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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:
Susu49 · 20/03/2022 12:28

@FrenchFancie

There’s a bit in Gilbert of fire where Hermione teaches Krum how to pronounce her name and I’m convinced JKR only put it in to ensure that all the kids reading it and mispronouncing it in their heads would go ‘ooohhhhh!’

I get stuck with Quiona - I just can’t bring myself to pronounce it the right way. It just sounds so poncy…

Gilbert of fire 🤣
FTstepmum · 20/03/2022 12:30

I once had to find a house on "Monet Drive"

I asked a girl on the street for help but she'd never heard of it.

I showed her the address and she said in a thick Lancashire accent "Ohhhhhh. Yer mean "moh-nett" drive!"

liveforsummer · 20/03/2022 12:32

@FrenchFancie

There’s a bit in Gilbert of fire where Hermione teaches Krum how to pronounce her name and I’m convinced JKR only put it in to ensure that all the kids reading it and mispronouncing it in their heads would go ‘ooohhhhh!’

I get stuck with Quiona - I just can’t bring myself to pronounce it the right way. It just sounds so poncy…

Well that was a bit late 😆. Should have done that in book one Blush
chocolateorangeinhaler · 20/03/2022 12:36

I was corrected by an orange skinned crayola wanker working in the perfume section of standard airport when I asked where the Hermes Stand was. She looked at me in horror and mock failure to understand then said in an icy glare, the 'ermez' products are over here, followed by 'what is it you want?'

Funnily enough I didn't bother buying anything, rude cow.

Pemba · 20/03/2022 12:52

Is that how you pronounce the company that makes the scarves then? Because they're a French company?

But the delivery company is Hermes with an 'H' isn't it? And the original messenger of the gods? That's how I've always said it.

So yeah, she was being pernickety and rude. There might be some excuse if she was French herself, was she?

nodtik · 20/03/2022 12:53

My PA at work, once went to view a house in

PLANTA - GENET Drive

Took me ages to realise she meant Plantagenet Drive!

Mamette · 20/03/2022 12:57

@stimpyyouidiot I’m guessing you have a non-rhotic accent. I think I can imagine what you mean.
oh-kah ..?

When I saw “oh-ka” my brain immediately sang “oh ka-rolina”

which is a song from my youth 👵🏼

JellyfishandShells · 20/03/2022 13:45

As a child I was given a very old set of American childrens’ books - I think it was The Bobbsey Twins. There was a maid called Agnes, which I somehow decided was pronounced Ains ( to rhyme with trains) as I hadn’t come across the name in real life. Was quite disbelieving when my grandmother told me it was Ag- nez ( with the z being quite soft, almost an s) a name popular in her youth.

Have since come across various European versions,

CurlyhairedAssassin · 20/03/2022 14:16

@RedRum27

Another great thread on here recently. Some of this I am guilty of and have made me and OH chuckle. I pronounced integral wrong for ages at the amusement of OH. I said in-tegral rather than in-teg-ral! Belvoir castle has blown my mind. I would have said English, spelling, pronunciation was most words was a strength of mine clearly not 😂 OH is a historian so do know lots of words come from the Normans, French, Latin etc etc. But wow Belvoir castle!
Well, anyone who has done A-level maths will have learned about IN-tegr'ls. So it does exist as a word in a maths context. Did you do Maths A-level, @RedRum27?

My one is not knowing whether it's OL-m'nd, or AR-m'nd - for the Almond.

I say it as OL-m'nd but don't know if that's just a northern way of saying it.

Pemba · 20/03/2022 14:20

Ah-mond is the correct British way to say it apparently. No 'L' sound. It comes from the French way to say it, or something.

I looked this up a few months ago.

CurlyhairedAssassin · 20/03/2022 14:27

@aWolfinSheepsclothing

Sydenham has always been pronounced Sidnum though hasn’t it?
I'm not sure it's such a hard stop between Sid and Num. More like Twickenham I think?
EishetChayil · 20/03/2022 14:29

@KloppsTeeth

I remembered another one. A friend at school pronounced coathanger as Cuh-TANGA! with a sort of ta-da! way of saying the TANGA! Grin I think I prefer this way, and should bring it back into being!

This is hilarious. I'm going to say it Cu-TANGA with a flourish from now on. It'll make sorting the laundry a lot more fun.

Cu-TANGA!!!

stimpyyouidiot · 20/03/2022 14:34

[quote Mamette]@stimpyyouidiot I’m guessing you have a non-rhotic accent. I think I can imagine what you mean.
oh-kah ..?

When I saw “oh-ka” my brain immediately sang “oh ka-rolina”

which is a song from my youth 👵🏼[/quote]
Yes! I am from London :)

RedRum27 · 20/03/2022 14:41

@CurlyhairedAssassin definitely didn’t do Maths A Level…left maths way back in 2010 when I left school 😂 but I see what you mean!

FleeceNavidadFromTheSheep · 20/03/2022 15:12

Bio-pic, as in biographical movie,- is one I can't get my head around.

Bye OP ic or bye-oh pic?

CailleachGranda · 20/03/2022 15:14

@JellyfishandShells

As a child I was given a very old set of American childrens’ books - I think it was The Bobbsey Twins. There was a maid called Agnes, which I somehow decided was pronounced Ains ( to rhyme with trains) as I hadn’t come across the name in real life. Was quite disbelieving when my grandmother told me it was Ag- nez ( with the z being quite soft, almost an s) a name popular in her youth.

Have since come across various European versions,

Bobbsy TwinsGrin

I don't know anyone that has ever heard of them.

I loved them when I was young

JessicaKenny2018 · 20/03/2022 15:16

My nan used to say dick-tective instead of de-tective

stimpyyouidiot · 20/03/2022 15:23

@JessicaKenny2018

My nan used to say dick-tective instead of de-tective
I love this
MsIreneWinters · 20/03/2022 15:38

I used to think the band INXS were pronounced INKS rather than InExcess.

WestendVBroadway · 20/03/2022 16:09

I and most people I know pronounce oven oth (as in other) and un (as in pun) my sister says of un.
Conversely I pronounce Coventry to rhyme with how I say oven, where as I believe it should be how my DSis pronounces oven iyswim 😀

tigger1001 · 20/03/2022 16:54

That's an interesting one. I have wondered how to pronounce that as I'm Scottish and the ch sounds different here

berlinbabylon · 20/03/2022 17:35

Off topic but I had the Bobbsey Twins at the Tower of London - in fact I think we still have it somewhere. Great book (when you are 9) :)

berlinbabylon · 20/03/2022 17:38

@aWolfinSheepsclothing

Sydenham has always been pronounced Sidnum though hasn’t it?
My DH is from South London and he pronounces it Sidenham.
berlinbabylon · 20/03/2022 17:39

@sweetbellyhigh

Sooo many people mispronounce Omicron by calling it Omni-cron, even heard a dr on the news say it that way
At the beginning of the pandemic I did a Futurelearn course about covid and one of the instructors called it co-vee throughout the course!
berlinbabylon · 20/03/2022 17:48

For Phoebe I read it as Phobe :) Apologies to the Phoebes Grin