What words are commonly mispronounced by literate people who read them before they heard them?

Question

Quite a few words are mispronounced by under-educated people, or people learning English as a second language. Some words are often mispronounced by quite educated people who read, and began reading high-level literature before they heard the vocabulary spoken.

This can lead to a vocabulary dissonance, occasionally leading to the belief that there are two words (the known spelling of one, and the verbal hearing of the same) where only one exists. Epitome is a common example that springs to mind.

Answer with a word and its proper pronunciation (and potentially, the commonly mistaken punctuation).

Can we have sources for all answers. Cuz this is SERRIIOOUUSSS business we are dealing with there — Midhat, Sep 14 '10 at 12:41
As pronunciations vary between British English and American "English", which should the answers reflect? — Orbling, Nov 25 '10 at 00:12
@Orbling: Where the pronunciations differ, the difference should be noted. — Kosmonaut, Jan 10 '11 at 21:00
This list is so full of awesome I can't even stand it. I'm having an EPY-fone! — morganpdx, Apr 01 '11 at 23:05
I mispronounced "totalitarianism", thinking that it is stressed at the first syllable, because there is the word "total". In reality, the second syllable is stressed. — Double U, Feb 01 '14 at 03:31

score 100 · Answer 1 · edited Dec 14 '10 at 19:59

100

hyperbole /haɪˈpɜrbəli/

(Evidently it's not the next step after the Super Bowl.)

edited Dec 14 '10 at 19:59

Timwi

1,250

answered Aug 23 '10 at 02:00

andyvn22

696

+1 for superbowl, but what are the two ways to pronounce this? – Pavel Radzivilovsky Aug 24 '10 at 06:06
Hy-per-bo-lee (or near enough) – Mark Embling Aug 24 '10 at 07:28
54

The mispronunciation is HY-per-BOWL, and the correct pronunciation is hy-PER-bo-LEE. – andyvn22 Aug 24 '10 at 16:23
3

OK, it's a greek word (ὑπερβολή) so its pronounciation is close to the greek pronounciation; what I find funny is, me being Greek but never having heard the english word spoken out loud, I also thought it rhymed with “superbowl” :) – ΤΖΩΤΖΙΟΥ Oct 13 '10 at 08:23
24

I'm going to start calling it the Su-PER-bol-EE – Seamus Nov 30 '10 at 12:02
1

I've never heard it pronounced other than "HYperbowl". Is hy-PER-bo-LEE some sort of attempt at French sophistication, à la Hyperbolé ? (with an acute final e) – smirkingman Jan 18 '11 at 11:32
2

Actually, I think it's a Greek word. And then I realized I'm on the internet, so, yes, it is Greek, says Wikipedia. :) – andyvn22 Jan 18 '11 at 18:13
5

@smirkingman -- Seriously? – Michael Lorton Mar 30 '11 at 06:41
1

@smirkingman : you are mistaken. French mathematicians and rhetors pronounce it approximately eepairbol. – ogerard Apr 11 '11 at 22:00

score 75 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 19 '10 at 21:53

75

I had quite a few of these growing up. The one I think is most common is segue. Did you know it's pronounced "segway"? I didn't for a very very long time.

answered Aug 19 '10 at 21:53

J.T. Grimes

6,853

2

Actually, I think I got that one straight before I ever tried to use it myself, but I did say "tongoo" instead of "tongue."...For the record though, I was, like, six. :) – kitukwfyer Aug 19 '10 at 21:58
4

"Segway" isn't quite the correct pronunciation (seg - WEH is closer), but it's definitely better than seg - goo. – Noldorin Aug 29 '10 at 12:19
4

I always thought it was "seeg" or "seyg" in the same way "The Hague" is pronounced "hayg". – DisgruntledGoat Sep 08 '10 at 12:37
I didn't, until now. In fact, I read your answer as .. most common is ___seeg___ – Amarghosh Oct 01 '10 at 12:31
3

@Noldorin: I used to think it was seg-yoo, like "argue", "continue", etc. Don't ask me what I thought about "fugue". – ShreevatsaR Nov 23 '10 at 14:34
@ShreevatsaR: Haha, fair enough. If you aren't familiar with French, it's an easy enough mistake to make. – Noldorin Nov 23 '10 at 16:27
@DisgruntledGoat: "The Hague" is a name of Flemish (Dutch) origin, not French. Different rules apply. – Noldorin Nov 23 '10 at 16:28
2

@Noldorin, I couldn't see how segue could be French (would it be written següé?) so I checked — it's apparently Italian. – Neil G Dec 23 '10 at 05:37
@Neil: It's quite plausible for it to have been originally French and undergone changes in phonology. In this case, it's Latin by way of Italian. – Noldorin Dec 23 '10 at 22:30
9

@Noldorin: I think it’s pretty fair to say that in English the pronunciation of segue is \seg-way. The general rule is that borrowed words get their closest approximation within the native phonetic stock; and word final -eh\ is fairly foreign to English, so approximating it to -ay\ seems quite reasonable (compare English pronunciations of café, forte, cum laude, which all have slightly different vowels in the original but become -ay\ in English). – PLL Jan 12 '11 at 16:29
Segway (the walking thing people stand on) and segue are homophones, aren't they? – Richard Gadsden Apr 21 '11 at 16:00
Am I the only person who pronounces it as /si:g/ (like "seeg")? Being ostensibly bilingual in English but never speaking a word of English for years (regardless of reading most of my books in English and being English online) may have taken its toll... – ithisa Feb 01 '14 at 02:55

score 68 · Answer 3 · edited Jan 10 '11 at 20:31

68

colonel /ˈkərnl/

This has to be the worst word for me - I know that is pronounced ker-nil, but EVERY time I read it the pronunication in my head is col-o-nel. How is colonel "ker-nil" anyway?! :)

edited Jan 10 '11 at 20:31

Jonik

4,145

answered Aug 27 '10 at 13:07

bryan

229

20

Was bothering me so I found out why: http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/752/why-is-colonel-pronounced-kernel – bryan Aug 27 '10 at 16:13
3

I think we should give up the joke and go back to spelling it "coronel". :P – Jon Purdy Oct 12 '10 at 19:18
7

I knew I was at the point of dropping off in one of my maths lectures when I started writing about the colonel of a function. – Rawling Nov 02 '10 at 14:12
For reasons best known to my psychologist, when reading, I often read it col-o-nel, but in the voice of German officer from a B&W war film. In fact, my 'inner voice' articulates lots of words in some rather weird and wonderful ways. ;) – CJM Nov 23 '10 at 11:24
13

A colonel of truth? The Linux colonel? – Stein G. Strindhaug Dec 15 '10 at 10:46
19

@Stein, the Linux colonel is lower ranked than the MS-DOS General Failure. – Thorbjørn Ravn Andersen Jan 31 '11 at 09:46
Fun fact: in the TCG Net-Runner, there was a card named "Colonel Failure" - if I had known that colonel was actually pronounced "kernel" it would have be fun on two different ways! – o0'. Jan 31 '11 at 13:08
The word 'colonel' has two pronunciations. American military says colonel /ˈkɜrnəl/ where as British army say /ˈkɜːnᵊl/ – Rincewind42 Aug 07 '11 at 15:01
1

@Lohoris: Hmm, we can have a "General Failure" and we can have a "Major Failure". It stands to reason that something in the middle shoudl be a "Colonel Failure". – Jay Dec 06 '11 at 18:08
3

@Thorbjorn: I know the military is spying on me. I got a message "General Failure reading hard drive." – Jay Dec 06 '11 at 18:09

score 65 · Answer 4 · answered Oct 12 '10 at 18:10

65

victuals

I always thought it was VICK-chew-als, while it is actually VITT-les.

answered Oct 12 '10 at 18:10

Ophiuroid

1,097

3

Another case of "colonelisation", where the orthography was changed from the original French loan (vittaylle) to reflect its origin in Latin (victualia) despite no change in pronunciation. Sigh. – Jon Purdy Oct 19 '10 at 14:57
54

Wait, those are the same word‽ – eswald Nov 01 '10 at 20:51
1

More on victuals and other latinised French-loans: http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/34568/are-there-other-words-with-the-same-weird-spelling-pronunciation-combo-as-vict/34570#34570 – Hugo Jul 17 '11 at 09:30
Oh. My. God. I feel dumb. – anon Nov 08 '11 at 23:14
I always thought vittles was just Granny Clampet's way of saying it, and that "vick-tu-als" was the correct way. I very recently heard or saw some reference otherwise that I didn't take to be authoritative, but apparently it's correct. – TecBrat Jul 29 '14 at 03:41

score 61 · Answer 5 · answered Aug 23 '10 at 01:34

61

epitome /ɪˈpɪtəmi/

answered Aug 23 '10 at 01:34

Timwi

1,250

1

An epi"tome" would be the tome-length epilogue at the end of a book. – Jared Updike Aug 23 '10 at 01:55
15

This is really the epitome of these words. I had an epiphany when I realized my error. – Joshua Karstendick Nov 04 '10 at 15:53
5

Why do the English language insist on keeping the spelling of loanwords? If you mean "epittomy" can't you just write it that way? ;) – Stein G. Strindhaug Dec 15 '10 at 10:37
1

Incidentally, in Italian it is written exactly the same, but pronounced in a different way. – o0'. Jan 31 '11 at 13:03
For years I thought this was EPPY-tome. – njd Jul 05 '11 at 10:16
Shia Lebouf pronounces epitome (MP3): http://www.streetcarnage.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/epitome.mp3 – JoshDM Jan 19 '14 at 22:25

score 46 · Answer 6 · answered Aug 19 '10 at 21:16

46

Uggh, as one of the over-literates you mentioned, I have a lot of these. However, I have no idea as to how common mine are or may have been.

Facade should be pronounced "fuh-SAHD" (/fəˈsɑːd/). At first, I pronounced it "fack-AID."

answered Aug 19 '10 at 21:16

kitukwfyer

3,753

18

+1 funny. I'm going to say FACK-AID from now on, especially when talking to the DESIGN PATTERN evangelists. – Ed Guiness Aug 24 '10 at 08:15
14

French: façade. – niXar Aug 24 '10 at 12:53
3

is that an ant-eye-pattern? – Taldaugion Aug 24 '10 at 20:19
@Taldaugion: And what's wrong if it is? – mmyers Aug 26 '10 at 17:29
6

This is why English words should keep the accents (and cedilla in this case) of foreign words. – Noldorin Aug 27 '10 at 15:17
3

@Noldorin: That really wouldn't help, IMO. I'd seen a cedilla on the place-name "Caracau" and I still thought that was "Carah-cow." Accents don't help unless you know what they mean....kind of like the whole "ueber-" thing a while ago. If you aren't familiar with German, you won't know what the umlaut means. If you haven't heard "facade" before, you won't know how to pronounce it if you read it. Sometimes "c"s sound like "s" in English. Facade is just one of those words to most people, and you learn it by hearing it. Same way you learn "face" or "incise." – kitukwfyer Aug 27 '10 at 20:01
Fair enough. I say this only because I know enough French, but I can't really speak for those that don't know French... – Noldorin Aug 27 '10 at 22:46
This is one of those words where I'd keep the cedilla while writing in English. – TRiG Oct 14 '10 at 21:11
1

This is even worse than keeping foreign spelling, keeping it but changing it slightly. A slightly better spelling would be "fasade" which is incidentally how we write it in Norwegian, but still it has a pronounciation that is not possible to write in English. (But "face aid" is at least better than "f*ck head") – Stein G. Strindhaug Dec 15 '10 at 10:43
As a native french speaker, many of these words trip me because my fellow American english speakers get all tripped up when I pronounce french words the french way. I pronounce facade the american way: fuh-sad, no fass-ad, like I would in french. – Christopher Mahan Jan 11 '11 at 00:31
1

For a long time I knew the spoken word "fuh-SAHD" (/fəˈsɑːd/) and the written word facade (which I vaguely thought of as being pronounced fuh-kaid'), but hadn't connected the two synonyms. – mgkrebbs Apr 02 '11 at 03:56
1

The misspelling facade* (pronounced /fəˈkeɪd/, or approximately “fuck-AID”) is catecrestic for façade (pronounced /fəˈsɑːd/), and can be used to humorous effect; it should probably be respelled as fassade or something. Similarly, naive* (pronounced /neɪv/ to rhyme with its only English lookalike, waive) is catecrestic for naïve (pronounced /nɑˈiːv/), which should really be respelled as nayeve or something. – tchrist Feb 21 '12 at 02:19

score 45 · Answer 7 · edited Jul 30 '11 at 18:43

45

Greenwich is "grenitch", not "green-witch".

edited Jul 30 '11 at 18:43

Daniel

57,547

answered Sep 01 '10 at 06:27

Picturepocket

1,756

23

Well, there's a million British placenames that are traps for the unwary. Leicester is another famous one, but I remember there was once a dance troupe called "The Cholmondeleys and the Featherstonehaughs" (pronounced, The Chumleys and the Fanshaws")! – thesunneversets Nov 19 '10 at 01:10
1

worcestershire is another good one – jk. Jan 11 '11 at 13:43
Loughborough is another. (luff-bra) – Feb 19 '11 at 18:26
6

Good lord people. How in the heck do you go from Featherstonehaughs to Fanshaw?!?! – morganpdx Apr 01 '11 at 23:06
Warwickshire for another. Not to mention all the odd abbreviations. Salop, anyone? – Sam Apr 06 '11 at 23:17
1

@morganpdx - it's deliberate. It lets people know if you are really in 'our set' or if you just read the name. – mgb Aug 13 '11 at 17:30
Greenwich is "grenitch", eh? Makes me hungry for a sammich ... – jyc23 Feb 23 '14 at 19:38

score 44 · Answer 8 · edited Feb 21 '12 at 02:22

44

Awry /əˈraɪ/

Wrong: AWE-ree

Right: uh-RY

Omnipotent /ɒmˈnɪpət(ə)nt/

Wrong: Omni-Potent

Right: omNIPPOtent (think "hippo")

edited Feb 21 '12 at 02:22

tchrist

134,759

answered Aug 25 '10 at 18:02

parties

29

2

I still do this... – kitukwfyer Aug 25 '10 at 21:12
2

common English pattern: stress goes on the antepenultimate syllable – moioci Sep 01 '10 at 03:01
2

Omnipotent comes from omni (all) and potent (from posse in latin). I understand people who say omni-potent. There's no etymologic reason to say om-nippo-tent :s – Elenaher Oct 13 '10 at 08:25
Nippo sounds like sushi. – Wok Oct 13 '10 at 08:27
good one on Awry - I still do awe-ree – JoseK Nov 30 '10 at 10:43
Damn. I had had absolutely no idea. – ayaz Nov 30 '10 at 12:23
On RHS of pond, always AWE-ree – smirkingman Jan 18 '11 at 11:34
And enterprises of great pith and moment, // With this regard, their currents turn awry, // And lose the name of action. // – ogerard Apr 12 '11 at 16:55
@Elenaher Your etymological reason hold no water. Stress regression is very well-documented in English. – tchrist Feb 21 '12 at 02:25

score 43 · Answer 9 · answered Aug 19 '10 at 22:21

43

I have a hard time avoiding pronouncing the word 'gaol' with a hard 'g', when it's really a homophone for 'jail'.

