What words do you hear mispronounced often?

[Kanin]

1 hour ago, MEmama said:

I’ve always wondered how phonics is taught to those who don’t pronounce words as they are spelled. Like here where Rs are added and dropped seemingly randomly in speech, the spoken word often doesn’t match the spelling at all.

I'm not surprised your students are confused! 

Me too - I wonder about British phonics lessons where "car" is pronounced "cah" (forgive me, I'm probably butchering that!). The kids learn that "ar" makes the "ah" sound? That could be a whole different thread. 🙂  For British people, does the /ar/ in car sound like the /o/ in spot?

[maize]

2 minutes ago, Kanin said:

Me too - I wonder about British phonics lessons where "car" is pronounced "cah" (forgive me, I'm probably butchering that!). The kids learn that "ar" makes the "ah" sound? That could be a whole different thread. 🙂  For British people, does the /ar/ in car sound like the /o/ in spot?

Seems similar to how we learn that "igh" in "light" and "right" says "I". Those letters weren't always silent.

[Laura Corin]

39 minutes ago, Kanin said:

Me too - I wonder about British phonics lessons where "car" is pronounced "cah" (forgive me, I'm probably butchering that!). The kids learn that "ar" makes the "ah" sound? That could be a whole different thread. 🙂  For British people, does the /ar/ in car sound like the /o/ in spot?

Here's what they sound like; I'm English:

 

Record (online-voice-recorder.com)(3).mp3

Edited April 29, 2021 by Laura Corin

[bibiche]

5 minutes ago, Laura Corin said:

Here's what they sound like; I'm English:

 

Record (online-voice-recorder.com)(3).mp3 377.25 kB · 2 downloads

Now I want to see your car. 😜

[Eos]

Going out on a limb here: the t in often SHOULD be silent.  

[MEmama]

3 minutes ago, Harpymom said:

Going out on a limb here: the t in often SHOULD be silent.  

I actually trained myself to pronounce the t when I was in high school, even though it wasn’t pronounced regionally where I lived. I don’t remember why, I think I just preferred the sound of it (and it drove my dad nuts). 
 

There’s no going back now! Lol

[athena1277]

Here’s the ones that annoy me most.  Tell me I’m not the only one.

It makes me batty when people drop the t’s in the middle of words that should not be silent.  For example mountain is not pronounced mouw-an and button is not pronounced buh-in.

[RootAnn]

3 hours ago, Laura Corin said:

 that word 'farm', that has an extra 'r' you can't hear. 

Ooh, I live near lots of farms & we definitely say the /ar/ in farm. We also say the /ar/ in car.

My DH, God protect him, likes the change the pronunciation of words & tell our kids that is how they should be said. Youth as yoot and business  (biz-ness) as bid-ness are two of his favorites. There are more.

My mother can't stand my pronunciation of realtor. I read more than I heard words output so how I said things growing up was often wrong.

Which was is "roof" supposed to be said? Rhyme with the vowel sound of tooth or hoof?

Edited April 29, 2021 by RootAnn

[Laura Corin]

1 minute ago, RootAnn said:

Ooh, I live near lots of farms & we definitely say the /ar/ in farm. We also say the /ar/ in car.

Absolutely,  but we were talking about accents, for example southern England, where the r is not pronounced. 

[Amethyst]

14 hours ago, Tanaqui said:

When my mother had breast cancer, at one point she had to be debrided. Which means the dead skin had to be removed, not that the doctor who called me about scheduling this bothered to define the word - I had to guess from context and ask him! But I digress.

He said "Debrade". The next doctor said "What? No. Debreeeeeed." The third doctor, who actually did the procedure, said "Debride", as in "here comes de bride".

At this point my mother and I were keeping a tally, and I finally looked it up. The second pronunciation is considered standard, however, the third is more widespread in the speech of the only people who use the word, doctors, who are by definition well-educated and usually speaking somewhat carefully when they use it as well. (No idea where the first came from. That young man gets no cookies. It is exceedingly strange to me that my mother has doctors younger than I am.)

But this is how language changes. Debreed is the pronunciation we got from French, but it's such a niche word it's not surprising that many people use a "spelling pronunciation" instead. Within a generation or perhaps two, I bet the dictionaries will all be updating their entries.

Next, I'll tell you about my favorite rock related word.

Trhis is funny cuz the first word I thought of was debridement! I’ve started working somewhere new and one instructor says debreeedment. Drives me nuts. I’ve only ever hear de-bride-ment

[Amethyst]

14 hours ago, wathe said:

Mostly medical stuff by patients, especially drug names, which is usually fine, and not a problem as long as I can figure out what they actually mean.

They say "metro-pole", I say "metoprolol?", they say "yes, that!", and we're good.

 

Lol. Yes! Patients NEVER know how to pronounce metoprolol. I’ve taught Pharm for years. Hopefully my students can pronounce it, but the pts never do!

[Amethyst]

One more medical one: erythematous. 
 

