Words you didn't know how to spell (or say)

[7/8]

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?

[US 89]

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.

[Roadgeekteen]

aang from avatar the last airbender. No rgt, it is not just a...

[freebrickproductions]

Bologna has an absolutely baloney spelling and/or pronunciation.

[kkt]

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.

[hbelkins]

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. 

[formulanone]

Another word I almost always misspell: "convenient". I usually mangle it so badly that spell-checkers won't suggest anything.

[MNHighwayMan]

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."

[Throckmorton]

French words drive me crazy that way

voilà (there it is)

Some people write, "walla," when posting in internet forums.

But, yeah...French.

[Throckmorton]

Until 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.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

"Exercise"  gave me fits. Always felt it was "excercise" .

[kurumi]

New England Patriots, years ago: I figured out, a little late, that Tedy Bruschi and Teddy Brewski were in fact the same guy

[Scott5114]

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.

[Brandon]

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").

[hbelkins]

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.

[MNHighwayMan]

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 mostly exists only in the South.

[kphoger]

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.

[HazMatt]

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 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?

[Rothman]

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 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.

[HazMatt]

Heh.  Pin has "ih," pen has "eh."  We have different letters for reasons.

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.

[roadman65]

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.

[briantroutman]

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" ?

[HazMatt]

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.

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.

[kphoger]

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.

Bogota in NJ is not the same as the capital of Columbia.

  Thanks for proving my point on that one.

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.

[kphoger]

A dime is tin cints?

FTFY