Episode notes

Melissa brings the case against her father, Mark. She complains that in classic weird-dad fashion, Mark intentionally mispronounces words and brand names. Mark says his pronunciations are how he’s always said them! Who’s right? Who’s wrong?

EVIDENCE

SUBMITTED BY MELISSA

Statement from her mother:

“I have been married for 37 years to a wonderful man who drives me crazy with his incorrect pronunciation! Don’t get me wrong, I’m not talking about his charming New Orleans accent, which I love, and which gets much stronger when we visit that fair city.

What gets me nuts is his purposeful changing of either pronunciation or word placement (Zero Coke instead of Coke Zero). And I think it’s a power and control thing. He does it because he likes to see people’s reactions. If no one responded, or corrected him, I don’t think he’d do it. When we’re on a plane and he orders Zero Coke, most flight attendants don’t bat an eye, and hand him his drink. But occasionally they’ll say, ‘ok, Coke Zero,’ and dad will get that twinkle in his eye. And there was one time when the flight attendant ‘argued’ with him, which, I think you’ll remember, gave you, me and your sister great satisfaction! But he does it to engage with people, and slightly irritate your mother. It works.”

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Thank you to Justin Dewey for naming this week’s case! To suggest a title for a future episode, like Judge John Hodgman on Facebook. We regularly put out a call for submissions.

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