What words do people often mispronounce?

[AviatorTom]

It's interesting how some words are often mispronounced.

For me, I always wonder why people say "sadistics" instead of "statistics".

What word (s) do you often hear mispronounced?

[NamerOfStars]

"Forte", the English word, comes to mind- people often pronounce like its Italian homonym, "forte". But since that just means "loud" instead of "specialty", you can just respond by repeating what you said, but louder- they'll get the message, eventually.

Also, many people, with MANY different accents, seem to have SERIOUS trouble with the letter "R". It either becomes "the lettah "ah"", like in the Deep South, or "the letta "aah"", like in Boston. Head west, and it starts popping up in the word "wash" for no reason I've ever been able to determine. Cross the Atlantic and you get BOTH; I've often wondered if the UK's alleged dental problems come from dentists telling patients to open their mouths and say "ahh", and being confused with pirates, but these are the same people who will tell you that the most populous countries in the world are Chiner and India. Then they'll make fun of YOU for pronouncing "Worcestershire" phonetically. The answer to that is to ask them to point out on a map where Chiner is (or ask them how to pronounce "Wakatane", but you need to have a dictionary on hand for that, or they won't believe you).

Come to think of it, wasn't R the critical letter in the Parsley Massacre? Trouble follows that letter, doesn't it?

[Screenwriter]

I actually love the Pac yr cah in Hah vad yahd... R issue. I think it has to do with the change from British English to American English. There's some guy on You Tube who is enunciator to the stars and he covers pronunciation in British and American English and the differences are interesting.

OH INNER-esting for Intres- ting. The adding of syllables when there's no need. In addition the different stresses on syllables in different regions.

[NamerOfStars]

@Screenwriter Speaking of adding (and subtracting) syllables, I WOULD like to know where the penultimate syllable of "desalinization" went, in so many people's vocabularies- and if it has anything to do with rappers suddenly adding "izzle" to words at about the same time. I don't think you can actually STEAL a syllable, but I don't have any other explanation.

[Screenwriter]

This is what I men A tioned. Losing or adding syllables in long or difficult words. I'm sure you mean Dee sal in za tion for Dee sal in a za tion... It's a bit of a tongue twister... But once you get it you can't FOR GET it. It's like Nu clear. Why add the "U" Bad habit. Get it right, you can't get it wrong. I have to look up the mispronunciations to reprogram my brain and tongue. But I expect if you hang around with family members who constantly mispronounce it and they harass you about being "proper" you often go with THEIR bad flow.

[slatyb]

There are many: realtor, jewelry, athlete, nuclear come to mind immediately.

[Screenwriter]

Come on explain the mispronunciation!!! I'm not familiar with realtor. I pronounce it Reel-tor. Ath-a-lete is a hilarious syllable addition. Jewel-ry is all I know about that one. Is it mispronounced Jew-el-ry?

Oh, I've got one from my childhood. Orange mispronounced Earnj!!! I have NEVER been able to figure out how that came into being.

I always pronounce Aunt with the short Au sound as per British English. Ants, as my English teacher mom always said, walk on the ground. I'm curious as to how Aunts turned into Ants.

[slatyb]

@Screenwriter
realtor: real-a-tor
jewelry: jool-e-ry
athlete: ath-a-lete
nuclear: nuk-u-lar

juxstaposition: juxastaposition
underestimate / misestimate : misunderestimate (GW Bush)

[Screenwriter]

What was wrong with "W"? He was a Yale man like his dad! What hairy ape Texans did he hang around with!!! NUK U LAR!!! THe president of the US of A (to be funny) gaffing common words... Maybe regional Texasisms... Lordy! Where is Texas Kid when you need him!!! Eating sandwiches I assume.

[Screenwriter]

TER LET for Toilet! It's a New York ism. Think of the Archie Bunkie malapropisms! My DAD called it a Ter let! And Zinc for sink. But this has a basis in fact. Sinks were LINED with zinc at one time. So calling it the Zinc makes logical sense.

My mom and dad didn't mispronounce this, but I grew up hearing my Depression Era parents call the refrigerator the Ice Box! I LOVE calling it that.