answered Aug 19 '10 at 22:21

Brian Hooper

36,868

9

Wait, so it's not pronounced "gowl"...? Whoopsie. Not only do I have a lot of these, I also apparently haven't discovered some of them yet...This is educational AND saving me from some possible future embarrassment. Awesome. – kitukwfyer Aug 21 '10 at 02:59
22

Anyone who reads Dickens in high school would come across this word. I always thought, "gosh, I'm glad we don't have gaols in America, they sound horrible." – Jared Updike Aug 23 '10 at 01:53
4

Fr.: geôle; like most words related to justice, a legacy of William the Conqueror. – niXar Aug 24 '10 at 12:52
In the same vein: “gaoler”. But since nobody uses these spellings any more … – Konrad Rudolph Nov 23 '10 at 07:32
1

@Konrad, the Guardian still did, last time I read a copy. But they are uncommon. – Brian Hooper Nov 23 '10 at 12:17
1

@Brian: Most amusing: site:guardian.co.uk +gaoler vs. site:guardian.co.uk +jailer – Konrad Rudolph Nov 23 '10 at 12:38
@Konrad, it does say in their style book "jail, not gaol" (http://www.guardian.co.uk/styleguide/j). – Brian Hooper Nov 23 '10 at 13:06
I'm reminded of a British immigrant to the U.S. who ran for some minor office. His opponent was currently the county sheriff. In a debate the sheriff made a big point about "goals", saying we need clear goals, etc. So the Briton replied, "His experience is gaols, not goals!" The quip fell rather flat to Americans, who pictured it as "jails, not goals". – Jay Dec 06 '11 at 18:15

score 42 · Answer 10 · edited Feb 21 '12 at 02:28

42

Ennui /ɑ̃nɥi/, /ɒnˈwiː/

Imagine my surprise at learning that it's pronounced "on-wi" and not "eh-new-ee"!!

edited Feb 21 '12 at 02:28

tchrist

134,759

answered Aug 25 '10 at 23:55

gomad

185

7

Oh...I can imagine it really, really well. – kitukwfyer Aug 26 '10 at 02:21
3

You mean it's not pronounced eh-new-ee? – Marthaª Oct 13 '10 at 03:29
From Old French enui (annoyance, apathy). – Oct 13 '10 at 11:06
3

Isn't it "on-wee"? – MGOwen Jan 11 '11 at 02:32
2

I originally thought it was "in-you-eye". – Joey Adams Jan 17 '11 at 02:21
I used to pronounce this as "en-wah" :P – Kit Mar 27 '11 at 09:00
2

@MGOwen: this is the father-bother merge. For many US speakers, “ahn” and “on” represent the same vowel. For me (and presumably you) they’re completely different — so “ahn-wi” is accurate for them, though incorrect for us. Editing it to “on”, though, since that’s I believe accurate for everybody… – PLL Apr 02 '11 at 21:13
Just for the perverse: try to pronounce ennuyeux (approximative sense: boring, vexing). – ogerard Apr 12 '11 at 16:52

score 40 · Answer 11 · answered Nov 30 '10 at 10:45

40

Draught.

as in draught beer - pronounced as draft and not dr-aw-ght

answered Nov 30 '10 at 10:45

JoseK

8,086

7

But you spell through T-H-R-U, and I'm with you on that; cos we spell it "thruff". -- Eddie Izzard – Stein G. Strindhaug Dec 15 '10 at 10:54
1

@Stein G. Strindhaug: Reminds me of Bernard Shaw's ghoti pronounced fish http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghoti – JoseK Dec 15 '10 at 10:57
Well, trough is just as bad. – Sky Red Feb 04 '11 at 17:47
@Stein And we say "herb", because there's a f***ing 'h' there.. – Feb 19 '11 at 18:33
2

mind = blown ... I feel a bit embarrassed now. – xdumaine Mar 30 '11 at 03:18
I just had to replace draught in my head at the grocery store this morning as I walked by a stack of Guinness. "Drawt Guinness? Oh right draft." – morganpdx Apr 01 '11 at 23:08
@JoseK: ghoti was invented, but try the nation Kiribati (pronounced ˈkɪrɨbæs, an attempt at "Gilberts") and its island Kiritimati (pronounced kəˈrɪsməs, an attempt at "Christmas") – Henry Apr 01 '11 at 23:42
Which, of course, should not be confused with drought (dr-OWT - a long dry spell), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drought – e.James Apr 02 '11 at 00:11
There is a Dr. Seuss collection called "The Tough Coughs As He Ploughs the Dough". – jscs May 03 '11 at 02:51
.... 25 years old, and linguistics as a hobby.... and I just NOW learn this. I thought they were different words! I don't drink beer, so explains why I never learned to begin with... – Brett Allen Sep 09 '11 at 07:04
@Aequit: were you researching for the answer on drafting while cycling? – JoseK Sep 09 '11 at 07:52

score 36 · Answer 12 · 2011-07-09T11:04:20.460

36

The one that always gets me is quay.

I still tend to pronounce it "kway", even though I know the correct pronunciation is "key".

edited Jul 09 '11 at 11:04

answered Sep 14 '10 at 06:49

3

I've heard a professional voice actor pronounce it "kway". In fact, Merriam-Webster gives both pronunciations plus a third, "kay". – mmyers Sep 17 '10 at 15:06
1

I've never understood why it's "key". Isn't this word from French? In my French we'd say "kay". – Mr. Shiny and New 安宇 Nov 25 '10 at 14:15
2

Professional voice actors make plenty of mistakes. I have a couple of science audiobooks with some shocking mispronunciations. – Feb 06 '11 at 19:02
I'm going to have to use this one in a sentence a few times to make it sink in. Good one. – Sister Sep 22 '11 at 01:18

score 35 · Answer 13 · answered Oct 19 '10 at 08:28

35

Late addition, but one I've just learned of: viscount. Apparently it's pronounced VYE-count. Who knew?

answered Oct 19 '10 at 08:28

francois

643

7

Everyone who likes chocolate biscuits... – CJM Nov 23 '10 at 11:33
22

There goes my great joke about the viscount's discount. – mmyers Jan 10 '11 at 21:42
French again. To be pronounced like 'vicomte'. – ogerard Apr 12 '11 at 16:57
Actually, it’s /ˈvaɪkaʊnt/. – tchrist Feb 21 '12 at 02:30

Gary · Answer 14 · 2010-08-24T06:49:56.897

32

Worcestershire, as in the sauce. The obvious pronunciation is "wor-chest-er-shy-er", but apparently the correct pronunciation is "werst-er-sher".

edited Aug 24 '10 at 06:49

answered Aug 24 '10 at 05:39

Gary

2,597

4

Ditto Leicestershire (obvious: lie-CES-ter-SHI-er, correct: LES-ter-sher), Warwick (obvious: WAR-wick, correct: WAR-rick). – Gaurav Aug 24 '10 at 08:36
14

Place names; there's a well with no bottom. Consider also Alnwick (an-ick, but don't forget Alnmouth is al-un-mouth), Bosham (bozzum) but Cosham (cosh-um), Marylebone (mar-le-bun) and Holborn (ho-bun). And that's not counting exotica like Woolfardisworthy (woolsery) and Kirkudbright (kik-oo-bry). – Brian Hooper Aug 24 '10 at 16:19
Also: Towcester (toaster), Bicester (bister), Frome (froom), Keynsham (kayn-shum). – Steve Melnikoff Aug 25 '10 at 08:19
Cindi is right. In Worcestershire - most of the r's are silent, so this should be WIST-ih-sure – Joel Spolsky Aug 26 '10 at 18:19
1

Yes, usually the "ces" in English towns/cities is omitted from pronunciation. @cindi is right, we (I'm from Worcestershire!) usually omit the r sound. Another curveball: Leominster (correct: lemm-ster). – DisgruntledGoat Sep 08 '10 at 12:46
And then there are Scottish placenames: Milngavie is "miln-guy". I think a lot of them are regular in Gaelic. – Richard Gadsden Oct 15 '10 at 16:48
10

“werst-er-sher”? I believe that’s wrong. It’s /ˈwʊstərˌʃɪər/ or /ˈwʊstərˌʃər/ (the first vowel is like the one in foot). – Timwi Nov 07 '10 at 16:28
1

When visiting London last summer, I was surprised to learn Tottenham is actually pronounced with two syllables, something like Tott'num. – Jonik Nov 22 '10 at 22:17
@Brian - yes, you could do on forever: Bicester/bister, Barrow-in-Furness/Barrow-in-Furnace, Edinburgh/Edinburuh, etc... – CJM Nov 23 '10 at 11:31
2

@cindi Alas poor worick. I knew him, Horatio. – glenatron Nov 24 '10 at 15:13
@CJM: I would have said "Edinbruh" for Edinburgh. – Steve Melnikoff Nov 30 '10 at 13:12
These are called syncopated words. – Neil G Dec 09 '10 at 08:27
@Steve - We all commonly say 'Edinbruh' but AFAIK an articulate Scot would have an extra syllable: http://inogolo.com/pronunciation/Edinburgh – CJM Dec 09 '10 at 10:02
And Launceston in Cornwall is pronounced LAHN-s@n while Launceston in Tasmania is pronounced LAWN-cess-t@n. – chimp Dec 15 '10 at 09:12
3

I remember being told once that it's supposed to sound like "what's this here" mumbled and slurred together. Such as if a confused person looked at the sauce, pointed to it, and said "what's this here sauce?" – Jan 31 '11 at 15:50
1

Pass the werscherstershire sauce please. And I had to unnecessarily suffer all that tongue twisting. – Kit Mar 27 '11 at 09:03
2

Within the UK city of Milton Keynes, there are three areas named Loughton, Woughton and Broughton. They are pronounced Lau-ton (first syllable rhymes with "cow"), Woof-ton and Braw-ton (like "brought")... – psmears Apr 01 '11 at 20:49
@jjackson hahahah! We do that in the states too, although it's surely inherited from England: Worcester, MA pronounced 'WUS-tah', and not "WAR-chest-er" like I thought as a kid. – morganpdx Apr 01 '11 at 23:11
"Worcestershire sauce" is pronounced "Wooster sauce". There's a Kipling quote about a foreigner whose English was perfect "except that he would keep asking for the Worcestershire sauce". – Tim Lymington May 05 '11 at 22:49
@PSM: That is superb. – Cerberus - Reinstate Monica Oct 14 '11 at 15:17
@TimLymington The OED givs /ˈwʊstəʃər/, but I agree with you. – tchrist Feb 21 '12 at 02:36

Kosmonaut · Answer 15 · 2011-03-18T02:04:49.377

31

Biopic, which does not rhyme with myopic (stress on "o"). It's pronounced like bio-pic (primary stress on "bi"). Even after I found that out, I still don't like it.

edited Mar 18 '11 at 02:04

answered Aug 19 '10 at 22:43

Kosmonaut

50,402

3

I did not know that until just now. Good one. – JohnFx Aug 19 '10 at 22:48
…because it is short for bio(graphical) (motion) pic(ture) – nohat Aug 25 '10 at 20:01
15

I still don't like it! :) – Kosmonaut Aug 27 '10 at 03:13
4

Er, doesn't myopic rhyme with bio-pic? (I see there are two pronunciations for "myopic", with different vowels for the 'o', but doesn't one of them rhyme with bio-pic?) – ShreevatsaR Aug 29 '10 at 09:00
5

Myopic has stress on the second syllable, while biopic has primary stress on the first syllable and secondary stress on the final syllable. – Kosmonaut Aug 30 '10 at 02:56
I didn't know the difference for many decades. – Neil McGuigan Aug 31 '10 at 23:38
5

Apparently, I've been pronouncing "myopic" wrong. :) – Marthaª Oct 13 '10 at 01:26
1

@Kosmonaut: Thanks, stress is one of the harder areas of English pronunciation, which most Indian speakers never consider... Even after listening to the words, my natural tendency is to discard the stresses as unnecessary and pronounce them with equal stress so they seem to rhyme. :-) – ShreevatsaR Nov 23 '10 at 14:38
Woah. Good one. Never heard anyone say it this way and I think it would sound forced. – Feb 06 '11 at 18:59

score 30 · Answer 16 · edited Mar 18 '11 at 06:04

30

Yosemite, as in the national park in California.

For the longest time I thought it was pronounced "Yo-sem-ite" instead of "Yo-sem-i-tee"

Cartoons failed me, I never made the connection to "Yosemite Sam" from the Bugs Bunny Show.

edited Mar 18 '11 at 06:04

Adrian Petrescu

599

answered Aug 19 '10 at 22:51

JohnFx

7,464

Yosemite, to rhyme with Vegemite. – Sam Apr 06 '11 at 23:19
11

@Sam: Really? When I told people how I lost my Vegemite a while back, I thought I must have mispronounced it, cause I got some weird looks. – intuited Apr 09 '11 at 04:12
I annoy campers who frequent that park by calling it YOSE-MIGHT – Oldcat Feb 26 '14 at 02:04

score 29 · Answer 17 · edited Nov 24 '10 at 15:00

29

Linux.

Many people pronounce it "LYE-nucks" (I do) but, as it's based on the Swedish name Linus (Linus Torvalds is Finnish but speaks Swedish). Thus the pronunciation should be "Leenux" or "Lihn-ucks" (/ˈlɪnəks/).

edited Nov 24 '10 at 15:00

Jonik

4,145

answered Aug 20 '10 at 13:25

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

26,528

Around here I more frequently hear "LEN-icks" – Dan Ray Aug 20 '10 at 16:01
That is also true for many Linux distribution as well. Some people say oo-bun-too, while others say oo-boon-too, gen-too, jen-too, soo-seh, soos, etc. BTW, I used to say leenux, then heard a lot of lie-nux, so thought I was wrong, but never like lie-nux, so I still look around when I say "I use leenux" to check whether someone will correct me. – Umang Aug 28 '10 at 14:16
12

As a reference, here's the classic linux.au clip: "I'm Linus Torvalds and I pronounce Linux as /ˈlɪnəks/." – Jonik Nov 22 '10 at 21:17
4

Oh, and check out this too; a nice Youtube clip with Linus saying both his name and Linux. – Jonik Nov 22 '10 at 21:24
4

Same goes for Ubuntu, which should be pronounced /Oo'boontoo/. – Konrad Rudolph Nov 23 '10 at 07:34
Just in case anyone else has trouble with .au files, here is a link to the mp3: http://www.paul.sladen.org/pronunciation/torvalds-says-linux.mp3 – e.James Apr 02 '11 at 00:07

score 28 · Answer 18 · answered Nov 19 '10 at 01:17

28

Hiccough

Apparently this is not pronounced to rhyme with cough, but in exactly the same way as "hiccup". Which fooled me for many years, for obvious reasons!

answered Nov 19 '10 at 01:17

thesunneversets

3,178

3

I love archaic spellings. Lets bring them back. :-) Plough, for example. – Sister Sep 22 '11 at 01:19
Don't forget Draught. – JohnFx Sep 29 '11 at 19:01
@Carole-Lynn It’s not an archaic spelling; it’s an erroneous one. – tchrist Feb 21 '12 at 02:38

score 25 · Answer 19 · edited Dec 14 '10 at 20:04

25

Here's one I only recently learned I was saying wrong all my life.

