Mispronounced words that drive you mad

[puds11]

Just overheard someone ordering an ‘expresso’

What mispronounced words drive you mad?

Some of these are surely just a result of regional accents though? I'm from Lancashire and say 'could of' when I speak...it's just a mutation from dropping the 'h'. However I know written down it's could have and I would never write could of.

Likewise 'pry-vacy' instead of 'pri-vacy'. It's just accents. It's just the same as 'bath' vs 'baarth' or 'master' vs 'maarster'.

The one that bugs me is 'tenderhooks' instead of 'tenterhooks'.

Scalectrix instead of Scalextric.
Nearly every time I hear it. I don’t know why it winds me up so much as I never need to say it IRL.

@SweetNorthernRose it doesn't matter what your accent is like, 'of' is still wrong. DP and I have very similar accents but I still manage to say 'have' whereas he says 'of'.

I have a friend from Lancashire who always says 'have'

Mispronunciation with the ow (owl) sound.

Some of these are surely just a result of regional accents though? I'm from Lancashire and say 'could of' when I speak...it's just a mutation from dropping the 'h'. However I know written down it's could have and I would never write could of

It’s a contracted could’ve rather than could of. I’d say it sounds move like couldav.

well, I've just found a video that says palaver is pronounced with the stress on the first syllable, which makes the fuss over the schwa-or-not at the end fade into insignificance

My mil does this all the time

Orchard is orkard (there house is built on one, so she says it often). She also likes to boast about it too. Makes me laugh as she like to think she's better off/educated.
Dolmio sauce is domlio
Duvet is Du-veT with the t pronounced
Thai is thigh for both referral to the food and place -Thighland

I could go on.

Secetary instead of secretary
Pelanty instead of penalty
Pacific instead of specific

Tortilla to rhyme with gorilla

Should of/could of/would of.

AHHHH. Rage every single time I see it.

Not sure I'll ever fully forgive Natasha Bedingfield for the whole hyperbole / "hyper bowel" situation. Shudder

Nuc-u-lar for nuclear. Whether you are talking about your family or science/physics it is still nuclear.

An actual scientist said it on R4 the other day.
Where is a foam brick when you need one?

Orchard is orkard (there house is built on one, so she says it often).

Their

Some of these have to do with whether you speak with a rhotic (most Irish, Scottish, and American speakers) or non-rhotic accent (most English accents, especially RP.)

So for example, "draw" and "drawer" are pronounced differently in my accent because I pronounce the "r" in drawer.

How SHOULD you say turmeric?!

Tur-mur-ic

Not

Tumour-ic

Tortilla to rhyme with gorilla

I am going to start pronouncing “gorilla” to rhyme with “tortilla”. It won’t be deliberate, and I will blame you

People who use 'generally' instead of 'genuinely' and it completely changes the intonation of the sentiment.

They try to emphasise something and end up making it sound incredibly average.

Breggzit ffs

There was a whole thread on that a while ago. I say Breggzit, and eggzit and eggzamine and eggzonerate. But also extra, and exhale. Accents are weird.

@SweetNorthernRose

There’s a very noticeable difference between “could’ve” and “could of” in spoken language. My experience is the people who say “could of” also write it, whereas the people who say “could’ve” write “could have”.

@KezzabellaB I was born and grew up in Barnsley and was still constantly baffled by the way some people spoke. Some of the dialect is lovely (snickets and ginnels, for example), and where else would you use a teacake to make a ham sandwich?

Rest bite instead of respite

@wiseupjanetweiss

I think Delia used to mispronounce it like this in one of here series. Along with ba-sal-mic vinegar.

@lazylinguist I've always assumed anyone writing "ect ect" is quoting Molesworth by William Rushton. I may be being too kind.

@MincePiesGetInMyBelly Expresso isn't a word meaning coffee anywhere (except by linguistic drift brought upon us by idiots) so you can be sure that anyone ordering one deserves scorn.

My own hates are all covered above by PPs - I was going to add nukular but that just got posted!

@KezzabellaB
Very close, live just up the road in Rawmarsh area but work in Barnsley. It's so grating because everyone says it's slang but it isn't it's just the wrong bloody word

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I love crime podcasts, but talk of 'burglerees' drives me mad.