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“What’s A Word That Someone Horribly Mispronounced That You Still Remember?” (30 Answers)
Interview With Expert
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
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
My wife still says "Rhino-saurus" every time she tries to pronounce "Rhinoceros."
To be fair, her way is better.
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
RELATED:
#2
Ooohhh ooohh the "penglings" by Benedict Cumberbatch
#3
Worcestershire sauce. He said 'wash your sister ' sauce and I about died laughing
still tired 1 year ago
Isn't it pronounced woo-ster-shir sauce? Idk it's really hard to pronounce
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.
#4
It’s Christmas time, which means lots of chocolate ads. Friend of mine informed us that his favorite chocolates where the “feral ranchers.”
#5
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!"
#6
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
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."
#7
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.
#8
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.
Camber Hollywood 1 year 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.
#9
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.
BrownTabby 1 year 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”.
K B. 1 year ago
This word is pronounced cheap-oat-lay and often mispronounced many ways, chip-ot-ul (almost cheap hotel) is one of the more common mistakes. It comes from Chipotle peppers. Lots of southwestern words borrowed from Mexican Spanish get this response like saguaro (sah war oh) and jalapeno (hala peen yo), and my favorite tortilla (tore tee ah).
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Content Wombat 1 year ago
As a British person, chipotle took ages for me to learn how to pronounce properly.
Fraxinus excelsior 1 year ago
When I first saw it written down, I thought someone had spelled chipolata wrong. 😂
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Bored Templar 1 year ago
Oh oh! I have a friend who can't pronounce Subway; she always says: Sutway
The Other Guest 1 year ago
Puts me in mind of that old Jack in the Box commercial. My partner & I still call the pepper "chih-poodle" because of it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AN7IG6Pwlec
Sebby's Mama 1 year ago
Recently went on a lunch date and they pronounced it "chip-oat-uhl". Not the worst, except that they enunciated each part.
mommamarmar 1 year ago
My mom pronounces it chip-ole-tee, and I cringe very time. She might as well call a tortilla a tort-ill-uh.
Nice Beast Ludo 1 year ago
My sister pronounced guacamole like "wockamole" and me and my other sister never let her live it down.
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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
Had a friend that pronounced the b in "subtle." Was annoying as f**k.
#11
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...
Marie BellaDonna 1 year ago
How is it these morons are always the ones who end up in charge?? Sigh...
#12
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.
David Martin 1 year 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
"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"?
#14
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.
lily jones 1 year 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..
#15
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.
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."
#17
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"
#18
I work in the legislative/policy field, and my boss pronounces statutes "statue-ettes." It's wild.
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
Girl in college:
Word -- "Annihilate"
Her pronunciation --- Annie - Hilly -Ate
#20
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.
WindySwede 1 year 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"
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
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.
BrownTabby 1 year 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.)
#23
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"!
Realistic Optimist 1 year ago
I'm in IT and don't mind this. Honestly, it just makes me think about how weird English is as a language.
#24
Coworker was saying stigmata instead of stigma. Multiple times. Also claimed to have a photographic memory. Irony.
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
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.
#26
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.
#27
At a Chinese Restaurant and my coworker asked for General Toes. I still laugh about it to this day.
lily jones 1 year ago
Off topic but the food in the picture looks soooo good now I'm starving again
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
Friend pronounced "meme" as "memmay"
OutspokenHBW 1 year 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.
#29
Lingerie. She pronounced it lin-jeer-ee and argued with me over the pronunciation until Google stepped in with the correct answer lol
Marie BellaDonna 1 year ago
Sometimes I pronounce it like Jamie Foxx, when he played Ugly Wanda, on "In Living Color": "Linger-ee", lol.
#30
A former neighbour was talking about a movie she saw and it was called Malice - pronounced 'mah lice'.
I really miss her though.
What do you think ?
Content Wombat 1 year 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 1 year 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
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LokisLilButterknife 1 year 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.
Carrie Laughs 1 year 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.
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Someone_from_the_Netherlands 1 year 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!
Lady Lava 12 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!
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Papa 1 year ago
I was an adult before I learned that colonel isn't pronounced the way it's spelled.
Ren Karlej 1 year ago
Indeed. Then there is the way we British say lieutenant as 'leftenant'!
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1 year ago
I used to call fingers THINGERS until i read it in a book in the first grade. I was mad that no one corrected me. THINGERS and THUMB made sense to me though.
JayWantsACat 1 year ago
An old co-worker used to pronounce library "lie-berry" and strawberry "straw-brary" and I think about that way too much.
The Original Bruno 1 year ago
Cinnamaldehyde is the simplest, purest form of what gives cinnamon its scent and flavor. You might call it the least, still-functional part of cinnamon. Or the minimum cinnamon synonym. My organic chem professor hated me after I told him that one. He couldn't pronounce "cinnamon" for weeks because his lips kept getting " minimum cinnamon synonym" in'em.
