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Original poster

Words you realised you pronounce different or wrong?

238 replies

heartbroken22 · 04/12/2023 05:59

What words have you realised aren't pronounced the way you pronounce them? How did you find out? Tribute was pronounced try bute by me. Only realised when a child corrected me 😂

OP posts:
DeadbeatYoda · 06/12/2023 07:28

Whenever I read it, I mispronounce malevolent in my head. When I use it in conversation it's ma-lev-o-lent but I can't help reading male-vo-lent

enchantedsquirrelwood · 06/12/2023 09:34

AllTheChaos · 05/12/2023 10:37

We are all clearly just terribly literary types who have learned many words by reading them - hence not actually knowing how to pronounce them 😊

Indeed!

And a lot of place names are just pronounced in an affected way to weed out the plebs non locals.

enchantedsquirrelwood · 06/12/2023 09:35

Ponderingwindow · 05/12/2023 12:04

Another voracious childhood reader who grew up in the 70s/80s with the limited media of the time. The word that I remember is the name Phoebe. I read it in a book as Fo-ebby and didn’t figure it out until I heard the name in real life for the first time at university.

I pronounced it in my head as Phobe.

enchantedsquirrelwood · 06/12/2023 09:40

There used to be a teacher training college in Alnwick and a relative of my DH went there.

When she used to talk about "Anick", I thought that was how it was written. It was only when I actually went there that I realised my mistake :)

I have seen Gloucester written as Gloster on an old map - much more sensible!

DarkAcademia · 06/12/2023 09:42

I'm not British, but have lived here for over 10 years. Imagine my surprise last year when I discovered that SAL-iss-buh-ree and sawwwwls-bry are the SAME PLACE. 😮

DarkAcademia · 06/12/2023 09:43

pickledandpuzzled · 04/12/2023 08:17

Gingham (like ginger)
Archipelago- emphasis on lay
Quay
quite a lot of sea related words, actually. Think I read a watery book very young.
embarrassment- emphasis on ass.
Maurice emphasis on Reese…

Many many more. The perils of being a young advanced reader!

The first three make me suspect you were reading Arthur Ransome novels! I still don't quite know how to say archipelago, to be honest. The Secret Archipelago was my favourite book when I was a tween.

pickledandpuzzled · 06/12/2023 09:48

DarkAcademia · 06/12/2023 09:43

The first three make me suspect you were reading Arthur Ransome novels! I still don't quite know how to say archipelago, to be honest. The Secret Archipelago was my favourite book when I was a tween.

Show quote history

And Anne of Green Gables!
The Secret Garden

The complexity of language in the books I was raised on is extraordinary. Nothing like today’s writing.

CurlewKate · 06/12/2023 09:51

A bit niche, but last week I discovered that it was empanada, not empanYada.....Thank you, The Archers!

Catname · 06/12/2023 10:00

In my past, I got tripped up by crudités and segue, and still am not entirely sure how to pronounce cafetière.

DP has many more that make me laugh: Bicester, Arkansas, Neanderthal, and last night reminded me of the one I find most difficult to understand as Mr Reeves has been famous for so long - Keanu! I can tell when he’s not sure of a word now as he mumbles it and then says he knows the correct pronunciation but is making a joke.

pickledandpuzzled · 06/12/2023 10:07

Eh-pa-nada in fact. I just checked. It’s not what I thought either.

pickledandpuzzled · 06/12/2023 10:08

And yes, segue. I didn’t know for ages there was a link with the Segway gadget! I assumed two different unrelated words.

SinnerBoy · 06/12/2023 10:10

CurlewKate · Today 09:51

A bit niche, but last week I discovered that it was empanada, not empanYada

Every day truly is a school day! I've not heard of them before, but they look like Jamaican patties.

BlackLambAndGreyFalcon · 06/12/2023 12:55

A friend was reading out an address and gleefully announced that so-and-so lived on "Ma-FECKING Road." It was actually Mafeking (Ma-fa-king).

(And yes I know that Mafeking the place has been renamed, but there's still a Mafeking road in North London!)

