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Fe-BRU-ary vs. Feb-U-ary (Chronology from 1999 on)A chronology of news items about people in radio and TV mis-pronouncing the second month of the year!February vs. Febuary (Feb 1999)Whimsical Will, http://www.whimsicalwill.com who does the weekly Demented News segments on the syndicated Dr. Demento Show (no station in L.A. or S.D. as I write this, but hopefully that will change soon) reported in his DN about the mispronounciation of the month of February.In the song "America Pie" by Don McLean, he sings the lyrics "Fe-BU-ary makes me quiver...". I noticed also this month that several radio personalities has also been skipping the "r" in enounciating the syllables of the month of Fe-BRU-ary. Even the Fox announcer mispronounces February Thrills as Febuary Thrills. Alyssa Milano on the WB series "Charmed" also flubbed the month also, missing the "r"! Shame! Remember, there is a "brew" in Fe-BRU-ary, not in Feb-U-ary. Got that deejays? Now someone wish to explain to me how somebody pronounced the month of March like the name of an Orkan Robin Williams played in his old TV show with Mindy? Can't figure out how "March" from Ork seems to work? And you wonder how anyone didn't mispronounce January as Jan-RU-ary! February Mispronounciation (Jan 2000)A Us Magazine radio ad mispronounced it as Feb-U-ary.Kristi Knight-Jagger of Star 100.7 also misprounced the month during her late afternoon traffic report, completely missing the "r" in Feb-RU-ary as it should be pronounced. A recent car dealership ad also had an enthusiastic announcer blowing the month altogether as he mispronounced the month three times in the 60-second spot! Ouch! February vs. Febuary (Jan 2000)Last week, I reported on some radio people flubbing the pronounciation of the month of February, where they're pronouncing the month without the "r", as in Feb-U-ary!Kristi Knight e-mailed me and she took a poll of about ten people to say the month that comes after January. They all pronounced it Feb-U-ary. "I don't recall anyone pronouncing the R. In a inpromptu poll we took around the office it was agreed the R is silent. At least we all spell it correctly." says Knight One thing about Feb-U-ary, it comes after Jan-RU-ary. Feb-U-ary Sightings (Feb 2000)The Jammin' Z-90 announcer who does the taped contest plugs fumbled when he announced several station-sponsored events taking place this month in Feb-U-ary!Macy's department stores just can't get it right. It's touting its Feb-U-ary sale three times per spot this weekend! But the enounciation shame award of the week goes to Regis Philbin! Who wants to be a Feb-U-aire! During one question this week on "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire", he asked which is the real birthdate of President Lincoln, and on all four choices, he fumbled the pronounciation of the month of Feb-RU-ary as it's supposed to be pronounced! Now Regis wants to get paid more money to $250,000 per show, up from $100,000! Hey Reege, you better brush up on your Feb-RU-ary pronounciation skills before you deserve a raise! |