The name of children's book author Dr. Seuss

It does NOT rhyme with Goose. It is pronounced like Soyce.

You’re wrong as the deuce  
And you shouldn’t rejoice  
If you’re calling him Seuss  
He pronounces it Soice  
     -Alexander Liang  (Colleague of Geisel)

edited Dec 14 '10 at 20:04

Timwi

1,250

answered Nov 28 '10 at 22:42

JohnFx

7,464

Uh, where'd you hear this? I've certainly only heard it pronounced to rhyme with "goose", and I daresay that's how Mr. Geisel pronounced it, too. (The fact that the digraph "eu" is pronounced "oy" in German is largely irrelevant.) – Marthaª Nov 28 '10 at 22:53
20

Actually, he's right...sort of. The man's name should be pronounced "soyce," and that is how Seuss pronounced it. However, he adopted the "soos" pronunciation since he thought it was advantageous for a children's author's name to rhyme with Mother Goose and most people pronounced it that way anyway. I'm stealing all of this from Wikipedia btw... – kitukwfyer Nov 29 '10 at 02:47
http://libraries.ucsd.edu/about/geisel-building.html. "The University Library Building was renamed Geisel Library in honor of Audrey and Theodor Geisel (Dr. Seuss) for the generous contributions they have made to the library and their devotion to improving literacy." Interesting reasoning @kitukwfer, when I'm out visiting in the area, his name is pronounced "soos" by academics and guides. – Sister Sep 22 '11 at 01:22

score 22 · Answer 20 · answered Nov 24 '10 at 15:37

22

lieutenant

This is a word that is pronounced logically by Americans, but in Britain we pronounce it as "lef-tenant" which is not at all obvious.

answered Nov 24 '10 at 15:37

glenatron

1,746

This really sums up why English is so hard to learn! – Feb 05 '11 at 19:16
Ah, I was going to add this one if someone hadn't already. Australia follows the weird British pronunciation for this one. – ncoghlan Mar 30 '11 at 05:38
3

Because that's how it was originally pronounced in Norman French, with an 'f'. Modern French changed and the english spelling followed it - while of course keeping the old pronounciation – mgb May 06 '11 at 04:39
Don't even get me started on Colonel. – JohnFx Jan 03 '14 at 00:16

score 17 · Answer 21 · answered Aug 19 '10 at 21:47

17

'Read', as in

John is dry (read: boring).

I believe there's a fair amount of agreement that the correct pronunciation is /rid/ ("reed").

answered Aug 19 '10 at 21:47

ladenedge

495

2

This one is great because so many people are convinced that they knew the right one all along, even when they are wrong. Crazy ask.metafilter thread from yesterday: http://ask.metafilter.com/162666/Is-the-parenthetical-read-pronounced-reed-or-red – Kosmonaut Aug 19 '10 at 22:45
2

Annnd a nearly identical thread from two years ago, heh. Good times! – ladenedge Aug 19 '10 at 23:26
8

If only more people learned foreign languages, there wouldn't be so much confusion. There are identical constructions in many languages where the verb form is not a homograph and clearly imperative ("lees" in Dutch, "lies" or "sprich" in German, "читай" in Russian, to name but a few). – RegDwigнt Aug 20 '10 at 00:19
I would pronounce read in the same way I would pronounce eat; I am sure I wrongly pronounce another word containing ea, though. :-) – apaderno Aug 20 '10 at 13:42
2

strange, I always thought it was pronounced "red". As in, "that last word that was just there, that should have been read 'boring'" – Claudiu Oct 12 '10 at 22:54
Is this a case of mispronunciation or choosing the wrong word? Read ("reed") and read ("red") are not the same; if you "mispronounce" read in this sentence you get a different sentence with a different meaning. – Mr. Shiny and New 安宇 Nov 25 '10 at 14:15
6

Definitely sounds like "reed". It's an instruction to the reader. "read the previous statement as meaning ____". – TM. Feb 09 '11 at 07:07
2

Both pronunciations make sense, and have the same ultimate outcome. – endolith Apr 26 '11 at 15:42
The English town Reading is pronounced like the Californian town Redding. – Jonathan Leffler May 06 '11 at 06:19

Neil McGuigan · Answer 22 · 2012-02-24T07:28:40.797

15

Misled

When I was a kid I thought it was pronounced like a strange combination of "miser" and "tiled". You know, mise-uld!

edited Feb 24 '12 at 07:28

answered Aug 31 '10 at 23:39

Neil McGuigan

308
1
2
10

1

Or rhyming with "bristled". – mmyers Sep 01 '10 at 15:16
+1, because when I was young I genuinely thought there was a verb "to misle", which rhymed with "lies'll". – thesunneversets Nov 19 '10 at 01:14
I'm with mmyers - I was totally mistled by this when I was young. – glenatron Nov 24 '10 at 15:31
1

My husband recounts that for the longest time, he thought it was myzled, past tense of myzle... – JPmiaou Mar 30 '11 at 04:44
Isn’t that what happens when you get an ICBM landed on you? :) – tchrist Feb 21 '12 at 03:37

score 14 · Answer 23 · edited Sep 26 '10 at 11:17

14

Names are tricky too.

Freud is pronounced froid, when it looks like frude.
Wagner is vagner which is different in English names pronounced whagner.
Euler looks like u-ler rather than oiler.
Job in the Bible is Johb, not job like work.
Sade the singer sounds like sha-day.
Eritrea looks like e-REE-tria rather than er-re-TREE-a.
All of the Spanish names and French-spelled native names in America.
Versailles, Kentucky is pronounced ver-sales rather than ver-sigh.

As a teacher I have heard "infrared" pronounced in-frared rather than infra-red. I heard "stomach ache" pronounced "stomatch atch" by non-native speakers rather than stomik ake.

edited Sep 26 '10 at 11:17

Peter Mortensen

3,566

answered Sep 01 '10 at 06:22

Picturepocket

1,756

English speakers tend to mispronounce the philosopher Immanuel Kant even if they do know the correct pronunciation of his second name. – user3448 Jan 10 '11 at 23:57
In German, the 'eu' letter pair is pronounced 'oy', as in the English word 'boy'. That's why 'Freud' and 'Euler' are pronounced the way they are. – oosterwal Jan 31 '11 at 18:23
Job/Johb seems to have regional variations. Every church I've been in in the west of Scotland pronounces it Job, whereas now living in the east everyone pronounces it Johb. – neil Feb 01 '11 at 12:19
Illinois boasts Des Plaines, pronounced Dez Planes and Marseilles, pronounced Mar-sails; also Cairo, pronounced Kay-row. – ChrisO Mar 30 '11 at 21:54
In Versailles, Kentucky, they call it "nuke-ye-lar". – intuited Apr 09 '11 at 04:20
The first three are German names. -1, this is not a post about "English" words, but rather the fact that languages who share alphabet use different sounds. (The "w" in german sounds more like our English "v" which is why Wagner is "vagner") To pay respect to those people, we try to pronounce the name as would be done in the original language. – Jun 11 '11 at 21:49

score 13 · Answer 24 · answered Feb 01 '11 at 11:58

13

Ironically, I find that pronunciation is frequently mispronounced.

answered Feb 01 '11 at 11:58

Kaz Dragon

1,361

Not to mention, frequently misspelled, lol. – jyc23 Feb 23 '14 at 19:40
@jyc23 Or misspoken. My (Dutch) girlfriend frequently says this as, "pronounucation," which nearly always earns a raised eyebrow. – Kaz Dragon Feb 24 '14 at 07:59

score 13 · Answer 25 · edited Feb 21 '12 at 03:38

13

sepulcher /ˈsɛpəlkər/

Correct pronunciation is "seh-pul-ker." I first said "seh-puhl-chur."

edited Feb 21 '12 at 03:38

tchrist

134,759

answered Aug 19 '10 at 21:27

The British spelling of this word, sepulchre, hints more at the correct pronunciation, and is closer to the French in which the ch is also hard. – Noldorin Aug 24 '10 at 16:05
...I just realized that I pronounce this with a German ch sound instead of a k. I guess when in doubt I just go with something that sounds in-between...? – kitukwfyer Nov 19 '10 at 20:27
At http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Sepulcher you can see that the en-US is "seh-pul-ker" and en-UK is "seh-puhl-cher" – Jader Dias Apr 23 '11 at 02:24

score 13 · Answer 26 · edited Feb 21 '12 at 03:38

13

Boolean /ˈbuːlɪən/

Wrong: boo-LEEN
Right: BOO-lee-en

edited Feb 21 '12 at 03:38

tchrist

134,759

answered Aug 23 '10 at 01:48

Joe Phillips

672

5

This is easy to remember when you realise that it's named after George Boole. So it's Boolean as in Herculean. – Feb 05 '11 at 19:12
I used to say "boolian" :P – Kit Mar 27 '11 at 09:04
1

@Kit: If your "-lian" suffix sounds the same as it would in the words "mammalian", or "Mongolian", then I think you were pronouncing it correctly. Herculean is pronounced hur-kyuh-lee-uhn or hur-kyoo-lee-uhn, so Boolean is pronounced BOO-lee-uhn – e.James Apr 02 '11 at 00:29
1

Herculean is pronounced hur-kyuh-LEE-uhn, so it follows that boolean should be pronounced boo-LEE-uhn. – John Gietzen Jun 07 '11 at 22:06
What’s sad about this one is that we abbreviate Boolean as “bool” instead of “boole”. – Jon Purdy Jan 01 '14 at 19:46

score 11 · Answer 27 · edited Feb 21 '12 at 02:47

11

Behemoth. (OED: /bɪˈhiːməθ/, /-ɔːθ/)

I always stress the first syllable (BEE-heh-moth), even after hearing it with the stress on the second syllable (buh-HEE-muth). I just can't get seem to get past it.

edited Feb 21 '12 at 02:47

tchrist

134,759

answered Aug 24 '10 at 21:39

8

The correct pronunciation is BEH-heh-moth as far as I'm concerned. – Noldorin Aug 27 '10 at 15:20
5

This is a Hebrew word, and in Hebrew, the last syllable is accented, therefore b'heh-MOTH. Yet, many Henrew words are pronounced differently in English. – Sep 17 '10 at 12:24
Indeed, a Hebrew word for a large mythological beast. Interestingly its plural form denotes great and not many. Elohim (God) is another example. – wilhelmtell Nov 23 '10 at 00:07
3

By the way, the word is pronounced beh-heh-MOT. – wilhelmtell Nov 23 '10 at 00:09
I've ended up pronouncing it more like beer-moth. Which is useful if the behemoth that confronts you is a moth that likes beer. – glenatron Nov 24 '10 at 15:23
1

@wilhelmtell: Maybe in Hebrew, but not in English - dictionaries list various pronunciations, but the "th" is invariably a soft "th" not a "t". – psmears Apr 01 '11 at 20:36
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Behemoth gives buh-HEE-muth for en-US and beh-heh-MOT for en-UK – Jader Dias Apr 23 '11 at 02:26
@wil, it is the hebrew pronunciation that drifted away. It used to be pronounced with the 'th' sound at the end by the hebrew speakers, until quite recently when Hebrew lost this sound completely. – Pavel Radzivilovsky Dec 17 '11 at 00:50

score 11 · Answer 28 · answered Oct 12 '10 at 23:14

11

I have this problem with character names in novels. Example, Hermione I pronounced as "her-mee-own", Egwene from Wheel of Time as "Egg-ween", etc. I realize I just gloss over the names really and don't even fully pronounce them in my head anyway.

About actual words... I generally have disagreements with people. Like I'll think "niche" should be pronounced "neesh", not "nitch," and "clique" as "cleek," not "click."

answered Oct 12 '10 at 23:14

Claudiu

10,911

I say "neesh" too! :) – kitukwfyer Oct 12 '10 at 23:36
3

I say both neesh and cleek too - perhaps I've learned too much French? – Richard Gadsden Oct 15 '10 at 16:58
13

I once lost a spelling bee on "clique", because the teacher told me to spell "click". I still think it was unfair. – Marthaª Nov 04 '10 at 22:27
5

+1 for "neesh". I hate "nitch". Grrrr, it makes me angry. – Skilldrick Nov 22 '10 at 22:19
5

Niche and clique are both correct in British English. – glenatron Nov 24 '10 at 15:25
With made-up words and names it's basically impossible to determine the author's intent unless they stick to the most basic spelling rules. In Wheel of Time, Mazrim Taim's last name does not rhyme with "tame", it's "tah-EEM". Thanks Robert Jordan! That's totally obvious. Oh, I should have read the glossary first, you say? No. – Mr. Shiny and New 安宇 Nov 25 '10 at 14:21
5

ha ha - "I just gloss over the names really and don't even fully pronounce them in my head anyway" - i do that too, in novels. In my head I just look at the shape of the letters and think "them". – JWEnglish Dec 21 '10 at 11:01
1

I am so with you on niche and clique. Hate 'nitch' and 'click'. The other way of pronounciation is more elegant-sounding. – Sky Red Feb 04 '11 at 18:22
I think many corrected their pronunciation of 'Hermione' after the Harry Potter movies came out. – AngryWhenHungry Sep 09 '11 at 04:09

score 11 · Answer 29 · edited Feb 21 '12 at 02:49

11

Queue /kjuː/

I've never known how to pronounce this. On the rare occasions when it comes up in conversation, I generally say "Qu... K... Line."

edited Feb 21 '12 at 02:49

tchrist

134,759

answered Nov 23 '10 at 14:17

14

FYI: "Queue" is a homophone with "cue". I believe "queue" is vastly more common than "line" in British English. – res Nov 23 '10 at 14:33
5

We British do love a good queue. – glenatron Nov 24 '10 at 15:34
1

It's pronounced /kwewe/ of course, just like "through" is pronounced /throff/.... (I'm joking of course) – Stein G. Strindhaug Dec 15 '10 at 11:14
@Stein: It's pronounced kyuyuyuyuyu (depending how long). – Potatoswatter Jan 31 '11 at 10:38
I pronounce and spell it in software as "Q". So I have "MyQ" and YourQ and ThisQ variables in the code. (with descriptive names) – Oldcat Feb 26 '14 at 02:06

score 10 · Answer 30 · edited Jul 05 '11 at 04:47

10

I stumbled upon this thread today and I am so pleased that someone resurrected it just a few hours ago.

