Pronunciations you had wrong!

[WeirdArchitecture]

I am ashamed to admit that I previously struggled with 'froth' and actually pronounced it 'throff' .....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?

Always said moway for moèt.
Minutiae was min-you-at-tay not min-you-shai. Fortunately I've only ever read the word in books, never said out loud (I knew what it meant though.)

@Mamamia7962

Quinoa - I pronounced this as it's spelt. Wasn't until I saw an advert for it that I realised I was completely wrong.

Did the same thing

Thing is, if you're going to insist on the proper pronunciation of Moet, doesn't it stand to reason that we are all pronouncing Bollinger wrong? And also people tend to say TAT-in-jer for Taittinger so that's also wrong?

@Aria999 the t is mute if you pronounce it the French way. I agree with your point of view however there are so many French words in everyday English that are mispronounced by most people: maisonette, cul de sac, lieu (as in lieu day),déjà vu; also Ricky Gervais’s surname is French, totally mispronounced, Matt Leblanc’s, the same. Look at German car makes Mercedes, Volkswagen, they worldwide famous and yet probably just German people pronounce them correctly.

Oh, I have another one for you people, Cirque du Soleil. The i in cirque is pronounced like the in silk not as in Kirk.

The i in cirque is pronounced like the in silk not as in Kirk

Ah, that's the problem with posters saying "x is pronounced like this": it depends how you pronounce those other things!Those two i sounds you describe are exactly the same to me.

I do know how to pronounce Cirque du Soleil though!

Pronunciation. Not pro-noun-ciation. I remember that correction as it was in private but I thought it unnecessary. Not in this university city though, oh no! Rightness is all eyeroll

Satiety. Quinoa. If it's an unusual or foreign word I'd look it up on YouTube (Srichacha anyone?) but I thought satiated would show how to say sa-tie-eh-tee. Apparently not.

I am not bothered about correcting other people. But I see the eye roll or confusion when I pronounce some foreign origin words correctly only because it comes natural to me. The first 4 out of 12 years of French I did in school I did not choose to do, were part of the education system. But I do not roll my eyes when other people get it wrong because I know they were educated in a different system, that’s all. And I also know that some posters here prefer to see those going against the grain as pretentious snobs, which is hardly the case.

I think I have missed the Hermes conversation. I'm saying Hermeez. Is that wrong??

@WiseUpJanetWeiss

I think I have missed the Hermes conversation. I'm saying Hermeez. Is that wrong??

Ehr-mez I think 🤔

@WiseUpJanetWeiss you have the link below for Hermès

Also another mispronounced word is Michelin www.google.co.uk/search?q=cmment+pronnoncer+michelin&client=safari&hl=en-gb&ei=cJI7YoOmIszKgQbr2anIDw&oq=cmment+pronnoncer+michelin&gs_lcp=ChNtb2JpbGUtZ3dzLXdpei1zZXJwEAMyBggAEBYQHjIHCCEQChCgAToHCAAQRxCwAzoECAAQDToGCAAQDRAKOgYIABANEB46BAgAEBM6CAgAEBYQHhATOggIABAWEAoQHjoICCEQFhAdEB46CggAEBYQChAeEBNKBQhAEgExSgQIQRgAUL4MWN0qYIU5aAFwAXgAgAGtAYgBnAqSAQQxMS4zmAEAoAEByAEIwAEB&sclient=mobile-gws-wiz-serp#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:801998cb,vid:8J4T33v3J-o,st:0 And Moët (I’ll eat my words on this one)

When I was a teen I had a face wash thatclaimed to 'help slough off dead skin cells'.
I still don't know how to pronounce it - is it the same way as the town?

@WeatherwaxOn

When I was a teen I had a face wash thatclaimed to 'help slough off dead skin cells'. I still don't know how to pronounce it - is it the same way as the town?

No, it's pronounced 'sluff'.

Hermes (can't work out how to do a grave accent) the French designer brand is Ehr-mez, but I'm yet to be convinced the Greek god is anything but Hermeez (or possibly Ermeez.

Liverpoolnana, Thankyou!

To throw into the mix some regional pronunciations: Older Essex-born people I know pronounce Chelmsford as "Chomsfod".
My late Godmother referred to her village as "Pour Aim" (Potter Heigham), and we'd sometimes take a trip along the coast to "Haze-bruh" (Happisburgh) to see how much had fallen into the sea.

I have a friend called Catriona, and after 15 years of knowing her, I still just cannot say it right no matter how hard I try! I put the emphasis on all the wrong bits. She tells me to call her Cat now.

My dc laugh at me when I say certain words. Apparently I say ice cream wrong. We have conversations that go:

Me: Ice cream

Dc: It’s “ice cream”

Me: That’s what I said - ice cream!

Dc : “No, it’s ice cream!”

I still don’t understand what I’m doing wrong!

Oh god is it really sluff @liverpoolnana?

@Nailest

My dc laugh at me when I say certain words. Apparently I say ice cream wrong. We have conversations that go:

Me: Ice cream

Dc: It’s “ice cream”

Me: That’s what I said - ice cream!

Dc : “No, it’s ice cream!”

I still don’t understand what I’m doing wrong!

I sometimes pretend I think my kids are saying I scream so they could be teasing 😆

@Nailest

My dc laugh at me when I say certain words. Apparently I say ice cream wrong. We have conversations that go:

Me: Ice cream

Dc: It’s “ice cream”

Me: That’s what I said - ice cream!

Dc : “No, it’s ice cream!”

I still don’t understand what I’m doing wrong!

Do you emphasise one word more than the other?

There’s a place name near by that’s spelt Holyport but said Hollyport. That one gets me every time.

I don’t think I emphasise it any differently to them, I really can’t make out what I say wrong!

I thought my Dad getting 'Olibas' Oil wrong was sweet for years. Like it was his quirk.

He was long passed away when my daughter was trying to say the word when she needed it for a bad cold. I saw for the first time then it was actually Olbas. I actually had a gentle little cry that he was indulging me getting it wrong all that time.

My boss, not me. Language teacher, she says ‘proNOUNciation’, not pronunciation. Strikes me as really odd.

My mind has been blown
I didn't realise I pronounced Moët (I have always said Mow-ay)
Also Remuneration. (I also say renumeration)