that lots of contestants enunciate obvious solutions pedantically. They know that it is required. 2) Puzzles do turn up where vernacular is in the solution: a previous puzzle from a few years ago was "pickin' and a grinnin' ". 3) If you watch the episode in question, she didn't slur the "swimmin' ", or mispronounce it like people sometimes say, "swimmeen"; it sounded like she went out of her way to say, "swimmin' ". 4) Game show producers do not like controversy. They want to give away the money; someone is going to get it regardless. In this case, if they'd have given her the money, I believe the other contestants would have had a valid complaint... and the producers would have also set precedent for future shows. 5) In an interview, Durette absolves the show of any wrongdoing, saying that it was her mistake, not theirs. IMO, there is no controversy here. If anything, I think it is controversial to think that a contestant in this situation should be allowed to slide by. The very least someone can do when money is on the line is follow the instructions properly on how to pick it up. |
December 28th, 2012 at 7:24:58 AM permalink | |
Nareed Member since: Oct 24, 2012 Threads: 346 Posts: 12545 |
Maybe a little bit. After all, all shows are taped, and they can chose what to air. Not all taped "episodes" get aired. Donald Trump is a one-term LOSER |