Why Can't People Pronounce These Properly?

chained_bear ... you have my sympathy. Jul 21, 2009

bilby The news keeps telling me Stralya is vunnerable to swine flu. Jul 21, 2009

nuxiy ... and Cabriolet is a tough one May 18, 2009

nuxiy I think americans tend to pronounce "Aluminium" as "Aluminum" May 18, 2009

mollusque How about disgard for discard, perhaps influenced by disregard? Oct 30, 2008

frindley We need verbage, of course!
And perhaps old-timers disease. Oct 29, 2008

bilby I've head esculation a few times recently. Oct 29, 2008

sarra Oh god, literry. Someone on the radio today announced a "literry quiz". Oct 14, 2008

sarra secertary :(
cyumoonity :( :( Oct 10, 2008

bilby Orf. Oct 10, 2008

chained_bear Belatedly adding words people have kindly suggested here. Thank you, and sorry for the delay! Oct 10, 2008

reesetee Go on & flush 'em out, yarb. That'll show them. May 23, 2008

dontcry Is "shaguar" OK? 'Cause I LOVE saying shaguar! Yeah baby! May 23, 2008

yarb My boss is forever asking me to "flush out" certain points in reports etc. Flesh! I scream silently. Flesh out! May 23, 2008

rolig These things use to get on my nerves; now I just live widdem.

My 7th-grade English teacher, Miss Dibert, always used to say certainy instead of certainly. I never understood where that came from. Mar 30, 2008

frindley 1. fillum (for film)
2. using "ink" in words that should end in "ing", e.g. "anythink"

My experience of "guesstimate", however, is that it's used knowingly and deliberately as a semi-humorous device, not out of ignorance or carelessness.

Mar 30, 2008

cricket How about liberry? or crown? (crayon) Mar 9, 2008

mollusque How about "surpress" for suppress and "bolth" for both? Jan 27, 2008

bilby I never pronunce any fink properly. I'm from Straya. I'm a Phil Stein. Dec 11, 2007

mollusque Reading this list is like running into bobbed wire. Dec 11, 2007

mollusque How about "suprise"? Dec 6, 2007

bilby I-ern-ically, I think I-ron doesn't quite cut it, though you can probably sell the name to Apple. Dec 6, 2007

chained_bear Terribly sorry to disappoint, pomegranate... I say "i-earn." Also "ex-chell-sees" is actually the Latin pronunciation, which I only hear (and say) in Christmas carols. But I can see how any other pronunciation would grate on one's nerves. Dec 6, 2007

pomegranate Tell me that I am not wrong in my pronunciation of iron as it is spelled. People all around me say "iern" and insist they are correct! Also, how do you pronounce "excelsis"?

Great list, c_b! Dec 6, 2007

rolig In Baltimore, we say: "seeya downy ocean hun" when we're planning a rendezvous in Ocean City. Dec 6, 2007

rocksinmypockets C-b, this list is awful! I mean wonderful! I mean awful!

Oh, how about "ornt juice"? I used to think it was kind of cute. That wore off. Nov 8, 2007

reesetee Only if you stop saying sez. ;-> Oct 31, 2007

jeff Off kahilter annoys me. Oct 31, 2007

chained_bear Stop saying rigamarole. It gives me hives.

Pretty please. ;) Oct 31, 2007

arby What about kerfuffle vs. kerfluffle? Personally I like the first but hate the latter, and yet more people seem to use the version with the extraneous "l". Why, God, why??

*shakes tiny fists* Oct 31, 2007

arby Yeah! Rigmarole doesn't have enough syllables to be appropriate. Oct 31, 2007

reesetee Me too, arby! I like rigamarole better. It sounds more like what it is.

However, the rest of this list makes me itchy. ;-) Oct 31, 2007

arby I secretly like sammich. I know it's wrong, but it's just so cute. And I'm still not convinced that rigamarole is even wrong. Rigmarole sounds wronger to me. Oct 31, 2007

cathari What about "sammich" for "sandwich"? My friend once interrupted a conversation to praise me for saying this properly. Now I can't stop noticing that everyone else pronounces it wrong. I've never heard "sangwich", though. Oct 31, 2007

chained_bear Ohhhh, yuck! That's a good one! Oct 30, 2007

reesetee Saaay, I like that, skipvia! Flustered and frustrated at the same time. :-) Oct 11, 2007

skipvia Flustrated? Oct 11, 2007

chained_bear I don't call it Pearl Harbor Day, I call it December 7th. And for some reason I can't bring myself to say "9/11" either, I say "September 11th."