I grew up in a small town in the deep South, which didn't create a lot of opportunity to hear the words I was reading in spoken form. I was in my twenties before I learned that hors d'oeuvres (ôr dûrvz) was NOT pronounced (whores duh vree).

Recently, I discovered that my own teenager was having similar difficulty with a word that she had seen written but never heard aloud. This discovery was made when she jokingly called me a twat (pronounced to rhyme with brat), lol! Not only did I corrected her pronunciation (twot), but also told her the meaning of the word since she had no idea. Her response? "Oh my gosh!! Why are people calling each other THAT??"

edited Jul 05 '11 at 04:47

Thursagen

41,919

answered Feb 04 '11 at 22:52

6

Hahaha. I forgot about "hors d'oeuvres." I pronounced them "horse doovers." – kitukwfyer Feb 05 '11 at 00:15
9

Umm... twat does rhyme with brat where I come from! – psmears Apr 01 '11 at 20:44
Where I come from both pronunciations occur, and many who don't even know the anatomical referent use it as slang for 'idiot' (exactly as with berk). Some who would normally say twat for 'idiot' actually distinguish and use twot for the coarser meaning, but I've not come across the reverse. – FumbleFingers Apr 06 '11 at 02:32
I had to google quite a while to find out what Luda meant by whore-derves http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ur4QfJrrj84 :-) – Ruben Feb 19 '12 at 10:08

score 10 · Answer 31 · answered Dec 03 '10 at 20:28

10

I'm really going to embarrass myself, but I was in high school before I realized the word I had been reading, "subtle," was the same as the word I had been speaking: suht-l. In my mind SUBTLE and "SUDDLE" were two words that meant the same thing!

answered Dec 03 '10 at 20:28

Kam6761

473
1
5
8

There's a suddle difference. – TecBrat Jul 29 '14 at 03:43

score 9 · Answer 32 · edited Feb 21 '12 at 02:53

9

Paradigm |par-uh-dahym| (OED: Brit. /ˈparədʌɪm/, U.S. /ˈpɛrəˌdaɪm/)

I've winced a couple times when people have said |par-uh-di-jum|

edited Feb 21 '12 at 02:53

tchrist

134,759

answered Aug 26 '10 at 22:18

Matt

243

1

Or Para-dig'em :) – Benjol Sep 08 '10 at 06:37
7

"par-uh-dahym" seems a strange pronunciation to me. I say "pare-ah-dime". – Gary Sep 19 '10 at 02:40
Correct pronunciation is PAR-a-dim – Tim Sep 23 '10 at 16:08
And who exactly is the arbiter of "correct?" – Adam Mar 29 '11 at 03:47
2

Just use the paradigmatic pronunciation. – jbelacqua Apr 03 '11 at 07:23
1

And what is the paradigmatic pronunciation of 'paradigmatic'? – Jonathan Leffler May 06 '11 at 06:23

score 9 · Answer 33 · answered Sep 17 '10 at 07:19

9

Askance. Not ASK-ance, but a-SKANCE. When you look askance at someone, you're giving them a sideways look, not a questioning one, as I used to think.

answered Sep 17 '10 at 07:19

kindall

407

score 9 · Answer 34 · edited Feb 21 '12 at 03:13

9

Rapport /ræˈpɔr/

Pronounced ra-PORE, not ra-PORT. French, but not obviously so.

edited Feb 21 '12 at 03:13

tchrist

134,759

answered Nov 19 '10 at 16:27

res

1,234

That's just because the French never pronounce the end of any words. Chateaux -> Chat-O. – Oldcat Feb 26 '14 at 02:08

score 9 · Answer 35 · edited Jun 15 '20 at 07:40

9

This question calls for a mention of The Chaos by Gerard Nolst Trenité:

Dearest creature in creation
Studying English pronunciation,
I will teach you in my verse
Sounds like corpse, corps, horse and worse.

I will keep you, Susy, busy,
Make your head with heat grow dizzy;
Tear in eye, your dress you'll tear;
Queer, fair seer, hear my prayer.

…

edited Jun 15 '20 at 07:40

Community

1

answered Nov 23 '10 at 07:53

Konrad Rudolph

1,247

+1 for mentioning this, a great inventory of English stubbornness. – Cerberus - Reinstate Monica Mar 18 '11 at 02:18

score 8 · Answer 36 · answered Aug 27 '10 at 15:55

8

Inventory. I (and no doubt many others who spent a significant amount of time playing text adventures), thought it was in-VENT-uh-ree, not IN-vuhn-tree.

answered Aug 27 '10 at 15:55

TheBeardyMan

101

1

I just listened to the pronunciation on Merriam-Webster and it definitely sounded more like the first one to me. I'm also pretty sure I've heard the first one on TV, not the second. – kitukwfyer Aug 27 '10 at 20:20
8

M-W clearly pronounces it IN-ven-tor-y, with secondary stress on tor. Just like me. – moioci Sep 01 '10 at 03:09
4

I think this may be a UK/US thing, with the UK using the first pronunciation, and the US, the second. – Steve Melnikoff Nov 30 '10 at 13:17
I pronounced it like "infrantry" for a while. – Christopher Mahan Jan 11 '11 at 00:37
2

Seems common to hear both "in-ven-tree" and "IN-ven-tory". I like the latter since the former sounds too much like "infantry". – TM. Feb 09 '11 at 07:10
I've always heard en-vin-tor-ee here in east coast USA. – Adam Mar 29 '11 at 03:45

score 8 · Answer 37 · edited Dec 21 '13 at 10:30

8

Height sounds like high+t, which is logical I suppose, but I used to think it rhymed with eight. Like another poster, I got 'recipe' wrong too, rhyming it with 'ripe'. And when I told a native speaker about that, he said that 'recipe' followed a common pattern, like 'Hebrides' - that's how I learned that wasn't pronounced he-brides.

And how is a poor foreigner supposed to know whether 'ea' is pronounced 'ee' or as 'ea' in 'bear'? For example, if an activity wears you out (ea), you get weary (ee). Yeah, that makes sense(!)

edited Dec 21 '13 at 10:30

Alain Pannetier Φ

17,926

answered Nov 25 '10 at 11:49

Wait. "weary" has an "ee" sound? Apparently knowing what sound "ea" makes isn't something native speakers necessarily know either... – kitukwfyer Dec 04 '10 at 00:08
1

@kitukwfyer: Weary ("weer-ee") means tired. You were probably saying "Wary" (rhymes with "bear-y"), which means cautious. – RodeoClown Feb 14 '11 at 23:29
@RodeoClown: Indeed. I'm well aware of the difference in meaning. I don't pronounce "wary" and "weary" identically, but it doesn't rhyme with...say "bleary" when I say it either...The vowel sounds more like a short i than anything else. Who knows why? – kitukwfyer Feb 15 '11 at 00:25
@bbleeker, I hear you. And to further confuse you, "ea" can also be prounced short "u" as in Earth and "ah" as in "hearth". – Kevin Apr 21 '11 at 16:01

score 7 · Answer 38 · answered Aug 20 '10 at 00:17

7

I'm guessing French words are at the top of the list.

answered Aug 20 '10 at 00:17

user706

389

2

Any foreign imports, really. I remember once someone pronouncing the German "nicht" as "nitch-tee." O.o – kitukwfyer Aug 20 '10 at 18:45
1

Yeah but French words are really messed up if you don't know French. I mean who would think that rendezvous is pronounced rondeyvoo. – user706 Aug 21 '10 at 08:52
That's true, I forgot about that "ren-dezz-vuss" incident, but I still don't pronounce any of the names in Troy correctly. I only pronounce latin words correctly because I took a couple years of latin. I had an English teacher who pronounced "Pompey" as "Pompeii"...Whatever. This is really a matter of perception/opinion, I suppose. :) – kitukwfyer Aug 21 '10 at 13:50
Part of the difficulty with French is that it appears in many cases as if a word could be a legitimate English word, but the rules of pronunciation differ. Forget. Mallet. – MickeyfAgain_BeforeExitOfSO Aug 23 '10 at 14:44
@mickeyf: I think it's the other way around... Lots of English words look like a legitimate French word. That's where many of the words came from, after all. French rules for pronunciation are, dare I say, more consistent than English – OneProton Sep 01 '10 at 23:38
@Atomix - True enough, but the difficulties we're talking about are those suffered by the Anglophones... – MickeyfAgain_BeforeExitOfSO Sep 01 '10 at 23:55
Foyer. "foy-yay" sounds snobbish to me, so I stick with the American pronunciation, "foy-yer". – Gary Sep 19 '10 at 02:25

score 7 · Answer 39 · edited Aug 29 '10 at 07:39

7

Moot, as in The point is moot. I often hear people say The point is mute. Not only mispronounced, but misunderstood.

edited Aug 29 '10 at 07:39

apaderno

59,185

answered Aug 27 '10 at 00:48

Bill

491

5

I actually think this is more from people using the wrong word than mispronouncing it. – JohnFx Aug 27 '10 at 14:34
5

Joey from Friends said the point is moo, it's a cow's opinion.... – Motti Sep 01 '10 at 06:31
This is actually an eggcorn – Cassie Dee Feb 09 '11 at 16:23

score 7 · Answer 40 · answered Sep 17 '10 at 11:08

7

I too had several of these while growing up. Two that spring to mind:

Integer — pronounced with a soft ‘g’, but I used a hard ‘g’.

Elite — rhymes with ‘delete’, but I would rhyme it with ‘delight’.

answered Sep 17 '10 at 11:08

Nefrubyr

101

Integer is pronounced in-te-jer (hard g) and Integral is pronounced as in-teg-rul or in-te-grul depending on the context. – John Gietzen Jun 07 '11 at 22:10
@John Gietzen: I meant soft g as in "George" and hard g as in "go". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_and_soft_G – Nefrubyr Jun 08 '11 at 10:05
Ah, my mistake. – John Gietzen Jun 08 '11 at 23:58

score 6 · Answer 41 · answered Jan 31 '11 at 06:37

6

Infrared. Took me a while in my early teens to figure out that this is not equivalent in construction to words like "inflamed", and therefore is not pronounced "in-FRAIR'd"; the prefix is "infra-" and therefore the word is pronounced "In-fruh-RED".

answered Jan 31 '11 at 06:37

Hellion

59,365

Nice. "My foot itches but it doesn't look red. It's not inflamed; it's only infrared." – Potatoswatter Jan 31 '11 at 10:34

score 6 · Answer 42 · edited Jan 01 '14 at 17:53

6

Shibboleth.

Maybe not anymore.

edited Jan 01 '14 at 17:53

D. M. Davidson

692

answered Feb 05 '11 at 19:23

3

just don't pronounce it Sibboleth – Conrad Frix Apr 25 '11 at 20:01
Something untimely might happen – Thursagen Jul 05 '11 at 04:46

score 6 · Answer 43 · answered Sep 07 '10 at 17:46

6

Many mythological names. The one that stands out for me is Terpsichore (rhymes with "hickory").

answered Sep 07 '10 at 17:46

Doug

1,699
2
15
20

Not to mention Persephone. Rhymes with phoney, not "pursey phone." – Potatoswatter Jan 31 '11 at 10:50
Ah, and Penelope, not pronounced Penny-Lope. – ChrisO Mar 30 '11 at 21:59
Ouch. Funny to think that I've been able to pronounce 'terpsichorean' correctly, but would've missed badly on 'Terpsichore'. – jbelacqua Apr 03 '11 at 07:26
People just need more Greek in their lives. – tchrist Feb 21 '12 at 02:54

score 5 · Answer 44 · edited Feb 21 '12 at 03:15

5

Two for me:

parsimony Brit. /ˈpɑːsᵻməni/ , U.S. /ˈpɑrsəˌmoʊni/

boatswain /ˈbəʊtsweɪn/ , usually /ˈbəʊs(ə)n/

edited Feb 21 '12 at 03:15

tchrist

134,759

answered Apr 03 '11 at 07:43

jbelacqua

2,476

score 5 · Answer 45 · edited Jun 15 '20 at 07:40

5

Arkansas - Americans may get it right, but to most of the rest of the world it looks like "Are Kansas"

Potpourri - I've heard it called Pot-pour-ee. Though, admittedly, it's not common

nuclear - Many say "Nyuu-kyuh-lur"

foyer - It's "foy-ay". Not "foy-er"

Leicester square - (Less-ter square) Only added because it's a famous place in London, otherwise place names are always unpredictably difficult.

Best I could come up with at the moment. Of course, there are Britishisms, or Scottish words like ceilidh or niobh (pronounced "Kay-lee and Neeve" respectively) but these words aren't common enough to enter into most people's regular lexicon and are borrowed from other languages.

edited Jun 15 '20 at 07:40

Community

1

answered Aug 25 '10 at 21:58

OneProton

4,199

6

All the American dictionaries I checked (Merriam-Webster, Random House, American Heritage) not only list “FOY-er” as a valid pronunciation for foyer, but they list it first (read: preferred). – nohat Aug 26 '10 at 00:12
3

Residents of Kansas usually pronounce the name of the Arkansas river as "are KAN ziss". The state is always "ARE can saw" – Joel Spolsky Aug 26 '10 at 18:32
Funny that... I always thought that Americans knew it was "ARE-kan-saw" as they'd have learned it in school, no? I know in Canada, you hear both the right and wrong pronunciation, and I'd imagine it's the same in UK. As for foyer... it comes from a French word, so I'm not surprised American dictionaries get it wrong (from a French point of view). – OneProton Aug 31 '10 at 19:27
2

@Atømix: Americans know it, but the Arkansas River in Kansas is different. It's our Kansas River. (If that doesn't sound right, keep in mind that our generally sounds like are in mid-America.) – mmyers Sep 01 '10 at 15:14
@mmyers: That's awesome. – OneProton Sep 01 '10 at 23:36
I participated in one group that defined "nucular" as "of or pertaining to a really huge explosion." Too bad it's also used in botany... – eswald Nov 01 '10 at 21:02
I think it's Niamh, not Niobh... unless those are both in circulation? (Wouldn't entirely surprise me.) – thesunneversets Nov 19 '10 at 01:15
@thesunneversets : I have a friends called Niobh and Siobhan. Both pronounced like a "V". Perhaps Niamh is Irish? Both languages are similar. – OneProton Jan 06 '11 at 00:38
@Atomix: Oh year, Niamh is probably Irish. That would make sense! – thesunneversets Jan 06 '11 at 01:03
You do see Anglicised spellings of a lot of the names that come from Gaelic - Shaun for Séan, Neve (as in Campbell) for Niobh/Niamh, etc. Once you realise that they are the same name, you can often do a better job of guessing the ones you don't know. – Richard Gadsden Apr 21 '11 at 16:11
The river is apparently pronounced the same as the state: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arkansas_River#Pronunciations http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arkansas#Toponym – endolith Apr 26 '11 at 15:56
1

It is all named after the Kanza indians, so it should all be pronounced ar-KAN-zas. (Full disclosure: I'm from Kansas.) – John Gietzen Jun 07 '11 at 22:16
As another (former) Kansan I can verify that the river is definitely the ar-kan-zis river in the state of Kansas and the ar-kan-saw river in the state of Arkansas. The Wikipedia article now also notes that Coloradans also pronounce it ar-kan-zis. – Matthew Frederick Jul 05 '11 at 11:01
@MatthewFrederick It may well say that, but I’ve an uncle who for many years was a river-runner on the Arkansas River here in Colorado, and he always said it with the -saw kind of ending, like the name of the state. – tchrist Jul 29 '14 at 04:21

score 5 · Answer 46 · edited Jul 05 '11 at 10:20

5

Ubuntu |oǒ'boǒntoō|

I always thought it was oo-BUN-too.

