One would think that I should have figured out the entire English language after a while. But at 18 years old, I still come across the occasional doozy:
Until recently, I thought "quiche" was spelled "keesh" :D
Until recently, I thought "awry" sounded like "aw-ree" :D
This is usually the result of hearing a word and not seeing it, or seeing a word and not hearing it. Any personal favorites?
French words drive me crazy that way
Watching tourists pronounce "Tchoupitoulas Street" in New Orleans is practically a sport.
There are some common ones people screw up all the time, such as 'a lot'.
Town and place names are invariably going to be messed up as well. Let's take the Schuylkill Expressway or River in Philly, which is mis-spelled and mis-pronounced numerous ways. The section of town I grew up in - Sewell, which rhymes with jewel, is often pronounced sea-well. The town itself - Mantua, is pronounced Man-chew-ah. Many will give it a hard T, sounding something like man-too-ah.
All of them, up until I said my first word. :bigass:
Quote from: jeffandnicole on October 24, 2017, 08:23:05 AM
There are some common ones people screw up all the time, such as 'a lot'.
Town and place names are invariably going to be messed up as well. Let's take the Schuylkill Expressway or River in Philly, which is mis-spelled and mis-pronounced numerous ways. The section of town I grew up in - Sewell, which rhymes with jewel, is often pronounced sea-well. The town itself - Mantua, is pronounced Man-chew-ah. Many will give it a hard T, sounding something like man-too-ah.
Which is funny, because a neighborhood half a mile (walking distance) from my parents' house, as well as the name of the elementary school in said neighborhood where I attended fourth through sixth grades, is pronounced with the hard "T" sound.
A similar phenomenon often occurs when people from New York visit Thomas Jefferson's house near Charlottesville–many (certainly not all) New Yorkers will refer to "Montisello" (phonetic spelling) because of a village in New York whose name is pronounced that way. Jefferson's house's name is pronounced to rhyme with the musical instrument, i.e., "Montichello" (phonetic spelling).
Along the lines of the words the OP noted, when I was a kid, I once sounded out the word "choir" and came up with "quire," and I once referred to a pair of khaki pants as being "cackey" (at the time I had not heard the expression "kak" or "cack" to refer to a turd).
A mistake I never made but that I recall several of my friends making back in first or second grade was not knowing how to spell "once," as in beginning a short story with "once upon a time." I knew several people who sounded it out to come up with "ones."
Potpourri: I knew how to spell it, but I didn't know how to pronounce it. (Now I know, obviously.)
For spelling, several of the ance/ence words. This continues to this day.
I thought slorydn's username was pronounced "slory din", not as a modification of "slow riding".
For a while, I thought "sow" was always pronounced as if it was a pig.
Until recently, I thought Amarillo, Texas was pronounced as "amarillo" is pronounced in Spanish.
"Awry" from the original post applies to me, too.
I once accidentally pronounced "flamboyant" as if the last syllable was "ahnt", emphasized.
For a while, I didn't know whether "recruit" was two or three syllables.
Most of these examples are known spelling, but unknown pronunciation.
In second grade, we had a creative writing assignment, and was looking for just the right word. I spent 30 minutes looking up the word "business" in a dictionary and ultimately assumed it was a made-up word, since there was nothing under biz or bis to help out. It's a good thing I hadn't yet heard of the word "pneumonia"...
There's a few words I seem to always misspell on keyboards (form/from, prose/prize, though/tough) even though I darn well know how to spell them by writing or speaking.
Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis.
How the hell does one pronounciate that?!
Quote from: webny99 on October 23, 2017, 10:13:39 PM
Until recently, I thought "awry" sounded like "aw-ree" :D
Quote from: 1 on October 24, 2017, 10:06:51 AM
"Awry" from the original post applies to me, too.
Yeah, I made it into adulthood before I realized I was wrong about that one too.
Quote from: 1 on October 24, 2017, 10:06:51 AM
I thought slorydn's username was pronounced "slory din", not as a modification of "slow riding".
