Mispronounced words

[BurtWorm]

If you want to be picky* about it:

It is COOP-on, not CUE-pon.

DAY-ta, not DATT-a

IMP-ee-us, not im-PIE-us

HOW-zing, not HOW-sing

NEW-klee-er, not NEW-kyuh-lur

uh-REE-uh-la, not air-ee-OLE-uh


* I'm a tolerant guy about most mispronunciations. I've mispronounced housing (and houses) for most of my life, for example. The only ones that really drive me up a tree are data and nuclear. The real pronunciations of impious and areola are included to blow your mind as they blew mine.


The first in this list are the preferred or "standard" pronunciations.

[Raenelle]

1. Here's one

Not supposABly, it's supposEDly

[BurtWorm]

6. Your example makes me think of people who say

"for all intensive purposes" instead of "for all intents and purposes."

[AnnabelLee]

2. On the pronunciation of "nuclear" I agree

Unfortunately, my Webster's Dictionary lists the second pronunciation preceded by the words by metathesis. So * has been let off the hook for his inability to say that particular word correctly.

Another one that bothers me is "heinous".
It's HAY-nus, not HAY-nee-us or HEE-nee-us

On edit: OT, but I used to work with a woman who substituted the word "for" for the word "so". "I got up early for I could drop the kids off at school before coming to work".:shrug:

[BurtWorm]

4. That one really does bother me

Now that you mention it. Also

MISS-chiv-us, not mis-CHEEVE-ee-us.

[kmla]

14. Amen, bro.

Drives me bat-poop, too!

Did you know that the proper pronunciation for "niche" is 'neesh' as opposed to 'nitch'? If you pronounce it correctly, people look at you like you are from another planet...

[MiddleRiverRefugee]

3. Am-byew-lunce NOT Am-a-lance

(unless you are from BAW-MER NOT BAWL-TIM-ORE)

-unidentifiedbassplayer

[AnnabelLee]

7. I thought that

the am-a-lance (heard in my neck of the woods as amb-a-lance) was considered to be ebonics? Anybody know?

[CBGLuthier]

5. Forte is my favorite

If you say it properly,as in fort then people think you are an idiot and tell you it is pronounced fortay.

But then again, for years I thought the word misled was pronounced with a long i, something like

mizled.

What can I say, I read a lot more than I talked so it was a few years before I got that one straight.

[BurtWorm]

8. Dick Cavett tells a story about how he once mispronounced

"abed" as "aybd" when he was reading a Shakespeare scene. "Let's hurry us aybd."

[roughsatori]

15. Both ways are correct in English

But pronouncing it "fort" has caused many a fool to correct my pronounciation.

When speaking French, our way is the absolute correct way.

[Pert_UK]

49. I'm afraid "forte" is usually for-tay....as in "pedantry is my for-tay"...

because it comes from the Italian, not from the French. Probably made popular through the common use of Forte in musical direction notes, e.g.

mf=mezzo forte
pf=piano forte

Forte being Italian for strong (or "loud" in the musical sense).

Obviously, if you're referring to the name Forte then go with however the person whose name it is pronounces it, and if you're referring to the French word for "strong" then it's "fort", but you wouldn't use that term much in the US I reckon.

However, I also used to read "misled" as "mizzled", and can't get out of the habit!

P.

[Ediacara]

58. forte does mean strong

Many a music teacher has corrected the misconception among American music students that Forte = loud. It doesn't. The composer didn't want blastissimo, (s)he wanted strength. Piano doesn't mean quiet, it means soft etc.

pp - pianissimo - really soft
p - piano - soft
mp - mezzo piano - medium soft
mf - mezzo forte - medium strong
f - forte - strong
ff - fortissimo - really stong

American composers have taken the liberty of adding a ppp and fff which just don't exist....

[bmbmd]

9. How about

"larYNX" and not "larNYX"?

[Superfly]

10. This one bugs the hell out of me

It's ore-EE-ent not ore-EE-ent-tate

Let me "orientate" you to the map...heard it in the Amry all the time!

[Interrobang]

11. How do you figure?

Hypercorrection? Urbanization?

Saying that the proper pronunciation of "impious" is IM-pee-us doesn't follow the pattern, viz. "pious," "piety," et al.

