Should she have won?

[Miss Chicken]

A contestant on Wheel of Fortune has lost because of her pronunciation of a word.

As I have a hearing problem I cannot tell if her pronunciation of 'swimming' in so incorrect as to deny her. To me it sounds right but other may hear it differently. Or it might be because I am an Australian.

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSxh3N_M0Ik[/yt]

 

[OdoWanKenobi]

Re: Should she had won?

Yeah, she was robbed. In many American dialects the "g" at the end of a word is almost never pronounced.

 

[YellowSubmarine]

Re: Should she had won?

Meh, I'm pretty sure that my English teacher, who was always complaining that we were loaning English incorrectly, would suggest that -ing should be transformed into -in instead using a fully audible "g" or "k", because that's way closer to the way it sounds. I can barely tell -ing and -in apart. For me, there's no difference.

But good thing she did not know there was a "g" at the end of the word, so that they might have a ground to stand on... Oh, wait.

 

[MacLeod]

Re: Should she had won?

I would say she misses off the 'g'. I'm into two minds over it, yes strictly speaking she mispronunced the word, whilst it might be true that certain dialects in America don't pronunce the 'g'. Unless the dictionary says pronuncing it without the 'g' is acceptable she was technically incorrect in her solution. But it seems a bit harsh and perhaps some lee-way should be given.

 

[MacLeod]

Re: Should she had won?

Meh, I'm pretty sure that my English teacher, who was always complaining that we were loaning English incorrectly, would suggest that -ing should be transformed into -in instead using a fully audible "g" or "k", because that's way closer to the way it sounds. I can barely tell -ing and -in apart. For me, there's no difference.

But good thing she did not know there was a "g" at the end of the word, so that they might have a ground to stand on... Oh, wait.

I think perhaps the difference between words ending in 'in' as opposed to 'ing' is the length of the 'i', in words ending 'ing' the 'i' sound is longer.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

Re: Should she had won?

She was robbed. Clearly she knew there was a "g" at the end of the word, and if they don't take different regional accents and pronunciations into account (which I find hard to believe given the wide variety of accents I've heard on the show over the years when I've occasionally tuned in) they should have given her a chance to repeat the phrase in full before moving on to the next contestant.

The saddest thing about all of this is that poor Odo_Ital will never be able to win at Wheel of Fortune.

 

[Data Holmes]

Re: Should she had won?

No. She should not have won.

 

[Gryffindorian]

Re: Should she had won?

I speak English as a second language, but even I know there's a difference between swimming and swimmin'. Reneé didn't pronounce it correctly, so she lost.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

Re: Should she had won?

^ It's clear that she was fully aware of the difference between the two and knew there was a "g" at the end. Either she was being folksy and leaving off the g on purpose, or that's how she typically pronounces it. Either way, I think she should have been given another chance to say it.

What are the rules about pronunciation on Wheel? I know on Jeopardy they give you a chance to restate the question if you mispronounce something the first time. Do they not allow that on Wheel?

 

[Gryffindorian]

Re: Should she had won?

True. I hardly ever watch Wheel anymore, but the producers/judges (?) are usually quite rigid when it comes pronunciations. In a lot of cases, though, the contestant simply guesses the wrong word, for instance, "Satellite Disc" instead of saying "Satellite Dish."

 

[SmoothieX]

Re: Should she had won?

No. She should not have won.

I agree. You are on a wordplay game show, enunciate and speak clearly.

True. I hardly ever watch Wheel anymore, but the producers/judges (?) are usually quite rigid when it comes pronunciations. In a lot of cases, though, the contestant simply guesses the wrong word, for instance, "Satellite Disc" instead of saying "Satellite Dish."

They have to set a neutral standard somewhere. You have people from all over the country and world on that show. While you can't fault someone for a regional dialect, you can certainly fault them for not saying the whole word.

 

[MacLeod]

Re: Should she had won?

^The easiest and fairest standard would be pronuncitations listed in the dictionary.

 

[JarodRussell]

Re: Should she had won?

I want to see something like that with the word 'Worcestershire'.

 

[Ethros]

Re: Should she had won?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_mDTLphIVY

 

[Gil T.Azell]

Re: Should she had won?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_mDTLphIVY

^

She lost fair and square, I'm sure she read the rules.

 

[Relayer1]

Re: Should she had won?

I speak English as a second language, but even I know there's a difference between swimming and swimmin'. Reneé didn't pronounce it correctly, so she lost.

True - the G was on the board, she knew she had the answer, all she had to do was read it correctly from the board.

Self inflicted wound...

 

[Locutus of Bored]

Re: Should she had won?

She lost fair and square, I sure she read the rules.

Sorry, that answer is not acceptable.

 

[JiNX-01]

Re: Should she had won?

She lost fair and square, I sure she read the rules.

Sorry, that answer is not acceptable.

So, does that mean Gil T.Azell get kicked off the board?

 

[Gil T.Azell]

Re: Should she had won?

She lost fair and square, I sure she read the rules.

Sorry, that answer is not acceptable.

So, does that mean Gil T.Azell get kicked off the board?

Oops I accept you "DQ'ing" me for my spelling error, the price of being tired at the time of posting.

 

[Trekker4747]

Re: Should she had won?

I think the producers or whomever "enforces the rules" of the game knew what she meant, she called the "G" to be there so she obviously knew it was there. She clearly had a regional accent of the type that sort of lops off sounds and muddies others (she over-pronounces "M" for example, perhaps to not get it confused with the already called "N".)

She was robbed, she called most of the letters on the board so she obviously knew the answer to the puzzle but she slightly (and not in an unusual way) mispronounces a commonly mispronounced suffix and she losses? Robbed.

I think an ounce of leeway should have been given.