I just found out by reading your post. :crazy:
There are some common hyperforeignisms I've noticed when it comes to Americans saying Spanish words:
habanero РThis is said ah-bah-neh-ro. A lot of Americans think it has the letter ̱ in there (ah-bah-nyeh-ro), but there isn't. In fact, the word means something from Havana, and you don't pronounce that city's name as Havanya, right?
empanada РLike habanero above, this is said em-pah-nah-dah. There's no ̱ in there, despite many Americans saying em-pah-nyah-dah.
Cartagena РNoticing a trend yet? There's no ̱ in the city's name. It's car-tah-heh-nah.
The nation of Colombia often gets spelled wrong, and I've even seen TV news stations get it wrong. Columbia is in South Carolina, Colombia is in South America.
Here's one I only very recently learned. The word forte, when referring to a loud passage of music, comes from Italian and is pronounced for-tey. However, the word forte, when referring to a person's strengths, comes from French and is pronounced fort. I'd been saying them both the first way my whole life, and I bet you have been too.
Quote from: 1 on October 24, 2017, 10:06:51 AM
Until recently, I thought Amarillo, Texas was pronounced as "amarillo" is pronounced in Spanish.
When you hear most locals pronounce it, the -o is treated more like an -uh; really, only TV/radio announcers, most city officials, and most city police officers are the only ones you'll hear consistently using the -o sound there.
Quote from: txstateends on October 24, 2017, 03:19:37 PM
Quote from: 1 on October 24, 2017, 10:06:51 AM
Until recently, I thought Amarillo, Texas was pronounced as "amarillo" is pronounced in Spanish.
When you hear most locals pronounce it, the -o is treated more like an -uh; really, only TV/radio announcers, most city officials, and most city police officers are the only ones you'll hear consistently using the -o sound there.
I'm referring to the sound of the "LL". "LL" in Spanish makes a sound that's not an L (example: tortilla), which is
not the case for the city in Texas.
Quote from: ColossalBlocks on October 24, 2017, 12:22:59 PM
Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis.
How the hell does one pronounciate that?!
Just the way it looks. :)
Medical terms look imposing but go a syllable at a time and they're easy.
Quote from: webny99 on October 24, 2017, 03:40:48 PM
"Tortilla" is another interesting one. Most people I know say it how it sounds, "tor-TILL-a", as opposed to the correct (Spanish) pronunciation of "tor-TEE-a".
There's a Y sound in between the last two vowels.
tor-TEE-a would be spelled tortÃa.
the basketball team in oakland
Quote from: webny99 on October 24, 2017, 03:40:48 PM
"Tortilla" is another interesting one. Most people I know say it how it sounds, "tor-TILL-a", as opposed to the correct (Spanish) pronunciation of "tor-TEE-a".
The only place I've ever heard "tor-TILL-a" is in
Napoleon Dynamite. Everywhere else (including around these parts) is "tor-TEE-ya". ("LL" = "Y" in Mexican Spanish).
Quote from: webny99 on October 24, 2017, 03:40:48 PM
"Tortilla" is another interesting one. Most people I know say it how it sounds, "tor-TILL-a", as opposed to the correct (Spanish) pronunciation of "tor-TEE-a".
I've never heard anyone pronounce it with the "L" sound. The tortilla-related word I have heard people mispronounce is "Chipotle" (the restaurant chain)–I know at least one guy who thinks it's like "chi-POAT-ull" ("ull" rhyming with the same three letters in the word "pull"). The guy in question isn't one who does sarcasm or dissembling well, so it would be pretty obvious if he were doing it to be funny or a smartarse. He's not.
Why is pyschyatrist (see the word is so f**d up that unless you have a dictionary in front of you) spelled the way it is? That is an age old question that no one thinks of asking.
Better one is environment which is pronounced enviorment. How about government with the n after the r and before the m.
That is why English is the hardest language to learn cause we break so many rules and are so inconsistent with phonetic spelling. Take for instance Spanish which is always an ayy for the letter e. Ah for the letter a, etc.
