Just based on how often I notice someone mispronounce a word without realizing it (or have done so myself and realized it later). Statistically I’m probably still doing it with some word.
I was like 25 when I found out it was wheelbarrow and not wheelbarrel
My wife pronounces ‘foliage’ like ‘foil-adj’.
Mine says window-seal.
I once spoke with a Southerner about favorite books. They recommended a series they called “The Will of Time”.
Only later I found out they were talking about The Wheel of Time.
I started at a company that had a lot of people from India. I have no problem with anybody from anywhere but It takes me a little while to become familiar with accents. That little fuzzy search option in my brain that listens to one thing and realizes what they’re trying to say is woefully undersized.
It’s my third or fourth day on the job I’m nice and early and my boss’s boss strolls in. I’m the only one there.
Suresh: I need you to check on the Catalina office. Me internal: I roughly heard of Catalina but I don’t know anything about it I don’t even know where it is, maybe it’s a city in Spain or something. They do have some international offices maybe I’m missing something. Me: Catalina? Suresh: Catalina, I need to know the status of Catalina. Me Internal: s***, that didn’t help. Furiously googles, no, that’s not any help either. Can I ask the CTO to spell something, would that be a career-ending move on day three? Should I ask him what country it’s in, should I say I don’t have the information for that office obviously I’m a working human being I could look them up and call them if I knew. Suresh reading my confusion: Catalina, Catalina, about 6 hours from here… Norte Catalina. Me: ohh so sorry, no problem, I will find the contact information for our North Carolina office check on them and let you know.
First time I saw giraffe in a book I thought it was pronounced Grr-Ah-Fee.
Like the fist time going to Denny’s and ordering the car-ah-fee of OJ
Bruh
- genre
- only
- gif
- croissant
- Aloysius
- Edinburgh
The rest I can understand, but… only?
I had heard the word “only” spoken in English, but didn’t know how to spell it. At the same time, I had seen the word written, but thought it was pronounced “on-lie” — oddly enough, I had never heard anyone use “on-lie” in speech; I thought it was one of those words that exist but aren’t used very much, like “splendid” or “indubitably”.
I just remembered I also had trouble for so long with the English words “union” (pronounced like English “onion”) and “onion” (pronounced “onny-on” or “on-ion”).
Every time I mispronounce a word, people are assholes and make fun of me. Human beings are pieces of shit for so many reasons.
I pronounced puddle as poodle up into my thirtys. Maybe I didn’t use it too often so it wasn’t noticed. My second wife did. Absolutely scundered!
Contiguous. Didn’t find out about that one till I got to college… That was embarrassing as f***.
Par-mee-zee-in
Oh crap, which universe are we in?
At some point in my life I started enunciating every syllable of the word “comfortable,” where as most Americans opt for “kuhmf-tr-bl.” I don’t remember when or why I started doing otherwise, but I can’t go back now.
February
My teacher told me that he’d fail me if I mispronounced “Data” as “Da ta” and not “Dait a”. So I always mispronounce it
Your teacher clearly watched Star Trek TNG, because it’s Mr *Dait a" not Mr. Da ta.
You just reminded me of my highschool AP bio teacher who was a new Englander, but lived and worked in the UK for a few years. He pronounced half like “hawf” and it was always jarring because otherwise his accent was mostly normal.
Is it a dialect training class? Because otherwise that feels like boarderline racism to penalise someone for having a different an accent.
“Da ta” vs “date-ah” is regional. If you’re pronouncing it “wrong” move across the pond and suddenly you’ll be right.
He claimed it wasn’t an accent. It was a database class. I think he was correct though as that type of thing transcends accents
He was weird. He spent an entire class talking about his divorce and once came in dressed as a cowboy. Oh, and he also taught us for mathematics, and ended up failing the entire class on coursework.
Oxford English dictionary gives both pronunciations, your teacher is just a dick https://www.oed.com/dictionary/data_n?tab=factsheet#219838686 - it’s like my ex who always gave me a hard time for saying “ant” instead of “ahnt.”
I pacifically told you!!!
Gnocchi
Knee-yo-key
Even that is an approximation, I don’t think English has the Italian gn sound, which is the same as Spanish ñ.
I can’t think of any way to spell it that’d lead to a precise pronunciation, or any English word that contains that specific sound.
I man, this word does have an English pronunciation that is distinct from the Italian pronunciation, which follows English phonology.
