Hey Monster, yeah I'm Dutch. But you won't hold that against me, now will you? ;)

And yes, I can say gracht perfectly correct. And Scheveningen, too. Lol. Don't ask me about my English pronunciation, though, because despite my hardest efforts you can still hear some (obvious?) traces of Dutch.

Examples... well, there's this one guy on the business news who consistently pronounces 'private acquity' as ack-JOO-itty. Or a colleague of his, who said "dan is deze stand as good as it gets, om het maar in goed Nederlands te zeggen" Which translates (rather literally) into "then this score is as good as it gets, to say it in proper Dutch". I wish I could say that he was kidding.

And there is a shocking number of Dutch people who think that if you pronounce eeh-mah-gee-NAY-shun, then it's logical that you also say eeh-mah-gee-NAY-tive. Sigh.

And what about the pronunciation of router? I've seen dozens of forums where people are divided into Camp Rooter and Camp Rowter and are battling each other to the death. I myself always use the latter, but I've seen so many arguments for and against that I have no clue anymore as to which is the 'correct'version. If there is one.

How about "data"?
I'm in the day-ta camp, but I will tolerate datta and dar-ta.

Btw I would never write "would of" etc, but my pronounciation of "would've" does come out sounding exactly like that (as suggested by UG)

Most of the Dutch people I know have a better grip on English Grammar than the native speakers. And they're very nice people. So I certainly won't hold that against you, just so long as you let me come over and visit -I love the Netherlands. New Year in Amsterdam is one of my best memories (My cousin-in-law lives there).

Brits usually say "rooter" and Americans usually say "rowter".

Regards caring, I care sometimes, but other times it's just not worth the heartache! :lol:

When people say "datta" my skin crawls.

Also, people around here can't pronounce words like deal. It comes out sounding like dill.

What's the rill dill? Do you fill it?

Enunciate, people! ;)

"day-ta" sounds almost as bad as "nuc-yu-lar" to me

I read somewhere that "dayta" is the preferred pronunciation, though dah-ta is OK, too. Dah-ta sounds like a pretentious hilljack way of saying it. :rolleyes:

Dah-ta is okay in an Aussie accent.....
If I heard a Brit saying it I'd probably spit out my tea.

When I'm in a funny mood I say day-der. It's especially stupid to say day-der-baize, so sometimes I do.

jinx always breaks my balls for saying Ah-fiss instead of AW-fuss. Office

Hmmm, when I'm in a funny mood I say "whadder" instead of water (when getting a round in from the water cooller). I feel really silly if a new member of staff comments on it.

When I was a kid growing up in Maine, I picked up a habit of saying "pellow" instead of "pillow" and "sireen" instead of "siren." I say them correctly now, but my little (35 year old) brother still says "pellow." It sounds really dumb.

I am SO coming to visit you! ;)