Quote from: webny99 on October 24, 2017, 03:40:48 PM
"Tortilla" is another interesting one. Most people I know say it how it sounds, "tor-TILL-a", as opposed to the correct (Spanish) pronunciation of "tor-TEE-a".
I have never heard anyone say tor-TILL-a? Is that a midwest thing?
Double L is always a wye sound in Spanish.
Quote from: roadman65 on October 24, 2017, 05:33:54 PM
Better one is environment which is pronounced enviorment. How about government with the n after the r and before the m.
That has to be a regional dialect difference because I pronounce both the 'n' and 'm' in those two words.
Quote from: MNHighwayMan on October 24, 2017, 05:36:54 PM
Quote from: roadman65 on October 24, 2017, 05:33:54 PM
Better one is environment which is pronounced enviorment. How about government with the n after the r and before the m.
That has to be a regional dialect difference because I pronounce both the 'n' and 'm' in those two words.
Never heard the government one. I can't even consider it happening, it just sounds so weird.
I didn't realize people were saying 'bless you' when someone sneezed until I was probably 14-15. It was always some one syllable utterance similar to 'blash'. Good old mountain English.
Re: Chipotle... I hear a lot of people say chi-pole-tey.
Re: Tortilla... The LL is not always like the Y in Spanish. It is always like that in Mexican Spanish, but there are parts of the world where LL is pronounced like LY.
Quote from: MNHighwayMan on October 24, 2017, 05:36:54 PM
Quote from: roadman65 on October 24, 2017, 05:33:54 PM
Better one is environment which is pronounced enviorment. How about government with the n after the r and before the m.
That has to be a regional dialect difference because I pronounce both the 'n' and 'm' in those two words.
Interesting. Do you pronounce the first "r" in February?
Quote from: 1995hoo on October 24, 2017, 09:56:58 AM
Quote from: jeffandnicole on October 24, 2017, 08:23:05 AM
There are some common ones people screw up all the time, such as 'a lot'.
Town and place names are invariably going to be messed up as well. Let's take the Schuylkill Expressway or River in Philly, which is mis-spelled and mis-pronounced numerous ways. The section of town I grew up in - Sewell, which rhymes with jewel, is often pronounced sea-well. The town itself - Mantua, is pronounced Man-chew-ah. Many will give it a hard T, sounding something like man-too-ah.
Which is funny, because a neighborhood half a mile (walking distance) from my parents' house, as well as the name of the elementary school in said neighborhood where I attended fourth through sixth grades, is pronounced with the hard "T" sound.
A similar phenomenon often occurs when people from New York visit Thomas Jefferson's house near Charlottesville–many (certainly not all) New Yorkers will refer to "Montisello" (phonetic spelling) because of a village in New York whose name is pronounced that way. Jefferson's house's name is pronounced to rhyme with the musical instrument, i.e., "Montichello" (phonetic spelling).
There are towns called "Mantua" and "Monticello" in Utah, and both are pronounced differently. Monticello is pronounced "Montisello" just like the village in New York. Mantua is pronounced "man-a-way" and is well known among locals for its speed trap.
aang from avatar the last airbender. No rgt, it is not just a...
Bologna has an absolutely baloney spelling and/or pronunciation.
Quote from: roadman65 on October 24, 2017, 05:33:54 PM
Why is pyschyatrist (see the word is so f**d up that unless you have a dictionary in front of you) spelled the way it is? That is an age old question that no one thinks of asking.
Better one is environment which is pronounced enviorment. How about government with the n after the r and before the m.
That is why English is the hardest language to learn cause we break so many rules and are so inconsistent with phonetic spelling. Take for instance Spanish which is always an ayy for the letter e. Ah for the letter a, etc.
Yes, when English borrowers foreign words, we tend to take the original spelling and pronounciation, which makes a really strange English word.