(source)

edited Jul 05 '11 at 10:20

Peter Mortensen

3,566

answered Aug 26 '10 at 13:39

NickAldwin

642

I always thought it was so natural to say it the right way, and then had absolutely no idea what people were talking about when they said "oo-BUN-too" or "you-BUN-too". True story. – Jon Purdy Oct 19 '10 at 14:51
1

I live in a central African country where that word would be pronounced "oo-boon-hoo", with a silent T, if you can imagine that. – Rosey28 Dec 15 '10 at 06:33
Uh-oh... I have been mispronouncing this for years... – George Edison Jun 05 '11 at 03:22

score 5 · Answer 47 · edited Feb 21 '12 at 02:54

5

Carotid. /kəˈrɒtɪd/ It is a big artery in the neck. Not sure where the stress goes, but it goes in an unnatural place.

edited Feb 21 '12 at 02:54

tchrist

134,759

answered Aug 27 '10 at 17:31

MatthewMartin

2,504

1

I think it's pronounced "cuh-RAW-tid." I originally thought it was "KAY-row-tid." – kitukwfyer Aug 27 '10 at 20:21
1

US: cuh-ROT-tid. Cuh-RAW-tid sounds British to me. – moioci Sep 01 '10 at 03:10
3

In RP (British English), it's also cuh-ROT-tid, not cuh-RAW-tid. Amusingly, RAW would seen to most RP speakers to be indicative of a drawl, which would seem decidedly American. – wyatt Sep 26 '10 at 13:58
Y'know, my parents did go to veterinary school in Georgia... Oh dear. It could be a Southern/ East coast thing. Some dialects pronounce the words "hawk" and "hock" identically. I don't. The "o" in "carotid" rhymes with the "aw" in "hawk" when I say it. The "o"s in "hock" and "rot" rhyme when I say them. Who knows why? – kitukwfyer Nov 19 '10 at 20:37
3

I intuitively want to pronounce it as "carroted" which I suppose is what happens when you have just had a lot of carrots thrown at you. – glenatron Nov 30 '10 at 23:19
Or if you are garroted with a carrot. – Oldcat Feb 26 '14 at 02:10

score 4 · Answer 48 · edited Feb 21 '12 at 03:28

4

I'm so late to the party, but I can't resist.

Words with silent letters like subtle, (not sub-tel), receipt, (not reseept).

And others like lettuce (not lett-yuse).

Panacea ( Brit. /ˌpanəˈsɪə/, /ˌpanəˈsiːə/, U.S. /ˌpænəˈsiə/) Besides "pa-ne-see-ya", why can't it be "pe-nay-shuh"? Or "pa-ne-ka" like Q. Boudicea,

Finally, when I was a kid, Don Kwikzote for Don Quixote (kee yo tay)

IPA: /dɒn kiˈhoʊteɪ/, /dõŋ kiˈχote/

edited Feb 21 '12 at 03:28

tchrist

134,759

answered Feb 04 '11 at 18:08

Sky Red

1,021

Quixote is not "kee yo tay" but more like "kee ho teh". – CesarGon Feb 06 '11 at 00:03
@CesarGon: Yes, you are right. I've been thinking about it since I put it up because I realise there's more of an 'h' sound in Quixote.Thanks. – Sky Red Feb 06 '11 at 19:05
Unlike quixotic, which is derived from his name but is most commonly kwig-ZOT-ik. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Jan 19 '14 at 22:07

score 4 · Answer 49 · 2010-08-26T13:05:40.417

4

The British pronunciation of "vitamin" must have been based on someone reading it. Note that the word was invented by an American, and it's a contraction of "vital" and "amine", so it should have been pronounced "vai-tah-min" but British people read it as "vit-ah-min".

As it happens, the British pronunciation has actually gone into other languages, so e.g. Japanese has a word "bitamin" based on the British mistaken pronunciation.

"In 1912 Polish biochemist Kazimierz Funk isolated the same complex of micronutrients and proposed the complex be named "Vitamine" (a compound of "vital amine").[12] The name soon became synonymous with Hopkins' "accessory factors", and by the time it was shown that not all vitamins were amines, the word was already ubiquitous. In 1920, Jack Cecil Drummond proposed that the final "e" be dropped to deemphasize the "amine" reference, after researchers began to suspect that not all "vitamines" (particularly vitamin A) had an amine component."

edited Aug 26 '10 at 13:05

answered Aug 20 '10 at 02:07

@cindi: Thanks for the info. I have added a quote to the article from Wikipedia which was too long to fit into a comment. That might be wrong of course though. – Aug 26 '10 at 13:06
1

@cindi: don't give up! – Sep 04 '10 at 00:41
@Cindi, I always pronounced "vitae" with a long i...which is consistent with the proper pronunciation for vitamin. Actually, I've never heard anyone pronounce vitae without a long i. – Gary Sep 19 '10 at 02:26
2

Several Japanese dictionaries state that the Japanese word “bitamin” came from the German word “Vitamin,” where the first vowel is short (rather than the said British pronunciation of “vitamin”). If you read Japanese, please check http://dic.yahoo.co.jp/dsearch?enc=UTF-8&p=%E3%83%93%E3%82%BF%E3%83%9F%E3%83%B3&dtype=0&dname=0na&stype=0 and http://dic.yahoo.co.jp/dsearch?enc=UTF-8&p=%E3%83%93%E3%82%BF%E3%83%9F%E3%83%B3&dtype=0&dname=0ss&stype=0. – Tsuyoshi Ito Nov 22 '10 at 14:53
Another british pronunciation that came as a shock to me when I went over there is yogurt. Americans say yo-gert (long o) and the British say your-gert (short o), with less 'r' in 'your', and a clipped 'gert'. I prefer the long o. – Sky Red Feb 04 '11 at 18:33

score 4 · Answer 50 · edited Feb 21 '12 at 03:16

4

Disheveled /dɪˈʃɛvəld/

I always read it as dis-HEAVE-eld. I was wrong.

edited Feb 21 '12 at 03:16

tchrist

134,759

answered Aug 21 '10 at 02:45

moioci

4,678

score 4 · Answer 51 · answered Mar 30 '11 at 03:19

4

Albeit - pronounced "ahl-bee-it", and not "ahl-bite"

answered Mar 30 '11 at 03:19

xdumaine

1,195

Even harder to guess if you know German :) – mplungjan Apr 03 '11 at 06:16

score 4 · Answer 52 · answered Apr 21 '11 at 16:13

4

Can't believe no one has mentioned "cache". It's pronounced "cash". It's like nails on a chalkboard every time I hear someone say "cashay"

answered Apr 21 '11 at 16:13

Kevin

7,900

4

The /cash-ay/ pronunciation is a different word, cachet – Marthaª May 06 '11 at 22:18

score 4 · Answer 53 · answered Nov 29 '10 at 16:27

4

Adage.

I hear this spoken so rarely even right now I question whether I remember the right pronunciation. I always want to say a-dage (with "age" pronounced like the actual word "age").

answered Nov 29 '10 at 16:27

Zach Conn

308

You mean it has another pronunciation? – neil Feb 01 '11 at 12:27
@neil: Yes, the original french one :-) – ogerard May 10 '11 at 13:28

score 4 · Answer 54 · answered Dec 03 '10 at 20:39

4

I literally just learned a month ago (25 years into my existence!) that the h IS pronounced in herbivore. There are two kickers to this-- the first one being I was corrected by a 5 year old, and the second one being I have been vegetarian for 15 years!

answered Dec 03 '10 at 20:39

Kam6761

473
1
5
8

2

@Rhodri: Right, General American has it with silent /h/ in all but a few rather urban accents. – Jon Purdy Jan 17 '11 at 17:19
I've pretty much given up on words that start with 'h'. I was taught in school a million years ago that 'hour' and 'honest' were exceptions to the general rule of sounding the 'h', except in Britain, where leading 'h' was rarely sounded. Fast forward 50 years and now I've got people telling me I'm pronouncing these things incorrectly. – Ron Porter Apr 06 '11 at 20:57
2

British English always pronounces the H on herb. – Kaz Dragon May 25 '11 at 13:13
1

In the central US, this is certainly pronounced erb-i-vore more often that herb-i-vore, tho both are frequent. – John Gietzen Jun 07 '11 at 22:27

score 4 · Answer 55 · answered Dec 10 '10 at 07:18

4

The US state of Oregon is commonly mispronounced, even by Americans, as "Oh-ree-gawn." I've even heard this mispronunciation on national news programs. It's actually pronounced "Ory-gun".

I also come from the Willamette Valley of Oregon, which produces some great wines. To those vinophiles out there, please note it is "Will-lamb-it", emphasis on second syllable, not "William-etty" as some mistakenly say.

answered Dec 10 '10 at 07:18

Rosey28

856
2
6
13

In Virginia, we pronounce Oregon more or less like organ. If I were to pronounce it very slowly, it would come out as "Or-rig-unn." I'd probably laugh if I heard "Oh-ree-gawn," though. That's funny! – kitukwfyer Dec 10 '10 at 15:46
For the life of me I can't get the stress on the second syllable of Willamette. I say WILL-uh-met, and it's really hard to stress "uh". – JPmiaou Mar 30 '11 at 04:40
@JPmiaou: just think godDAMmit, Willamette. – moioci May 11 '11 at 22:43
@moioci That's awesome! And a great way to remember how to say it :) godDAMmit and willAMette both rhyme! – morganpdx Aug 26 '11 at 23:00
@Rosey28 You are very wrong: /ˈɔrəˌgɑn/ is not a mispronunciation; it is a regional one, and quite a common one at that. I suppose you say ‘France’ with an æ, too, don’t you? Did you know that that’s wrong? – tchrist Feb 21 '12 at 02:57

score 4 · Answer 56 · edited Feb 21 '12 at 03:21

4

Antipodes /ænˈtɪpədiːz/

Apparently it's not pronounces anti-podes

edited Feb 21 '12 at 03:21

tchrist

134,759

answered Jan 11 '11 at 00:00

user3448

346

1

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/antipodes lists that as an acceptable alternative pronunciation. – Potatoswatter Feb 06 '11 at 09:20
Though the singular is pronounces like that. – Allon Guralnek Oct 14 '11 at 22:58

score 3 · Answer 57 · answered Jan 31 '11 at 19:22

I think British and American pronunciation and spelling of the word 'aluminum' are different. Americans place the emphasis on a long 'OO' in the second syllable, whereas the British place the emphasis on a short 'i' in the third syllable and include another 'i' before the last 'u' (aluminium).

score 3 · Answer 58 · edited Jul 05 '11 at 04:53

3

Subterfuge. I always though the 'b' was silent, like in 'subtle,' but it's not.

Wrong: sut-ter-fuge
Right: sub-ter-fuge

edited Jul 05 '11 at 04:53

Thursagen

41,919

answered Feb 04 '11 at 19:57

score 3 · Answer 59 · edited Jul 05 '11 at 04:42

3

Gauge

I think it's pronounced "gay-dzj", while my Dutch colleagues pronounce it "gow-tsj" and frown upon me.

edited Jul 05 '11 at 04:42

Thursagen

41,919

answered Feb 05 '11 at 20:44

2

You are correct. Your friend may be thinking of the word 'gouge', which means to 'cut a groove' or 'to chisel'. The two words look very similar. – oosterwal Mar 17 '11 at 22:19

score 3 · Answer 60 · edited Feb 21 '12 at 03:17

3

threshold OED: /ˈθrɛʃəʊld/ /ˈθrɛʃhəʊld/

I always thought it was “thres-hold”, just like “uphold” is “up-hold” and not “uf-old”. Eventually, turned out that “threshold” is one of the most written/spoken-wise consistent words in English.

edited Feb 21 '12 at 03:17

tchrist

134,759

answered Aug 22 '10 at 22:46

ΤΖΩΤΖΙΟΥ

457

I always assumed that the word is actually thresh-hold, just spelled more compactly. – Marthaª Oct 13 '10 at 03:36
1

I don't get it; “uf-old”? E.g. Wiktionary says threshold is pronounced /ˈθɹɛʃhəʊld/, just like I thought it would be. – Jonik Nov 24 '10 at 15:06
“uphold” is a composite word (up + hold); “threshold” isn't, but in my mind I considered it as such (the evanescent ;) thres + hold). Mistakenly, which is the point of the question. – ΤΖΩΤΖΙΟΥ Nov 24 '10 at 16:29
1

According to at least one theory of the etymology, threshold is a composite word (thresh+hold), but if so it isn't pronounced like one. – neil Feb 01 '11 at 12:20

score 3 · Answer 61 · edited Feb 21 '12 at 03:29

3

dais /ˈdeɪɪs/, /deɪs/

I always want to pronounce it DAYS. Apparently it's pronounced DIE-us or DAY-us.

edited Feb 21 '12 at 03:29

tchrist

134,759

answered Apr 01 '11 at 23:27

morganpdx

1,915

Erm, the two pronunciations you yourself give, rhyme with ‘day(u)s’. I pronounce it like ‘days’, except with an unvoiced /s/, rather than the plural phoneme /z/. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Jan 19 '14 at 22:14

score 3 · Answer 62 · edited Feb 21 '12 at 03:01

3

Cacophony /kæˈkɒfənɪ/

Until about two years ago, I was pronouncing it Cack-ah-phoney. I finally found out after saying it in front of my friends and they all burst out laughing. :(

edited Feb 21 '12 at 03:01

tchrist

134,759

answered Sep 26 '10 at 12:18

BBischof

823

score 3 · Answer 63 · answered Nov 19 '10 at 01:12

3

Buoy. The number of people I meet who pronounce this boo-ee (instead of boy, as I pronounce it) staggers me. Is "buoyant" to be pronounced "boo-ee-ant" also?

answered Nov 19 '10 at 01:12

thesunneversets

3,178

Nope, the adjective is almost always "boy-ant". Similarly, "bouy" is pronounced much closer to "boy" when used in its verbal forms. It's only the noun that is very clearly "boo-ee". – res Nov 19 '10 at 16:32
2

@res: I've looked it up and it's only in the UK where "boy" is the standard pronunciation. I guess I'll let the Americans off, in a to-may-to/to-mah-to kind of way. But it still sounds so wrong to my poor English ears! – thesunneversets Nov 19 '10 at 16:37
2

Strange, I've only heard boo-ee, then again I speak west-coast American English. – crasic Nov 24 '10 at 22:31
It's "boo-ee" on the East coast, too. – kitukwfyer Dec 04 '10 at 00:13
I've also heard it pronounced closer to BOH-ee, not unlike the last name of singer David Bowie, which is different than the way Americans pronounce the last name of pioneer Jim Bowie, who lends his name to the large, sheathed knife, and is pronounced BOO-ee. – oosterwal Jan 31 '11 at 18:40
I have always found this word perplexing. And of course buoyant, 5 vowels in a row ! – ogerard Apr 12 '11 at 18:57
1

@ogerard: and the words are queueing up to exhibit five vowels in a row...Funny; that gets a red wiggly line. – Jonathan Leffler May 06 '11 at 06:26
@Jonathan Leffler: nice. – ogerard May 06 '11 at 06:38
@ogerard No, y is a consonant there, not a vowel. – tchrist Feb 21 '12 at 02:56

score 3 · Answer 64 · answered Nov 24 '10 at 23:02

3

Years ago, I was familiar with (and sometimes used) the spoken word superfluous. I also sometimes read the word spelled “superfluous” but pronounced it /SOO-per-FLOO-us/.

