“What’s A Word That Someone Horribly Mispronounced That You Still Remember?” (30 Answers)

Language can be weird sometimes. You usually find that out when learning a foreign language. Suddenly there are different sounds and a different-looking alphabet. You have to bend your tongue in ways you didn't even think was possible. Not to mention that words aren't spelled the way they're written.

So it's no wonder people make mistakes in pronunciation. One Redditor had an idea to ask people what's the most memorable incorrect pronunciation they've heard. And the people delivered – from "penglings" to "Cog Nack" and "poll-em" instead of "poem."

To know more about why we mispronounce words and why some words are harder to pronounce than others, Bored Panda reached out to accent coach Luke Nicholson. He's the mind behind Improve Your Accent and a member of the International Phonetic Association. You can read our conversation with him below!

More info: Improve Your Accent | Instagram | TikTok | Facebook

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“What’s A Word That Someone Horribly Mispronounced That You Still Remember?” (30 Answers) My wife still says "Rhino-saurus" every time she tries to pronounce "Rhinoceros."

To be fair, her way is better.

Unlucky_Escape_6348 , Casey Allen / pexels Report

Final score:

178points

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WindySwede 10 months ago

👍

27points

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Mispronouncing words is a natural part of learning a new language. It's a common occurrence even for native speakers. This time we'll discuss the English language and its phonetic aspects in more depth. But keep in mind, we can apply similar logic to the other languages of the world.

Our expert on English phonetics is Luke Nicholson. He has been teaching English learners how to communicate more clearly for over 10 years. Nicholson teaches a summer course in English Phonetics at the University College London and is also the creator of Funetics, a website that focuses on languages other than English

“What’s A Word That Someone Horribly Mispronounced That You Still Remember?” (30 Answers) Ooohhh ooohh the "penglings" by Benedict Cumberbatch

devil_vomit2_0_0_5 , Pixabay / pexels Report

Final score:

148points

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Kate 10 months ago

Yes, but it's adorable.

43points

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“What’s A Word That Someone Horribly Mispronounced That You Still Remember?” (30 Answers) Worcestershire sauce. He said 'wash your sister ' sauce and I about died laughing

Tennispro5691 , Lala da / pexels Report

Final score:

132points

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still tired 10 months ago

Isn't it pronounced woo-ster-shir sauce? Idk it's really hard to pronounce

47points

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In 2017, Luke became the UK Freelancer of the Year. He has also spoken for a variety of media, from BBC Radio London to the Rosetta Stone podcast. His goal is to provide high-quality teaching materials for British English pronunciation.

Nicholson says that people mispronounce words for different reasons. "If someone hasn't been exposed to a word in its spoken form, they may guess the pronunciation based on the spelling," he explains.

“What’s A Word That Someone Horribly Mispronounced That You Still Remember?” (30 Answers) It’s Christmas time, which means lots of chocolate ads. Friend of mine informed us that his favorite chocolates where the “feral ranchers.”

Batmans_9th_Ab , Bernadett Dioszegi / pexels Report

Final score:

103points

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Jihana 10 months ago

Without the picture of Ferrero Rocher I would not have figured out what feral ranchers are.

92points

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“What’s A Word That Someone Horribly Mispronounced That You Still Remember?” (30 Answers) Someone who thought the word "vicariously" was bi-curiously. "You're going on vacation with your friends? Wow! I'm gonna live bi-curiously through you!"

markoyolo , nappy / pexels Report

Final score:

87points

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Nadia Caerleon 10 months ago

She said what she meant.

68points

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“What’s A Word That Someone Horribly Mispronounced That You Still Remember?” (30 Answers) We had a training at work, taught by an outside organization. The lady was talking about the Irish potato famine. Except she kept calling it the potato phantom. She did this at least five times

duchessofcheezit , Polina Tankilevitch / pexels Report

Final score:

80points

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WindySwede 10 months ago

To the rescue! The_Phanto...Mirror.jpg

19points

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Sadly, spelling sometimes can be your worst enemy, especially in the English language. "Unfortunately for English learners, English spelling doesn't clearly reflect how we pronounce words today," the accent coach says. He gives one example: "We spell 'lamb' with a 'b' because we used to pronounce it, but we don't anymore."