Now we're rolling into regionalisms and extinct references for objects...

Mom said "Go DRAW A BATH" for start a bath. Refers to drawing buckets from a well. My mother Never had a well in her city home, but the phrase held on. I still say it, though I've never drawn buckets up from any well or lived at a home that had one.

In New Orleans where the French language held on into the 19th and early 20th centuries, we "make" groceries and "make" foods/breakfast/dinner. From Faire de cuisine, faire de marche, to cook and to shop. The direct franglais translation is To make to cook, to make to shop. So we still "make groceries, make breakfast, lunch or dinner.

When I was first married to a Northerner, I told him I was "making a chicken for dinner," and he said, "I want to SEE you MAKE A CHICKEN"... It had never occurred to me that the phrase sounded odd because EVERYONE used it where I lived and grew up.

"What're you making for dinner? Oh, I'm making shrimp creole, or gumbo. What're you making?"

We both laughed when I thought about what "making a chicken," anywhere outside of New Orleans, meant! Still say it though!

[slatyb]

@Screenwriter "Terlet" is not a mispronounciation, it's a regional accent.

[AmandaYVR]

I have realized that over the years I say the word claustrophobia very quickly and it's starting to sound more like clausterphobia. Sometimes I wonder if I'm goona morph it into that permanently.

That word is kind of like nuclear. I've heard the George Bush 'nucular' joke so many times, I also have to slow down on that one too so I don't sound like an idiot.

How about roofs vs rooves. Rooves is not a word, but it sounds like it should be.

Why do so many black people say "aks" instead of "ask"? Always wondered where that came from.

My favourite joke about mispronunciations was an Everybody Loves Raymond epsiode, where Ray gets invited to be part of a roundtable discussion on TV and he realizes he can't pronounce asterisk (he says "asterix") and when he read headache she sees it as hed-a-c-a-chee. And "cinnamum."

https://www.youtube.com/embed/J-q89EYS8LI

[BlueScorpio]

I still hear some people say "aster", when they are trying to say "ask him/her" it's kinda funny sometimes. My aunt can't say hospital to save her dear life, she says horsepital. lol Long time ago I had coworker who couldn't say "wash" and kept saying "worsh".

[OlderAndWiser]

In the South, it is common to hear people say "VEE hickul" instead of "ve uh kul"

[purplepoppy]

As a kid I struggled with the difference between shoulder and soldier. My granny insists it's durex paint not dulux and dildo rail not dado. I still pronounce film filim.
British towns catch a lot out, Worcester (woochester) Leominster (lemster) Alnwick (anik) next to Alnmouth (Alanmouth.)

[Screenwriter]

NUCLEAR!!! OH MY GOD. Nuke qu lar... Instead of exactly like it's spelled. New-clear. So easy.

Multi syllabic longer words get twisted usually. Words with odd combos of consonents But nuclear drives me crazy.

[WindAtMyBack]

Nuke U lar is actually a widespread dialect. As such you could claim that it's not pronounced wrong.

[Screenwriter]

@WindAtMyBack Dialect? It's simply mispronounced. Like the rest of the list. People want to CALL it that, but it isn't. Parents say it wrong, pass it to kids and others, and it's all around a community. Nuk U lar is not from a second language, such as Creole is a different version of French in the Carib islands.

Just malapropped.

It is also not in one group of people or in one section of the country. George W. Bush mispronounced it! What dialect was HE speaking?

[WindAtMyBack]

It's a dialect. That's what dialect means. If just a few people pronounce it a certain way, then it's mispronounced. If millions of people in a given area pronounce it a certain way, then it's a dialect.

That is what dialect means. That is how language changes over time and changes over distance. It's a main reason why there are differences between British and American English. Neither one is wrong, and neither is right. They are just different dialects.

Consider the word "aluminium". The way Americans and Canadians pronounce it is a dialect. That pronunciation is not how it's spelled, but it's how it's pronounced. It's the same thing.

