So much for yesterday’s news! Despite running the teaser for my show last Friday, Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader? called yesterday to say they’ll be pre-empted by baseball for the next little while. My show won’t actually run until November 7, just in time for sweeps.

Does it ever make you sit up and blink when someone says a familiar two-word phrase, but chooses to emphasize the wrong word? Hey, we as a culture have collectively decided it’s “Bernie Mac.” We’re happy saying “Bernie Mac.” It’s working out okay for us. Where do you get off thinking you’re such a special little snowflake that you can say “Bernie Mac”?

Sometimes there’s a cultural excuse. Mindy and I were watching the British Big Chill rip-off Peter’s Friends on DVD (finally) the other night, and one of the characters dreams of being a fighter pilot, ever since he saw Top Gun. Only he insists on saying “Top Gun.” Americans tend to say “Top Gun,” I believe.

Sometimes it connotes age or out-of-touch-ness. I was recently watching an interview with Jerry Beck, an expert on Golden Age movie animation. He was trying to convince me that the madcap cartoons of the Fleischer Studios were the direct ancestor of modern shows like The Simpsons and South Park. But he didn’t help his case by saying “South Park,” like he was giving me cab directions. It’s “South Park,” Jerry. Society has spoken.

I guess the ultimate example is stereotypical yokels who always watch tee-vee instead of tee-vee. I have no idea if there’s some part of the country where people actually say this, but it’s a quick movie/TV shorthand for identifying comical rubes, if they can’t afford a big floating Pop-Up Video bubble that says “THIS IS A COMICAL RUBE.” “C’mon, ma, let’s go home in time for Cops on the tee-vee!”

Heard someone mis-emphasize a two-word phrase lately? Let us know!!!