Streuth! Where did an “sh” sound introduce itself into pronunciations of “str?” Is it Cracker Ebonics like “libary” or “aks” expecially? Who says “SHtrong” beside southern idiots like the current president? I now hear the god-awful mispronunciation on the lips of sub urban TV people, news reporters on location, even from the sports sidelines. Proper English is determined by usage, so nuclear will become nucular if enough yahoos say it’s so.
Today I noticed the hackneyed “shtr” coming from the pseudo soldier voice-over on the army commercials, talking about SHtrength: SHtrong, Army SHtrong.
Have you seen it, the new ad which begins by saying: “Webster defines STRONG as” [etc, etc… BUT] “With all respect to Webster, there’s strong and then there’s ARMY STRONG.” No, and he likely hadn’t heard of Army SHTRONG either.
It is ‘the command presence’ being advertised here. Big, deep, and macho. Oh, yes….. and carry a big stick!
umm, correction Tony…. that should be “carries a big schtick.”
Oh, but let’s not cross ebonics into yiddish phrases… the six degrees of Morgan Freeman has already happened. Pssst… Morgan, I luv ya, but just how many movies can a person make before they pass from celebrity to token?? Not every slur is grammatical – sometimes it’s still the back of the bus, no matter how many try to convince you it’s “da hood”.
Meanwhile in ad-land “Google” is already a word meaning search. “Goggle” means you’ve found the answer you wanted and don’t have to search anymore. “Gaggle” means your answer is popular with flocks, and therefore feels *shafer* being filled with shelf-assurance.
( *shafer –> http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=shafer )
Actually, “shtrong” and “shtreet” are not really Ebonics. They may be an echo from the Germanic heritage of the English language. “St” and “sp” are pronounced as “sh” in German. Swedish “stj” and “skj” are also “sh”.
Michelle Obama is another fine example of this nonsense. But, you can’t criticize her because she’s the Firsht Lady!