In message , Johny B Good
writes
On Sun, 27 Apr 2014 01:34:20 -0700 (PDT), mike
wrote:

Why, over the last couple of years, have Radio 4 presenters started
pronouncing "quarter" as "korter"?

If we're including mispronunciations

"Pronunciation" is invariably mis-pronounced as "pronounciation" (even
on a Radio 4 programme about the BBC's Pronunciation Department).

, the one that really 'grates' is
the controversially clunky pronouncement of the word "Controversy"
where the stress has been shifted from the second syllable (where it
damn well belongs) to the first (which just makes it sound very
cumbersome and unnatural).

And "ha-RASS".

This _seems_[1] to be an americanism if the 'sound' buttons (UK and
USA) are compared on the Cambridge Dictionaries on Line site:

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/controversy#

[1] I use _seems_ because I think this is down to some git in the RP
department two or three decades ago at the BBC deciding to run a sly
experiment of their own on the power of abuse of the spoken word that
resides within this department.

If you're in such a 'delicious' situation of power, what better word
to test this controversial experiment on than the word "controversy"
itself?

This guy must be laughing up his sleeve every time he hears that word
spoken, not just by the BBC but by other broadcasters who should've[2]
known better.

[2] Short for 'should _have_' BTW.

With, of course, "shoulda" being short for "should of".

On radio and TV, I note an increasing number of presenters tending to
say 'AY' for 'a' - even when there is no need to impart any stress.

And then there are those who insist on writing "it's" when it's really
"its" (more-or-less standard by Americans).
--
Ian