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Pedants' corner
Original poster

Funny mispronunciations

249 replies

coochicoo · 21/04/2009 19:15

I had to have a giggle at my lovely friend the other day. Not only did she describe someone as being 'lapsidaisy', but she also said they'd taken 'humbridge' at something. Thankfully she can laugh at her self so wasn't offended when I corrected her!

What mispronunciations have you heard...and do you correct people?

OP posts:
ginjoint · 23/04/2009 08:29

My DH does the thee-ETT-er thing too, which given he used to be an anaesthetist is really, really irritating.

The sliver / slither thing is really starting to aggravate me too, I heard someone on a cookery programme the other day referring to their garnish which was 'slithers of beetroot'. It panics me beyond all reason when I hear misuse of words becoming common, accepted (or should that be 'assepted', Supernanny?) parlance.

I always ask DH whether he had a good day at the orifice. Sort of sums up our feelings towards his employers...

gagamama · 23/04/2009 09:51

For years and years I called the font Verdana, 'veranda'.

My dad has particular difficulty with Italian bread, ciabatta is see-er-batty-er and foccacia is fork-ak-chee-ah. My parents both call enchiladas, 'escalados' and fajitas 'fadge-eat-os'.

Actually, I was at the 'Mexican cafe' place at Alton Towers recently and I was tickled that all the staff called the fajitas 'fadge-eaters'^.

totalmisfit · 23/04/2009 09:55

dh says 'dew-vay' for duvet and 'chair-ees' for cherrys.

my mum says 'minge-y' instead of stingey makes me want to throw things at her and shout 'no!!!!!' i keep hoping someone else will correct her so i don't have to tell her what 'minge' means!

Walkingwiththighosaurs · 23/04/2009 10:10

When he was about 4yo my DS always referred to the Hotel whilst on holiday as the eltel. Don't know if he was trying to be posh! My Ex FIL used to pronounce the wine Merlot as Mer-Lot with the emphasise on the T. He also used to refer to Coupe as in car as Coup, used to drive me mad.

DadInsteadofMum · 23/04/2009 11:27

Slammerkin I have had problems talking to Kiwis, though this is accent rather than mispronounciation.

Conversation with colleague just returned from trip home(much truncated and with all the baffled looks removed):
"How was you flight"
"We had terrible trouble with the chickens"
"Sorry?" (images of poultry running up and down the aisles)
"You know the chicken discs"
"What?" (now thinking of very flat poultry)
"You know the discs at the airport where you chicken"
"Ohhhh" (as slowly works it out)

TimorousWeeBeastie · 23/04/2009 11:39

some of my pet hates ...

liberry (for library)

si-castic (for sarcastic)

wald-robes (for wardrobes)

or those who use the word "modest" completely wrongly! My friend has got it totally muddled, she will say "omg, she is so modest!" when she means that they are NOT modest (i.e. showing off)!

PMSLBrokeMN · 23/04/2009 11:40

totalmisfit, mingey/mingy is a word, we used to use it way back in the dark days of the 70's, it just meant tiny or small, like 'all I got was this mingy pair of socks for Christmas'.

Which reminds me, Chrissmass really annoys me. As does acherly, actually.

PoorLittleEgg · 23/04/2009 11:41

aPsolutely really fucks me off

PoorLittleEgg · 23/04/2009 11:43

mil says
monzerella
advocado
ham-bag
bagminton
cushin

TimorousWeeBeastie · 23/04/2009 11:44

another dislike for me, are random "s" stuck on words. In particular, "asdas" or "tescos". Its just Asda, or Tesco!

TimorousWeeBeastie · 23/04/2009 11:47

my MIL told me that my DD had "glucus" on her lungs lol. I think she meant mucus, but im still not 100% sure ha ha,

Badgermoose · 23/04/2009 12:17

Not sure if these count as DD is only 4 (and make me smile rather than correct her) but I sunbathe in my swimming panini (even though I should cover up my post-children gut) and if I wished to dine outside I'd be eating owl pesto.

