What local pronunciations lead to spelling mistakes in your area?

[Laura Corin]

I've noticed that 'ordered' tends to be pronounced 'ordred' or 'ordrerd' in this part of Scotland, and is then spelled those ways.

 

My home town tends to add an 'l' or 'w' sound to terminal vowels, so 'idea' would be spelled 'ideal'.

 

How about near you?

 

L

[Mrs Mungo]

Pikal mango instead of pickled mango. I see this all the time.

[amo_mea_filiis.]

Acrost instead of across.

[BrookValley.]

Sale instead of sell. For example, I see people write things like "I'm going to sale my 2010 Toyota..." or, "we really need to sale this house" all the time.

 

It makes me awful twitchy.

[maize]

Sale instead of sell. For example, I see people write things like "I'm going to sale my 2010 Toyota..." or, "we really need to sale this house" all the time.

 

It makes me awful twitchy.

Are these two words not homophones to you? Just curious. They've always been homophones to me, so I am not surprised that people confuse the spellings.

[NicAnn]

Sale instead of sell. For example, I see people write things like "I'm going to sale my 2010 Toyota..." or, "we really need to sale this house" all the time.

 

It makes me awful twitchy.

Yes! "Garage Sell" or "for sell by owner".

[Ellie]

Are these two words not homophones to you? Just curious. They've always been homophones to me, so I am not surprised that people confuse the spellings.

 

You pronounce "sale" and "sell" the same??

[NicAnn]

 

Are these two words not homophones to you? Just curious. They've always been homophones to me, so I am not surprised that people confuse the spellings.[/quote

 

Not at all! Sale, the a says its name. Sell, short e like egg.

[maize]

You pronounce "sale" and "sell" the same??

Yep. Short e sound for both. Sail is the same as well. And well, whale, mail, tell, tail, tale, pail, pale, smell, rail, fell...they all rhyme with each other :)

[Ellie]

Yep. Short e sound for both. Sail is the same as well. And well, whale, mail, tell, tail, tale, pail, pale, smell, rail, fell...they all rhyme with each other :)

 

Huh.

 

Nope, all of those sound different to me. Bell, sell, well, fell, tell all have a short e; bail, sale, tale, all have long A's. There's your  local pronunciations messing with your spelling. :-)

[maize]

 

 

Are these two words not homophones to you? Just curious. They've always been homophones to me, so I am not surprised that people confuse the spellings.

Not at all! Sale, the a says its name. Sell, short e like egg.

Ah, now egg--that one gets a long A sound. So does leg. :D

[Kalmia]

Maize! Now Miss Ellie is going to come to your house and use Spalding on you!

[Indian summer]

We have a good mix of French and English here, so a lot of words get butchered, in both languages.

 

We tend to pronounce t in the middle of words like d, so I see that one sometimes. For example, we pronounce Betty - Beddy and Congratulations is often spelled congraDulations.

[maize]

Maize! Now Miss Ellie is going to come to your house and use Spalding on you!

This is probably one of the reasons I don't like Spalding, it's got all the pronunciations wrong!

 

:d

[Laura Corin]

Are these two words not homophones to you? Just curious. They've always been homophones to me, so I am not surprised that people confuse the spellings.

 

Not for me.  Sale sounds like 'say-ll'.  Whereas we use a different vowel for sell.  It's difficult to describe (and I know it doesn't exist in parts of the US) but here's someone saying it in a British accent.

 

L

[Alexigail]

For me, sell rhymes with bell, well, fell and dell.

 

Sail rhymes with hail, rail, mail and tail.

[Ellie]

Not for me.  Sale sounds like 'say-ll'.  Whereas we use a different vowel for sell.  It's difficult to describe (and I know it doesn't exist in parts of the US) but here's someone saying it in a British accent.

 

L

 

That's exactly how Mrs. Spalding would pronounce both. And so do I. :-)

[athomeontheprairie]

Egg, get, pin/pen. Lots of e/i words :-) and in words like "ordered" consonants might be dropped in the pronunciation but the words are seldom misspelled by adults.

[maize]

We have a good mix of French and English here, so a lot of words get butchered, in both languages.

