James,

Firstly, I should state that I do not take umbrage at your comment; secondly, I was not literal in my use of the popular idiom, "it drives me crazy"; and thirdly, I sometimes like to "poke the bear" and rattle his cage just to see if he is awake and paying attention. 😄 There is almost never any malice intended.

That being said, however, your comments interest me on two dimensions - logic and scholarship. On the one hand, I agree that there are regional variations in pronunciation. But on the other hand, I do believe that there is a standard American English -- and I believe a trained linguist would agree with my characterization of "mistakes."

If one admits to there being a "standard" American English, then pronunciations which deviate from that standard are, a priori, mistakes (at best), or heresy (at worst).

Yes, languages do evolve constantly, but I do not approve! 😉 I have written about that on Medium before:

"Our language is always evolving. It is a living thing which can't be bridled or chained. Just as the lexicographer captures new words and new meanings for the current version of his dictionary, we, too, as speakers, writers, and readers, effect changes in our language.

People may inadvertently use the wrong word to express a thought, and if this mistake is repeated enough times by enough people, it becomes ingrained and ordained. An example of this was the mistaken use of the word, 'blatant' when the meaning of 'flagrant' was desired. 'Blatant' has been misused so many times that it now has acquired acceptance in our dictionaries as meaning "without regard to convention or protocol," instead of just its original meaning of 'loud or noisy.'" -- Master Your Lexicon and You Will Master Your Life, R. Alderson

Thanks for reading and commenting, James. I appreciate it! I am aware that my own pronunciation is non-standard and rife with regional variation. For example, I, like most native Kansas Citians, unapologetically pronounce my birthplace as Kan-City.