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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

common mis-pronunciations

364 replies

wherethewildrosesgrow · 25/08/2016 14:40

Since using Facebook, I've noticed a lot of people pronounce things wrongly,
Discusing instead of disgusting
Pacific instead of specific
Brought instead of bought
Tenderhooks instead of tenterhooks
and this ones my favourite....
chester draws instead of chest of drawers

It make me wonder if I'm unknowingly guilty of some without knowing ?
list the ones you've noticed, don't forget to own up to any your guilty of, I will.

OP posts:
Thread gallery
5
GiddyOnZackHunt · 27/08/2016 22:36

Not wrt homage, if I was talking Orwell I'd say 'hom aj' to Catalonia. I'm not good at French so 'oh marg' sounds pretentious to moi Grin

GiddyOnZackHunt · 27/08/2016 22:40

I'm sure it's a dyac moment and nobody is to be searching for it but this is my new favourite MN quote:
'I know it's not a gibbon...'

The context was 'I know it's not a given'.

PolkadotsAndMoonbeams · 27/08/2016 23:20

I saw "stick out like a saw thumb" earlier, but the gibbon is wonderful Grin

PiSeas · 27/08/2016 23:32

I haven't RTFT, but here's my offering:
Que instead of queue.
Que is Spanish.
Queue is standing in a line waiting your turn.
Cue is a whole different thing.

RainbowDashstolemyidentity · 27/08/2016 23:34

Dives me crackers when people say that they've "borrowed something to someone" when they mean that they loaned it!

DamnSkippy · 27/08/2016 23:40

In reference to the burkini story, I heard a BBC news presenter today pronounced mayors as may-yers. It was on the BBC News Channel though - I think they just get people in off the street to read the news on there.

RainbowDashstolemyidentity · 27/08/2016 23:42

My bf thought the saying was "got my ghost" (should be "got my goat") neither make sense tbh!!

RattieOfCatan · 27/08/2016 23:46

Ahhhh instead of awwww. My sisters MIL does it on every single fecking photo of my nephew on FB and it's common in a pet group I'm on too Angry

DrinkReprehensibly · 27/08/2016 23:47

In my line of work, I often see 'occur' instead of 'accrue'.

I also had a more senior colleague tell me off for pronouncing harass as 'her-ASS' when he said it should be "HA-russ". He said I was pronouncing it the American way so I changed to his way. I recently ran it past my English teacher friend and she wasn't in agreement so I'm not sure who is right now. Anyone know?

AtSea1979 · 27/08/2016 23:48

Hospickal is one I hear a lot.

Pacific instead of specific.

Constinant instead of consonant.

JillyTheDependableBoot · 28/08/2016 00:30

Harass is an interesting one. Hillaire Belloc wrote:

The people in between
Looked underdone and harassed
And out of place and mean
And horribly embarrassed

so obviously when he was writing the two would have rhymed. But now, especially with eg sexual harassment being so frequently used a term, and pronounced haRASSment, people use haRASS more than HArass. I think it's one that's just changed over time.

Mynestisfullofempty · 28/08/2016 00:37

RattieOfCatan "Ahhhh instead of awwww. My sisters MIL does it on every single fecking photo of my nephew on FB and it's common in a pet group I'm on too" Angry

Awwww is American as far as I'm concerned. I would say 'Ahhhh' too, always have, but then I'm in the UK.

Pearlsofmadness · 28/08/2016 00:37

Please someone enlighten me - is the saying 'She's so timid, she wouldn't say boo to a ghost' or 'goose'??
I've heard both used and am inclined to think 'ghost' makes more sense but I've heard people say 'goose' so many times...

JillyTheDependableBoot · 28/08/2016 00:41

It's boo to a goose. But ghost makes LOADS more sense and should be right Grin

RattieOfCatan · 28/08/2016 00:46

mynest I've not heard that before Confused definitely a Brit here! Ahhhh makes me think of people reacting in a shouty/jumpy fashion,every time I see it I picture them jumping up in fright!

PolkadotsAndMoonbeams · 28/08/2016 00:50

I'd say ahh, not aww too.

Ha-RASS makes me think of Some Mothers Do Have 'Em and it was definitely said like that to get laughs then. I think it has shifted to bring more common now though.

PolkadotsAndMoonbeams · 28/08/2016 00:52

That's "aargh" you're thinking of Rattie Grin

I'd definitely say aah (to rhyme with baa) rather than aww (to rhyme with saw) if I were to see something cute.

Gwenhwyfar · 28/08/2016 01:57

"I heard a BBC news presenter today pronounced mayors as may-yers."

I did that when I lived abroad. I don't think 'mare' is that easy to understand for anyone not British.

Gwenhwyfar · 28/08/2016 02:00

"if it's legitimate to add a letter to the beginning of "aitch" then it should be just as legitimate to change one or more in other words. To be consistent, you could say "Ckey", "Doublewou" and "Yi"."

I'm not adding a letter when I say 'haitch'. I'm using the most common name for the letter, just not the one preferred by prescriptive grammarians. I'm not making it up as I go along.

Cellardoor23 · 28/08/2016 02:42

I know I wrote a thread title earlier with 'que' instead of 'queue' it was a genuine mistake. It is difficult to type when you have a baby in the other arm!

It's more a case of when people don't realise they have poor grammar.

I have seen many typos on here and I don't think 'Oh god! How terribly un-educated!' I understand what they mean and know it probably wasn't done intentionally.

YvaineStormhold · 28/08/2016 03:10

My XH used to say 'sarrogate' instead of 'surrogate' and 'kill two birds IN one stone'.

Note the 'ex'.

LikeDylanInTheMovies · 28/08/2016 05:52

A friend pronounces Bolero - boler-row. As in 'I saw a lovely Boler-row jacket in the sale'

LikeDylanInTheMovies · 28/08/2016 05:55

Not pronouncing the d in Land Rover and running the two words together so it comes out as 'lanrover'.

Housewife2010 · 28/08/2016 07:06

So many people write ( and presumably say) " devine" for "divine".

Housewife2010 · 28/08/2016 07:07

I also dislike "lil" for "little". Lots of English YouTubers do this.