“What’s A Word That Someone Horribly Mispronounced That You Still Remember?” (30 Answers) An old colleague once claimed she was ‘unindated’ with work. Now i have to say ‘inundated’ ten times in my head before out loud because that has ruined me for life.

redhead_instead , Canva Studio / pexels Report

Final score:

76points

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Realistic Optimist 10 months ago

Same! Thought I was losing it for a sec.

18points

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“What’s A Word That Someone Horribly Mispronounced That You Still Remember?” (30 Answers) Facade.

Worked for a guy that was an "intellectually overconfident" type, to put it in the most civil way I know how lol.

He kept using the word and had obviously never heard of it until he read it somewhere. Kept pronouncing it "fake-aid". He would go on rants about "fake" people and use this to describe their personalities. It was really cringe inducing.

Eventually the stars aligned and we were together on a business trip, I saw a building under construction. "That place is going to have a really beautiful facade", I said (it genuinely did) and there was no response but about a month later I overheard him using the word and saying it correctly. So whatever.

IAMENKIDU , Diva Plavalaguna / pexels Report

Final score:

76points

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Camber Hollywood 10 months ago

This sounds like somebody who learned the word while reading. And he sounds smart and intellectually flexible for picking up on it so quickly.

8points

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“What’s A Word That Someone Horribly Mispronounced That You Still Remember?” (30 Answers) When I worked at Subway, I asked a customer what kind of dressing he wanted, and he said, "do you know, uh, chipotle?"

Which he butchered so badly I heard it as "do you know a cheap hotel?" So I told him, "yeah, down on 39th Street" and we were both thoroughly confused.

Karaethon22 , Mister Mister / pexels Report

Final score:

74points

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BrownTabby 10 months ago

In their defense, as a non-American I didn’t know the pronunciation until I saw a John Oliver segment about the restaurant chain, which he referred to as “America’s preferred over-the-counter laxative”.

30points

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People who are learning English are not the only ones struggling with having to pronounce words differently from how they're spelled. Native speakers can fall victim to this too. "Who could deduce that 'wind' (the movement of air) and 'wind' (as in winding up a clock) are pronounced differently?" Nicholson observes.

#10

“What’s A Word That Someone Horribly Mispronounced That You Still Remember?” (30 Answers) Had a friend that pronounced the b in "subtle." Was annoying as f**k.

LoadingScreenWTF , Christina Morillo / pexels Report

Final score:

73points

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Lior Feldman 10 months ago

The b is subtle

75points

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#11

“What’s A Word That Someone Horribly Mispronounced That You Still Remember?” (30 Answers) My old boss.

Escaped goat : scapegoat
Interpretate : interpret
Pacifically : specifically

Every. F*****g. Time. In front of some clever people before he would introduce me to carry on with the presentation...

GabberZZ , LinkedIn Sales Navigator / pexels Report

Final score:

72points

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Marie BellaDonna 10 months ago

How is it these morons are always the ones who end up in charge?? Sigh...

53points

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#12

“What’s A Word That Someone Horribly Mispronounced That You Still Remember?” (30 Answers) Extracurricular as "Extra Kickler". The bad part about it is that it was one of my high school teachers. We even starting calling him The Midnight Kickler what kickles at midnight.

nvaughan81 , fauxels / pexels Report

Final score:

71points

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David Martin 10 months ago

In high school, we were supposed to read segments of a story in turn, and my segment included the word redolent. When I got to that part, the teacher stopped me to explain "It's pronounced re-DOH-lent, not red-UH-lint". I knew better, but I said it her way. The next day, she announced that she has asked three other people, and that I had in fact been right

4points

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"Guessing pronunciation from the spelling is even challenging for those who speak English as their first language," the accent coach reiterates. "Place names are particularly troublesome." He gives one interesting example: did you know that "Cholmondeley" is actually pronounced "CHUM-lee"?

#13

“What’s A Word That Someone Horribly Mispronounced That You Still Remember?” (30 Answers) Pah-harmacist. I think about that woman a lot lol

avocadofajita , Edward Jenner / pexels Report

Final score:

67points

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JoNo 10 months ago

That "harm" in there really changes the meaning of the word.

