It is is ironic these days that at the same time as there is more written in blogs, e-mails, text messaging and other forms of communication, language skills are getting worse. We have the enigma of children being placed in French Immersion when they cannot even speak English well! A lot of the problem may relate to linguistic laziness, but is more likely due to poor instruction.
When I was in school we learnt spelling, grammar and phonics. We had these skills drilled in to us. It seems that these days it is unfashionable to drill children in skills. Teachers do not worry so much about spelling and grammar. So, not only do we have a generation without adequate English skills, but one without the academic discipline to push on through adversity.
One of my pet peeves is people who constantly confuse "much" and "many". Now admittedly for someone who has learnt English as a second language this is understandable as so much of English is learnt by what "sounds right". But native speakers do not have this excuse. Hearing a Canadian child saying things like "much people" or "many sand", can definitely set your teeth on edge! The plural of "mouse" is "mice" not "mouses"!!!!
Enunciation is also shot to hell! Some people speak like they are drunk or have their mouths numbed by Novocaine!
This brings us to the word "buoy". I was taught to pronounce the word identical to "boy", no "e", no "y"...just buoy like boy - hence the life jacket brand name "Buoy-O-Buoy" which only works if you pronounce buoy correctly. I did some research, and apparently the pronunciation "bouey" most closely resembles the French "bouée", which is good if you're speaking French - not so good if you're speaking English!!!!
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