Students (and instructors) want to say air-RITH-ma-tus. I tell them look, you’re missing a syllable. Let’s look at the spelling. Air-eh-THEM-a-tus

[maize]

6 minutes ago, Amethyst said:

Trhis is funny cuz the first word I thought of was debridement! I’ve started working somewhere new and one instructor says debreeedment. Drives me nuts. I’ve only ever hear de-bride-ment

How do you pronounce debris?

[Not_a_Number]

5 hours ago, maize said:

For those who think pronunciation is more correct when it follows written convention, maybe try addressing a military colonel as co-lo-nel?

 

Oh, man, I used to say it like that all the time, since I'd only seen it and never heard it... it's still hard for me to say it "correctly" in my head when I see it in books! 

[maize]

2 minutes ago, Not_a_Number said:

Oh, man, I used to say it like that all the time, since I'd only seen it and never heard it... it's still hard for me to say it "correctly" in my head when I see it in books! 

It's tricky with words that we only read and never hear, and for mis-match between spelling and pronunciation this is the worst!

Edited April 29, 2021 by maize

[horsellian]

5 hours ago, maize said:

For those who think pronunciation is more correct when it follows written convention, maybe try addressing a military colonel as co-lo-nel?

But also in military lingo, many Brits find it odd that Americans pronounce lieutenant as lootenant, which is how it's spelled!

[stephanier.1765]

9 hours ago, Indigo Blue said:

Alltimers instead of Alzheimer’s 

 

My father calls it Oldtimers but he's doing it on purpose.

[Pawz4me]

16 minutes ago, Amethyst said:

Lol. Yes! Patients NEVER know how to pronounce metoprolol. I’ve taught Pharm for years. Hopefully my students can pronounce it, but the pts never do!

DH was put on metoprolol years ago and I learned how to say it right away. I'm a bit of a medical geek, plus I like the way it rolls off the tongue. To me it's a very mellifluous word.

ETA: But I did just have to check that my pronunciation of "mellifluous" was correct. 😉 

Edited April 29, 2021 by Pawz4me

[lauraw4321]

9 hours ago, Indigo Blue said:

Alltimers instead of Alzheimer’s 

 

It's often called "Old-timers" here.  Espresso ("expresso"). I also hear "Baslamic" (balsamic), "tomorrol" (tomorrow) and "Youj" (huge).

[stephanier.1765]

"Asked" Why is it so hard to say such a simple word? I hear this across races and more often in the younger generations.

[maize]

4 minutes ago, stephanier.1765 said:

"Asked" Why is it so hard to say such a simple word? I hear this across races and more often in the younger generations.

The sound combination is physically difficult. S and D are in the front of the mouth, K at the back. KSD (back front front) is an easier combination to say than SKD (front back front).

When words change it is often in the direction of simpler sound combinations.

[maize]

13 minutes ago, horsellian said:

But also in military lingo, many Brits find it odd that Americans pronounce lieutenant as lootenant, which is how it's spelled!

Is it actually said leftenant? I've seen that written out but haven't heard it irl, not having been around many British military folks.

[Not_a_Number]

2 minutes ago, maize said:

The sound combination is physically difficult. S and D are in the front of the mouth, K at the back. KSD (back front front) is an easier combination to say than SKD (front back front).

When words change it is often in the direction of simpler sound combinations.

You know what sucks to pronounce? Rural. There used to be a commercial on the radio with that theme, lol...

[Tanaqui]

The "Aksed" pronunciation is about as old as the other one. We might ask "Why can't half the population say 'aks' the way Chaucer did?"

The word to describe this phenomenon, btw, is "metathesis". It happens more often than you might think! For example, consider "three" and "thirty-third". You'd expect "Threetee-thrid", but the words thirteen, thirty, and third underwent metathesis and the r and the vowel switched places pretty much universally.

[Laura Corin]

3 minutes ago, maize said:

Is it actually said leftenant? I've seen that written out but haven't heard it irl, not having been around many British military folks.

Yes, that's right. Lef-TE-nuhnt

3 minutes ago, Not_a_Number said:

You know what sucks to pronounce? Rural. There used to be a commercial on the radio with that theme, lol...

I have a really hard time with that.  I have a very soft r sound and it comes out all woolly.

[bibiche]

36 minutes ago, horsellian said:

But also in military lingo, many Brits find it odd that Americans pronounce lieutenant as lootenant, which is how it's spelled!

But it’s only pronounced that way because it’s pronounced wrong! You can’t fault the English for mispronunciation when the Americans mispronounce it too, just differently!

[horsellian]

Just now, bibiche said:

But it’s only pronounced that way because it’s pronounced wrong! You can’t fault the English for mispronunciation when the Americans mispronounce it too, just differently!

I never said either was wrong - just different.

[bibiche]

1 minute ago, horsellian said:

I never said either was wrong - just different.