34points

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#14

“What’s A Word That Someone Horribly Mispronounced That You Still Remember?” (30 Answers) My high school girlfriend travelled with me to visit my family in SoCal after graduation.

We were playing Trivial Pursuit and it was her turn to read the question.

The question was something like "which south american king ruled with a chihuahua?"

Only she pronounced it as "cha-whoo-a-whoo-a".

It took a good 30 seconds to understand what she word she was trying to pronounce. And a good 30 minutes for my entire family to stop laughing. We still joke about it to this day.

ksozay , Pixabay / pexels Report

Final score:

67points

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lily jones 10 months ago

I just did the thing where you say a word so many times it stops feeling like a real word... chi wa wa... chi whoo a whoo a..

32points

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#15

“What’s A Word That Someone Horribly Mispronounced That You Still Remember?” (30 Answers) 20 years ago my wife and I were behind a woman at Target at the register. She began arguing with the cashier over the price for an item, and after a few rounds back and forth loudly proclaimed, *"I ain't no mathematic, but I ain't no stupid neither!"*

We still use that whenever the "math don't math" on something.

I was, for reference, a mathematics major.

Uncle_Baconn , Kampus Production / pexels Report

Final score:

67points

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Kimbowa 10 months ago

When I thought about it, the “matic” in mathematic makes me think of a machine (automatic) so a robot specifically designed to do mathematics would be Robomathic. (Row-bow-math-ick) lol

11points

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Are non-English speakers doomed then? "For those who don't speak English as their first language, there may be sounds they find tricky to pronounce," Nicholson explains. "For instance, the Spanish language doesn't have a distinction between a 's' and a 'sh' sound. This means English words like 'sash' may be mispronounced by Spanish speakers."

#16

“What’s A Word That Someone Horribly Mispronounced That You Still Remember?” (30 Answers) "It's ponunced nukular!"

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Final score:

63points

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Bored Templar 10 months ago

George W Bush says: Whaaaat?

28points

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#17

“What’s A Word That Someone Horribly Mispronounced That You Still Remember?” (30 Answers) When reading an award at a US Army ceremony, the Personell clerk was reading "He is a fine outstanding soldier all his peers should seek to emulate", he pronounced it "eliminate"

DMark69 , Bryce Carithers / pexels Report

Final score:

62points

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Teutonic Disaster 10 months ago

That must've caused some raised... eyebrows.

26points

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#18

“What’s A Word That Someone Horribly Mispronounced That You Still Remember?” (30 Answers) I work in the legislative/policy field, and my boss pronounces statutes "statue-ettes." It's wild.

__mitski , Pixabay / pexels Report

Final score:

59points

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Kimbowa 10 months ago

Statue (sta-chew) and statute (sta-chute) are so close and in spelling too. And by the way, statuettes (sta-chew-ets)are small statues. And some people are very statuesque (sta-chew-esk).

30points

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Those to whom English is a second language most often struggle with how to pronounce the 'th' sound. Surprisingly, we can find the sound in other languages spoken in Europe as well. "The 'th' sounds in English (like in 'this' and 'thing') are found in a few other languages," Nicholson says. Among them are Icelandic, Albanian, Welsh, and Greek.

#19

“What’s A Word That Someone Horribly Mispronounced That You Still Remember?” (30 Answers) Girl in college:

Word -- "Annihilate"

Her pronunciation --- Annie - Hilly -Ate

freshlikeuhhhhh , Yaroslav Shuraev / pexels Report

Final score:

56points

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WindySwede 10 months ago

What did she eat? 🙃

19points

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#20

“What’s A Word That Someone Horribly Mispronounced That You Still Remember?” (30 Answers) I was in a miss teen type of pageant & during the panel I was asked, “if you were handed a red crown what would you draw?”
I had to ask the moderator to repeat the question & with a chuckle, I asked for clarification on if she meant a red “crown” or did she actually mean a red crayon. None of the judges were happy with me smugly correcting the moderator.