Also have to remember that you don't really say pictureskew rather than picturesque

whoisasking · 23/04/2009 12:27

Very funny thread.

I had a friend who had her cat fixed (Spayed), and she told me she'd had her "Spaded" (I hope she didn't just hit the poor thing with an actual spade)

Ladyface · 23/04/2009 12:33

Another Petersborough one here too. I used to work at the head office of a fashion store and it was listed as that on the store contacts sheet. People also used to get Portsmouth and Plymouth muddled but I digress...

My mum once told me she thought my brother had "probably tried that escaty".

perma · 23/04/2009 12:34

I told a very erudite friend at school this am that I was just going to look at the new "muriel" that the children have been doing as part of a recent art project - she looked at me oddly and will prob be posting about me on this thread later!
I also like saying pictureskew and my parents were of the dew-vay and pitza persuasion too (not usually at the same time I hasten to add )

bloss · 23/04/2009 12:40

Message withdrawn

MumtoCharlieandLola · 23/04/2009 12:44

My dh sent me a photo of himself when we met (because I was v. pissed when I met him) and he lived down south and I am 'up north'

He said, this is me but I have more wringles in this photo.

Bless him, I bought him some Nivea for me for his 'wringles' for his last birthday and we still laugh about it.

A friends of Dh commented once that the rain was coming down in steroids for stair rods and my MIL says arthuritis, which is so sweet.

We also use Lellow in our house too.

Phlox · 23/04/2009 12:53

When a friend at work got blamed for something at work that wasn't her fault she said she was an "escape goat"

CherryChoc · 23/04/2009 12:58

DH has some sort of auditory problem which makes him mispronounce loads of things. The most noticeable is "happibly" but he also writes "properly" in text messages when he means "probably" (which he pronounces "proberly") He also says "I don't quitely know" which I have no idea what is supposed to mean!

I think it's quite sweet most of the time but when we are arguing I have to bite my tongue not to correct him I was the annoying smug child going round correcting "lellow" etc.

When my sister was little she would always say "audy-ready" for "already" (or possibly she meant "already ready?") which used to annoy me though.

chelseamorning · 23/04/2009 13:01

My MIL says 'quiche' with the 'q' as in queen (qwiche). No-one dares to correct her!!!

My mother says 'ibufen' instead of ibuprofen. That drives me mad!

Strawbezza · 23/04/2009 13:35

Hilarious thread!

A few years ago one of my friends said she'd been into the new shop in town, which was called 'River Is Land'.

Serious question - the word 'cervical' meaning to do with the cervix - I thought it was pronounced 'serve-ikle' but all the time I hear people pronouncing it as 'serve-eye-kal' or even 'serve-eye-a-kal' Which is right?

Poppity · 23/04/2009 13:36

I have a friend who always says Vert-I-bro for the French childrens' clothing line Vertbaudet, despite me and another friend not so subtley(sp) saying it back to her properly.
I think she thinks we say it wrong!

LolaTheShowgirl · 23/04/2009 13:38

A lad pronouned 'canal' like 'canell'

Ex was sure that 'infants' was in fact 'imfants'

My cousin, aged 21, calls Matalan Mataland too!

Girl I know insists that the things spiders make are wobkebs!

There is a company we regularly correspond with at work and it's not til after i've sent the mail out that i've realised I typed 'cowdick' instead of 'codwick'

Poppity · 23/04/2009 13:39

And I spent my formative years calling W.H.Smiths whismiths thinking it was all one word

ImpatientGriselda · 23/04/2009 13:41

I live in mortal dread of accidentally pronouncing turbot as "turbo" in a swanky restaurant...

Pet hates here:

Law rand order (all the time on the tele)
Invalid (as in poorly person) to rhyme with lid instead of "invaleed"
"Oction" rather than auction
"Tong" rather than "tung" (tongue)

I amused my parents greatly when I was a child by describing Nancy Drew's hair as Titian, pronounced with 2 hard Ts....

Favourite overheard, in museum "Don't you just love Canelloni? (Looking at a Canaletto)