Why dickshunarys are embarassing themselves

If you wiki "sherbert" it will redirect you to sherbet, some fizzy powder...then there's a link to sherbet (U.S.). This is all very confusing. It looks like part of the confusion might be that this "fizzy powder" in the UK is pronounced Sherbet, or Sherbert in australian or new zealand english. Our closest comparison to these sherbe(r)ts would be a mix between pixy stix and pop rocks.

Under "Sherbet (U.S.)," it explains that sherbet is a frozen dessert made from iced fruit juice or puree. Sherbets usually have more ingredients, like milk, while sorbets (sor-BAY) are usually not milky.


"Sherbet is known as sherbert in the more cultured areas of the country (New York)" -wikipedia

"Also sherbert Australian, An alcoholic beverage, especially beer." -American Heritage Dictionary


For this reason I think sherbet is more correct. The quote above about "sherbert" being from cultured areas...I think is bunk. Usually when you say someone is more "cultured" it means they're more classy or prissy. I wonder if what they mean or should have said in that quote is that there is more of a mix of cultures, so no one knows what the heck they're talking about, or maybe know one knows how the heck to talk.

When you search on dictionary.com for sherbert, it redirects you to sherbet, where the entry says "also sherbert."
Tons of people, if not a majority, say sherbert, so it's become "correct." I wouldn't really have cared about anyone calling it sherbert, it's just that a friend of mine was trying to say that "sorbet" wasn't a word...

Word History: Although the word sherbet has been in the English language for several centuries (it was first recorded in 1603), it has not always referred to what one normally thinks of as sherbet. Sherbet came into English from Ottoman Turkish sherbet or Persian sharbat, both going back to Arabic arba, “drink.” The Turkish and Persian words referred to a beverage of sweetened, diluted fruit juice that was popular in the Middle East and imitated in Europe. In Europe sherbet eventually came to refer to a carbonated drink. Because the original Middle Eastern drink contained fruit and was often cooled with snow, sherbet was applied to a frozen dessert (first recorded in 1891). It is distinguished slightly from sorbet, which can also mean “a fruit-flavored ice served between courses of a meal.” Sorbet (first recorded in English in 1585) goes back through French (sorbet) and then Italian (sorbetto) to the same Turkish sherbet that gave us sherbet.


Here's my summary.....Please let me know if you agree or not...
I don't mind when words are pronounced differently even though technically it may be incorrect.
If I come across one of these words, I will use my best judgment, based on what I think might be good references (for example, the way the history of the word "sherbet" never once puts an "R" in front of the final "T." That's just how I decide how I will say it. I probably do this so that people don't correct me...and if they do correct me because they say it the way that I decided against, then I can tell them my reasoning.
Some examples of words I choose to pronounce the way I do, after once pronouncing differently:
I used to say sherbert, now sherbet
I used to say KYU-pon, now KU-pon
I used to say Feb-you-ary, now Feb-ru-ary (this was partly in defense of my dad, who mispronounces a few words. Well this one is correct, and it’s just not fair to be corrected for something that you do more correct than anyone else.)
I never said "AMbercrombie and FiNch" and I still don't because that’s not even close.

I don't care if other people say these differently (except for ambercrombie), but I will bring it up if I think it's interesting, or if someone starts to correct me about something I’m pretty confident that I’m right about. I hope I don't just correct people out of the blue, because that would annoy me. Everybody says something(s) wrong, and once you know them good enough (like your own self), you don't even notice, it's just part of their personality. Someone, for example, might notice that my last sentence was probably a run-on--something about clauses and the lack of a semicolon.
And here's my REAL summary:
What pisses me off, I mean WAY off (just kidding), is that you can't read in the dictionary about what things are supposed to be. So all we see is that it's "sherbet, OR sherbert" or "ku-pon OR kyu-pon." Why can't someone keep track of the way it originally was. I know that languages evolve, but pleeeeease, the fact that everyone pronounces February "FEB YOU AIRY" is no reason to say that February can be pronounced either way! It's fine to say something wrong, but if it is supposed to be pronounced KU-pon or KYU-pon, then leave it that way in the dictionary, and don't modify it because people start saying it wrong.
I remember when they were adding "ain't" and other slang words to the dictionary. Watch, someday they'll take out the slang and we'll all be allowed to say isn't or aren't or ain't whenever the heck we want. And when we're 80 and angry and complaining about it, young people will call us cloze-meindid. "We're not close-minded," we'll croak, "we just want to be able to read and understand what is supposedly english."

Anyways or anyway....I always say anyways, but does that make sense? Would you say, "Any ways you look at it" or "In any cases"
The dictionary just says "nonstandard" or maybe something about the U.K. pronunciation...or something to do with "anywise"
Well what if I want the dictionary to just tell me blatantly which is correct. I would like to know if it is a mispronunciation, or if it comes from "anywise," etc.
I shouldn't have to research to find out.
It's always common, easy, short words that have this problem. There aren't 3 different spellings of the scientific name for mosquito (in full: Animalia Arthropoda Insecta Diptera Nematocera Culicomorpha Culicidae) just because some people started pronouncing it differently.
They should have two books, the dictionary, which tells you how it's supposed to be,
and the Understanding-English dictionary, which helps you understand what people mean.
Or maybe just make an appendix.

Here’s something else I’m dying to know. Who speaks more correct English, the English or the Americans (and I’m talking about the most standard, TV American you can find, not the crazies from Bastin or New Yaak or Saaayin Aentooonio). I just started realizing that this is a tough one, because you can’t say, “No, you’re not saying ‘bike’ correctly. It rhymes with ‘like.’” If either an American or English person looks in the dictionary and reads through the vowels with funny symbols, that is the correct way and there’s probably no way to correct either person. Still, I’m pretty sure British people speak with more quirks. Say “proper” like a Brit. If you said it like they do, there’s no “r.” How about something as simple as “go”—I’m curious if the real technical pronunciation for a British long O sound is “ao” rather than just “o.”

I guess I’ll talk more about British people in my next post.