 

We tend to pronounce t in the middle of words like d, so I see that one sometimes. For example, we pronounce Betty - Beddy and Congratulations is often spelled congraDulations.

I'm good with Beddy, but that other word, it's really pronounced congraJulations.

 

I love regional variations in pronunciation. FWIW, when I first moved here people told me I had a funny accent. They don't say that anymore so I must have adapted...

[maize]

I honestly cannot think of a single thing. Many people in the US do not pronounce the "t" in words like butter. So it sounds like budder, but I can't say that I've come across anyone spelling it incorrectly. (I see this has already been mentioned.)

 

I suppose there is Niagara Falls. Most pronounce it "niagra" (nye ag rah) and probably this causes spelling issues.

 

In the state I grew up in we lived near a "New Britain". We pronounced it in a way I can't even possibly type out to explain. It still didn't cause spelling confusion.

Well, around here Britain is properly pronounced Bri'n, with the ' representing a glottal stop. Given the very British tendency to ignore medial consonants in place names (I'm thinking of Worcester here...) I don't see how they could possibly object :)

[Laurie4b]

In this area, natives tend to pronounce both short i and short e words   like short i words were in the area in which I grew up. So yes, it affects kids' spellings.

[Indian summer]

I'm good with Beddy, but that other word, it's really pronounced congraJulations.

 

I love regional variations in pronunciation. FWIW, when I first moved here people told me I had a funny accent. They don't say that anymore so I must have adapted...

Ok, now that I see it spelled with a J, I realize I hear that here too. But I see it spelled congrads all the time. (and now I've just retrained my autocorrect to make me look like an idiot at the next Facebook celebration)

[Laurie4b]

Are these two words not homophones to you? Just curious. They've always been homophones to me, so I am not surprised that people confuse the spellings.

 

No sale and sell are not close to homophones anywhere I've lived. Very different pronunciations.

[maize]

Mitten, kitten, written, satin, flattened, Martin, carton, glutton...these all get a glottal stop in the place of the T as well. We need a local version of Spalding with a rule for knowing when to pronounce T as '

 

Seems it has to do with the subsequent N

[Laura Corin]

Well, around here Britain is properly pronounced Bri'n, with the ' representing a glottal stop. 

 

You'd find it pronounced like that in the south east of England too.

 

L

[maize]

You'd find it pronounced like that in the south east of England too.

 

L

Makes me wonder if we had a lot of immigrants from that region?

[Carrie12345]

I have no idea if it's regional, because I didn't realize until just a few years ago that sophomore has 3 syllables. And I've *been* a "soph-more"! Does ANYONE pronounce the middle syllable???

[Laura Corin]

I have no idea if it's regional, because I didn't realize until just a few years ago that sophomore has 3 syllables. And I've *been* a "soph-more"! Does ANYONE pronounce the middle syllable???

 

I do, but I didn't come across the word until I was adult and probably read it before hearing it.

 

L

[maize]

I have no idea if it's regional, because I didn't realize until just a few years ago that sophomore has 3 syllables. And I've *been* a "soph-more"! Does ANYONE pronounce the middle syllable???

I've always heard it pronounced with two syllables. Maybe because freshman, junior and senior each have two? It fits in better that way...

[unsinkable]

Maize! Now Miss Ellie is going to come to your house and use Spalding on you!

Sounds kinky...

 

J/k!!!

[Shelly in IL]

How about New Orleeens, vs: Neworlans?

[Lolly]

You pronounce "sale" and "sell" the same??

Yep.  

 

I have no idea if it's regional, because I didn't realize until just a few years ago that sophomore has 3 syllables. And I've *been* a "soph-more"! Does ANYONE pronounce the middle syllable???

Never heard it with 3 syllables! 

 

My kids have trouble spelling fire.. it is fier (fi-er two syllables)

[Bree]

Crayon. We say it like crown so sometimes the y is left out :)

[maize]

Crayon. We say it like crown so sometimes the y is left out :)

Definitely a hard one to spell. We say cren.

[Lolly]

For me, sell rhymes with bell, well, fell and dell.

 

Sail rhymes with hail, rail, mail and tail.

For me too! However, bell also rhymes with mail! (I do realize I have a strong accent with many words that people outside my region would consider to be improperly pronounced.)

