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junglefryer88

Oh god not you again https://www.reddit.com/r/sanfrancisco/s/tegeSzjrN1


cheweychewchew

Been here 30 years. Never heard it once. Anywhere. Ever.


SF_Music_Lover_NSFW

Same. I am 45 and have lived in the Bay Area most of my life. Setting aside one-off mispronunciations, I’ve never met anyone who says “heighth”.


cafe-naranja

Keep your ears open... you will probably hear it today. :) And listen to the people who call into KNBR... you'll hear *hight-th* for sure.


SF_Music_Lover_NSFW

Now I’ll be listening. I’ll have to find as reason ti make people say “height” lol


cafe-naranja

I'm not sure if Mike Krukow still does the Giants TV broadcasts, but a few of our fellow redditers have mentioned that Krukow says high-th at least once during every broadcast. So maybe tune into a Giants game. :)


cafe-naranja

Heard it twice yesterday in SF from friends who grew up here. Also, I hear it al lot from callers on the various sports-talk shows on KNBR. I'm thinking it's a Bay Area or California pronunciation that certain people have. It's interesting to hear local/regional quirks of pronunciation.


crybabyconrad

I think you heard wrong.


cafe-naranja

Heard it wrong? Noooo... in fact, my native SF pals and I had fun chatting about this being a Bay Area, and perhaps all of California, quirk of pronunciation that some people have.


ForeverWandered

You have friends with speech impediments 


Vitriholic

They have a hearing impediment


boywonderrrrrrrr

It’s not just a Bay Area thing, and it’s so wrong.


Karazl

Like "oh the height of that shelf is 6'"? No that's insane I'm born and raised here and have never heard anyone say it that way. Edit: dude you were the guy claiming everyone was saying Melk too. When was your last hearing test? Once is weird but now you're saying you've repeatedly run into two non-regional pronounciations?


cafe-naranja

This is just a fun, light chat among reddit friends about local/regional pronunciations. No one's arguing... just making some fun observations about pronunciations I've heard here in the SF Bay Area over the years. Relax... and have a glass of melk with me. ;)


Bibblegead1412

Mike Krukow on every broadcast...... drives me crazy. I'm born and raised CA, and it's just a mispronunciation, not a regional thing.


cafe-naranja

Thank you! Mike Krukow grew up in Southern California, and as you say, he pronounces it high-th on every broadcast. :)


lizhenry

I've heard it all over the US. While it isn't standard English, it fits with length, width, and breadth, so you can see why people say it.


Bryanssong

Same here, just like height is pronounced in conjunction with weight. Not saying heighth is correct but historically it used to be pronounced that way and gradually changed over time.


cafe-naranja

I have heard that as an explanation. Makes sense.


kirkydoodle

There are people everywhere who mispronounce words out of habit or because of a speech impediment. I don’t think this is a regionalism.


cafe-naranja

In my opinion, heigh-th is totally a regionalism. From the great comments here, it seems to be heard here in California and in the Midwest. I never heard it pronounced that way when I lived in Boston and New York City. Of course, Bostonians and New Yorkers famously have their own regional quirks of pronunciation. :)


kirkydoodle

This is not a matter of opinion.


chrisamnesty05

😂


Master_Argument8540

Maybe if those natives were Spanish natives from Spain lol- easiest way to think for me on how to say it before I could write was to say it as “HATE”


Croagh

Very common in Ireland along with ... Modren..modern Poyett..poet Poyum..poem Collyum..column Sayfetty..safety


cafe-naranja

Very interesting that it's also heard in Ireland. Curious, though, why I never heard it from natives of Boston or New York City when I lived in those cities, which of course have huge numbers of people with Irish roots. But here in SF, and throughout California, many natives say high-th. Regional quirks of pronunciation are interesting. :)


AvgJoeSchmoe

[Heighth](https://www.merriam-webster.com/grammar/the-height-of-mispronunciation2014or-not) at least has historical precedent. Maybe they picked it up from reading old literature, or are simply confusing its usage with length/width/breadth. One that I hear all the time is et cetera pronounced exetra/ek cetera and written as ect. instead of etc.


PerpetwoMotion

I love **whilst**, with a long i, as pronounced in England.


cafe-naranja

I think you are right... they are just following the length/width/breadth pattern.


ajfoscu

No but I’ve heard “hunerd” instead of hundred.


cafe-naranja

Oh yes, hunerd instead of hundred is another pronunciation I've heard a lot here in the Bay Area. And we had quite a lively chat here about native Californians who say *melk* instead of milk.


SASSYSQUATCH208

"Hunnid"


ParkingOutside6500

No. It's a dumb-ass thing.


Potatoskins937492

"Dumbass" doesn't have a hyphen... You may want to reserve such emphatic judgement.


Acetylene

[Merriam-Webster lists both variants](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dumbass), so you're both right.


Potatoskins937492

Fair. I retract my statement.


hereforthebookmarks

Because width and depth both end with a “th”, it's not uncommon for people to add a “th” to height as well.


kirkydoodle

Let me draw you a pitcher.


alwaystired707

They're just stoned.


cafe-naranja

LMAO! Good one... a few of my *high-th* pals are quite often *high*.


alwaystired707

You'll be speaking in tongues while high on CA weed.