[Screenwriter]

@WindAtMyBack A WORD difference is NOT a dialect. A dialect is a separate version of a main language. I. e. Cajun French. Creole French. These dialects are so different from the main language that speakers of formal European French cannot understand speakers of Cajun and Creole French. However, since the STRUCTURE of the dialect is based on the original formal language, the dialect speakers can usually understand the formal speakers.

George W. and millions of other Americans mispronouncing nuclear is NOT a dialect. Dialects are regional, local, ethnic, religious influenced general language differences. Nuclear is mispronounced all over America. It is not an American dialect, or sublanguage of American English.

However, American English might be called a dialect of British English because there are many pronunciation differences and differences in meaning so that a British speaker would not understand an American speaker in many instances and vice versa.

They both speak English, but variations in meaning, slang, and pARTS OF speech and structure makes one speaker seemingly speak "Greek" though their base language is the same.

Nuclear is mispronounced in every state in the union. It is NOT a regionalism. And everyone knows what it means. It is a malapropism. Like Terlet for toilet. Accents are not dialects. Mispronounced words are not dialects. Dialects are sublanguages based on a major language that are unique to the speakers of that dialect and so unlike the major language as to be unique to the sublanguage speakers.

[HaveNoName]

If ee are. sticking with English, many people have bad pronunciation just because Engliah is not their first language. However, just a random ecample: I do not understand many Americans who say "shtrong" instead of "strong". Where does the "sh" come from?

[FunkyMonkee]

One of my best friends used to do that, too and I've heard a lot of others do it. Anything that starts with "st" gets an h added in.

[HaveNoName]

@FunkyMonkee are these folks from a particular part of US?

[FunkyMonkee]

I don't know. Were from the same place and I've hardly heard anyone else around here say it that way but, I've numerous people from around the country say it that way, even on t. v. shows and YT videos.

[HaveNoName]

@FunkyMonkee I am glad that somebody else has found it worth noticing.

[FunkyMonkee]

Yeah, I've been picking up on things like that most of my life. I've noticed how they tend to put emphasis on the wrong words in California. here, we say, "BOY Scout": out there, it's, "Boy SCOUT". It's like, we tend to emphasis (in this case) that there''s a difference between a Boy Scout and a Girl Scout. Out there, they just lump them all together and it's more important to just emphasis that they are Scouts, no matter what's between their legs.

[HaveNoName]

@FunkyMonkee 🤣🤣🤣 interesting example with a funny take

[FunkyMonkee]

Thanks!
*just emphasize that they are Scouts

[HaveNoName]

@FunkyMonkee hahaha.. i see you have rhe same OCD as myself. Cannot let a typing error go without correctong it 🤣. I have stopped caring now. My thumb is so big that it covers 3 keys and it takes me 17 attempts to type a sentence properly.

[FunkyMonkee]

My keybooard sucks! I typpe very well uusing oonly one hhand! But, this thing (and the other oone I WAS uusing) keep typping doubnle letters and oother shiit I KNOW I didn''t even come close to!
See all the mistakes in that sentence? And there were 3 in that one but, I fixed them! It might take me 20:00 to think out and type a full paragraph and another 5 to 15 to correct all the typos!

[HaveNoName]

@FunkyMonkee 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[FunkyMonkee]

Extraterrestrial (usually the very people that constantly deal with them!), nuclear, should've, would've, could've, must've, often, I had one or two more but I forgot what they were.

A lot of them are mis-spelled, too.

[FunkyMonkee]

Film, is another one. It gets "filum". My uncle used to say, "warsh" and "wartch". Some people claim that''s just a local thing but I've been here my entire life and he's the ONLY person I ever heard do that!! and I was my late teens when I first heard him do it.
My aunt and grandmother used to say, "Itly" instead of, "Italy'

[FunkyMonkee]

I used to get this older guy at the 7-11 that always wanted to buy Omni cigarettes and he'd say, "Omini". Just about the only other person I've ever heard do that was James Gregory (Inspector Luger from, "Barney Miller".
Another one is, "Lieutenant". Nobody ever pronounces the second N.