TrashWeird968 , Marvin Malmis Ponce / pexels Report

Final score:

53points

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WindySwede 10 months ago

"With a red crown I would draw the red queen, for obvious reason, for that pronunciation. With a Crayon, I would draw a heart to show how the school have failed you"

29points

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#21

“What’s A Word That Someone Horribly Mispronounced That You Still Remember?” (30 Answers) Ex girlfriend pronounced rhododendron as RaDonDaDron

allisonmaybe , Siegfried Poepperl / pexels Report

Final score:

49points

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Bill Swallow 10 months ago

Da Doo Ron Ron Ron, Da Doo Ron Ron!

64points

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Unfortunately, the 'th' sound is not that common in other languages. "This suggests they could be trickier to articulate," the accent coach tells Bored Panda. "For those speakers who don't have the 'th' sounds in their native language, the English 'th' sounds might be tricky to master."

#22

“What’s A Word That Someone Horribly Mispronounced That You Still Remember?” (30 Answers) It was a brunch time first date at a restaurant fancier than I’m usually comfortable with. Was looking to get a little buzz to take the edge off. I pointed to the mimosa carafe that was on the menu and asked if she would like to share one. We were in agreement that it looked wonderful so when the server came over, I confidently declared that we would like the mimosa care-a-fay. The server laughed. My date laughed. I was mega embarrassed.

We dated for about a year and a half after this incident and she would occasionally ask if I’d like a care a fay of whatever liquid was in close proximity.

TLDR: Carafe is pronounced more like giraffe. Definitely don’t say care a fay on a first date or ever.

XcoolbreezeX , Charlotte May / pexels Report

Final score:

47points

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BrownTabby 10 months ago (edited)

This is a situation where the words “You can if it’s true love” are appropriate. (As in, if a date doesn’t work out, there are other reasons besides a small goof like that.)

18points

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#23

“What’s A Word That Someone Horribly Mispronounced That You Still Remember?” (30 Answers) Working in web development, there was *one* person on my team who consistently mispronounced the word "cache". Drove me nuts.

It's one syllable, folks, not two! "Cash", not "cash-ay"!

CaptainTime5556 , Christina Morillo / pexels Report

Final score:

43points

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Realistic Optimist 10 months ago

I'm in IT and don't mind this. Honestly, it just makes me think about how weird English is as a language.

34points

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#24

“What’s A Word That Someone Horribly Mispronounced That You Still Remember?” (30 Answers) Coworker was saying stigmata instead of stigma. Multiple times. Also claimed to have a photographic memory. Irony.

umbzapt , fauxels / pexels Report

Final score:

43points

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Kimbowa 10 months ago

Too bad she didn’t have a phono-graphic memory or she would hear it pronounced correctly.

41points

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What's interesting is that Nicholson advises not to stress too much over this. "This isn't actually that important," he says. "Many English speakers in the UK actually pronounce the 'th' sounds as 'f' and 'v' instead. So 'first' and 'thirst', and 'sliver' and 'slither' sound the same."

#25

“What’s A Word That Someone Horribly Mispronounced That You Still Remember?” (30 Answers) My Mom back in the 70s used to pronounce a "resume" for work a resume(re-zoom) as in resuming work. It made sense to her.

blindfox001 , Sora Shimazaki / pexels Report

Final score:

39points

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Julie S 10 months ago

In the UK we pronounce this CV

27points

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#26

“What’s A Word That Someone Horribly Mispronounced That You Still Remember?” (30 Answers) Co-worker got charged with DUI. He was writing down the facts to show his lawyer and he asked me "How do you spell so-vi-it-e?"

He was saying sobriety but with a V instead of a B. I told him I thought it was S-O-B-R-I-E-T-Y. He told me that was wrong "cuz there is no v in it."

I told him there wasn't a V in sobriety and he said, "Then why is it pronounced so-vi-it-tree? See there is a v in it." I gave up and told him he was right and I had no idea how to spell the word.

Empereor_Norton , Lisa Fotios / pexels Report

Final score:

36points

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WindySwede 10 months ago

Not 'sovereign citizen' /s

10points

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#27

“What’s A Word That Someone Horribly Mispronounced That You Still Remember?” (30 Answers) At a Chinese Restaurant and my coworker asked for General Toes. I still laugh about it to this day.

crumad , Chandri Anggara / pexels Report

Final score:

35points

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lily jones 10 months ago

Off topic but the food in the picture looks soooo good now I'm starving again

16points

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Some people use pronunciation to assume people's level of sophistication. If a person pronounces a word or words incorrectly, that somehow reflects on their intelligence. Luke Nicholson says that such stereotypes are simply not true. "As I mentioned, sometimes it's impossible to guess the pronunciation of a word based on spelling alone," he explains.

