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Original poster

Pronunciations you had wrong!

434 replies

WeirdArchitecture · 19/03/2022 15:51

I am ashamed to admit that I previously struggled with 'froth' and actually pronounced it 'throff' Blush.....there needs to be an eccentricity emoticon, I'm not that daft, I promise!

I also know someone who until her late 40's struggled with 'canopy' and pronounced it 'canape'.

DP was convinced that Moët was 'moway' as opposed to 'mwett/mowet'.

I had also previously pronounced the composer Saint-Saëns as 'san sayens' as opposed to the correct 'sahn sonz'...or something.

Anyone have any amusing ones to share?

OP posts:
Qwill · 19/03/2022 23:20

Although this make me laugh though!

‘Gilet is pronounced zshee-lay’

Original poster
WeirdArchitecture · 19/03/2022 23:22

@abbey44

I once heard someone pronounce "chihuahua" as it's spelt (chee-hooah-hooah) and now, whenever I see the word - or the dog - that's how I say it in my head.
perfect!
OP posts:
DropYourSword · 19/03/2022 23:25

I always struggle with where to put the emphasis when saying inventory.

I discovered a couple of years ago I'd been mispronouncing tortoise for over 3 decades!

DropYourSword · 19/03/2022 23:30

@NeedAHoliday2021

Dh pronounces rant in a way that rhymes with aunt. He’s adamant I’m wrong but I’ve never heard anyone else say it like that. Might now learn I’m wrong - I’m sure someone will tell me.
I'm with your husband on this one @NeedAHoliday2021!
DropYourSword · 19/03/2022 23:31

Oh, wait, unless he pronounces aunt differently.
Ant, aunt, rant and pant all rhyme to me!

NeverDropYourMooncup · 19/03/2022 23:37

I've been ripped into before now for being a snobbish prick (family and an ex) for various 'mispronunciations'.

The most memorable ones were

Bombardier. Bom-BAR-di-eh. I'd temped in public transport, not a fucking NAAFI bar.

Croissant. Sorry, I did French at school and that's where I first heard the word. Same way I wanted a Baguette, not a French Stick, drank Oran-zjeena, played a piece by San-sah'n in assembly, not SainT Say Enz and I didn't even bother mentioning singing the Agnus Dei from Gabriel Fauré's Requiem.

Croquet. Cro-keyh. Not the crock-ket I was informed it was.

Other than that, there were various other words where I'd either learned them from studying different languages or I'd reasoned that they were pronounced that way because they appeared to come from those languages, with an if-in-doubt-try-Latin and somebody will be able to work out what I meant.

DP, being from the southwest, knows the correct pronunciation of many places down there - he thinks it was cruel for somebody to name streets elsewhere after places like Launceston and Fowey, especially when he had to ask them how they spelled the street names and resist the urge to repeat them back correctly.

Calandor · 19/03/2022 23:38

Not me but DP recently pronounced amethyst as ah-mee-thee-ist. Made me giggle.

I say bury wrong. I pronounce it as buh-Ry not berry. No idea why but it's stuck now and I just always say it that way.

Calandor · 19/03/2022 23:44

Also the fact Beauchamp is pronounced Beecham. Obscene!

Calandor · 19/03/2022 23:47

@Thunderpunt

Incognito is one, I always pronounced in in-cog-neeto... although to be fair that's probably because people it's the anglicised version of a forrin word innit
But... isn't this correct? Omg
stimpyyouidiot · 19/03/2022 23:51

I have a lady at work that says 'okk-rah' when she means ochre (oh-ka) the colour. She's said it so many times to my face that I can't correct her now.

Original poster
WeirdArchitecture · 19/03/2022 23:53

@DropYourSword

I always struggle with where to put the emphasis when saying inventory.

I discovered a couple of years ago I'd been mispronouncing tortoise for over 3 decades!

I could never, ever come to terms with 'tor-tuss'.

It will always be 'tort-oyse' to me, but then i am not sure there is a correct way to pronounce it, maybe it is regional?

OP posts:
Qwill · 19/03/2022 23:54

@NeverDropYourMooncup

Oh, I don’t think you mispronounced the majority of those words! Your family do sound a bit snobby. The French half of my family can be quite snobby as well. But not as much as the English half! Don’t get me started on the scone and scallop pronunciation! Are you from the north of the country? Only saying that as I don’t really have a lot of knowledge about the pronunciation there.