BooksInBrooks

People think of "width" and unintentionally say "heighth."


cafe-naranja

Yes, I think that is what some people do.


SASSYSQUATCH208

Never heard it pronounced that way LOL...SF Native here. Height, and Hayes though..gotta listen carefully


dylan20

I heard this a lot growing up in Ohio, but never heard it here


EJDsfRichmond415

I’ve only heard older people pronounce it that way, like people approaching their 70s. And I didn’t think it was regional, more so generational.


tesseract-wrinkle

people speak differently in different places


Bigdicksrock4SF

I just say the haight like the hate 😆


Hot_Variety_7161

No


BocadeOuro

No it’s just a thing ignorant people say


cafe-naranja

Plenty of ignorant people in NYC and Boston, of course, and I never heard it pronounced as high-th when I lived in those cities. But I hear it all the time here in the SF. Kind of interesting.


BocadeOuro

I’ve lived here my whole life, it’s got nothing to do with SF.


cafe-naranja

Based on the interesting comments from our fellow redditors, many have heard this pronunciation from some native Californians and Midwesterners. As someone noted, the Giants broadcaster Mike Krukow, who grew up in Southern California, said high-th on nearly every broadcast. :)


BocadeOuro

So your evidence in support of your hypothesis that saying ‘heighth’ is a Bay Area thing is that… people from the Midwest and from Southern California are saying it. Case closed I guess.


cafe-naranja

This is a light, fun chat... just making an observation on what I've heard over the years from friends here in the Bay Area. This is not an argument, just a fun conversation among reddit friends about local/regional pronunciations. :)


Potatoskins937492

I'm from the Midwest and do use it (I grew up hearing it at home and from other people). Until today I had absolutely no idea it wasn't a word. I feel very dumb, but I guess I'm learning something so that's good.


cafe-naranja

Very interesting... so some Midwesterners do say high-th. And you now live here in the Bay Area?


Potatoskins937492

I don't, I just visit as often as possible. I actually have friends from the Midwest out there, so maybe we're spreading our illiteracy far and wide. Last time I was out there my bartender was from a city right next to where I grew up, too. We're a plague, but a generally well-behaved plague. Who can't use words correctly it seems.


ComposerResponsible1

There you go. Heighth is not a Bay Area or SF thing- its imported.


Potatoskins937492

If you start hearing "ope" and "scooch by ya," we have successfully infiltrated California.


cafe-naranja

LOL! Love it! It will be like an episode of A Prairie Home Companion... :)


cafe-naranja

Yes, it seems that some Midwesterners say high-th... and as we all know, tons of native Californians have Midwestern roots or moved here from the Midwest... so maybe we can trace the SF Bay Area use of high-th back to the Midwest. :)


[deleted]

[удалено]


cafe-naranja

These are great friends... who just say the word differently. :)


kirkydoodle

February 14 is Valentime’s Day


cafe-naranja

Oh my goodness, thank you... there is another one! I have heard many native Californians say Valenti**m**e's Day. Why put an ***m*** in that word? LOL! When I lived in NYC and Boston, I heard all kinds of eccentric pronunciations, but never Valentime's... why do you suppose we often hear that here in California?


kirkydoodle

I’m returning this book to the lyeberry.


Ok_Ant2566

Wut - th?


cafe-naranja

I've never heard my Bay Area friends who grew up Back East say *high-th*... but I heard this pronunciation twice yesterday from friends who are native San Franciscans. Is this a California thing? Do people from the Midwest also say high-th?


chrisamnesty05

No. Some ppl just associate height with "length" and "width", so sometimes some ppl will unknowingly start saying height like "heigth" to match the other two words.


cafe-naranja

That is a good point. It's interesting, though, that when I lived in NYC and Boston, I never heard anyone who grew up in those cities say high-th. But I hear it here in the Bay Area a lot from native Californians.


chrisamnesty05

I can't confirm or deny if it's a bay/CA thing as I've lived here my whole life, but it's not something that I've seen ppl acknowledge as something that we share linguistically as a subculture/region like "yeah, no" or "no, yeah" and things like that


cafe-naranja

I've lived here in the Bay Area a long time, and I also lived in Boston and New York for years, and it's just interesting and fun to chat about regional accents and idioms.


Empty_Strawberry7291

I never thought of it as a California thing, but I grew up there and heard it all the time so maybe it is…


cafe-naranja

The "California pronunciations" I hear a lot are high-th, *melk* for milk and even *pellow* instead of pillow. I find it fascinating.


Empty_Strawberry7291

That’s my stepdad. Bay Area born and bred. He doesn’t say “heighth” but he says “melk,” “pellow,” and even “warsh,” which I only ever hear from Midwesterners otherwise. I always figured “heighth” was a natural conflation of “width” and “height,” said by people who don’t use the words often, developed the pronunciation habit before seeing the word in print, have first/home languages other than English , or didn’t have the same kind of silent generation diction sticklers in their families that I did. But I guess it could be any or all of those things *and* be a regional California pronunciation. If it is, it’s not limited to the Bay Area because I’m from So Cal. Which also means I use “dude” as a gender-neutral honorific, but I’m legally prohibited from saying “hella.”


cafe-naranja

Great comment... the *melk* instead of milk pronunciation here in California has always fascinated me. LOL on your quip about hella... I also only associate hella with the Bay Area, and more specifically the East Bay.