SirWriteALot 1 year ago
People probably read it and never learned to pronounce it. What irks me more is the word-ization of abbreviations or acronyms ... like SEO is pronounced "see-oh", or "LOL" is pronounced "loll" ... I mean, nobody says "ibm" for IBM ... but as soon as it's speakable it is spoken. So annoying. Just es-tee-eff you dee-eff emm-eff
Natalie Kung 1 year ago
When I was younger I used to pronounce hippopotamus as hippo-potato. I still kind of do, just for fun.
1 year ago
How many times have you heard a preacher talk about someone lying PROSTATE on the floor?
ObsidianAce_ 1 year ago
One time I pronounced politician as politi- (as in political) -can (as in a soda can)
Fickle_Pickle 1 year ago
My SO would correct me when I incorrectly pronounce certain words. I get back at him in spelling though so we’re even 😂
ispeak catanese 1 year ago
My pretentious boss says "simular" and "sharshooterie" board. It's amazing how often both come up in conversation.
Marie BellaDonna 1 year ago (edited)
My dad had a buddy at work who pronounced "buffet" boo-fay, and "buffalo" as boo-falo. One day Dad tricked his boss, who was kind of an ahole but they liked to mess with each other, into a conversation with the buddy, about this new "boo-fay" he'd gone to, with amazing "boo-falo" wings. And the whole time, dad is standing behind the buddy, right in Junior (the boss)'s line of sight, just silently laughing his àss off. Junior was so ticked, lol. But they laughed about it later. To this day, probably 30 years later, he still laughs about that, and he still has no idea how Junior kept a straight face lol. Come to think of it, my dad's kind of an ahole in his own right. Maybe that's why he could tolerate Junior so well...
Tracy Wallick 11 months ago
English is my first and only language. If I pronounce something wrong it's because A) I've only ever read it before, or B) I'm pronouncing it wrong on purpose. (e.g. "gooslings" instead of "goslings", because you still know what I'm talking about but 'gooslings' is much more fun to say)
Louisa Alexander 11 months ago
Every tv detective, real and fiction, that says "co-woborate" for corroborate.
Ginger Grumpybunny 12 months ago
"Bored Panda reached out to accent coach Luke Nicholson. He's the mind behind Improve Your Accent"... How about we celebrate our real accents and respect others'? Intentionally altering your accent may be a useful skill if you're an actor, but in other contexts, the one you already have is fine.
Danette Leitch 12 months ago
I was playing Trivial Pursuit with my older brother & mom on a long car trip. I read out the questions and they answer. I came to a word I have never heard before so being the brainy 7 year old I pronunced sauce ker rat. My mom said I think you are reading it wrong. I adamantly kept saying it. She finally said read the answer. Finely chopped up cabbage that has been fermented. The word was Sauerkraut. I no longer eat paints chips lol.
alchemilla vulgaris 12 months ago
When I first moved to an English-speaking country, many moons ago, I had to come to grips with a number of idioms I had not encountered in school books. One I liked A LOT was "I can't be asked", as in "I have absolutely zero intention of doing that, don't even bother to ask". Yes I found out the hard way the real spelling and (same spirit) different literal meaning... (for English as a second language people: it's "I can't be ar$ed").
Will Cable 12 months ago (edited)
I like variations in the way we pronounce things, I hear on some YT channels as Nissan is pronounced "nee-san" while on other "niss-un".
The Doom Song 1 year ago
I have a customer who pronounces the tequila Jose Cuevero as Joss Kevro. It drives me nuts coz I correct her every time
Stannous Flouride 1 year ago
It has been labeled "Readerisms" or Calliope Syndrome, the latter pronounced "Calley-ope"
Toothless Feline 1 year ago
My mother cannot say the word "pheasant". It always comes out as "fez-a-nant".
scteach87161921 1 year ago
I think this incident may have been more her accent than anything but still makes me chuckle when I think of it. I like in central NC and was at Belk (a department store) looking for a dress to wear to a rehearsal dinner for a wedding I was in. I found this very pretty dress and tried it on. It fit so I went to the counter to check out. The salesperson and I were chatting about what a pretty blue the dress was and what shade of blue it might be. After throwing a few around, she said "You know, I think it might be aqua!" But pronounced it "ack-wah." I kept my giggle to myself and said, "Yes, I think it is aqua (as-kwuh)"
Brian bell 1 year ago
Some words like Caribbean or comfortable (and many others really) can be spoken more than one way. But, there are those who will insist on "just the one" way of saying them. I refer them to the Oxford English dictionary on-line. It has a good sound clip feature and ends the petty argument!
