Help me with words I can’t pronounce

[Thisisthelaststraw]

Prompted by a few recent threads. I’ve realised there are loads of words I can’t pronouce. I can probably google or something but all together here seems better.

I’ve only in the last number of years figured out hyperbole is not hyper bowl and superfluous is not super-flu-us

Here are ones I still can’t pronounce..

Archetypal
Macabre
Gillet
Hegemony
Chipotle

There’s actually loads more I just can’t think of now.

Hyperbole gets me, even though I know how to say it I often forget.

Put them into Google translate and it will say them for you. I just tried it. The only one I slightly disagree with is the way she says macabre. I say it a bit more 'french' than she does - so with the abre as one long syllable rather than two. But maybe I'm wrong or it's just a preference thing.

How are hyperbole and superfluous pronounced?

Archetypal - arky type al
Macabre- ma carb
Gillet- jee lay (it's hard to sound this one as it's a soft sound on the jee bit)
Hegemony- I've never heard this one (hedge moany?)
Chipotle - chip ot lay

There is also a button to hear them spoken on the normal online English dictionary. That one says hegemony differently to the google translate woman though and I don't know which one is correct. The former has a soft g and the latter has a hard g.

I would pronounce those as
Ark ee type ul
Mak a br
Zh ee lay
Hedge e money
Chip ot lay.

I can say neither celery nor Hilary. It sounds like a ridiculous mangling from a middle aged mouth.

@PorpentinaScamander you need to break it down to hy per noble, and not hyper bole

hyperbole - hi per bowl ay
Superfluous- sue per flue us

Colonel is one I can never get 😂

I knew chipotle wasn’t chi-pot-il!!!
Dh and I argued over that one.

Colonel - I say Cur nel

When did you last need to say hegemony?? It’s hedge-EH - mony with a very short o, by the way.

“Mediocre” always gets me when I see it written down. I know the word, I know how to pronounce it, but when i get in a muddle.
“Similarly” as well, I just cannot say it. I ccan’t seem to get to the end of that word!

Someone once told me that we should respect people who know words but can't pronounce them because it means they learned them from reading.

Epitome and automaton are words I always have to think about when reading. I know how they are pronounced out loud, but they come out wrong in my head 😁

I say heg-EH-mon-ee which I think is the British pronunciation

Ex used to pronounce placebo as place-bo

Hegemony is pronounced - hegg-ay-money.

I was surprised the first time i heard it said out loud.

I really struggle with chipotle .. it's a family joke .. it's such a Stupid word !!

How about behemoth - how do you say that?

I'd say

Archetypal - ark-ee-type-al
Macabre - mac-arb
Gillet - jill-ay (with more of a g sound)
Hegemony - I don't know what this word means 😅
Chipotle - chip-oat-lay

I thought crudetes was pronounced crew-dettes.

I heard that too Bertrand. I was mocking myself for mispronuncing sthg in work, my colleague very kindly put me at ease.

I can't pronounce Malkovich...as in John. Always emphasise the wrong syllable.

Also chipotle AND

Praline !!!! (I speak some German but this one escapes me)

Be-HE-moth. Although BE-he-moth seems more logical to me.

I say heg-EH-mon-ee which I think is the British pronunciation.

I say it much that way, too, and I am American.

Truth be told I don't say it very often, but I used to write it now and again when I was a student (history).

I like that explanation @BertrandRussell - it makes a lot of sense.

I used to be a massive reader and I have a wide vocabulary, yet I occasionally have people snigger at my pronunciation.

I have actually been told its very pretentious to use words I don't know how to pronounce - by a "friend"!!! I know meaning and context but and thankfully I've never made a real arse of myself.