[NewsReader]

Quinoa

https://www.newideafood.com.au/quinoa-pronunciation

[exitseven]

I usually say explanation point instead of exclamation point.

[TroyDT]

Forte when used to mean a strength in an area. People tend to pronounce it "for-tay" like the Italian heteronyms musical term. In English it should be pronounced like "fort" as in "Fort Knox."

[Screenwriter]

Actually, upon looking it up, the forte' pronunciation is from the musical term, forte', to play loudly or strongly. It is the Italian version of the word. The French version of the word, fort, is from fencing and means the strongest part of the fencing blade. The dictionaries have it pronounced either way because the meaning is clear: a fort is a stronghold or strength, forte' means to play strongly or loudly, your personal fort or forte' is your strength. It's like surprise and surprize. Both are correct.

[Andres77]

Ax a question.

something so pacific.

libary. February. Wif bof o dem.

something fustrating.

[Likes2drive]

I don’t usually mispronounce words but I know a few that are like, herbs , pecan, , advertisements, idea and such

[Jenny-Marie]

Don't Americans mispronounce all words? :)

Just joking!

[TroyDT]

We definitely botch the pronunciation of the names of the cities and towns of your lovely kingdom.

[Jenny-Marie]

@TroyDT I love all the different accents. My stepdaughter who now lives in the USA is determined to keep her very nice English accent. I rag her every time she uses an Americanisation.

[FunkyMonkee]

How about all the Brits that use a v instead of the f or th and an f or th instead of the v? It's as bad as Chinese switching r for l and l for r. If you CAN pronounce both, why is it so hard to learn where to use them?

[Jenny-Marie]

@FunkyMonkee Pet hates of mine.

[FunkyMonkee]

I don't exactly hate it but it DOES seem kind of weird! It's almost like the "Travel Agency" Monty Python sketch where the one guy can't say the letter C so, it's suggested he switch C for K and, all of a sudden, he CAN make that sound if he uses a K. What a silly bunt!
OBVIOUSLY, they CAN make those sounds, they just refuse to put them where they belong! I don't know what the manner of thinking is that keeps them from switching them! How hard can it be to try?
My ex-fiance had a little trouble like that, too. Being from India, she had trouble saying her W's. She'd switch them to V's. So, she couldn't say, "won", but she COULD say, "one"!

[Wise4myage]

Wash and creek, lol.

[AviatorTom]

Warsh and crick, nice

[Wise4myage]

Thanks, lol. 😂

[Aiko_E_Lara]

Worcestershire

[AviatorTom]

Is there anyone who pronounces it correctly?

[Aiko_E_Lara]

Not even sure

[Jenny-Marie]

Wooster sheer. Isn't it obvious? :)

[AviatorTom]

@Jenny-Marie Rachel's English
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4fNFo2nsNw

[Jenny-Marie]

Rachel nearly gets it right. It is more Woostersheer than Woostershur.

[Screenwriter]

Not even gonna listen to the video to poison my mind. I grew up saying it woosta-sheer. Second syllable is enunciated with a combo of the E and I sounds, so it's not SHUR. Same ending as the word WEIR.

[Screenwriter]

But NOT as it's spelled which would be where the Hobbits lived: Shire!!!

[Aiko_E_Lara]

Another word would be "liar" Some mispronounce it as "lier"

[Screenwriter]

Li ERR? instead of lyre?

[AndrésC64]

"Expecially" instead of especially.

[AndrésC64]

"Suposably" instead of supposedly.

[Screenwriter]

COME ON NOW! The Meters: THEY ALL AXED FA YOU!!!
Axed instead of asked. X's subbed for S's. Now that I think of is, X is easier to enunciate than S in many cases. Sibilance can be difficult for people with lazy tongues, which as you know is a speech problem. Also could happen because of second language issues.

[FunkyMonkee]

@Screenwriter Let me axe you a quextion.

[Screenwriter]

@FunkyMonkee YOU ARE KILLIN ME!!!

[FunkyMonkee]

@Screenwriter I've actually heard a number of people say that! so far, it's only blacks that do it.