I had no idea that these were the same word.

answered Nov 24 '10 at 23:02

Jeffrey L Whitledge

765

Really, the only thing different is the accent. – John Gietzen Jun 07 '11 at 22:35

score 3 · Answer 65 · answered Nov 25 '10 at 01:39

3

Goon Show

Mispronounced as the "Go On Show" by the Governor of the BBC (or maybe it was a BBC Head of Department)

Quote:

“Those Crazy People”, leading one BBC governor to ask what, exactly, this "Go On Show" was all about.

answered Nov 25 '10 at 01:39

JWEnglish

881

Nav · Answer 66 · 2010-12-10T06:17:25.477

3

Iron (mispronounced by some as I-run)
Dais (mispronounced by some as dias)
Greenwich (mispronounced by some as green witch)
niche (mispronounced by some as nike)
orchid (mispronounced by some as or-cheed)
Maoist (mispronounced by some as may-ost)
Debris (mispronounced by some as deb-ris)
Tupple (mispronounced by some as tyu-ple)

edited Dec 10 '10 at 06:17

answered Nov 25 '10 at 13:32

Nav

389

Usually, in pronunciations a hyphen delineates syllables. Have you really heard orchid and debris pronounced as three syllables? – Marthaª Dec 09 '10 at 19:42
The hyphens I used were not to separate the syllables but to highlight the pronunciation. Edits made – Nav Dec 10 '10 at 06:18
I had debris growing up. Gave my family a good laugh on that one. – Mitch Schwartz Dec 14 '10 at 21:17
2

tyu-ple is in fact the correct British pronunciation. And it's actually spelt "tuple". Both of these are because it comes from words like "quintuple", "sextuple" and so on. – psmears Apr 01 '11 at 21:26

score 3 · Answer 67 · answered Nov 30 '10 at 22:51

3

Beribboned

"Be-ribboned", not "berry-boned"!

answered Nov 30 '10 at 22:51

whuber

451
4
8

1

You should have known to split it at the bb so it would have been Berib-boned. – Oldcat Feb 26 '14 at 02:14

score 3 · Answer 68 · answered Dec 17 '10 at 07:04

3

I have never forgotten the pronunciation of 'fatigue' since mispronouncing it at an early age. I said 'fat-ig-you' rather than the correct 'fat-ee-g' (with a hard g).

answered Dec 17 '10 at 07:04

And that store that sells the old junk is the auntie-Q shop. :) – Marthaª Dec 17 '10 at 14:22
Always funny to me as "fatigue" in french only means tiredness and has no clear relation for us to cloth. I remember having a hard time understanding why this word was occuring in a military novel. – ogerard Apr 12 '11 at 17:10
The correct is not fat-eeg but fa-TEEG. – John Gietzen Jun 07 '11 at 22:28
Or my favorite pronunciation, fa-TIG-you-eee – morganpdx Aug 26 '11 at 23:02

score 3 · Answer 69 · answered Dec 19 '10 at 00:17

3

detritus - dih-TRY-tis

desultory - DES-ul-tory

answered Dec 19 '10 at 00:17

John Satta

5,024

Wha? It's not de-SULT-or-ee and DET-ri-tus? – morganpdx Aug 26 '11 at 23:03

score 3 · Answer 70 · answered Dec 19 '10 at 05:01

3

One of the most commonly mispronounced words is forte, as in one's strong point. It's really supposed to be pronounced just like fort, but most people use two syllables. I think the mispronunciation may become so common that descriptivist dictionaries will list it on equal footing (some already list it as a variant).

answered Dec 19 '10 at 05:01

John Y

6,112

You can't win with this one. People will look at you funny either way. – jbelacqua Apr 03 '11 at 07:34
I say "fort". Oddly, even though pretty much everyone says "forte", I don't recall ever getting challenged on it. – Kevin Apr 21 '11 at 16:04
It should only be your forte if you can fire a cannone out of it. – Oldcat Feb 26 '14 at 02:12

score 2 · Answer 71 · answered Jan 31 '11 at 08:38

2

I didn't pronounce "hegemony" correctly until I was embarrassingly old.

And what about "Chaise longue?"

Then again, I like to pronounce "baseline" so it rhymes with "Vaseline."

answered Jan 31 '11 at 08:38

ראובן

161

I am unreasonably fond if "horses doovers" – ChrisO Mar 30 '11 at 22:35
@ראובן: Chaise longue is pronounced differently in different places. In British English it approximates the French pronunciation, but in (at least some varieties of) US English it’s typically pronounced as lounge — presumably originally in error, but now established as standard. – PLL Apr 02 '11 at 21:08
@PLL: Maybe so, but it's misspelled as often as it's mispronounced. Yes language evolves, but it's hard for me to accept a blatant error as "standard." – ראובן Apr 03 '11 at 02:58
@ראובן: brought up in the UK and so only hearing the roughly authentic version until I moved to the US, I also find this example really jarring (both the spelling and the pronunciation). But… well, would you call the way most English-speakers pronounce Paris a blatant error? True, it’s established more widely throughout English, and has been for much longer. But in some American speech communities, lounge has been (I think) standard for a good generation or two; so how can I in conscience condemn it there, without condemning my own Paris? – PLL Apr 03 '11 at 03:12

score 2 · Answer 72 · edited Feb 21 '12 at 03:03

2

Quark /kwɑːrk/, /kwɔːrk/

Murray Gellman insisted on kvork pronunciation, while it was supposed to rhyme with 'bark' in the original poem, "Three quarks for Muster Mark!/Sure he hasn't got much of a bark/And sure any he has it's all beside the mark."

Ridiculously, outside english it is pronounced as kvark.

edited Feb 21 '12 at 03:03

tchrist

134,759

answered Aug 24 '10 at 06:12

Pavel Radzivilovsky

3,001

7

I've only heard it pronounced "kwark". – Gary Aug 24 '10 at 06:54
There's a program called Quarks&Co on German television, whose host pronounces it "kwɑːk" (he holds a PhD in physics). The German Wikipedia gives the German pronunciation as [kwɔrk], [kwɑːk] or [kwɑrk]. – RegDwigнt Aug 24 '10 at 20:44
Murray Gellman invented the name "quark" and the correct pronunciation is indeed "kwork" rhyming with "dork" rather than "kwark" rhyming with "ark". An alternative proposal for the name was the "three aces". – Aug 26 '10 at 01:37
5

If he wanted it pronounced as "quork", he should've spelled it that way. Given that he didn't, I will continue to say "kwark" (to rhyme with 'bark'). – Marthaª Oct 13 '10 at 03:33
I thought James Joyce had misspelt quarts, as in double pints – Henry Apr 01 '11 at 23:49

score 2 · Answer 73 · edited Jul 09 '11 at 11:07

2

Entrée (ˈɑːntreɪ) - I pronounced it as Ent-ree (Almost the same way you would spell Entry ). I did not lookup the history, but felt the pronunciation weird

Genre (ˈʒɑːnrə) - I still feel a little awkward pronouncing this. Gen-er was my natural pronunciation of this (though one would argue that Gen-re would be close to the spelling :) ).

edited Jul 09 '11 at 11:07

answered Apr 03 '11 at 07:04

user6845

123

Having grown up playing video games and reading sci fi and fantasy I felt very dumb telling people about my favorite jen-RAY. – AceJordin Dec 07 '11 at 23:19

score 2 · Answer 74 · answered Aug 25 '10 at 17:37

2

How about "recipe"? First time I saw it, I thought "ree-sipe", not "reh-sih-pee".

answered Aug 25 '10 at 17:37

warren

529

JohnFx · Answer 75 · 2010-11-28T22:44:58.160

2

I live in Texas where they LOVE to name places with spellings that imply a common pronunciation, but have a completely different one.

Some real examples:

Manor - Pronounced "May-ner". A city near my home. The town is named after a family with that pronunciation of their name.

Elgin - Pronounced with a hard G. Another nearby city. The famous basketball player who pronounced it with a soft-g throws everyone off on that one.

Bois d' Arc - Pronounced "bo dark". A street named after a local variety of tree.

Manchaca - Pronounced "man shack". A city named after some Native American word.

Pedernales -Pronounced "pur-deh-NAH-liss". A nearby river. Probably

Bexar - Pronounced "bear". The county containing San Antonio.

You may think some of these are just a result of local accents, but no. They are the official pronunciations of these places.

edited Nov 28 '10 at 22:44

answered Aug 27 '10 at 14:50

JohnFx

7,464

4

The correct pronunciation of a place name is how the majority of people who live there say it. I know of no exceptions in English. – Goodbye Stack Exchange Aug 27 '10 at 15:23
can’t forget Mexia, pronounced “muh-HAY-uh” – nohat Aug 27 '10 at 16:27
@nohat - Henceforth known as the birthplace of Anna Nicole Smith. – JohnFx Aug 27 '10 at 16:30
Cities are particularly bad. Moscow, ID is pronounced "MOSS-ko" even though they same people pronounce Moscow, Russia as "MOSS-cow" – keithjgrant Sep 23 '10 at 16:28
I was baffled by Sanger where I stayed when I visited TX. – glenatron Nov 24 '10 at 15:30
How about countries. It is Ear-ahn not Eye-ran (Iran) and Ear-ahk not Eye-rack (Iraq) – JohnFx Nov 28 '10 at 22:46
Found this pronunciation guide for Texas places. A clear indicator that this is an issue in the state. (http://www.texasalmanac.com/images/TownPronunciationGuide.pdf) – JohnFx Nov 29 '10 at 15:11
There's a Houston County, GA, pronounced "HOW-stun", in contrast to Texas's more famous "HYOO-stun". – Mitch Schwartz Dec 14 '10 at 21:40
2

@Mitch there is also a street in NYC with the same name/pronunciation. – JohnFx Dec 15 '10 at 15:55
@Neil Fein: what about Missouri? I have relatives from there who say "Mizz-ur-uh", and I just can't bring myself to view that as correct. – TM. Feb 09 '11 at 07:22
Since you bring up Texas, I have to relate Koenig Lane in Austin, which is locally pronounced "KAY-nig." Having learned a little German, this makes me cringe, but as Mr. Fein relates, I can't call it wrong. – Feb 28 '12 at 00:00

score 2 · Answer 76 · answered Aug 27 '10 at 14:59

2

For quite a long time I pronounced persimmon as "PER-simmon" instead of the correct "per-SIM-mon".

answered Aug 27 '10 at 14:59

score 2 · Answer 77 · answered Aug 28 '10 at 14:22

2

Mishap

Who hasn't said mish-ap instead of mis-hap?

answered Aug 28 '10 at 14:22

Umang

213

score 2 · Answer 78 · answered Sep 01 '10 at 10:17

2

There are some technical words that are commonly mistaken: SCSI: Correct: scuzzy. Wrong: Sexy ;)

answered Sep 01 '10 at 10:17

1

Isn't that an acronym for "Small Computer Serial Interface" and not a word? In that case I'd argue that there is no correct way to say it, only preferences. – JohnFx Nov 28 '10 at 22:31
4

@JohnFx: In much the same way we do not say "Sharks with fricken light amplification by stimulated emmision of radiations on their heads", you are wrong. – Eric Dec 15 '10 at 16:12
The inventor, who also coined the acronym, intended /sexy/ as the pronunciation. Another engineer on the standardization committee countered with the antonymous alternative and it stuck. – Potatoswatter Jan 31 '11 at 10:49
Sorry but there's nothing sexy about SCSI. Scuzzy it is, on general principle. – TM. Feb 09 '11 at 07:20

score 2 · Answer 79 · edited Feb 21 '12 at 03:19

2

Corollary /kɒˈrɒlərɪ/, /ˈkɒrələrɪ/

I have always pronounced and heard this word as KOR-uh-lar-ee but recently found out that my wife pronounces it kor-AW-lar-ee (I guess like the Brits, if dictionary.com is to be believed). I thought this might have been from her growing up in a small town, but how often are people saying "corollary" in a small town anyway?? Where she picked up the British pronunciation, I'll never know.

edited Feb 21 '12 at 03:19

tchrist

134,759

answered Sep 01 '10 at 13:43

Bryan Sirtosky

61

+1 because I never could keep it straight in high school math proofs. – mmyers Sep 01 '10 at 15:17
1

Honestly, I've heard both, from tenured math professors. The British profs put the "proper" emphasis. Everyone else just says whatever and moves on to the proof :D – crasic Nov 24 '10 at 22:33
Maybe she learned it from the same place my brother learned to pronounce 'esophagus' as E-so-FOG-us (where that E is a 'short' e as in bed). From a school teacher :) – Ron Porter Apr 06 '11 at 21:41

JohnFx · Answer 80 · 2010-09-17T15:35:19.707

2

agate

Although I know it is pronounced ag-it, I so badly want to say ag-gat whenever I see it in print.

edited Sep 17 '10 at 15:35

answered Sep 14 '10 at 05:31

JohnFx

7,464

A-sitting on agate? – mmyers Sep 17 '10 at 15:10
And I was taught to pronounce it A-gee with a hard 'g'. I distinctly remember the teacher telling us that the marbles we called 'agees' were called that because of the resemblance to agate. – Ron Porter Apr 06 '11 at 21:48

crasic · Answer 81 · 2010-11-24T22:27:40.810

2

It turns out that Doc Brown was right, in a way. The historically accurate way to pronounce the prefix giga- is with a j-sound (as in jigabyte).

I think this is the best example of a collective "say it before you heard it". It seems the people in the circles the prefix came into first use (mainly the sciences) didn't ever take a class in ancient greek (not that I ever have either), or recognize that other words with the same etymology (giant and gigantic are pronounced jiant and jigantic) are inconsistent with this pronunciation. But the pronunciation has stuck so what can you do.