Shelby P 1 year ago (edited)
Though I agree with folks who are saying to be forgiving to those who mispronounce words, I have a coworker who is such a petty, aggressive, and spiteful know-it-all, that I cannot overlook all the times she does this. She does it so much and she also refuses to pronounce people's names correctly even after correction.... Sometimes I think she does it on purpose,... Anyway, the 2 that get me the most, because she says them so often are: instead of condescending she says condensating and instead of ethnicity she say ethinicticity (both c's pronounced as s's). On the flip side I thought it was hilarious when I finally learned how to pronounce Penelope correctly instead of "Penny-lope"
Ample Aardvark 1 year ago
Liquorice, never heard it spoken so it was obviously pronounced "lick-or-ice" 😑. My excuse is that English is not my native language!
Reviewer UK01 1 year ago
Ash-felt (asphalt) just look at the letters and what order they are in
Carrie Paulsen 1 year ago
People from the Iowa and that part of the country pronounce sorry - sow ray. It doesn't seem sincere and more like not sorry.
Carrie Paulsen 1 year ago
There's a doughnut in my cheek. From The Band - Cripple Creek. I still don't know what they're sayin but pretty sure it's not about donuts LOL
Stardust she/her 1 year ago
My English teacher pronounces words all wrong. She pronounced “wagging” as “Wai-ging” and “needle” as “nedel”
Carrie Paulsen 1 year ago
How interesting she would decide to be an English teacher; she's teaching real English from England. I get it Chee)
Load More Replies... Kyra Heiker 1 year ago
I once met a man who claimed he was just returned from a job site in Africa, specifically in Tan-zany-uh. My best friend thought the word mauve was pronounced mwahv, and did not believe me when I told her it rhymes with stove.
My O My 1 year ago
How is Tansania pronounced in english? For it is the correct pronounciation in german - and was once a german colony. So he might have heard it pronouced that way
Load More Replies... Content Wombat 1 year 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 1 year 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
Load More Replies... LokisLilButterknife 1 year 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.
Carrie Laughs 1 year 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.
Load More Replies... Someone_from_the_Netherlands 1 year 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!
Lady Lava 12 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!
Load More Replies... Papa 1 year ago
I was an adult before I learned that colonel isn't pronounced the way it's spelled.
Ren Karlej 1 year ago
Indeed. Then there is the way we British say lieutenant as 'leftenant'!
Load More Replies... 1 year ago
I used to call fingers THINGERS until i read it in a book in the first grade. I was mad that no one corrected me. THINGERS and THUMB made sense to me though.
JayWantsACat 1 year ago
An old co-worker used to pronounce library "lie-berry" and strawberry "straw-brary" and I think about that way too much.
The Original Bruno 1 year ago
Cinnamaldehyde is the simplest, purest form of what gives cinnamon its scent and flavor. You might call it the least, still-functional part of cinnamon. Or the minimum cinnamon synonym. My organic chem professor hated me after I told him that one. He couldn't pronounce "cinnamon" for weeks because his lips kept getting " minimum cinnamon synonym" in'em.
SirWriteALot 1 year ago
People probably read it and never learned to pronounce it. What irks me more is the word-ization of abbreviations or acronyms ... like SEO is pronounced "see-oh", or "LOL" is pronounced "loll" ... I mean, nobody says "ibm" for IBM ... but as soon as it's speakable it is spoken. So annoying. Just es-tee-eff you dee-eff emm-eff
Natalie Kung 1 year ago
When I was younger I used to pronounce hippopotamus as hippo-potato. I still kind of do, just for fun.
1 year ago
How many times have you heard a preacher talk about someone lying PROSTATE on the floor?
ObsidianAce_ 1 year ago
One time I pronounced politician as politi- (as in political) -can (as in a soda can)
Fickle_Pickle 1 year ago
My SO would correct me when I incorrectly pronounce certain words. I get back at him in spelling though so we’re even 😂
ispeak catanese 1 year ago
My pretentious boss says "simular" and "sharshooterie" board. It's amazing how often both come up in conversation.
Marie BellaDonna 1 year ago (edited)
My dad had a buddy at work who pronounced "buffet" boo-fay, and "buffalo" as boo-falo. One day Dad tricked his boss, who was kind of an ahole but they liked to mess with each other, into a conversation with the buddy, about this new "boo-fay" he'd gone to, with amazing "boo-falo" wings. And the whole time, dad is standing behind the buddy, right in Junior (the boss)'s line of sight, just silently laughing his àss off. Junior was so ticked, lol. But they laughed about it later. To this day, probably 30 years later, he still laughs about that, and he still has no idea how Junior kept a straight face lol. Come to think of it, my dad's kind of an ahole in his own right. Maybe that's why he could tolerate Junior so well...