Regarding "tortilla" -- there's a certain friend and member of this forum whose name I want to pronounce the same way "tortilla" is pronounced. My apologies to Mike. :-D
Another word I almost always misspell: "convenient". I usually mangle it so badly that spell-checkers won't suggest anything.
Quote from: 7/8 on October 24, 2017, 10:35:06 PM
Interesting. Do you pronounce the first "r" in February?
Not usually. If I do, it's because that's how I remember how to spell "February." :)
Quote from: Big John on October 23, 2017, 11:53:22 PM
French words drive me crazy that way
voilà (there it is)
Some people write, "walla," when posting in internet forums.
But, yeah...French.
Quote from: 1 on October 24, 2017, 10:06:51 AMUntil recently, I thought Amarillo, Texas was pronounced as "amarillo" is pronounced in Spanish.
I thought of
Armadillo when I saw the tortilla reference.
If you pronounced it Arm-uh-DEE-o in Texas you'd probably be looked at askance if not outright laughed at.
"Exercise" gave me fits. Always felt it was "excercise" .
New England Patriots, years ago: I figured out, a little late, that Tedy Bruschi and Teddy Brewski were in fact the same guy
I didn't realize until my twenties that for some people, pen and pin are pronounced differently. In Oklahoma, they're both pronounced pin.
Thus, the local pronunciation of Penn Avenue in Oklahoma City (which is short for Pennsylvania, or rather Pinsylvania, and not referencing William Penn himself) is Pin Avenue, and thus Pin Square Mall, 50 Pin Place, etc.
Quote from: Scott5114 on October 26, 2017, 07:12:09 AM
I didn't realize until my twenties that for some people, pen and pin are pronounced differently. In Oklahoma, they're both pronounced pin.
Thus, the local pronunciation of Penn Avenue in Oklahoma City (which is short for Pennsylvania, or rather Pinsylvania, and not referencing William Penn himself) is Pin Avenue, and thus Pin Square Mall, 50 Pin Place, etc.
They're pronounced the same? Pin and pen are easily differentiated here. Even cot and caught are pronounced differently ("caht" and "cawt", respectively - the animal is "cyat").
Pin and pen are pronounced the same here.
The word I will always remember is "dissuade," which is the opposite of "persuade." I had never heard that word before until I got it at a regional eighth-grade spelling bee. I don't remember how I spelled it, but I spelled it wrong. That may have cost me a trip to the state spelling bee.
Quote from: Brandon on October 26, 2017, 11:11:34 AM
They're pronounced the same? Pin and pen are easily differentiated here. Even cot and caught are pronounced differently ("caht" and "cawt", respectively - the animal is "cyat").
The pin-pen merger (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonological_history_of_English_high_front_vowels#Pin.E2.80.93pen_merger) mostly exists only in the South.
Quote from: hbelkins on October 26, 2017, 11:18:00 AM
Pin and pen are pronounced the same here.
The word I will always remember is "dissuade," which is the opposite of "persuade." I had never heard that word before until I got it at a regional eighth-grade spelling bee. I don't remember how I spelled it, but I spelled it wrong. That may have cost me a trip to the state spelling bee.
I lost a spelling bee once because they misunderstood me. I knew the spelling and spelled it right, but they heard me wrong. The other girl stepped up to the mic, spelled it the exact same way, and won the bee.
Quote from: MNHighwayMan on October 26, 2017, 11:23:56 AM
Quote from: Brandon on October 26, 2017, 11:11:34 AM
They're pronounced the same? Pin and pen are easily differentiated here. Even cot and caught are pronounced differently ("caht" and "cawt", respectively - the animal is "cyat").
The pin-pen merger (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonological_history_of_English_high_front_vowels#Pin.E2.80.93pen_merger) mostly exists only in the South.
Huh, I've never heard of that before. I always assumed they were homophones. How are they pronounced outside the south?
Quote from: HazMatt on October 26, 2017, 02:29:23 PM
Quote from: MNHighwayMan on October 26, 2017, 11:23:56 AM
Quote from: Brandon on October 26, 2017, 11:11:34 AM
They're pronounced the same? Pin and pen are easily differentiated here. Even cot and caught are pronounced differently ("caht" and "cawt", respectively - the animal is "cyat").
