There are a lot of French words which have been Americanized.
Foyer is but one...

I live in Indiana and we have a lot of towns named with French names that have been totally wrecked by Hoosiers. Valparaiso is now Valpo. Dubois county is pronounced "Dew-Boys" instead of the much more pleasant "dew-bwah". Vevay is "vee-vee". And the list goes on. I just grit my teeth and smile.

Honestly, I don't have too much problem with foyer. Perhaps I've been worn down. But what really grates my nerves is the word Tourist.

It's not tur-rist, it's TOOR-ist. And almost every newscaster in the country says it wrong.

And don't even get me started on vocal drag... the Kardashianization of nearly all women's voices in the media and commercials (HGTV being the worst offender).

Oh, and get off my lawn! :-)

FOY-ur. Frenchified pronunciations are no longer intelligible to American speakers. The half anglicized FOY-ay is found affected by many cultivated speakers. Although some dictionaries still list it as standard, for several decades it has been superseded, as it should be, by the fully anglicized FOY-ur.

While we're on the subject, the T is silent in often. Pronounce it like soften, moisten or Christmas. Kills me.

I've lived in California most of my life and never heard "Cali."

This topic takes my mind in so many directions. It always surprises me when people don't know the simple difference between words like "to" and "too"...or "its" and "it's."

Also, I'd love to know why some people in the Northeast say "Cuber" instead of "Cuba." Where in the heck does that "er" come from?

Sorry...waaaaay off topic and not exactly a design dilemma!

I was always taught "foy-yay". More off topic:

I can't STAND it when people mis-pronounce the state where Carson City is the capital:

It is "Ne-Vaaa'-duh", not Ne-VAH'duh". Nothing about the mispronunciation of the state makes you look erudite or even educated- a regional arrogance based in ignorance.

Makes you sound stupid, as if you would call the state where Springfield is the capital "Ill-i-noiss". Lol...

you all should try being native floridian. there is no bay area- til now, because more and more snow birds settle and newbie news people have been jamming it down our throat for 20 years. no we are not tampans-drifting into tampons! hillsborough has the ugh on it! and the indian names, i think iwould have hated the europeans for slaughtering our names alone, not to mention slaughtering us.

thank you, thank you very much. good night.

@chiflipper, lol..."dinning" is all over the place here.

Another one...people think "whomever" is always more acceptable than "whoever." Nope!

You say "eeether " while I say "eyether" .... let's call the whole thing off , including this thread :)

Agree with the above, it's just not that important, everyone, every country n even different sections of that country have their own way of saying things which All mean the same thing. I don't care for the southern "ya'll". But it's not a big deal one way or the other...

We r all different, n thank God because it would be a boring world if not! Lol. :).

Homebody- I can agree to let the thread go- but yes, in fact, this does. Regional idioms like "y'all" are a far cry from completely butchering the name of a place that has hundreds of years of history. Yes, in fact, it is important. The slow death of the English language is a bit concerning.

Lol. To each his own...

i think some of the butchering of the language is bound to happen. I realized while working at high class high school. english professors have to earn their keep too. so that is where many changes come from, dropping the comma before and in a listing, adding words to the dictionary that later go out of style and you drop them like hot potatos. but does no one remember the importance of a name?

Evolve or phase. Emoticons are prevalent, we are returning to a language of symbols like the ancient Egyptians and Chinese Calligraphy. It is our nature.

but it seems that it would be inefficient in communicating complex thought, no?

@HF - Well, but then perhaps complex thought is disappearing as well.