[OH_Homeschooler]

I don't think this is necessarily regional since I see it all over the internet, but "of" instead of "have." As in, "You really should of been there."   :cursing:

[maize]

I don't think this is necessarily regional since I see it all over the internet, but "of" instead of "have." As in, "You really should of been there." :cursing:

hmm, I hadn't thought of that one. "Have" gets shortened to 'v all the time hear, but if I were trying to write it out I would do it as a contraction-- should've, might've, could've, etc., following the model of I've, you've, etc.

[shukriyya]

Not exactly regional but the word 'mauve' which I grew up saying as 'moave' (like the o sound in mow) along with the rest of the country I grew up in, Canada to be exact, but everyone here says it as maw-ve. Also folks not from Canada pronounce Toronto with a strong second 't', Canadians pronounce almost without that second 't'. I've lived here long enough that I pronounce with the strong second 't'.

 

Also Worcestershire sauce here is pronounced something like worse-ter-shyer or instead of how I learned to pronounce it which was something like 'wuss-ter-sher'.

[KatieJ]

I meet montly with some friends for cropping, as in scrapbooking.

 

All of them, with the exception of the woman who is Japanese. say pitchers instead of pictures.   They spell it correctly, so not exactly what the OP was asking.  Just a very huge pet peeve of mine.  They make fun of my Minnesota accept and I say "pitchers" back at them.  :huh:

[Laura Corin]

Also Worcestershire sauce here is pronounced something like worse-ter-shyer or instead of how I learned to pronounce it which was something like 'wuss-ter-sher'.

 

My MIL (Dallas) used to pronounce it in full - happy to get every last syllable in: war-sess-ter-shire.  I never said anything.

 

L

[shukriyya]

My MIL (Dallas) used to pronounce it in full - happy to get every last syllable in: war-sess-ter-shire.  I never said anything.

 

L

 

Ah, a chance to practice your diplomacy skills :D

[Liz CA]

Love threads like this. Just north of here - where a lot of almonds are grown - people pronounce them "amonds." Not only do they omit the "l" but the "A" is pronounced as in "apple."

[shukriyya]

I can never figure out how to say that word! 

 

I know it's wrong, but I sometimes (jokingly) say werchester sauce. 

 

Well, it really doesn't matter which way you say it in terms of how it tastes :D The pronunciation I grew up with is how I continue to say it but as Laura pointed out her Dallas MIL is just as happily wedded to her reality of the word.

[Spryte]

Definitely a hard one to spell. We say cren.

 

maize, in what region/country do you live?

 

I am trying to figure it out, based on the pronunciations you've listed, but I just don't know.  Are you comfortable sharing?  

 

Another one I used to hear, when I lived in the US south, was "pre-shate it"  ... for "I appreciate it."  I wonder if that caused spelling confusion for kids growing up there?

[Audrey]

I don't think this is necessarily regional since I see it all over the internet, but "of" instead of "have." As in, "You really should of been there."   :cursing:

 

 

That's not bad spelling.  That's just atrocious grammar.

[maize]

That's not bad spelling. That's just atrocious grammar.

I think it is actually a spelling issue. Grammatically, what they are doing is using a contracted form of "have" which sounds like "uv" so becomes a homophone to of.

[Audrey]

Here, there are francophones and English and then pockets of German immigrants.  Things get confusing and few people can spell any town names correctly.  Mostly, they seem to go with whatever they think sounds phonetically accurate.  Thankfully, the post code system doesn't care how you spell the town, just as long as your letters and digits are right in the post code, most mail will get there (as long as the horse doesn't go lame that week ;) ).

 

No one misspells the important things though, like poutine, hockey and bargain sale. :D

[mommymilkies]

Been is a big one here.  It's pronounced "bin" here and is a source of much confusion for little kids.  Get=git, as well.  

[thessa516]

Chest of drawers is always something else here. Jester doors, anyone?

[shukriyya]

Been is a big one here.  It's pronounced "bin" here and is a source of much confusion for little kids.  Get=git, as well.  

 

I say 'been' and everyone comments on my Canadian roots when I do. I assumed 'bin' was a universally American pronunciation of the word but perhaps not? And I won't go into the 'oot and aboot' comments :laugh: