To not realise I was saying this wrong...

[HelloBunny]

Stopped on the street today by a lady looking for a shop. She asked for the nearest “Shrov-Ski”.
Explained further that it’s a jewellery shop. I eventually cottoned on that she meant “Swaa-Rov-Ski”
Bit like “hyper-bole” with me as well... (until I heard it said on the News!) And the name “Beat-Rice”.

I'm still non the wiser on Percy-phone. Ho should it be pronounced?!

Per-SEFF-o-nee

The most enlightening thing about this thread for me has been Persephone - honestly have been saying it wrong for years - including to a colleague who’s Greek. I do remember her giving me a weird look 😂

My Dbro was an avid reader at a very early age, so often came across words he understood from the context, but had never heard spoken.

So he’d say things like, ‘I know it was you, so you needn’t denny it!’

But the family favourite was Gribble-ayter (as in The Rock of….).
We still call it that.

It's both. Not surprising as the two languages have common roots and share many words. I speak French and studied French literature at university. I probably first came across the word there and so have always pronounced it the French way (as apparently do the Americans). I'm surprised that the U.K. has apparently adopted the Italian pronunciation. For historical reasons we Brits have adopted many French words into our vocabulary but very few Italian words that are not food related. I wonder what the reason is.

@Iseestupidpeople , I cringed to hear in some period TV drama, hearing a minor aristocrat supposedly in the 1800s, saying, ‘If she fell pregnant…’.
I’m fairly ancient and even in the MCs in the 60s you didn’t hear that - people were expecting a baby, or going to have a baby. You didn’t even hear ‘pregnant’ very much in ordinary everyday conversation, let alone ‘falling’.

Albeit and Segue both caught me out, I was certain they were all-bite and seeg 🤣

My friend thought Hartlepool was Hart-tull-pool though and she's super clever

Your AIBU is??????? Total non-post unless I’m just not getting it.

I’m embarrassed to admit I don’t think I’ve ever needed to say the word Dilettante.

I did once have to ring a lady up whose surname was Featherstonehaugh and was quite shocked that I’d pronounced that COMPLETELY wrong…

The reason is that the Norman invasion meant that William and his french court introduced french to England. Consequently the English language is mainly a badly pronounced variation of french.

French person here, you absolutely do not pronounce the s in "Je vais aller"

I think Loewe is pronounced in a weird way because it’s a Spanish brand and that’s how a Spaniard would read it phonetically (as with all Spanish words).

I cannot think of any situation in my 40-odd years where I have needed to use that word.

Thi9s i9s like Moet because its a German or Dutch name but the company is spanish.

I'd say Lo-ebbeh

When I was 10ish, there was a tv bread commercial with a signing scarecrow who rhymed "calibre" with "fibre". It wasn't until I was 35ish that I realised that this was a false rhyme, and the word was "cal- i - burr" with i as in"it", not "cal-eye-burr".

@TheBoots I think that’s a result of badly taught French in U.K. I was taught to pronounce the s, and it wasn’t until I moved to Paris that I was corrected. I still struggle to remember!

Not RTFT
Svaroffski - the shrovski is lazy enunciation.
Moët - mo-ett. It's a Dutch surname
L'Occitane - Loxy-tan
Loewe - Lo-eh-veh (but I say Lerner & Loewe as Lurnuh & Low)

I though awry was au-ree until I heard someone say it

I pronounced 'segue' as seeg for years!

Btw it's "I was saying this wrongly" not "i was saying this wrong" 😁

I've always pronounced "traumatic" as trow (as in how)matic. But I think everyone I hear now says it as it's spelt.

I can provide an explanation for why Menzies = Ming-us!

The Older-Middle Scots language (and also Middle English) had a letter called yogh which looked like a z with a curly tail, and was pronounced rather like a soft “g.” When moveable-type printing arrived in Scotland, printers often used a z in its place because this was more readily available. This explains the now often-mispronounced Scottish names like Menzies, Dalziel and MacKenzie.

Sorry, Michel Thomas has been lying to me then.
How embarrassing.

Really? The French pronounce it Mowett.

@Mummyoflittledragon , she is saying it as Mo-ett not Mo-ay.
It doesn't have a w sound in it

Albeit. I used to read it as al-bite but knew what it meant from the context of the passage. Then one day it just clicked when hearing it said by a news reporter. Ashamed to say I was a young adult.😮
Have know man the lok-si-tan pronunciation for a while as I love their products and think I asked in the shop.
I thought Swarovski was as written though.