RaraRachael · 06/12/2023 13:33

I'm still not sure how hygge should be pronounced. It's not a word I'm in the habit of saying but I'd say it like higgy to rhyme with piggy - and probably make a fool of myself!

Caledoniadreaming · 06/12/2023 14:32

KirstenBlest · 05/12/2023 13:14

I checked before posting. I've heard people say Aln Wick for Alnwick, and secretly smiled.

I'm from a part of the UK where place names are often mispronounced, and there's no point in correcting people.

It's really irritating when, for example, someone who fancies themselves as a whisky buff go on about an Eye-lay blend, despite me saying 'It's Eye-la' each time, then them accepting being corrected by someone else.

Must be me.

Nope - not just you; a friend of DH calls himself a whisky buff, so when I asked (being Scottish and into all things whisky) what his favourite whisky was, he replied "ah-kent-a-shun". I had to ask him to repeat it, because it was not one I'd come across before. Gave up, and asked him to then spell it.

Auchentoshan (Oken-Tosh-Un). surely if you have a favourite anything, you'd know how to pronounce it.

I wasn't allowed to test his pronunciation of others, including my favourite, Bunnahabhain.

Caledoniadreaming · 06/12/2023 14:35

BlackLambAndGreyFalcon · 06/12/2023 12:55

A friend was reading out an address and gleefully announced that so-and-so lived on "Ma-FECKING Road." It was actually Mafeking (Ma-fa-king).

(And yes I know that Mafeking the place has been renamed, but there's still a Mafeking road in North London!)

This reminds me of Ecclefechan, and a story (unsure of how true it is) about a kid who went to school in Dumfries, but lived in Ecclefechan.

He was held back in class one day, and proclaimed that he couldn't, because he would miss the "fecking" bus. Teacher was relatively new, so thought he was swearing at her - what he meant was he would miss the "Fechan" bus - apparently locals don't bother with the Eccle bit of Ecclefechan.

CarolinaInTheMorning · 06/12/2023 14:40

I wasn't allowed to test his pronunciation of others, including my favourite, Bunnahabhain.

Glenmorangie (my favorite) gets mangled sometimes here in the Southern US, where some folks want to call it Glen-ma-RANG-ie.

KirstenBlest · 06/12/2023 14:43

I've only heard Glenmorangie said as Glenmor Angie, but I've only heard the name in England

MindfullyAmazedHorse · 06/12/2023 14:48

ohdamnitjanet · 04/12/2023 07:01

Me too @Slavica and I’m UK. I doubt we’re alone tbh!

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Me three & I’m English!

SharonEllis · 06/12/2023 14:49

KirstenBlest · 04/12/2023 13:00

@BabyYoshke , it is doo-ur. It doesn't rhyme with sour.

Doo-ur in Scotland, dour as in sour in England, surely?

SharonEllis · 06/12/2023 14:49

Love this thread!

MindfullyAmazedHorse · 06/12/2023 14:51

LadyOfTheCanyon · 04/12/2023 07:08

I was a voracious reader as a child so for ages read ( in my head - I didn't move in the sort of circles where I'd be called upon to pronounce them!) words wrong.
A selection:
Diaspora
Segue
Detritus
Biopic
Parabola
Tragedians
Hyperbole
Quinoa

I thought “segue” was pronounced “seeeeeg”, which sounds more correct than “seg-way”.

Karatema · 06/12/2023 14:58

My DH takes great joy in mispronouncing words to me. Quinoa (quin-o-a) is his favourite and he refuses to pronounce it any other way to me! I know he knows how it's said because he pronounces it the correct way to anyone else. Another fav is hyperbole but he has a whole arsenal of them!

enchantedsquirrelwood · 06/12/2023 15:00

pickledandpuzzled · 06/12/2023 10:08

And yes, segue. I didn’t know for ages there was a link with the Segway gadget! I assumed two different unrelated words.

I thought it was two unrelated words and a coincidence :)

Wolvesart · 06/12/2023 15:01

As I child I often sat reading in bed on winter weekend mornings before parents got up. I read an Enid Blyton illustrated book it had ‘gnomes’ in it, I’d no idea they were nomes 😂

There’s a few words I think we say badly in English. An example is ensemble - on som bull. Much prefer on somb le the French way

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