Tracy Wallick 11 months ago
English is my first and only language. If I pronounce something wrong it's because A) I've only ever read it before, or B) I'm pronouncing it wrong on purpose. (e.g. "gooslings" instead of "goslings", because you still know what I'm talking about but 'gooslings' is much more fun to say)
Louisa Alexander 11 months ago
Every tv detective, real and fiction, that says "co-woborate" for corroborate.
Ginger Grumpybunny 12 months ago
"Bored Panda reached out to accent coach Luke Nicholson. He's the mind behind Improve Your Accent"... How about we celebrate our real accents and respect others'? Intentionally altering your accent may be a useful skill if you're an actor, but in other contexts, the one you already have is fine.
Danette Leitch 12 months ago
I was playing Trivial Pursuit with my older brother & mom on a long car trip. I read out the questions and they answer. I came to a word I have never heard before so being the brainy 7 year old I pronunced sauce ker rat. My mom said I think you are reading it wrong. I adamantly kept saying it. She finally said read the answer. Finely chopped up cabbage that has been fermented. The word was Sauerkraut. I no longer eat paints chips lol.
alchemilla vulgaris 12 months ago
When I first moved to an English-speaking country, many moons ago, I had to come to grips with a number of idioms I had not encountered in school books. One I liked A LOT was "I can't be asked", as in "I have absolutely zero intention of doing that, don't even bother to ask". Yes I found out the hard way the real spelling and (same spirit) different literal meaning... (for English as a second language people: it's "I can't be ar$ed").
Will Cable 12 months ago (edited)
I like variations in the way we pronounce things, I hear on some YT channels as Nissan is pronounced "nee-san" while on other "niss-un".
The Doom Song 1 year ago
I have a customer who pronounces the tequila Jose Cuevero as Joss Kevro. It drives me nuts coz I correct her every time
Stannous Flouride 1 year ago
It has been labeled "Readerisms" or Calliope Syndrome, the latter pronounced "Calley-ope"
Toothless Feline 1 year ago
My mother cannot say the word "pheasant". It always comes out as "fez-a-nant".
scteach87161921 1 year ago
I think this incident may have been more her accent than anything but still makes me chuckle when I think of it. I like in central NC and was at Belk (a department store) looking for a dress to wear to a rehearsal dinner for a wedding I was in. I found this very pretty dress and tried it on. It fit so I went to the counter to check out. The salesperson and I were chatting about what a pretty blue the dress was and what shade of blue it might be. After throwing a few around, she said "You know, I think it might be aqua!" But pronounced it "ack-wah." I kept my giggle to myself and said, "Yes, I think it is aqua (as-kwuh)"
Brian bell 1 year ago
Some words like Caribbean or comfortable (and many others really) can be spoken more than one way. But, there are those who will insist on "just the one" way of saying them. I refer them to the Oxford English dictionary on-line. It has a good sound clip feature and ends the petty argument!
Shelby P 1 year ago (edited)
Though I agree with folks who are saying to be forgiving to those who mispronounce words, I have a coworker who is such a petty, aggressive, and spiteful know-it-all, that I cannot overlook all the times she does this. She does it so much and she also refuses to pronounce people's names correctly even after correction.... Sometimes I think she does it on purpose,... Anyway, the 2 that get me the most, because she says them so often are: instead of condescending she says condensating and instead of ethnicity she say ethinicticity (both c's pronounced as s's). On the flip side I thought it was hilarious when I finally learned how to pronounce Penelope correctly instead of "Penny-lope"
Ample Aardvark 1 year ago
Liquorice, never heard it spoken so it was obviously pronounced "lick-or-ice" 😑. My excuse is that English is not my native language!
Reviewer UK01 1 year ago
Ash-felt (asphalt) just look at the letters and what order they are in
Carrie Paulsen 1 year ago
People from the Iowa and that part of the country pronounce sorry - sow ray. It doesn't seem sincere and more like not sorry.
Carrie Paulsen 1 year ago
There's a doughnut in my cheek. From The Band - Cripple Creek. I still don't know what they're sayin but pretty sure it's not about donuts LOL
Stardust she/her 1 year ago
My English teacher pronounces words all wrong. She pronounced “wagging” as “Wai-ging” and “needle” as “nedel”
Carrie Paulsen 1 year ago
How interesting she would decide to be an English teacher; she's teaching real English from England. I get it Chee)
Load More Replies... Kyra Heiker 1 year ago
I once met a man who claimed he was just returned from a job site in Africa, specifically in Tan-zany-uh. My best friend thought the word mauve was pronounced mwahv, and did not believe me when I told her it rhymes with stove.
My O My 1 year ago
How is Tansania pronounced in english? For it is the correct pronounciation in german - and was once a german colony. So he might have heard it pronouced that way
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