#28

“What’s A Word That Someone Horribly Mispronounced That You Still Remember?” (30 Answers) Friend pronounced "meme" as "memmay"

Capital_Cockroach611 , Anastasia Shuraeva / pexels Report

Final score:

33points

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OutspokenHBW 10 months ago

I pronounced it as memmee for like 4 years before my brother told me it was meem. I read more that I talked to people back then.

25points

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#29

“What’s A Word That Someone Horribly Mispronounced That You Still Remember?” (30 Answers) Lingerie. She pronounced it lin-jeer-ee and argued with me over the pronunciation until Google stepped in with the correct answer lol

1127_and_Im_tired , Castorly Stock / pexels Report

Final score:

33points

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Marie BellaDonna 10 months ago

Sometimes I pronounce it like Jamie Foxx, when he played Ugly Wanda, on "In Living Color": "Linger-ee", lol.

23points

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#30

“What’s A Word That Someone Horribly Mispronounced That You Still Remember?” (30 Answers) A former neighbour was talking about a movie she saw and it was called Malice - pronounced 'mah lice'.

I really miss her though.

gunnergrrl , JESHOOTS.com / pexels Report

Final score:

23points

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Bill Swallow 10 months ago

But do you miss her Lice?

9points

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Note: this post originally had 44 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.

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Nicholson also has a solid argument against prejudices about incorrect pronunciation. "If someone is mispronouncing a word because their first language isn't English, we should remember that they are clever enough to speak more than one language!"

What do you think ?

Content Wombat 10 months ago

I was told when I was a child to be gentle when other people mispronounce words as it meant that they had read them somewhere rather than heard them and "reading is a very special thing to do". :) x

Tyke 10 months ago

I agree except in the instance of my friend. She was properly screaming down a barmaid for about 10 solid minutes because the poor woman didn't pour her "proscetto" properly

2points

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LokisLilButterknife 10 months ago (edited)

As someone who works in the language services industry, I think a lot of people expect me to constantly be a grammar Nazi. It actually really rubs me the wrong way when people correct grammar or mispronunciations in a way that hurts or humiliates the person who made the mistake. If you feel so obliged to correct someone please do it in a kind way and acknowledge that you also make mistakes. Heck, I’m supposed to be an expert in the art of translation and I still make idiotic grammar and spelling mistakes. Also, please remember that not everyone may be a native speaker of English or your native language as well.

15points

Carrie Laughs 10 months ago

Plus, please remember that it's estimated that 1 in 10 people are dyslexic. Dyslexia is a learning difficulty that primarily affects the skills involved in accurate and fluent word reading and spelling. Characteristic features of dyslexia are difficulties in phonological awareness, verbal memory and verbal processing speed. These things can very much impact someone's pronunciation - my husband will add an extra syllable in some words as he doesn't 'see' them the same way we do.

Bec 10 months ago

I agree, as long as you can understand what they are trying to communicate it doesn't have to be perfect.

Auntriarch 10 months ago

A hundred upvotes for you Loki!

Someone_from_the_Netherlands 10 months ago

Everybody who is (native) English should read: The Chaos Dearest creature in Creation, Studying English pronunciation, I will teach you in my verse Sounds like corpse, corps, horse and worse. It will keep you, Susy, busy, Make your head with heat grow dizzy; Tear in eye your dress you'll tear. So shall I! Oh, hear my prayer, Pray, console your loving poet, Make my coat look new, dear, sew it? Just compare heart, beard and heard, Dies and diet, lord and word, Sword and sward, retain and Britain, (Mind the latter, how it's written!) ... Google it!

5points

Lady Lava 10 months ago

I have read somewhere that this poem is written by a Dutch man. Being Dutch myself and having had (and sometimes still have) my own struggles with the discrepancy between spelling and pronunciation in English, I really feel this!

0points

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“What’s A Word That Someone Horribly Mispronounced That You Still Remember?” (30 Answers)

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