Jump to content

Menu

Recommended Posts

Posted
cavalry (I almost always say Calvary by mistake)

pedagogy (I learned it in Russian and German first, where both "g's" are hard. DH laughs because he can see me thinking through the word before I say it.)

This would be one of the words I write or read but never say. In my head is pronounced with two hard g's.

  • Replies 152
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Posted
Unless I concentrate quite hard 'car park' always comes out as 'par cark'. I've suffered from this peculiarity since I was a child, and it's never got any better; every time I say it I have to really focus on saying it correctly.

 

My brain also often turns 'banana' into 'umbrella' and vice versa.

 

Laura

Posted

Someone beat me too it, but I always have trouble with cavalry...it always comes out Calvary (must be my Christian heritage). Another tongue-twister for me is the word wasps.

Posted

 

Another set of words I consistently have trouble with are idea and ideal. My brain would say "idea" but my mouth would say "ideal". :001_huh:

 

'Ideal' is the standard pronunciation for 'idea'. The town was originally called 'Brigstowe' but became Bristol.

 

Laura

Posted

Wash

Washington

Washing Machine

 

It comes out Warsh, Warshington, and Warshing Machine. Well, it's more like W-are-sh or Wah -R -Sh. When I try to say it correctly it sounds as if I am a non-English speaking person trying to say it. It's forced. :glare:

 

The same is true with tire. Yeah. Tire. Naturally I say ( :eek: ) Tar. I have to think it out in my say and say it slowly to get it to sound as it should - tie - err.

Posted
I once dated a boy who pronounce it 'urn'. On the phone:

 

Me: Whatcha doing?

Him: I'm urning.

Me: What?

Him: I'm urning again. My mom is angry about my grades so she's making me urn the laundry as punishment.

Me: ??? I have no idea what you are talking about.

Him: You know, urn, to get the wrinkles out.

Me: ...um...oh! You mean IRON! You are IRONING the clothes. Okay.

Him: Ha ha! Why are you saying EYE-RON? Ha ha!

 

That boy did a lot of URNING for his mother that year. Ha ha!

 

Well, I'd say both of you pronounce it wrong. :lol:

 

I pronounce it EYE-URN, and I don't think I've ever heard any other pronunciation.

Posted
Well, I'd say both of you pronounce it wrong. :lol:

 

I pronounce it EYE-URN, and I don't think I've ever heard any other pronunciation.

 

EYE-uhn. No 'r' in it at all.

 

Laura

Posted
Unless I concentrate quite hard 'car park' always comes out as 'par cark'. I've suffered from this peculiarity since I was a child, and it's never got any better; every time I say it I have to really focus on saying it correctly.

 

 

:lol::lol: That is really funny! I suffer from this, as well, but my words are ticks and fleas. I ALWAYS say flicks and teas and don't realize that I said it wrong until everyone around me starts laughing. Cookies and Milk is another bad one for me....it is ALWAYS cook and milkies. My dh and kiddos think it is hilarious!

Posted

Fun thread!

 

I cannot say Worcestershire sauce either. I also cannot distinguish between Don and Dawn. (please help!)

 

Tutorial used to trip me up pretty badly too, but I think I have a handle on it now.

Rural is also tricky for me.

 

I can't think of anything else not already mentioned.

Posted

In highschool I couldn't hear the difference between "irreverent" and "irrelevant." Dh (boyfriend at the time) loved teasing me about it. I'm not sure which one I wasn't saying, but I couldn't say one of them. He still brings it up sometimes :001_rolleyes: 7 years later.

Posted

Many words with -oil. Oil sounds like "all", boil sounds like "ball". However, toil and coil come out the "right" way.

 

It took me years to properly pronounce "short". It always came out as "shart". Quarter was another one. R-controlled vowels throw me.

 

Tuesday. I still have to make an effort to pronounce this correctly. My dad always said "Chews-day". Of course, he couldn't pronounce a lot of things since is first language was French.

 

Pianist and accompanist. I take out a syllable in "pianist" (which makes it sound a little dirty) and add a syllable to "accompanist".

Posted

Cumulative. I almost always say it Ca-mule-a-tive. I have to think and say it slowly in order to say it correctly.

 

That and I used to be in speech therapy for my "r's" If I get nervous or am talking too fast I'll sometimes revert back and say something dumb like Wataw instead of water.

Posted

It took me over a decade to remember that the tool I like my chiropractor to use is called an activator. Okay, it's not a pronunciation problem, but my problem involves using the wrong noun (since I was 20 or even younger.) There are one or two words I have trouble with, but they come up so seldom I can't even remember them right now. They're probably nouns!

 

Of course, my dc are all over me over a few words I just can't/won't say the local way because they sound so uneducated to me. I do say them with an American accent, just not the local one. There are also a few words where I say it the Canadian way but with an American accent. I change accents at the border, however.

Posted

For me, it's "particularly". That's a tough one!

 

My daughter says pacific, instead of specific.

 

As for IRON:

 

I say "EYE-urn"

Kids say "EYE-run"

 

And my son pronounces "binoculars" as " BYE-nock-you-lers"

Posted
similarly

 

Same here. I have to say "similar', take a breath and add "ly":glare:

 

Drives me nuts!

 

I'm also from southern Maryland, so tend to add an "r" to wash. :001_huh:

Posted
OK ... you don't say 'car park' :tongue_smilie:. I can't remember what you Americans say - it's where you leave your car if you go shopping, or to the cinema, or whatever. Is it what you call a 'parking lot'? Does anyone have an American English-British English Dictionary? :D Sorry.