Garman · 20/03/2022 00:00

@stimpyyouidiot

I have a lady at work that says 'okk-rah' when she means ochre (oh-ka) the colour. She's said it so many times to my face that I can't correct her now.
You're both wrong though 🤔
NeverDropYourMooncup · 20/03/2022 00:01

[quote Qwill]@NeverDropYourMooncup

Oh, I don’t think you mispronounced the majority of those words! Your family do sound a bit snobby. The French half of my family can be quite snobby as well. But not as much as the English half! Don’t get me started on the scone and scallop pronunciation! Are you from the north of the country? Only saying that as I don’t really have a lot of knowledge about the pronunciation there.[/quote]
Reverse snobs. If you imagine those words pronounced in a fake Danny Dyer accent, you'll get what I was supposed to say, rather than sounding as though I thought I was 'better than them'. just better educated

stimpyyouidiot · 20/03/2022 00:13

@Garman not according to google!

alexdgr8 · 20/03/2022 00:15

@DropYourSword

Oh, wait, unless he pronounces aunt differently. Ant, aunt, rant and pant all rhyme to me!
aunt is said exactly the same as aren't. the others aren't and they rhyme with each other.

i'm getting a bit anxious now, that the great pork not rhyming with fork debate will start again.
by the way, the do rhyme....
at least for speakers who who have an aren't in the family.
i say wrath as roar-th. i don't know where i got this from.
others seem to say rath to rhyme with hath.
i cant change now. and i don't have to say it often.
and the t in often is silent. but i don't say it like orphan, which it used to be.
i do sometimes say crorss, as in to crorss the road.
this is also an older form i think, which is less heard nowadays.
explains how gordon bennet was a minced oath.
london accent. the o used to be long in many words.

alexdgr8 · 20/03/2022 00:18

@stimpyyouidiot

I have a lady at work that says 'okk-rah' when she means ochre (oh-ka) the colour. She's said it so many times to my face that I can't correct her now.
does she have delicate fingers ?
SteakExpectations · 20/03/2022 00:29

When reading Harry Potter for the first time, it was aloud to my little sister, and I’d never come across the name Hermione before. I pronounced it Her-me-oh-knee.

Others that I have misread are superlative (super late-iv) and comparable (com-parable).

KloppsTeeth · 20/03/2022 00:30

@sweetbellyhigh

Took me years to connect the written word miniseries with the short TV series genre.

Thought it was ma-nizza-reez like misery

And segue is all wrong. I once had a v pretentious colleague who managed to work segue into virtually every conversation which was the one thing I learned from him.

@sweetbellyhigh yes! I’m the same with miniseries. I read it on Wikipedia a lot and it seemed like Min-Izz-erees with the emphasis on the Izz. I thought it was some sort of genre of book or film. I cannot read miniseries now I know it is mini series in the correct way. Grin
Ladyrattles · 20/03/2022 00:32

My daughter made her ancient history uni tutor smile this week by calling Babylon baby-lon. It was so adorable when she told us.

I grew up always calling murals Muriel's 😂 Even now I have to super concentrate to say it right.

When I read your post I realised I also say throff instead of froth.

stimpyyouidiot · 20/03/2022 00:32

@alexdgr8 nope!

Keladrythesaviour · 20/03/2022 00:48

I still laugh about a lady who said she was having "coo-coo" for lunch (couscous)

I have problems with words like laboratory and lavatory. I can say them properly slowly but if i try to say them normal speed I seem to get tangled in the middle section and they end up more like "labratoree" and *lavratoree".

KatyKey · 20/03/2022 00:48

DH pronounces eligible as illegible which is really funny because he's a work coach with dyslexia 😂 (he's fine with the bants before anyone says, gives as much as he gets)

Keladrythesaviour · 20/03/2022 00:50

Oh and burial. I KNOW it's "berry-all" but whenever I say it I end up saying "bury-all" and then kicking myself for it.

Aria999 · 20/03/2022 01:03

I had segue wrong for years. I thought it was 'sayg'.

Also challah bread.