Also, as an afterthought - Colonel. Who the hell came up with that? It took me years to recognize that Colonel and "Kernel" is the same rank.

edited Nov 24 '10 at 22:27

answered Nov 24 '10 at 21:35

crasic

853

At least the widespread pronunciation of gigabyte is internally consistent. Can't say the same for gigantic. – Marthaª Nov 24 '10 at 22:00
I suspect the computer industry is to blame for the shift from "jigga" to "gigga". But as "wrong" as it is, I shudder when I hear someone say "jiggabytes". – Mr. Shiny and New 安宇 Nov 25 '10 at 14:24
5

Where did you get the idea that “giga” is historically pronounced /dʒiga/? Historically, the word comes from Greek, started with a γ and was, by very widespread consensus, pronounced /g/ in Ancient Greek (and as a voiced velar fricative in Modern Greek, neither of which sound anything like /dʒ/). Furthermore, the prefix was proposed by a German-speaking member of the IEC and there is no /dʒ/ sound in German so I doubt (though I don’t know) that the proposal intended the /dʒ/ pronunciation. – Konrad Rudolph Nov 28 '10 at 18:20
@Martha: Well, gigantic follows the "rule" that 'i', 'e', and 'y' make the 'g' sound like 'j'. That is why 'u' commonly comes into play as a helper (guess, guile, etc.). [Hmm... how do you make italics in comments?] – John Y Dec 19 '10 at 04:47
@John Y, *italic* and **bold** work in comments. – Marthaª Dec 19 '10 at 07:03

score 2 · Answer 82 · answered Nov 30 '10 at 07:36

2

awry, caveat, nomenclature

answered Nov 30 '10 at 07:36

oceanhug

861

score 1 · Answer 83 · edited Jul 05 '11 at 04:54

1

Emeritus - was told about someone who pronounced the word as if it were a disease (emphasis on a long I.)

For those unfamiliar with this title, the root word is 'merit' and the emphasis is placed on 'mair'.

edited Jul 05 '11 at 04:54

Thursagen

41,919

answered Jan 31 '11 at 19:15

oosterwal

7,391

score 1 · Answer 84 · edited Feb 21 '12 at 03:10

1

debris /dɛˈbriː/

"Debris" took me a few years to figure out.

edited Feb 21 '12 at 03:10

tchrist

134,759

answered Feb 01 '11 at 04:01

Potatoswatter

647

score 1 · Answer 85 · answered Jan 19 '14 at 22:37

1

I only discovered a few days ago that chintz is apparently not a French word, but a Hindi one, and is therefore not pronounced ‘shints’, but exactly as it's spelt.

Catenary is another odd one—since no one ever says the word (at least it's never popped up in any conversations I've had), I had to look it up to find out whether it was KAY-tuh-neh-ry or kuh-TEE-nuh-ry. (It's the latter.)

answered Jan 19 '14 at 22:37

Janus Bahs Jacquet

32,382

Uh, nope, not here in the U.S. of A, it ain't. It's CAT enary: http://visual.merriam-webster.com/pronunciation.php?id=transport-machinery/rail-transport/09884&title=catenary. (Just start typing "catenary pronu" into Google and you'll see "catenary british pronunciation" pop up as one of the suggestions.) – Drew Feb 26 '14 at 04:32

score 1 · Answer 86 · answered Feb 23 '14 at 15:21

1

Comptroller, pronounced kun-TROH-lur, not COMP-troh-lur. Even some comptrollers mispronounce it.

answered Feb 23 '14 at 15:21

Bookman

21
3

score 1 · Answer 87 · answered Feb 23 '14 at 19:47

1

I'm still not sure how to pronounce "gyro" -- the edible kind. Fortunately, I'm very sure how to eat one.

answered Feb 23 '14 at 19:47

jyc23

935
8
15

It's pronounced Yee-Row (as in Yee-hah Row-Boat) – David M Feb 26 '14 at 01:51
I've always heard "hero". And I've even seen it written that way sometimes: "hero sandwich". – Drew Feb 26 '14 at 04:33

score 1 · Answer 88 · answered Feb 26 '14 at 01:37

1

Detritus, which looks like and is often pronounced DE-tri-tus, but whose proper pronunciation is di-TRYT-us.

answered Feb 26 '14 at 01:37

Bookman

21
3

score 1 · Answer 89 · edited Jul 05 '11 at 04:08

1

Just picked up two/three new ones today.

The first: I read that blog Cakewrecks, having never baked a cake myself. So when I saw the word "fondant," I assumed with the great knowledge gained from my three years of high school French that it was pronounced the French way, something like "fund-AUN(T)"...Of course, my sister's getting married and came by to make a practice wedding cake, which would be decorated with "FAWND-unt."...Which inevitably led to an argument, and led to my embarrassment...

The second (and third) I learned are revocable and irrevocable. Revoke is pronounced with emphasis on the second syllable, in my case as "rivv-OAK." Naturally, I assumed that (ir)revocable was pronounced "(EAR-)revv-OAK-ibble." It is not. It is pronounced "(ear-)REVV-uck-ubble."

EDIT: Turns out I was either illiterate or enjoyed being punished that day because "(EAR-)revv-OAK-ibble" is a valid alternative pronunciation according to Merriam-Webster! M-W also says they're less common, but not how much so. Sorry about that!

edited Jul 05 '11 at 04:08

Thursagen

41,919

answered Mar 18 '11 at 04:00

kitukwfyer

3,753

Is google dictionary US first? or is fondant actually pronounced that way in British English too? – mplungjan Apr 03 '11 at 06:19
@mplungjan: I checked the Cambridge Dictionary Online too. It has the same pronunciation (or nearly the same): http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/fondant – kitukwfyer Apr 03 '11 at 13:48
I've never heard REVV-uck-able. I have heard an attorney discuss a reVOCable trust. (US) – moioci May 11 '11 at 23:00
@moioci It seems you're right. I just double-checked the pronunciation of (ir)revocable, and it turns out (ir)reVOCable is allowed, but apparently less common. Not sure how I missed that. I never miss an excuse to be right! Thanks! :) – kitukwfyer May 12 '11 at 14:01

score 1 · Answer 90 · edited Feb 21 '12 at 03:04

1

comfortable /ˈkʌmfətəb(ə)l/

It's pronounced “cumftible”, while I as a foreigner (furriner :) thought it was “cumfort-ible”

edited Feb 21 '12 at 03:04

tchrist

134,759

answered Aug 22 '10 at 22:44

ΤΖΩΤΖΙΟΥ

457

8

As a native English (US) speaker, I variously say "cum-fort-i-bel" or "cum-fert-i-bel" or "cumf-ter-bel". – Gary Aug 24 '10 at 05:42
2

That reminds me of a joke that an Indian(from India) friend used to tell me in an Indian accent. "Are you comfortable (come for table)"? "No, I came for tea". Said in an Indian accent, it's hilarious! – OneProton Aug 25 '10 at 22:01
2

@Atømix: and the traffic cop to the recently arrived Far-eastern immigrant, who was nearly run over by a car: “Hey, mister, did you come here to die?” “No! I cahm hear yester-die!” – ΤΖΩΤΖΙΟΥ Aug 26 '10 at 07:38
1

@Gary: if any native English speaker says "cum-fort-i-bel" I'll eat my hat. – Aug 26 '10 at 13:19
@Shinto Sherlock: Is that with a short i or a long i? If it's the short one, I hope your hat is tasty. – mmyers Aug 26 '10 at 17:35
@gary: Why do you vary the word pronunciation? – Vinko Vrsalovic Sep 03 '10 at 05:17
@Vinko, I don't know why, it's not a conscious decision. Maybe I just never picked up that one pronunciation is more popular than another. – Gary Sep 19 '10 at 02:11
1

@Ex-user, sorry for adding fiber to your diet! – Gary Sep 19 '10 at 02:12
1

To be honest, I've never heard it pronounced "cumftible". – neil Feb 01 '11 at 12:39
1

@neil: I've heard it as “cumftible” by British people. – ΤΖΩΤΖΙΟΥ Feb 02 '11 at 13:16

score 1 · Answer 91 · answered Mar 30 '11 at 11:06

1

harbinger

You'd think it to be "har-BING-er" when it's actually "HAR-bin-jer".

infamous

Always read "in-FAME-us" when it's "IN-fah-mus"

facetious

Looks like "FA-cet-us" when it's "fah-SEE-shus"

answered Mar 30 '11 at 11:06

snumpy

7,372

score 1 · Answer 92 · answered Aug 24 '10 at 20:15

1

Place names from the early US are an endless source of confusion:

Many places in the US are named "Berkeley" and are pronounced "Burkly", but they are all(?) named after Sir William Berkeley, whose name is(was?) pronounced like Charles Barkley, the basketball player.
Cairo, Illinois is pronounced "KAY-row", not like the place with the pyramids.
Versailles, Kentucky is pronounced "ver-SAILS", not like the place with the palace.

answered Aug 24 '10 at 20:15

Taldaugion

1,152

Excuse my ignorance, but how would you pronounce Cairo, Egypt? – mmyers Aug 26 '10 at 17:40
to rhyme with pie hole. – Joel Spolsky Aug 26 '10 at 18:20
@Joel Spolsky: Cai-hole? Cai-role? I'm not following... or else I am, and it disturbs me. – mmyers Aug 26 '10 at 19:46
It's "Ky-row," Egypt, but "Kay-row," Georgia. – kitukwfyer Aug 27 '10 at 01:44
Oh. Got it. For some reason I was pronouncing KAY in my head as KYE. It all makes sense now. – mmyers Aug 27 '10 at 04:25
Can’t forget San Jose, Illinois (san joez) – nohat Aug 27 '10 at 16:30
1

La-FAY-ette, AL – moioci Sep 04 '10 at 00:29
French people probably shudder when they hear Baton (BAT-en rather than bah-TON) Rouge. – Graeme Perrow Sep 08 '10 at 01:30
This is normal, though. There's a hamlet in the south of Denmark originally settled by returned emigrants from the States. They named it The Valley; it is now horrifyingly pronounced /te 'væly/ (the e as in French ‘café’, the y as in French ‘tu’ or German ‘süß’). – Janus Bahs Jacquet Jan 19 '14 at 22:22

score 1 · Answer 93 · answered Aug 25 '10 at 21:23

1

Yesterday, I heard someone on NPR pronounce "secreted", as in to have concealed or hidden something. Never having heard the word spoken before, I've always assumed it is pronounced secret-ed and not secrete-ed as he said.

answered Aug 25 '10 at 21:23

Ken Aspeslagh

515

6

The NPR person was wrong, then. The emphasis is on the first syllable when it's the past tense of secret, and on the second syllable when it's the past tense of secrete. http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/secreted – mmyers Aug 26 '10 at 17:38
Oops! So much for that one. Thanks for letting me know! – Ken Aspeslagh Aug 27 '10 at 03:24
2

You really don't want to secrete anything you don't mean to, in particular not to be secreted away. – Potatoswatter Jan 31 '11 at 10:24

score 1 · Answer 94 · edited Jul 05 '11 at 04:18

When I was in the 8th or 9th grade, I read much much more than I spoke. Then one day I was called on in class to challenge another classmate's perspective.

I used the word "doubt" in a sentence.

The problem was is that I actually pronounced the "B" in "doubt". Yes, try it. It's kinda fun to do.

I realised I never actually said that word out loud before, but I went for it anyways. The class was silent, and I thought I had made a convincing case. Needless to say that's not why the class was slient. Then moments later the class clown asked "Did you just say the B in doubt". Everyone got a good laugh at my expense.

Not sure how common that error is, but I still think it's a funny story.

score 1 · Answer 95 · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:38

1

Others have mentioned place names, and one answer has mentioned that personal names "are tricky too".

I'd like to add that this happens to me pretty frequently with names in the news: I get my news from the radio, mostly, so when I first see a name in print it doesn't necessarily register immediately that it's the person I've been hearing about. This happened, for example, with the name Geithner, which is pronounced /ˈgajtnɚ/ ("gight-ner"): when I read it, I thought it was /ˈgejθnɚ/ ("gay-thner") for a moment.

edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:38

Community

1

answered Apr 07 '11 at 04:47

msh210

3,955

Cairo, Illinois - Pronounced Kay-Ro – David M Feb 26 '14 at 01:46

score 1 · Answer 96 · edited Oct 14 '11 at 09:24

1

"Cleansing" has a short "e" in the first syllable, so it rhymes with "hens." A friend in English pronounced it quite logically with a long "e" just like in the word "clean." We all kept quiet for a few minutes, expecting him to realise his mistake. We were, however, forced to take him to task. ;)

edited Oct 14 '11 at 09:24

RegDwigнt

97,231

answered Apr 09 '11 at 02:19

kitukwfyer

3,753

score 1 · Answer 97 · edited Oct 14 '11 at 09:29

1

Perhaps it's just me, but I pronounced bedraggled with two syllables ("bed" + "raggled") for years before I made the connection: "be" + "draggled".

I had always pictured torn bedclothes...!

edited Oct 14 '11 at 09:29

RegDwigнt

97,231

answered Apr 09 '11 at 07:29

shipr

1,756

score 1 · Answer 98 · answered Apr 21 '11 at 15:35

1

Interminable: /ɪnˈtɜrmɪnəbəl/

It has the prefix inter-, doesn't it? So it should clearly be accented on the first syllable, right?

answered Apr 21 '11 at 15:35

Peter Shor

88,407

No, it doesn't. It has the prefix of "in" meaning "not" combined with the word "terminable" mean "capable of being stopped or terminated". Inter-minable would mean... I have no idea. Able to go between different mines? – Kevin Apr 21 '11 at 15:54
@Kevin: I know that now. But I didn't when I first read and pronounced it as a child - I should have been clearer. – Peter Shor Apr 21 '11 at 15:56
1

So the second part was sarcasm which I missed. Am I allowed to give myself a "whoosh"? – Kevin Apr 21 '11 at 16:02
I know sarcasm is invisible on the web. My bad. – Peter Shor Apr 21 '11 at 16:07
Hear, hear. (It doesn't help that I have a genetic tendency to always put the stress on the first syllable.) – Marthaª May 06 '11 at 22:22

moioci · Answer 99 · 2010-09-04T00:30:29.223

1

When I was in a spelling bee, the enunciator said AT-wit-ter, as in "The birds were all atwitter." (should be a-TWIT-ter)

edited Sep 04 '10 at 00:30

answered Sep 01 '10 at 03:13

moioci

4,678

+1 because that's not even a rare word. – Pitarou Feb 21 '12 at 03:35

score 1 · Answer 100 · answered Sep 01 '10 at 15:04

1

Pseudo is also one of the mispronounced words. Some people say it Pee-see-doo, where the correct pronunciation is soo-doe (american) or sew-doe (English)

answered Sep 01 '10 at 15:04

Dia

1,097

I have a co-worker who pronounces it "suede-o." – J.T. Grimes Nov 02 '10 at 20:02
1

I has a coworker who said "puh-suede-oh". It took me a few minutes to figure out what he was trying to say. I didn't correct him though. – Mr. Shiny and New 安宇 Nov 25 '10 at 14:30
2

@Boofus McGoofus: I would hope suede-o is for comic emphasis. – Eric Dec 15 '10 at 16:03
The American pronunciation is close to su-doh. I can't exactly tell how that is different from your sew-doe that you have listed for British. – John Gietzen Jun 07 '11 at 22:33

score 1 · Answer 101 · edited Jul 05 '11 at 04:12

1

"Sean" as 'shaun'

I pronounced it as 'seen' for a while!

edited Jul 05 '11 at 04:12

Thursagen

41,919

answered May 06 '11 at 04:28

IPX

1,269

I still do for Sean Bean - Seen Been! – Oldcat Feb 26 '14 at 02:18

score 1 · Answer 102 · answered Sep 08 '10 at 06:55

1

'Rendezvous' is one that comes to mind.

answered Sep 08 '10 at 06:55

Manjima

1,890

score 1 · Answer 103 · edited Jan 24 '12 at 22:52

1

"Minuscule" is often mispronounced and misspelled as "miniscule".

