Wheel of Fortune: Was this fair/unfair?

[TidesOfBlood]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7k-C1K6pRXY


I want to say its unfair because I mean come on, we all know that she meant "swimming". The letter G is up there! and It wasn't even a BIG mispronunciation.. I think the judges were a little too strict on this one.

It did not sound like she had a southern accent but it made me think that if someone with a southern accent was in her place, and she pronounced it "swimmin" when obviously she meant swimming, how would she react? :/

Do you guys think the judges were fair/unfair or just really strict on this case?

[This name sucks]

Should probably say what you mean instead of slurring your words. Especially on a game show.

[ddsad2212]

To be fair she probably just said it out of habit, and they are hard to change. It probably has been the way she pronnaced words since she was very young so I would say it is very harsh indeed

[bayushisan]

They've made the same ruling a number of times. You have to say the phrase exactly right, "close enough" doesn't matter and if they did give her the nod then they'd be sued by all the people who made the same mistake and were ruled against. I feel bad that she lost but those are the rules of the game.

[v2prwsmb45yhuq3wj23vpjk]

Kinda stupid to lose because of an accent.

[Deleted]

Kinda stupid to lose because of an accent.

If you're country's draul means you miss out a letter on a LETTER Game show, I think you need to chalk it up to lack of Intelligence on your own part.

She got the G, she should have pronounced it, otherwise it does not count. she had to say the A'swimming part and not Seven Swans are Swimming.

[DeltrusDisc]

Very unfair indeed.

---------- Post added 2012-12-26 at 10:52 PM ----------

Should probably say what you mean instead of slurring your words. Especially on a game show.

It's not slurring her words - it's her accent. I can tell she has a Southern accent, likely how she's been talking all her life.

[HAcoreRD]

If you listen at 0:21 in the video you hear her saying "Swimming" to him. She knows she goofed up.

[v2prwsmb45yhuq3wj23vpjk]

If you're country's draul means you miss out a letter on a LETTER Game show, I think you need to chalk it up to lack of Intelligence on your own part.

She got the G, she should have pronounced it, otherwise it does not count. she had to say the A'swimming part and not Seven Swans are Swimming.

If you think that such accents reflect a lower level intelligence, you're silly.

[Stir]

If you're country's draul means you miss out a letter on a LETTER Game show, I think you need to chalk it up to lack of Intelligence on your own part.

She got the G, she should have pronounced it, otherwise it does not count. she had to say the A'swimming part and not Seven Swans are Swimming.

Absolutely untrue. There are all sorts of accents that pronounce certain things different than the 'official' accent, yet follow the rules perfectly. The pronunciation of 'swimmin'' is perfectly correct (though spelling it as such is not).
You're from England. If someone spoke with a heavy London accent, you wouldn't call it 'bad English' until they'd actually use slang. It doesn't matter that it's not Oxford English.
There's a huge difference between the accent someone uses, the slang they use and the dialect they use. Here's a few pointers:
Accent: Different ways of pronunciation, but the same overall grammatical rules and rules of spelling.
Slang: Area-typical disregard for certain specific rules of grammar and spelling.
Dialect: Differences in pronounciation, different (but specific) rules for grammar and usually spelling (though the latter isn't as set in stone).

In summary: To judge the initial answer incorrect is, linguistically speaking, dead wrong. And therefore, unfair. Also, she did definitely pronounce the 'ah.'

And in addition to all that, let me side with Bergtau. If you think an accent or dialect makes you intellectually inferior, then... Well; I think Bergtau said it best.

[Ryken]

If you think that such accents reflect a lower level intelligence, you're silly.

It's not accent, she mumbled afterwards "it's swimminG". She was able to pronounce it just fine after she realized her mistake. Emphasis on HER MISTAKE. They're told the rules, they need to read the phase exactly, every letter counts, hence why its -A- swimming.

She messed up, and she realized it right afterwards.

[muto]

Yes it's fair. She said swimmin' not swimming.

[v2prwsmb45yhuq3wj23vpjk]

It's not accent, she mumbled afterwards "it's swimminG". She was able to pronounce it just fine after she realized her mistake. Emphasis on HER MISTAKE. They're told the rules, they need to read the phase exactly, every letter counts, hence why its -A- swimming.

She messed up, and she realized it right afterwards.

Except it is accent. People naturally speak in their accent, being able to speak outside of your accent does not mean that you don't have one. It's rather arbitrary to screw somebody over for saying "swimmin'" when they don't do it when people mispronounce certain words, using the wrong letter or even when people leave letters out in the middle, like the 't' in 'mountain'.