 

Just say "parking lot" and let them all think you are American. ;)

Posted

Unless I concentrate, I tend to drop the D from sandwich. I also can't remember the bonfire night rhyme correctly:

 

"Remember, remember the 5th of November

The gunpowder treason and plot..."

 

I always try to substitute "vampire" for "gunpowder". I think reading the Twilight series around the same time I saw V for Vendetta permanently scarred my brain.

 

Ariel only JUST (like in the last month) learned to say "hamburger" correctly, and she has to think hard for it to come out right. Before, it was usually "hambooger". We have a restaurant called Whataburger here and until recently she always called it "waterbooger".

Posted
Wash

Washington

Washing Machine

 

It comes out Warsh, Warshington, and Warshing Machine. Well, it's more like W-are-sh or Wah -R -Sh. When I try to say it correctly it sounds as if I am a non-English speaking person trying to say it. It's forced. :glare:

 

 

My MIL says "warsh" and "warsher." I always thought it was a regional thing.

Posted (edited)

I have one I CAN say, but always (mentally) second guess myself on ...camembert.

 

Relatively innocuous word, right? Yet I end up with the same mental discussion....bear, bay, burr....not bert...right?? ha! It's a mental loop...who's on first?...and though I DO know the answer, sadly can't get away from the question :glare:

 

...I'll just call it brie ;)

Edited by homeschoolmomtutu
Posted
I married a Greg, and to her dying day, my grandma called him Craig :001_smile: It was a family joke. She just got some words messed up in her head and they never straightened out.

 

I have a cousin-in-law Kirk, and a neighbor Curt. I always have to think really hard before I address them and I end up psyching myself out, doubting which is which. I end up splitting the difference and calling them both Curd. :lol: Hopefully they shrug and figure I have a funny accent.

Posted

In my college days I once asked the bartender if "the chippers were still peach". This was after saying it over and over in my head as I was walking up to the bar so I would say it right. I meant to ask if "the pitchers were still cheap". Needless to say, he didn't serve me anymore alcohol. :tongue_smilie:

Posted
Supraventricular tachycardia. And I suffer from it.
Two can play at this: Micturition syncope. And I suffer from this. Sometimes.

 

I cannot pronounce DS21's girlfriend's first name for the life of me: Ariana. :tongue_smilie:

 

But I can pronounce something that a former president cannot: nuclear.

Posted
Apocalyptic. I can't type it either. It came up in a transcript I was doing the other day, and I need to be able to type the consonants in order. I couldn't do it. I substituted something else (can't remember what!).

 

That's my problem word as well. Whenever I say it, it comes out with a P where the first c is and then just garbles up from there.

Posted
Fun thread!

 

I cannot say Worcestershire sauce either. I also cannot distinguish between Don and Dawn. (please help!)

 

Tutorial used to trip me up pretty badly too, but I think I have a handle on it now.

Rural is also tricky for me.

 

I can't think of anything else not already mentioned.

 

 

Worcestershire sauce is of the devil ... well, the word not the sauce. lol

 

My husband tells me that I always pronounce Don incorrectly -- he says I'm saying Dawn. I had no idea that /o/ and /aw/ didn't sound the same... :001_huh:

 

I'm also one who can't say "cavalry" but instead say "Calvary." lol

Posted

I didn't learn to say 'peculiar' properly until I was in my late teens and I can't pronounce 'autumnal' and have it sound like it deserves to be a word. I'm pretty sure I pronounce it properly, it just sounds made up instead of a real word. Is there really any situation where one can't get away with just saying "autumn?"

 

conscience and peculiarly

 

I have no idea why I struggle to get these words out properly.

 

:svengo: Just when I thought I had beaten my nemesis! I can only say 'peculiarly' if I say it slowly. :001_huh: Then I sound peculiar. :glare:

 

Why is roo-r'l ('=shwa) hard to say? You guys pronounce 'rural' some other way? And out of curiosity, how are you lot trying to pronounce 'Worcestershire?'

 

I'm starting to think I'm from the last family on the planet pronouncing 'forehead' as 'forrid.'

 

What a funny thread!

 

Rosie

Posted (edited)

Rosie, I grew up in a home where everyone pronounced it War-ster-shire. Now I keep wondering if it's supposed to be "War-chester-shire". Probably neither.

 

Progymnasmata and pedagogy - I should have looked up the pronunciation before trying to say them aloud to others.

 

My brother pronounces "Crayon" as "crown" and it drives me nuts!

Edited by Annabel Lee
Posted
Two can play at this: Micturition syncope. And I suffer from this. Sometimes.

 

I cannot pronounce DS21's girlfriend's first name for the life of me: Ariana. :tongue_smilie:

 

But I can pronounce something that a former president cannot: nuclear.

 

 

You pass out when you pee? :svengo:

Posted

Up until I was about 12, I was convinced that the word "reluctant" was actually "recluant" :001_huh:. That's how I read it in my head (I was in France till that age and obviously had never pronounced it aloud) I even had a big fight with my mother because I was insisting it was even spelled "recluant :D

 

We say "Woostersheer".

 

On another note, can someone tell if Minnesotans actually do have an accent, or is this just propaganda:) ? (I just watched the movie "New in Town")

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.


×
×
  • Create New...