The pin-pen merger (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonological_history_of_English_high_front_vowels#Pin.E2.80.93pen_merger) mostly exists only in the South.
Huh, I've never heard of that before. I always assumed they were homophones. How are they pronounced outside the south?
Heh. Pin has "ih," pen has "eh." We have different letters for reasons. :D
Quote from: Rothman on October 26, 2017, 02:31:15 PM
Heh. Pin has "ih," pen has "eh." We have different letters for reasons. :D
This is English, where the rules are made up and the points don't matter.
Thanks. I've heard that before but I guess I've always assumed it was a British thing.
Why is Louisville in KY not said as its named? FYI in Ohio where near Canton there is a city spelled the same exact way but they say Louis over Louie as a former coworker of mine from Canton said that people from that part of Ohio take offense at that lol!
Bogota in NJ is not the same as the capital of Columbia. I found out later its Bog- oh- tah and not Bo-gah- tah as many say who are not from that part of NJ.
So do people in the pin-pen merger area call a one-cent piece a "pinny" ?
Bin Franklin?
A dime is tin cents?
Larry Craig got arrested in the min's room?
Steely Dan's 1972 hit "Do It Agin" ?
Quote from: roadman65 on October 26, 2017, 05:07:03 PM
Why is Louisville in KY not said as its named? FYI in Ohio where near Canton there is a city spelled the same exact way but they say Louis over Louie as a former coworker of mine from Canton said that people from that part of Ohio take offense at that lol!
Bogota in NJ is not the same as the capital of Columbia. I found out later its Bog- oh- tah and not Bo-gah- tah as many say who are not from that part of NJ.
Beaufort, NC (Bow-fort) and Beaufort, SC (Byoo-fort) are the same way.
Quote from: briantroutman on October 26, 2017, 05:23:17 PM
So do people in the pin-pen merger area call a one-cent piece a "pinny" ?
Bin Franklin?
A dime is tin cents?
Larry Craig got arrested in the min's room?
Steely Dan's 1972 hit "Do It Agin" ?
You got it. Now that I think about it we usually specify what type of pin/pen we want. Ink pen, stick pen, safety pin, fountain pen.
Quote from: kphoger on October 24, 2017, 02:14:23 PM
The nation of Colombia often gets spelled wrong, and I've even seen TV news stations get it wrong. Columbia is in South Carolina, Colombia is in South America.
Quote from: roadman65 on October 26, 2017, 05:07:03 PM
Bogota in NJ is not the same as the capital of Columbia.
:pan: Thanks for proving my point on that one.
Quote from: roadman65 on October 26, 2017, 05:07:03 PM
Why is Louisville in KY not said as its named?
It is. Louisville was named after Louis XVI of France in honor of their participation in the American Revolutionary War, and he most certainly did not pronounce his name as
Loo-iss.
Those slavic words without vowels, like Krk island in Croatia. Also Polish words with lots of diacritics, with the champion being ŁÃ³dź which is pronounced something like "woodge".
Quote from: kphoger on October 24, 2017, 02:14:23 PMempanada РLike habanero above, this is said em-pah-nah-dah. There's no ̱ in there, despite many Americans saying em-pah-nyah-dah
Funnily enough,
empañada is an actual word, the feminine form of "steamed up".
I thought the "local" way to say Louisville is "loouhville" which I guess is closer to "loo-ee" anyway.
Quote from: HazMatt on October 26, 2017, 02:38:49 PM
This is English, where the rules are made up and the points don't matter.
Whose Line Is It Anyway :clap:
Quote from: roadman65 on October 26, 2017, 05:07:03 PM
Why is Louisville in KY not said as its named? FYI in Ohio where near Canton there is a city spelled the same exact way but they say Louis over Louie as a former coworker of mine from Canton said that people from that part of Ohio take offense at that lol!