I don't know about Freedom Day, Patriot Day, whatever. It was a monumentally sucky day. No amount of happy adjectives is going to make me forget what it felt like to watch that stuff happening, so I'd just as soon call it "September 11th" and hope that other people understand. If I'm lucky enough to live for decades and decades, and I'm one of the last people who's old enough to remember that feeling, I'll just have to trust that the following generations will try to understand.

Just like I try to understand how December 7th felt.

Anyway... wow! These comments really went off on a tangent!

I'm glad folks are likin' on this list. It still makes me feel itchy and allergic to read it! Sep 28, 2007

john With all due respect, 9/11 should be called "Freedom Day."

In no small part because Patriot Day is already taken, and taken seriously in Maine and Massachusetts. Sep 18, 2007

reesetee Agreed, uselessness. But I wonder whether it'll just take more historical distance from the actual event(s) for that to happen. When did Pearl Harbor Day start being called Pearl Harbor Day? Anyone know?

It'd be hard to assign 9/11 a name like that, though, since the attacks happened in three separate places. Still, I too can't bring myself to call it Patriot Day. Sep 18, 2007

uselessness Likewise, I suppose, when people refer to the emergency number as "nine-eleven." Although to be honest I think my beef is the whole thing about calling the day 9/11 instead of something with more meaning. Apparently the day has been designated as Patriot Day, but I find that name unbearably jingoistic and can't bring myself to say it. Sep 18, 2007

annabethblue I just 'favorited' this list because it creeps me out so much! I'm not sure what that says about me.

Not sure if you can work this in...but how about when people say "nine-one-one" instead of "nine-eleven" for September 11th? That one really drives me crazy. Sep 18, 2007

repsac3 I love this list... I know it's wrong, but I find some of these have a certain "charm"... (But then, I'm a fan of Spoonerisms, Yogiisms, & Farberisms, too...) Aug 26, 2007

reesetee You're a brave Wordie, chained_bear. Feb 23, 2007

chained_bear Thanks for all the "great" additions. I can add words to this only a few at a time, and can't read the list more than once a week or it gives me hives. Feb 23, 2007

sionnach grevious, liberry book, should of, incent, nuptuals, she was prostate on the couch, chaise lounge, 'you've got another thing coming', mash potatoes, mute point, acrost Feb 23, 2007

wunderkammer Old Timer's disease, anacronym Feb 8, 2007

abraxaszugzwang My mother hates jewelry pronounced that way, but the british spelling is jewellery and the word jewel is pronounced jool, so jewl-ery. Feb 8, 2007

trivet feb-u-ary, jew-lery, could care less? Feb 8, 2007

notanotherjazzpoet This whole list gives me the heebie jeebies (which, interestingly enough, ninjawords doesn't recognize).

I'm racking my brain trying to think of the myriad mistakes freshmen composition students make. Updates forthcoming with the newest batch of papers. Feb 8, 2007

chained_bear Abraxas, I'm glad you mentioned that--I was wondering for a few days why you hated the word axe so much (I think it's kind of cool, if it's not being used in place of ask). Now I get it. Feb 6, 2007

abraxaszugzwang I'm with you on everything except rigamarole. I am, however, going to change the spelling in my Rubbies list from axe to aks. Feb 5, 2007

inviolateandimmobile I think a huge part of my soul just died.

(But while I'm here, how about 'fith' (for fifth) and 'probly'?) Feb 5, 2007

reesetee sangwich Feb 2, 2007

chained_bear You know, so many more people have added "rigamarole" to their lists than "rigmarole"... It makes me cry. Feb 2, 2007

oroboros Don't forget "excape"! :oP Feb 2, 2007

chained_bear Thankfully, I've never actually heard anyone say "jagwire," so I'm going to pretend it never happens. Eeeeeyew... Feb 1, 2007

chained_bear AAAAAAAAAAGH!! This list makes my skin crawl! Feb 1, 2007

reesetee Aaaargh! Jan 31, 2007

pontifika My boss says this all the time. Jan 31, 2007

reesetee How about "jagwire" for jaguar? Jan 31, 2007