"Err" is often mispronounced as "air".

"Long-lived" and "short-lived" are too often pronounced with a short I sound. It means long or short "life", not as in the verb "to live".

edited Jan 24 '12 at 22:52

MetaEd

28,488

answered Sep 23 '10 at 16:06

Tim

99

1

The difference between "minuscule" and "miniscule" is so, ahem, minuscule as to make no difference. (Sorry, had to say it.) Dunno if I've ever heard "air" for "err". As for long- or short-lived, both pronunciations are now considered correct, and more people use the short-i than the long-i. (It also makes sense that way - English often uses the past tense of verbs as adjectives. Borrowed time, linked cause, forwarded email...) – Marthaª Nov 19 '10 at 17:00
minuscule is not derived from mini - rather minus. See the etymology. Long/short-lived also regards life, not the verb to live. Our language is being spoiled. Just because most people use it one way does not make it correct. I have heard surveys that people can't find Africa on a world map - does that mean it is ok? Accepting ignorance and watering down the language to the lowest common denominator is not the answer... – Tim Nov 19 '10 at 17:48
1

@Martha, Everyone where I come from (Hanover, Virginia) that I heard say err pronounced it as air. If I've ever heard it pronounced differently, I didn't recognize it or don't remember. – kitukwfyer Nov 19 '10 at 20:21
1

@Tim, (1) etymology has never governed pronunciation. (See many of the examples in this topic.) And despite what the French think, language change is not automatically equivalent to language ruination. (2) I know that the correct spelling of minuscule is with two u's, but the pronunciation difference between an unstressed i and an unstressed u is so small as to be nonexistent. Sorry if I wasn't clear. :) – Marthaª Nov 19 '10 at 20:32
2

Where else does one EVER pronounce u as a short i? It is just plain wrong. – Tim Nov 19 '10 at 20:53
2

What is the "correct" pronunciation of "Err" if not "air"? In Canada, we say "to air is human". – Mr. Shiny and New 安宇 Nov 25 '10 at 14:32
As far as I know it is "er"er – Tim Nov 26 '10 at 03:48
@Tim, note the "unstressed": in most varieties of English, unstressed vowels are indistinguishable from each other, because they all become schwas. So I can see including "minuscule" on a list of frequently misspelled words, but not on a list of frequently mispronounced words. – Marthaª Dec 09 '10 at 19:49
It is mispronounced - as "miniscule". short i is not a short u – Tim Dec 09 '10 at 21:40
1

Err has the same root as error or errant. Perhaps the problem some people have with it being pronounced as 'air' is not that 'err' is mispronounced, but that 'air' is pronounced differently in different regions. In mid-western America, the beginning vowel sound in 'err' and 'air' is pronounced closer to a short 'e', not as the diphthong used to pronounced the letter 'A'. – oosterwal Jan 31 '11 at 19:04
2

@Mr. Shiny and New, I'm with you. I've lived and travelled all over the US and have never heard anyone pronounce "err" any other way than exactly the same as the first syllable in error or errant. – Kevin Apr 21 '11 at 15:48
For minuscule it seems a lot of pronunciations have co-existed for a while. The OED lists “Brit. /ˈmɪnᵻskjuːl/, /ˈmɪnjᵿskjuːl/, /mɪˈnʌskjuːl/, U.S. /ˈmɪnəˌskjul/”. – PLL Aug 13 '11 at 17:28

score 1 · Answer 104 · edited Feb 21 '12 at 03:20

1

Accuracy Brit. /ˈakjᵿrəsi/, U.S. /ˈækjərəsi/

When I first learned the word, (in first grade, from a pokemon game,) I thought it was Akyur-uh-see).

edited Feb 21 '12 at 03:20

tchrist

134,759

answered Nov 19 '10 at 05:00

Moshe

2,165

Come to think of it, how many people mispronounce "Pokemon" (Poke-ay-mon) as (Poke-ee-man)? – Moshe Nov 19 '10 at 05:00
For what it's worth, "akyur-uh-see" is the most common pronunciation for American English speakers. – res Nov 19 '10 at 16:29
@res - I am American. – Moshe Nov 19 '10 at 19:11
I have to agree, I've only ever heard "ack-yer-ussy." – kitukwfyer Nov 19 '10 at 20:08

score 1 · Answer 105 · answered Nov 19 '10 at 15:34

The word "Dickensian". I read this word many times before I heard someone say it. I always pronounced this with the accent on the first syllable, exactly as it is with "Dickens". Then I heard someone else say it with the accent on the second syllable. And then I heard another person say it that way. And then I had a person 'correct' me when I said it with the accent on the first syllable.

Actually, this doesn't really answer your question, because I think it should be pronounced with the accent on the first syllable. It doesn't make sense to me that you would pronounce "Dickensian" with an accent on a different syllable than the accented syllable in "Dickens".

You're right that it doesn't make much sense, but English is like that. The reign of Queen E liz abeth I was the Eliza beth an period... (apologies for formatting!) — psmears, Apr 01 '11 at 21:21

score 1 · Answer 106 · answered Dec 03 '10 at 19:27

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For a long time I pronounced Epitome as "Epi-tome" when I saw the word in print. Funny thing is that I was aware of the prononciation "Epi-to-me", but subconsciously assumed that it was a different word. I had much else on my mind, I guess, to investigate. I am now enlightened.

answered Dec 03 '10 at 19:27

S Red

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I did the exact same thing. I knew what an "epitome" was, and thought 'epitomy" must be something different... – kitukwfyer Dec 03 '10 at 19:46
See http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1431/what-words-are-commonly-mispronounced-by-literate-people-who-read-them-before-the/1685#1685 – Marthaª Dec 03 '10 at 20:11

score 1 · Answer 107 · answered Dec 18 '10 at 23:50

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Meringue. Recently heard this pronounced as Mare-ing-you instead of meh-rang. Also the Irish name Niamah, pronounced Neeve (rhymes with eve) seems to cause a great deal of confusion.

answered Dec 18 '10 at 23:50

Niamh, not Niamah. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Jan 19 '14 at 22:23

score 1 · Answer 108 · edited Feb 21 '12 at 03:11

1

Well, i have some words

Subtle ( Pronounced "suttle") /ˈsʌt(ə)l/
Panache (I have heard that this is pronounced "punash".) /pəˈnæʃ/

edited Feb 21 '12 at 03:11

tchrist

134,759

answered Jan 10 '11 at 16:24

score 1 · Answer 109 · answered Jan 11 '11 at 00:39

1

Corps (as in Marine Corps)

Being french I pronounced it cohr, not core like most Americans...

answered Jan 11 '11 at 00:39

Christopher Mahan

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Brits don't pronounce the p either. The Beatles (which is a bad pun) have a publishing company called Apple Corps (another bad pun). – Feb 19 '11 at 20:36
In the US, Corps is short for corporations, and is pronounced "corpse" (fittingly, on occasion). – Christopher Mahan Feb 22 '11 at 16:49
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Didja hear about the Marine who received a dishonorable discharge? They said he was rotten to the Corps... – MT_Head Feb 26 '14 at 02:46

score 0 · Answer 110 · answered Jan 31 '11 at 15:34

0

Bayesian (pronounced BAYZ-ee-un)

answered Jan 31 '11 at 15:34

vonjd

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How else would you pronounce it? – Marthaª Feb 09 '11 at 03:29
@Martha maybe one could think it was "bay-ess-ian", or ba-YESSI-an"? If you know it's named after Bayes it's obvious, if not, it might not be. – TM. Feb 09 '11 at 07:25
@Martha, @TM: one might also expect the ending to rhyme with e.g. Indonesian. The “think of whom it was named after” principle holds good in this case, but is misleading for Cartesian, which is named for Descartes (whose -es is silent, or almost so, depending on language), but is pronounced with stress on the -es-, and does indeed rhyme with Indonesian. – PLL Apr 02 '11 at 21:06

score 0 · Answer 111 · answered Jan 19 '14 at 21:22

0

Looks like there haven't been any answers for a while, so some of these may be new mispronunciations that have developed:

homage is now pronounced incorrectly by many supposedly educated people, including news announcers, as uh-MAZH, instead of the correct AH-midg.

similarly, niche is now pronounced incorrectly as neesh instead of the correct nich.

answered Jan 19 '14 at 21:22

samiam1955

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Oh! the irony . . . – peterG Jan 26 '14 at 03:35

score 0 · Answer 112 · answered Feb 01 '14 at 03:15

My favorite is the word infrared. I never, as a child, ever noticed that infra- prefix, and never thought the word had anything to do with red.

Naturally I pronounced it as in-FRAYRD, rhyming with "cared". I thought that frared must be some sort of word...I still percieve the word as "in-frared" in my head...

score 0 · Answer 113 · answered Feb 26 '14 at 01:50

0

Debridement - The medical procedure of stripping away gangrenous or infected tissue to allow healing.

It is frequently pronounced De-Bride-Meant (as in D - wedding bride - past tense of mean). The proper pronunciation Deh-Breed-Mont.

answered Feb 26 '14 at 01:50

David M

22,515

score 0 · Answer 114 · edited Feb 21 '12 at 03:07

0

Oxymoron /ˌɒksɪˈmɔːrɒn/

Usually pronounced "ok-See-mawr-On" with the emphasis on the second and fourth syllables (i.e. Oxy plus Moron.) One of my high school English teachers would always mispronounce the word to make it sound ever so much better: ox-Zim-a-ron with the emphasis on the second syllable. This pronunciation makes the word almost poetic and I'll use it to this day but it does very much confuse people.

edited Feb 21 '12 at 03:07

tchrist

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answered Mar 17 '11 at 21:52

hromanko

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OED has pronunciation on -mo-. – Cerberus - Reinstate Monica Mar 18 '11 at 02:59
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I have always heard it (and said it) "OX-ee-MORE-ahn".... – Hellion Mar 18 '11 at 03:21

score 0 · Answer 115 · answered Jul 29 '14 at 03:51

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I got tripped up by Misogynist (a person who hates, dislikes, mistrusts, or mistreats women.) "Mi-so-guy-nist" when it's actually "mi-soj-uh-nist", as well as many others on this list.

answered Jul 29 '14 at 03:51

TecBrat

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score 0 · Answer 116 · answered Apr 06 '11 at 10:42

0

One that used to catch me out a lot was "anxiety". I used to pronouce it as in "anxious"

answered Apr 06 '11 at 10:42

Jonathan Day

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French-style, alors. – Drew Feb 26 '14 at 04:37

score 0 · Answer 117 · answered May 06 '11 at 06:37

0

Maybe it isn't a good idea to continue discussing place names and personal, but the Irish have some beauties, including:

Dun Laoghaire - dun-leery.

answered May 06 '11 at 06:37

Jonathan Leffler

6,751

score 0 · Answer 118 · edited Feb 21 '12 at 03:08

0

Ornery /ˈɔrn(ə)ri/

It's pronounced "awn-ree" or "awr-ner-ee". It is not pronounced "or-ner-ee".

edited Feb 21 '12 at 03:08

tchrist

134,759

answered May 06 '11 at 21:32

Cory Klein

183

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Sure it is. – Marthaª May 06 '11 at 22:11

score 0 · Answer 119 · answered Sep 07 '10 at 15:24

0

As a young 1st-grader, I came home to tell my parents that I would be learning "MATH-ma-tics." Made sense to me that it would rhyme with arithmatic!

Much later I had similar experiences with "array" and "piezoelectric."

answered Sep 07 '10 at 15:24

Doug

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score 0 · Answer 120 · answered Sep 08 '10 at 06:53

0

This is more mis-read than mis-pronounced, but as a child, I read The Magikan's Newph by C.S.Lewis.

Off-topic, but mis-heard stuff is often fun too (e.g. Harold be thy name - can't find a decent link for that one)

answered Sep 08 '10 at 06:53

Benjol

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"Harold be thy name" sounds like a mondegreen. – mmyers Sep 17 '10 at 15:11

score 0 · Answer 121 · answered Nov 04 '10 at 03:32

0

It was many years before I figured out that Arkan-SAW and Arkan-SAS were actually the same place:-)

answered Nov 04 '10 at 03:32

ukayer

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score 0 · Answer 122 · edited Feb 21 '12 at 03:06

0

Acolyte Brit. /ˈakəlʌɪt/, U.S. /ˈækəˌlaɪt/

In my head, it was "ah-colt". The correct pronunciation is "ah-col-ite".

edited Feb 21 '12 at 03:06

tchrist

134,759

answered Nov 29 '10 at 16:02

Blorgbeard

405

score 0 · Answer 123 · answered Nov 30 '10 at 12:07

0

Here are a couple that I've come across in philosophy.

Charles Sanders Peirce. It's pronounced like "purse" not like "pierce".

Qua. (Latin meaning "as"). Apparently should be pronounced "kway". I do not like this.

And as for the number of different ways I've heard people pronounce "Humean"...

answered Nov 30 '10 at 12:07

Seamus

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OED gives both kway and kwah. – Cerberus - Reinstate Monica Mar 18 '11 at 02:56

score 0 · Answer 124 · edited Jul 09 '11 at 11:08

0

For those of you who like rugby..

Llanelli, a city of Wales, is pronounced 'clanecli'.

Gloucester, Leicester, as Worcester : 'Gloss-ter' 'Less-ter', 'Wuss-ter'

edited Jul 09 '11 at 11:08

answered Jan 17 '11 at 17:13

Isaac Clarke

107

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Gloss-ter, Less-ter (My home county), Wuss-ter. – Kaz Dragon Feb 01 '11 at 12:00
Kaz is right here. – Cerberus - Reinstate Monica Mar 18 '11 at 02:27
My bad, I was just pointing out the unpronounced "ce". I'll edit right away ! – Isaac Clarke Mar 19 '11 at 10:38
Clanecli is a very strange and misleading way of representing Llanelli. Hla-ne-hli would be closer. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Jan 19 '14 at 22:31

What words are commonly mispronounced by literate people who read them before they heard them?

124 Answers124

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