Bogota in NJ is not the same as the capital of Columbia. I found out later its Bog- oh- tah and not Bo-gah- tah as many say who are not from that part of NJ.
You're arguing logically, which illustrates complete misunderstanding of the nature of English.
Especially proper names.
Quote from: HazMatt on October 26, 2017, 02:38:49 PM
Quote from: Rothman on October 26, 2017, 02:31:15 PM
Heh. Pin has "ih," pen has "eh." We have different letters for reasons. :D
This is English, where the rules are made up and the points don't matter.
Thanks. I've heard that before but I guess I've always assumed it was a British thing.
"i before e except after c unless that is not the case"
TMI. people. Keep it to PG around here. We really don't need to know about your sex lives.
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on October 24, 2017, 05:35:14 PM
Quote from: webny99 on October 24, 2017, 03:40:48 PM
"Tortilla" is another interesting one. Most people I know say it how it sounds, "tor-TILL-a", as opposed to the correct (Spanish) pronunciation of "tor-TEE-a".
I have never heard anyone say tor-TILL-a? Is that a midwest thing?
In Waterbury, CT, it's tor-TEE-la.
Here's a list of my heavy hitters:
Comfortable. It is not pronounced comfter-ble. It's comfort-a-ble
Escape. You don't ex-scape from prison
Berlin in New England: It's BER-lin, not ber-LIN
New Haven. It's not Newhaven
Jewelry. It's not jewel-ah-ree. Only two syllables (my great aunt always corrected people till her dying day)
Meriden: It's not the same as the city in Mississippi or the 0 degree longitude prime line.
Cheshire: It's not Chee-shire. It's Chesh-err
Hampden: In MA, the "p" is silent. Sounds just like the town in CT
Avon: It's like the cosmetic company; not like the first four letters of "avenue". Speaking of that word, is it "aven-oo" or "aven-yoo"
Quarter: My mom always rhymes it with water. New England thing I guess
Saturday: My grandmother always made it sound like it was a day named after a soon to be defunct retailer (Sear-dee)
Agawam: I almost cringed when a news reporter not familiar with the area called it Ah-GAH-wam.
Schaghticoke: It's pronounced SCAT-i-coke.
And to be funny, my friends in college used to call each other fajitas all the time. Except we pronounced it FAA-jita with the anglicized "j" sound.
Quote from: US71 on October 26, 2017, 10:17:22 PM
TMI. people. Keep it to PG around here. We really don't need to know about your sex lives.
Oh darn I musta missed something good. ;-)
Quote from: US71 on October 26, 2017, 10:17:22 PM
TMI. people. Keep it to PG around here. We really don't need to know about your sex lives.
okay, but the curse words make this forum at least pg-13.
Quote from: allniter89 on October 26, 2017, 10:28:37 PM
Quote from: US71 on October 26, 2017, 10:17:22 PM
TMI. people. Keep it to PG around here. We really don't need to know about your sex lives.
Oh darn I musta missed something good. ;-)
Had to do with inflicting corporal punishment on a lower order of primate.
Quote from: jp the roadgeek on October 26, 2017, 10:38:16 PM
Quote from: allniter89 on October 26, 2017, 10:28:37 PM
Quote from: US71 on October 26, 2017, 10:17:22 PM
TMI. people. Keep it to PG around here. We really don't need to know about your sex lives.
Oh darn I musta missed something good. ;-)
Had to do with inflicting corporal punishment on a lower order of primate.
That's very vague.
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on October 26, 2017, 10:36:37 PM
Quote from: US71 on October 26, 2017, 10:17:22 PM
TMI. people. Keep it to PG around here. We really don't need to know about your sex lives.
okay, but the curse words make this forum at least pg-13.
(https://addictionandrecoverynews.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/missing-the-point.gif?w=500&h=205)
I am locking this until my fellow mods and I can figure out if this is worth leaving open.
Thread's going nowhere - it will stay locked. Please grow up people and stick to the topic.