Well, they’re both wrong. 😜

[Laura Corin]

6 minutes ago, bibiche said:

But it’s only pronounced that way because it’s pronounced wrong! You can’t fault the English for mispronunciation when the Americans mispronounce it too, just differently!

https://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2015/02/lieutenant.html

[bibiche]

13 minutes ago, Laura Corin said:

https://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2015/02/lieutenant.html

How do Brits pronounce “lieu”?

[Not_a_Number]

15 minutes ago, Laura Corin said:

https://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2015/02/lieutenant.html

Wow. I had no idea!! 

 

[Laura Corin]

1 hour ago, bibiche said:

How do Brits pronounce “lieu”?

Eta - lyoo

Edited April 29, 2021 by Laura Corin

[bibiche]

5 minutes ago, Laura Corin said:

Ly-OO.

Thanks. I think I pronounce it wrong then, more like ly-eu.

[maize]

1 minute ago, bibiche said:

Thanks. I think I pronounce it wrong then, more like ly-eu.

I pronounce it more like loo in English but it feels awkward because I want to give it the French pronunciation (yours looks closer to that).

[Laura Corin]

22 minutes ago, bibiche said:

Thanks. I think I pronounce it wrong then, more like ly-eu.

That's closer to the French pronunciation. 

[bibiche]

Just now, Laura Corin said:

That's closer to the French pronunciation. 

Yes, but I thought this was how it was pronounced in English as well. 😳 So embarrassing to mispronounce a word in the mispronounced words thread, especially since I was so sure I said it correctly. 😂 

[lauraw4321]

2 hours ago, Harpymom said:

Going out on a limb here: the t in often SHOULD be silent.  

YES!!!

[lauraw4321]

49 minutes ago, Laura Corin said:

Ly-OO.

As two syllables?  I've always said loo. (like a toilet)

[Kanin]

3 hours ago, Laura Corin said:

Here's what they sound like; I'm English:

 

Record (online-voice-recorder.com)(3).mp3 377.25 kB · 9 downloads

This is awesome!!! Thank you! You have a beautiful voice 🙂

[Kanin]

2 hours ago, Amethyst said:

One more medical one: erythematous. 
 

Students (and instructors) want to say air-RITH-ma-tus. I tell them look, you’re missing a syllable. Let’s look at the spelling. Air-eh-THEM-a-tus

Oh, I've definitely been saying that one wrong (in my head... I've never had to say it out loud!). 

[Laura Corin]

12 minutes ago, lauraw4321 said:

As two syllables?  I've always said loo. (like a toilet)

You're right. I'll edit. I  say it as one syllable. 

Lyoo

[lauraw4321]

25 minutes ago, Laura Corin said:

You're right. I'll edit. I  say it as one syllable. 

Lyoo

I'm still having trouble imagining that.  Can you describe the "y" sound?

[Not_a_Number]

I feel like I say lew-tenant. 

[Laura Corin]

7 minutes ago, lauraw4321 said:

I'm still having trouble imagining that.  Can you describe the "y" sound?

I say 'you' but put a 'l' before it. Maybe like the sounds in the sentence, 'Is this the ball you lost? ' 

[math teacher]

Perimeter for parameter

Filth for fifth

Aymazon for Amazon

Salmon for sammon

birfday for birthday

Speaking of syllables-my mother can say the word "Bye" with 2 syllables. LOL

[Spy Car]

4 hours ago, Laura Corin said:

Here's what they sound like; I'm English:

 

Record (online-voice-recorder.com)(3).mp3 377.25 kB · 13 downloads

I accidentally imported the clip into my iTunes music library, which has had the nice side benefit of allowing me to "practice" right along with you.

How is your accent received there in Scotland?

And I know it is an American novel, but have you ever considered recording Moby Dick? If so, do keep me in the loop. You'd be terrific!

Bill

[maize]

47 minutes ago, Laura Corin said:

I say 'you' but put a 'l' before it. Maybe like the sounds in the sentence, 'Is this the ball you lost? ' 

Maybe also like the beginning of "few" but with l instead of f? That's how I am imagining it.

[Spy Car]

4 hours ago, bibiche said:

Now I want to see your car. 😜

Who can be sure?

Bill

 

[Drama Llama]

.

Edited May 8, 2021 by BaseballandHockey

[Not_a_Number]

Just now, BaseballandHockey said:

I had a high school math teacher who pronounced the word asymptote as "ASS muh puh toat".  He would get really indignant if you said it the other way, and tell us that was the American pronunciation, and that since we were in Canada we needed to pronounce it 'the Canadian way".  

Anyway, he is long gone from my life, but I can not see or hear the word asymptote or asymptotic without hearing a little voice in my head telling me to pronounce it like a Canadian.  Now that asymptomatic covid is a thing, I see asymptomatic autocorrected to asymptotic so I hear that voice often.  

I'm really hoping that @Not_a_Number will come tell me whether or not "ASS muh puh toat" is in fact a Canadian pronunciation or just a wrong one.   I figure if anyone is an expert on Canadian math it's her. 

Err, doesn't ring a bell 😛 . But maybe I'm from the wrong part of Canada...