Too bad I don't have my Oxford underhand (I'm at work, and Interrobang doesn't bring the dictionaries to work), or I'd give you a piece of their mind, too.

Then again, I lived somewhere where the Great Vowel Shift never stopped happening, so I imagine my accent would drive you insane.

[BurtWorm]

13. I knew impious would blow someone's mind.

It blew mine. I don't know how to account for it. I learned about it reading a "bathroom library" book about mispronunciations.

Here's an extremely commonly mispronounced word:

sime-ull-tuh-NEE-it-ee, not sime-ull-tuh-NAY-uh-tee

[RushIsRot]

26. I'll just use irreverent instead if impious.

Howzzat?

[BurtWorm]

27. But IMP-ee-us is so much fun to say

once you get used to it.

[roughsatori]

12. Mischievous is not "Miss CheeVious" arghhhhh

The cable-news anchors are now saying it incorrectly too. It is a pet peeve.

[nuxvomica]

16. And the "t" in "often" is silent

I don't correct people when they pronounce the "t" but it surely does annoy me when they do.

[Nay]

30. The "l" in "salmon" is silent, too.

Drives me bonkers when they say the "l."

I also hate the combo word "flustrated." It's made up of "flustered" and "frustrated," I think, but it's dumb.

[Skittles]

17. In Texas they say im-PORD-ant

for important and pronounce the word OUR as "ARE". Drives me f***ing nuts.

[XNASA]

21. Me too. That used to drive me crazy.

And I've said so repeatedly whenever these types of threads pop up. Nobody would agree or seem to notice so I thought that I was splitting hairs.

But you're right Skittles, it's "im-por-tant". Once in a while I'd hear someone down in TX say "inporden" and it would just set me off. Don't know why, it just would.

Ah, I feel better now.

[BurtWorm]

22. I hear you too, even though I live in the land of

im-PORT-unt.

[liberalpress]

42. Don't forget ...

...the Southern version of the stuff we're fighting for overseas... "awl" or sometimes (depending on how deeply south you go) "ohl"

[GOPisEvil]

18. Anyways...

:argh:

The word is ANYWAY. ANY - singular! WAY - singular! ANYWAY!!!

Several friends of mine say "anyways" so I am learning to tune it out, but sometimes it drives me over the edge. But, I'm much better now. :7

[supernova]

25. Or it's cousin, Anyhoo

Anyhoo, who? I so want to slap people who do this. :spank:

[GOPisEvil]

29. It's not so much the word "anyhoo"....its some of the people that use it.

You know the type...open shirt, hairy chest, gold medallions...USED CAR SALESMEN...when those type of people use "anyhoo" it just makes me cringe!

[BurtWorm]

19. Gentiles should practice pronouncing "kv" before attempting

kvetch. It's not kuh-VETCH. Pretend you're Russian pronouncing "quetch." There's no vowel sound between the k and the v.

[bif]

20. Forte is pronounced fort

Not for-tay. There's no accent mark on the end of forte. And yes, if you pronounce it correctly, people will give you funny looks. But I'm a pain in the ass and correct people whenever they mispronounce it.

Sorry, didn't see the same post up above.

[ProfessorGAC]

28. Not Looking For An Argument, but. . .

. . .forte is Italian for strength. There are no accent marks on vowels in italian. So, the accent mark is not necessary. And as an italian speaking american, it's natural for me to pronounce vowels at the ends of words when the etymology is so clear. So, you can accuse me of mispronouncing it, but that won't change the way i say it.

Sorry.
The Professor

[NYC]

32. Forte in Italian is two syllables. Used for musical notation.

I totally agree with ProfessorGAC.

Although "forte" is a single syllable in French, it is two syllables in Italian. Anyone who plays a musical instrument would see the word as Italian.

In England, Forte was a surname of a hotel owner. That was supposed to be pronounced with a single syllable, but was frequently mispronounced with 2.

[ForrestGump]

38. That was Basil Forte, right?

"He's from Barcelona"

[Ediacara]

60. An accent on the e

is only necisary if it's the accented sylable. That is of course, if the derivation is Italian and not French. According to Merriam-Webster, it's pronounced both ways, but the derivation is from both Italian and French.

The French derivation is based on the French word fort which is the strong point of a sword. This is actually pronounced as "for" (no T). This aparently refers to a physical area of a sword, and not someone's strong point.

The word forte, when used to mean someone's strong point, is derived from Italian, and definately should be pronounced as two sylabals, even though many English grammarians have looked down on this.

[BurtWorm]

23. REAL-ter

not REAL-uh-ter.

[BurtWorm]

24. dem-o-CRAT-ic PAR-ty

not DEM-o-crat PAR-ty, you freeper bastards.

[SiouxJ]

31. It's Espresso NOT Expresso

that one drives me nuts. Everyone says it that way. It means coffee that is "pressed out," or "made with pressure" not FAST coffee!!!

[BurtWorm]

35. Kind of like eck SET-er-a instead of et SET-er-a

Interestingly, the Latin pronunciation is "et KET-er-a." In Latin, C's are invariably pronounced like K's, so Cicero is KICK-er-o and Caesar is pronounced more like the German "kaiser."

[SiouxJ]

37. Yes!

I was gonna point out that one too! Great minds? ;-)

[BurtWorm]

40. Yipes!!

Is this the second great mind coincidence, or what?

[Maeve]

33. One more note---you TOE a line, not tow it

And lose the extra "o", folks--"loose" is the opposite of "tight"

[I AM SPARTACUS]

34. unless you're on a tow-boat

[Jonte_1979]

36. The mispronounciation of foreign names

"Juan" is not pronounced "Hoo-wan" and "Jose" is not pronounced "Hoe-say". Furthermore, the letter V is pronounced as the letter F in German and Flemish.

[Pert_UK]

39. Nietzsche = "NEE chur", not "NEE CHEE".....live with it.

Sorry, that's just the way it is.....

And while we're at it...

Tuh MAR toe, not Tuh MAY toe.
O ree GAR no, not O REG A no.

And there's an "h" at the start of "herbs" - you're not French, so bloody pronounce it!

P.

[BurtWorm]

41. But we do pronounce R's over here

so it looks as though you're asking us to pronounce it Tuh MARRR toe. And over here, if an American says tuh-MAH-toe, people assume he or she is an affected prig or is being facetious.

But saying NEAT-shuh is manageable.

[Pert_UK]

43. I know, I was just messing with you on the tomato thing.....

But aluminium though........that should be said properly, rather than just chopping out a load of letters 'cause you can't be bothered.

P.

[BurtWorm]

44. Except that we spell it aluminum

It's funny, though, there is a convergence on some pronunciations. When I was a kid, one of the few false notes in Peter Sellars' performance as the president in Dr. Strangelove was his pronunciation of "missile" as "MISS-ile" when Americans would say "MISS-ull." But I've noticed in the last 20 years more and more Americans pronouncing the "-ile" ending as the Brits do: STAY-bile, rather than STAY-bill, for example. It's not a lot, but it seems to be growing.

[Ediacara]

54. Al is a screwy story

The fellow who originally named the eliment wanted it to be named Alumum. This was then changed to Aluminum based on it's etymology (ie, the metal in alumina Al2O3). In the late 19th century, there was a push to "standardize" chemical names and change all the -um names to -ium names, so Aluminum was changed to Aluminium. Aluminium is "officially" the spelling, according to IUPAC, but no US chemist ever uses that spelling. I think that Molybdenum is spelled that way everywhere, and not Molybdenium.

[BurtWorm]

59. That's very interesting, DinoBoy!

I didn't know that. Or if I did know it, it got lost.

[KFC]

45. Jag-u-are instead of Jag-war is a bit annoying to me

But you guys make the cars, so you can call them whatever you like.

Also, what is up with "shite" vs "shit"? Different words or different pronounciations?

[BurtWorm]

46. Nick-are-AH-gyoo-uh instead of Nick-are-AH-gwa

It's not annoying to me, though. It's an interesting difference.

[Pert_UK]

48. AAARRRGGGGHHHH!!!! It's Ja-gyooer.....

Emphasise the "Ja" (like Jam without the m) followed smoothly by a soft "g" and "yoo er". You don't need a hard "g" in there, unless you're shortening it to "Jag".

Actually, Jag-warr really annoys me as a pronunciation....it's shocking.

Regarding shit vs shite - they're pronounced differently but essentially mean the same thing. First one is how it looks, second one rhymes with "light", or even "lite", as you people like to spell it.

Although they mean the same thing, you're more likely to use shite for emphasis, and it's more of a Northern thing. You'd "go for a shit", but you might say that something was "complete shite" - it's used as an adjective normally.

P.

[Avatar13]

47. I need to get this off my chest...

Kyoto - "Kai Yoh Toh"
Damn, I hate that misprocunciation. It's "Kyo Toh" (Staccato, and quick), but "Kee Yoh Toh" is acceptable.

And this really gets me:
Karaoke - "Kay Rhee Oh Kee"
Damnit, it's pronounced exactly as it is written - "Kah Rah Oh Kay." Someone got it wrong, no one bothered to correct it, and now it's part of everyday vernacular, mispronunciation and all. Grr.

[OrdinaryTa]

50. Novitiate is a Place

A novitiate is a place. Persons just starting out are not novitiates, they are novices.

Methodology is the study of methods. It is not a fancy word in place of method.

The proof is not in the pudding. The proof of the pudding is in the eating.

You all ready know not to call it Frisco. Call it Sammercisco or Samp'ncisco. Area residents call it "the City".

New York's Houston Street is HOUSE-ton. Say it like the city in Texas and they'll know you're a tourist.

Iraq is eh-ROCK not eh-RACK, and certainly not EYE-rack.

Half the people say ess-queue-ell, the other half say sequel. Each side says the other is wrong. SQL by itself is ess-queue-ell, but SQL Server or SQL 2000 is sequel.

In Ireland, a person who knocks you up has just rung the doorbell, that's all.

When you telephone an office in England, you don't ask if somebody is around. You ask if they are about. They don't like things, they fancy them. And don't even ask what naff means.

[BlueJazz]

51. This isn't so much a word as a

phrase that drives me up the wall:

Being in bands and playing, sometimes the words to a song will have a line like "lookin' at you"
About half the people I know sing it like "Lookin' at-chew" AAAGGGG!!

[Pert_UK]

52. FX Mayor Quimby's nephew: "It's CHOW-der....CHOW-der! Come back here!"

I've not finished belittling you yet!

Gotta love the Simpsons!

P.

[wes_clark_for_pres]

53. HI ALL! I'm from Wis-CON-sin

not Wiss-cun-sin :hi:

and my football team is from Green BAY (accent on BAY) not from GREENbay like the Monday Night Football announcer guys say it....

[BurtWorm]

56. I thought you guys said

Wis-KAN-sn.

[wes_clark_for_pres]

62. somewhere in between! n/t

[Ediacara]

55. The planet Uranus

The two common pronunciations are:

Your-anus

and

Urine-us

BOTH are wrong and just dirty....

Now repeat after me

oo - RAH - noose

Aparently according to Montanans (I'm definately not a native), bison is pronounced biZon, and the H in vehicle is the most important letter. I say VEE-uh-cul, but Montanans say vee-HICK-ul. And Montanans actually say this in conversation! It's a car, or a truck, or an SUV, not a damn vehicle!

[Ediacara]

57. and anything foreign

especially Latin and Greek.

C in Lattin is always like K, J is always like Y, and V is always like W. The conversion to their modern equivalents happened late in the history of Latin.

Vini Vidi Vici should be said as weenee weedee weekee. Jupiter is properly said yuPEETair etc..

Julius Caesar, as YU-lyoos KIE-sar.

And Greek.... Words with Ch should really be said as kh, not k, and ph, should be a slightly asperated P, not F. Although I don't expect people to say telepHone, I really dislike people trying to be all smart and say that it's derived from the Greek root fonos etc...

[OrdinaryTa]

61. Only in New York

There are no fireflies in New York. We have lightning bugs.

Most New Yorkers have no idea what a New York steak is, unless they've traveled.

You can buy an egg on a roll in New York, not elsewhere. Bagels may be universal, but not the round baked things that New Yorkers call rolls.