Things that you thought were said differently

[BabyLlamaZen]

When I first read Harry Potter I thought it was 'hermy-own' - was gobsmacked when I heard how it was pronounced when the films started coming out! I also thought mirror of Erised was pronounced 'i-rye-sd'

[GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER]

At maybe 8 or 9 I had the Flower Fairy books.
My favourite was the fuchsia fairy, only I thought it was pronounced
fuckseeya - all very well until I said it out loud one day!
Needless to say, I was hastily corrected, but didn’t realise for another couple of years why ‘fuckseeya’ raised eyebrows.

[jenthelibrarian]

My first Saturday job, in a bookshop, taught me that Albert Camus is actually Al-bear Cam-oo.

Later on in my distinguished library-wrangling career I had someone ask me for the books of 'Gerrrr-ald Dur-ell, and did I know he was the brother of Lawrr-ronce Dur-ell?' said all very French-ified. Which is both baffling and wrong, but difficult to correct.

[borntohula]

I don't know how I thought 'quinoa' was pronounced.

[ShopTattsyrup]

I never heard anyone say the word Colonel out loud for a long time - and had always said it in my head as "col-oh-nel".

Also the surname Mainwaring - I had heard it on Dads Army. Never made the connection that Capt Mannering = Capt Mainwaring

[hopelessbusiness]

I thought Arkansas was pronounced Ar-can-sas for waaaay too long!!

[NotExactlyHappyToHelp]

I thought hyperbole was pronounced hyper bowl for years. No fucker ever corrected me .

[Plexie]

segue = segway

The 'Colonel' thing reminds me of watching Danger Mouse (the cartoon version) and being puzzled for years about the sign on Colonel K's desk. Because of the uneven handwriting and spacing it looked more like 'Colon elk' and I spent ages wondering what it was actually supposed to say and whether there was some joke I wasn't getting. And then years later I realised it was supposed to be the character's name 'Colonel K'.

[theThreeofWeevils]

On first printed encounters, alibi was a-leee-bie, bilingual - billing-ewell and Sophocles rhymed with bifocals. I was put straight pretty quickly, but I still think the parents were rude to laugh quite as hard as they did at the Sophocles one. From Pigeon Post, not Electra

[SoftBlocks]

Growing up in the North I used to pronounce the word ‘nougat’ as ‘nugget’. I‘ve had the piss taken out of me for doing so by some Southerners but I still think ‘noo-gah’ sounds weird.

[SoMuchToBits]

When I was a child we had a tea caddy with a map of the world on it. It had the Mediterranean Sea, which I thought was pronounced "med DITT er ah neen".

[Scharlesworth]

@hopelessbusiness

Oh my god I've only just realised that Arkan-saw and Arkansas are the same place. The shame!!

[SlightlySleepy]

@Scharlesworth I did not realise that until you just pointed it out!

[glisteninginkcap]

I used to think awry was pronounced aw-ree. I'd only ever seen it written down.

[emwithme]

I still think segue should be pronounced Seeg.

As for Hermione, the number of people mangling it was why JKR had Krum struggle to pronounce it in Goblet of Fire, but in my house it just meant that name is pronounced Herm-onny-ninny.

[MorrisZapp]

Nugget is a perfectly legitimate regional pronunciation. I've always called it that, in Scotland.

[Eminybob]

Probably loads myself, but you’ve just reminded me of something my ds said the other day.

He’s 5 , almost 6 for reference. We were in the car and he was reading road signs as we passed them.
We passed a sign for knutsford. “Mummy where’s cuntsford?”
He then had to ask why I was laughing so much

[LadyOfTheCanyon]

Nugget is fine by me too.

YY to hyperbole Arkansas and segue. I was a very prolific reader as a child but had no one using these words in my family, so they remained mispronounced in my head

Detritus fooled me for ages. I misread it as Dee-tree-us and that's how I said it in my head. Luckily I heard it said before I'd had a chance to parade my stupidity publicly.

Diaspora I STILL want to pronounce Diya-spora

Biopic I thought was Bye-oppick. Bio-pick still sounds wrong to me.

[merryhouse]

Arkansas just pisses me off. There is no need for it. Why?

[userabcname]

I didn't know ciao was pronounced chow. I used to read it as "see-ay-oh" in my head and wondered why no one ever said it out loud!

[ColonelNobbyNobbs]

Is segue not pronounced Segway though?? I was pronouncing it sayg for years but I though segway is the right one?

[YorkshireParentalPerson]

Reading Shakespeare aloud as a kid in my o level class and read whore as war! I was very Young and had never had to say it out loud before!

[Whatevernext1]

When I was a child I thought 'bless you' was ble-shoo. I still say it like this now for old times sake. Nobody has ever batted an eyelid.

More embarrassingly,when I was younger I thought 'handbag' was pronounced as 'ham-bag' I won't admit how old I was when this suddenly dawned on me 🙈😂

[namechangenumber2]

How do you pronounce Hypobole?

[AlCalavicci]

Every time I see logistics wrote down I 'hear' log - is- tics

[NotVeryOldForASweatyBird]

Mishap to rhyme with bishop.