Of course, I just found it interesting there’s no equivalent sound
Re-reading I can see you weren’t actually claiming English speakers needed to use the Italian pronunciation. Some people do claim that so I just kind of continued my lifelong argument with those people :)
I agree that basic sounds from one language that don’t exist in another language are interesting.
I understand your point and admit my comment could definitely be interpreted that way.
I could be a dick about it and demand people learn to pronounce it the way us Italians do, but then I’d also have to start pronouncing every English loan word perfectly and with a correct English accent while speaking Italian, and you can do that without sounding like a pretentious asshole, so I won’t.
It’s funny that we call these words “loanwords” that we “borrow”. That implies they don’t belong to our language and that we don’t have the right to modify them however we want; it even implies that eventually we’ll return them to their language of origin. It would be much more accurate to say these words have been acquired, incorporated, or assimilated. That’s what languages actually do with words they get from other languages.
Personally, I enjoy the organic nature of the exchange of words between languages. Different languages and cultures treat foreign words differently. Some try to stick as close to the original pronunciation as possible, and some happily alter the word. This can even be handled differently by the same language and culture at a different period of time. For example, in English we have the words “gender” and “genre”, both borrowed from the same French word at different times. The older one is pronounced in an English-sounding way and the newer one is pronounced as close to the French way as possible. I find this kind of stuff very amusing.
no key?
Knee-oh-chee
Knocky
For me it isn’t “some” word it is “many, many” words.
charcuterie (shar-KOO-terr-ee) (TIL)
potable (POH-tah-bull)
prerogative (preh-ROG-ah-tiv) – wait, wat? Damn. I say it (pur-OHG-ah-tiv)
preternatural (pree-ter-NAT-chur-al)
remuneration (reh-myoo-ner-AY-shun) – I’m not admitting how I say it lol
surprise - let’s just say I spelled it suprise for ages. sigh
victual (vittle) - wait, that’s how you spell it??
Indefatigable (ˌin-di-ˌfa-ti-gə-ˈbi-lə) not indy-fa-TEEG-able
Primer: \PRIMM-er\ – small book / short informative piece of writing. (Brits can use long-i for both the paint undercoat and the book).
Mischievous: \MISS-chuh-vuss\ though mis-CHEE-vee-us is a non standard alternate pronunciation.
I think some “mispronunciations” are down to regional pronunciation. Like, I say miniature as MIN-ih-chure by habit though I’m well aware of how it’s spelled and “should” be pronounced.
Maybe it isn’t regional and it is just me. That would explain some things lol.
And uh, yeah I have a bunch more, some I know but am forgetting at the moment. Undoubtedly I mispronounce many more while having no idea. What must people think of me? Lol
Looks like you’re mainly struggling with words of french origin, which is fair, the language is fucked up.
Look, I was on board until you started throwing out made up words like preternatural, victual, and indefatigable, then I knew you were pulling my leg.
In war we’re tough and able [steps on cat]
Quite indefatigable
Between our quests we sequin vests and impersonate Clark Gable
Clearly pronounced in-de-fa-tee-gable
But many times, they’re given rhymes that are quite un-sing-able.
Horatio Hornblower would like a word if you think Indefatigable is a made up word!
TIL it’s “prerogative”…
victual (vittle)
I knew that “vittle” was from the word “victual,” but I never knew that they were actually pronounced the same!
Mischievous: \MISS-chuh-vuss\ though mis-CHEE-vee-us is a non standard alternate pronunciation.
I hate that alternate pronunciation. How do you get “vee-us” from “vous”?
Idk. Likely some people misheard or misread it way back and then repeated.to others and it spread. How does any word change over time, right?
I’m American and have never heard “prim-er” I’ve always heard “prime-er”.
I say miniture when it’s an adjective like a smallish thing, but mini-a-ture when I’m using it as a noun, like the pieces used in tabletop gaming.
The only time I have actually heard someone use indefatigable is in the Monty python, where they intentionally pronounce it wrong
/prəˈrɒgətɪv/ Huh. I guess usually when a schwa and a rhotic is involved, my dialect drops it. I pronounce it /prˈrɒgətɪv/ which could be romanized to pur-ROH-guh-tiv. But there’s no actual separation between the u and the r there.
Interesting. I find the combination of rhotic - schwa - rhotic rather awkward. That could explain why it is commonly mispronounced.
