If Americans want to say Twat they should say it properly.

[bigmouthstrikesagain]

There is a very irritating trend in US TV where an actor will use "twat" as an insult, but pronounce it "twot" ... it is painful and I need it to stop.

As a Scot I can't pronounce the male name Carl without saying it like Carol. It's like my tongue just doesn't want to cooperate.

No, no, no. Jalapeño where I used to live is jalla-pee-nee-yoh (j as in jam). Served with tortillas (rhymes with gorillas) and gwacki-molly.

It just may have been one of the reasons we moved. I was getting twitchy........

I used to think that speech impediments were especially prevalent in England due to pronouncing R as W (like when Jonathan Ross says his own last name). I am pretty sure my (Scottish nationalist) father told me it was due to inbreeding (he denies it now). Then I learned about rhotacism but it still grates.

I have just googled twot and the urban dictionary says that it's how the Canadians pronounce twat not Americans.

It is also another word for vagina according to the urban dictionary.

Its the American pronunciation of mirror that gets me. What is that slurred "meeeehhhrrrrr" all about?!

I'm Irish, I pronounce Gallagher as gal a her.. the g in the middle isn't pronounced in Ireland.

Its just accents isnt it. I don't think either way is wrong.

What I don't understand is though, how are children in the uk taught the letter H if its pronounced Aitch?
So house, home, holiday?
Its hardly taught as ouse ome or oliday

Americans say aitch, too.

Fair enoughseneca but how is it taught when using phonetics?

Please can someone tell me how you say Devizes as in the town/ city. I've seen in written but never said it out loud

I think your meant to pronounce holiday as oilday and I know it was drummed in to me not say hotel but Otel. I had forgotten about this. The spelling would still remain as hotel. Well mums net has reminded me of this.

Similar to heirloom. The h is soft almost silent. It works best if you say it in a sentence and faster. You can't actually hear the h.

I would be really nice for some English language expert to explain it.

Basically not to make an emphasis on the h. I think people don't do it these days. I know I don't. My h is properly pronounced.

The letter name and the letter sound are often different.

The letter "E" is called "eeeeee" but makes an "eh" sound in phonics.
The letter "z" is called "zed" but makes a zzzzz sound
THe letter "M" is called "em" but makes a mmmmm sound.

Similarly "H" is called "aitch" but makes a huh sound. More of a breath when doing phonics with kids.

Is Gerard Butler Scottish, though? Because his American accent is wretched.

Australians slip more too, I've noticed. I was just thinking that watching Jesse Spencer in Chicago Fire today. But Eamonn Walker, in the same show, is excellent. I assumed he was from the UK because of his name but it's jarring to actually hear it because his American accent is great.

I've noticed that male British actors doing American accents seem to pitch their voices lower. Why? Also, are any Americans decent with British accents? I've heard Meryl was good. And Chris Pratt's TOWIE impression. :o

About the pronunciation of names (May gun/ Mee gun/ Megan, Craig/Creg, Onna/Anna, Sone ya/ Sonya, etc.) There are certainly more common ways that these are pronounced in the U.S. but I have heard all of these names pronounced in all of these ways here. Often it's down to personal preference.

I spent the entire first season of the walking dead thinking Daryl's brother was called Murro as opposed to Merle.
And I'm still not entirely sure if Dr Weaver in ER was called Carrie or Kerry.
I love accents, its so interesting!

Mitzy it's Gwyneth who makes the Jeopardy reference. It's in response to her friend grilling her about her love life. Plus we did have Jeopardy over here. Not for long but I do remember watching it. I agree about it being a stupid reference though. :o

Kerry and Carrie are the same in America so it matters not. :o

LOL at Murro! Ol' Murro Dixon. I like it.

I love Coral for Carl. :o

Married to a north American.

I think herbs comes from the french word, doesn't it? I refuse to drop the H even though I live across the pond now.

Meer instead of mirror annoys me.

Also chassy instead of shassee for chassis.

Doesn't matter whether someone is called Dawn or Don. It's Darn (but a very short word).

Don't get me started on fucking ALUMINUM.

Agree with PPs who have said they think it's rude to criticise other people's pronunciations. Across the UK we pronounce all the mentioned words differently and in the USA, there is no such thing as an American accent as a singular thing. People across America pronounce most of the mentioned words differently too.

What makes me laugh about all this 'Oh my god, I can't believe they pronounce it this way' bollocks is the often inaccurate attempts at phonetic representations of a given word.

I'm Australian, I say-

Twat pronounced twot =vagina
Pah-sta
Lah-tay
Dah-ta
Yo-gurt
Leg-go not Lay-go (I'm looking at you SA)
Car-sal not cas-al (castle)

Every time I read one of these threads my head almost explodes as I try to work out the difference in sounds between Craig and Creg. I go over it in my head and I can't work it out. They sound identical in my accent.

Also, having read all this about scarf rhyming with laugh, it has led me to a realisation. In The Smartest Giant in Town, is scarf intended to rhyme with giraffe? Every time I read that book I think to myself 'that really jars because all the other bits rhyme, it sounds terrible'. In my accent there is no way I can make them rhyme.

Yeah scahhhf, juh-RAHHF. not how I say it but that's how lol.

cheerful I actually googled "murro walking dead" to find out who the actor was and it worked, so clearly I wasn't alone in my British thickness

Devizes is Duh-VIE-Ziz. vie as in pie. Foxtrot

In Canada recently I heard bagel pronounced "baggle". But only by one person so not sure if she was screwing with me?