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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:
Poppity · 23/04/2009 13:45

My 4yo while playing I Spy

"I spy with my little eye something beginning with J"

After much guessing we gave up, and he gave us the answer;

"JURessing gown!"

Badgermoose · 23/04/2009 13:47

Poppity, I must have been at least 17 before I realised that W.H.Smiths wasn't all one word!

ElinorDashwood · 23/04/2009 14:04

I always say pictureskew as well - must remember not to in front of the DC!

TimorousWeeBeastie · 23/04/2009 14:05

argh, my friend also keeps telling me about her "arthuritis" lol I dont find it sweet!

branflake81 · 23/04/2009 14:07

I used to think Pilates was pronounced Pile-eights.

And, until I read this thread, I thought the name of the station was St Pancreas. I have now googled it and realised that I have probably been making a huge tit of myself.

GorgonsGin · 23/04/2009 14:16

another one who uses "can-napes" for canapes when trying to joke with people, but I have seen friends look at my pityingly. I'm sure it's because I have a Scottish accent and live Darn Sarf. English people assume I am thick

DH says "Jou-bai" for Dubai and "tuth" for tooth, with a flat u, pronounced as in brush. I think it's a Brummie thing

But he corrects me because, for me, animals are "furry", pronounced with "uh" and lots of "rrrr" as in "curry" "hurry" "worry", rather than "feaurry". It's a Scottish accent thing, but I maintain that I am right - you don't go out to the local Indian restaurant for a "ceaurry"

HLaurens · 23/04/2009 14:22

Friend at university once described something as coming to frutation (fruition!).

My dad always says choclit.

peasandbeans · 23/04/2009 14:26

my four year old DD says Marks Expensive (M and S).

floradora · 23/04/2009 14:29

Neighbour told me he had been down at Parlington to bring in new year - when I asked for clarification, he said "you know, Parlington Square at the Houses of Parlington"....

vaRIAtyisthespiceoflife · 23/04/2009 14:46

gah, don't have time to read all the thread just now.

MIL is Mrs Malaprop in modern form

she grills meat on her George Formby
and she used to have a thing about having things photocopied amd then eliminated(laminated)

thumbwitch · 23/04/2009 15:34

i get quite irritated by the cervical pronunciation as well - I have no idea when cer-veye-a-cal became standard but it shouldn't have!

I do pronounce canapés properly but have a laugh saying crew-dites - most of my friends used to do this too but new people probably just think I am 'fick'.

DH, being Australian, has ishoos with pronunciation of many British place names - he's getting there!

amyrj · 23/04/2009 16:40

husband says the same for peugeot, really annoying! But he's scottish, so many a Celtic/Welsh thing.

amyrj · 23/04/2009 16:46

My sister and I call them can-apes and crud-ites on purpose and Husband does not find this funny, yet he is full of malapropisms and even makes his own words up - conversate for example, as in, 'it's really difficult to conversate with him'. Sure it must be to wind me up, I am very pedantic, but I have the feeling he uses conversate on a regular basis.

My mum has an odd thing where she put 'onk' in to words - fonk instead of fork, Bunkles instead of Barclays. Words fail me!

JeMeSouviens · 23/04/2009 16:47

A colleague in the middle of engineering meetings where he is supposed to say "we must focus on ...." says "we must fuckus"

JellyBelly10 · 23/04/2009 17:08

All my life my mum pronounced poinsettia as points-ee-etta and delapidated as delapiTated. She also called a duvet a jew-vay...so it wasn't until I was an adult that I realised I had carried these horrendous mistakes forward to the next generation!

I used to work with a woman who in a serious meeting said "We are just skirting around the proliferoles" instead of peripherals...and the same woman always used the saying "I was up at the crack of sparrows" instead of crack of dawn which always made me think of cracking sparrows' heads open!

A man I knew talked about everything being 'Or-ree' and he said it a few times before I realised he meant awry!

I'm afraid I find it very hard not to correct people if they say silly things!!!!! But then I'd want someone to correct me if I said something incorrectly as wouldn't want to sound like a muppet!

objectsintheRIAviewmirror · 23/04/2009 17:16

If I'm going to slip up (and I do try not to) it's always with someone really superior who gives the impression of being more educated than me (with no reason) or a teacher

Original poster
coochicoo · 23/04/2009 19:08

One of my colleagues is convinced that someone can be at your 'beckoned call' rather than 'beck and call'. She even had me doubting myself. Can someone confirm that it is beck and call??

OP posts:
thumbwitch · 23/04/2009 19:14

it is beck and call

I just love it when people are so convinced that their wrong version is right - my friend went through a phase of starting emails etc. Yole - she meant Yo! but no amount of suggestion/telling/anything would get her to change it.

I also had an argument a discussion with a workmate about the word Priapic - she insisted it was priapric, because she knew someone who had had priaprism - I knew damn well it was priapism but gave in. I think there was a level of onomatopoieism in her version!

Original poster
coochicoo · 23/04/2009 19:25

Aah, thanks. Her argument was more convincing than mine because I couldn't define what 'beck' meant. She almost had me convinced that I'd had it wrong all these years!

OP posts:
Peachy · 23/04/2009 19:26

Dh says donimo (not just for the game, more often for a name of a group near us)but more annoyingly oo-ar (look, we're from Somerset OK? LOL) as oo-er, very different meaning indeed LOL!

MannyMoeAndJack · 23/04/2009 19:34

My grandad (born in the 19th century ) would always say, 'cherrypodist' for chiropodist

MannyMoeAndJack · 23/04/2009 19:37

And soooooo many people say and spell, 'perogative' !!

HLaurens · 23/04/2009 19:56

And when I was a kid I thought that it was "if the cat fits wear it" and also "covered love"

I think I was about 16 when I realized it was a cap and cupboard!

Original poster
coochicoo · 23/04/2009 19:56

Ooh, I'm one of them Manny! I never realised it was prerogative until I looked it up after reading your post!

It's not a word that I frequently use though!

OP posts:
isittooearlyforgin · 23/04/2009 20:19

French based Essex place names, Montfichet and Theyon Bois routinely mispronounced by some locals