# Any words you insist on reading wrong (in your head at least)?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-words-you-insist-on-reading-wrong-in-your-head-at-least/959805
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [February 19, 2022, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-words-you-insist-on-reading-wrong-in-your-head-at-least/959805 "2022-02-19T22:32:28Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 4
### Author:  [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)
#### Post date: [February 21, 2022, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-words-you-insist-on-reading-wrong-in-your-head-at-least/959805/61 "2022-02-21T22:03:43Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#):
>
> > [@ASGuy](#):
> >
> > My Dad did this to all of his kids: he would say ocean as O-shen, two distinct syllables, emphasis on the “O.” I will always say ocean properly in company. But if I’m alone it’s O-shen.
>
> It IS two syllables. How can you say it as one. Ushn?
I thought maybe 3 syllables, like in the related form “oceanic” but subtract the ic.
I say in dicked, then in dite when I see “indict.”
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### Author:  [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)
#### Post date: [February 21, 2022, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-words-you-insist-on-reading-wrong-in-your-head-at-least/959805/62 "2022-02-21T22:36:51Z")
My elder brother watched a scholarly gent telling Boy Scouts about Ouabache Park in W. Lafayette, Indiana, pronouncing it Ow-BATCH-ee. When he was done, my brother took him aside to tell him, “That’s the French spelling. The locals called it Wabash.” Then he turned him around to face the Wabash River.
I know what an epitome is, but it looks like it means “the outside layer, _epi_, of a big book, _tome._”
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### Author:  [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)
#### Post date: [February 21, 2022, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-words-you-insist-on-reading-wrong-in-your-head-at-least/959805/63 "2022-02-21T23:56:00Z")
Whenever I read the name Sean, I always mentally pronounce it “seen”.
And if you spell your name Stephen, I am totally going to call you “step hen” in my head.
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### Author:  [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2022, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-words-you-insist-on-reading-wrong-in-your-head-at-least/959805/64 "2022-02-22T00:08:43Z")
> [@Morgyn](#):
>
> I knew people who pronounced it Tar-zhay because it was more upscale than Walmart.
That is definitely true, but the pronunciation is older than that, as I witnessed the in-house brand shoe in 1972. Tarzhey Boutique was a local joke name even back then. I grew up with the stores before K-Mart and Wal-Mart entered our frozen borders and we already had the nickname, simply because Target was where Twin Citians shopped because local. Being in the cart seat while my parents shopped their first grand opening is one of my earliest memories.
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### Author:  [@BrickBat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrickBat)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2022, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-words-you-insist-on-reading-wrong-in-your-head-at-least/959805/65 "2022-02-22T01:00:43Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#):
>
> Whenever I read the name Sean, I always mentally pronounce it “seen”.
Same here. 👋
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### Author:  [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2022, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-words-you-insist-on-reading-wrong-in-your-head-at-least/959805/66 "2022-02-22T05:22:32Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#):
>
> Me after moving to LA: “I like going to the OHshen”
> Hot chick at party, with dripping distain: “You’re from Wisconsin, aren’t you”.
I’m from Utah and we say it that way as well.
For me, hedonist has a short e. Because I confuse myself on which one is correct, I never use the word in conversations.
At least I’ve overcome my childhood habit of rhyming windy and Wendy.
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### Author:  [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2022, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-words-you-insist-on-reading-wrong-in-your-head-at-least/959805/67 "2022-02-22T05:50:23Z")
> [@TokyoBayer](#):
>
> > [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#):
> >
> > Me after moving to LA: “I like going to the OHshen”
> > Hot chick at party, with dripping distain: “You’re from Wisconsin, aren’t you”.
>
> I’m from Utah and we say it that way as well.
I’m from New York and it’s OHshen here too. Add me as another one confused how it wouldn’t be two syllables.
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### Author:  [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2022, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-words-you-insist-on-reading-wrong-in-your-head-at-least/959805/68 "2022-02-22T21:09:43Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#):
>
> And if you spell your name Stephen, I am totally going to call you “step hen” in my head.
Actress Stepfanie Kramer recently appeared on NCIS, and I immediately thought, “Hey, that’s Step Fanny Kramer.” Apparently she started out as Stephanie, so she must have changed it to Step Fanny at some point.
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### Author:  [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)
#### Post date: [February 23, 2022, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-words-you-insist-on-reading-wrong-in-your-head-at-least/959805/69 "2022-02-23T02:42:54Z")
Persephone is, or at least should be, pronounced 'percy phone." It is in my head.
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### Author:  [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)
#### Post date: [February 23, 2022, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-words-you-insist-on-reading-wrong-in-your-head-at-least/959805/70 "2022-02-23T03:36:51Z")
> [@Balthisar](#):
>
> The image format is always going to be a hard g…
… Especially because the G of GIF stands for Graphics.
(Now, if you want to pronounce that word “Girafficks”, I’m on board…)
.
As a kid, I read a scifi short story (I read nothing else at that age), where the main character spelled “girl” as _ **grwl** _.
Fifty years later, when someone mentions a girl, I take a beat to voice _gur’-wul_ in my brain.
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### Author:  [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2022, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-words-you-insist-on-reading-wrong-in-your-head-at-least/959805/71 "2022-02-24T00:15:38Z")
HEPA filter, because it should be pronounced HEE-PA by English grammar standards. But US folks say HEP-AH, because why? I still say heepa and get told I’m wrong frequently. No, say I. You are wrong.
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### Author:  [@peedin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peedin)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2022, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-words-you-insist-on-reading-wrong-in-your-head-at-least/959805/72 "2022-02-24T00:19:32Z")
Indefatigable is indefatigue-able according to my brain.
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### Author:  [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2022, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-words-you-insist-on-reading-wrong-in-your-head-at-least/959805/73 "2022-02-24T00:34:39Z")
Not a word, but a URL:
A few years ago we switched to Boost Mobile phone service. The name of the company is Boost Mobile and the signs on their brick and mortar stores say BOOST, right over the entryway, just as you’d expect
But their URL is [boostmobile.com](http://boostmobile.com), and running the words together completely changes where the accent goes. Now it looks like the name or a type of vehicle, like a Batmobile. Or even an antique car like a Hupmobile.
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### Author:  [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2022, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-words-you-insist-on-reading-wrong-in-your-head-at-least/959805/74 "2022-02-24T02:10:15Z")
Uh oh. That’s not right?
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### Author:  [@Karen\_Lingel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Karen_Lingel)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2022, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-words-you-insist-on-reading-wrong-in-your-head-at-least/959805/75 "2022-02-24T02:39:28Z")
Similarly: telecommunications provider Digital Island’s website reads to me like an online heart medication retailer: Digitalis Land dot com.
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### Author:  [@peedin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peedin)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2022, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-words-you-insist-on-reading-wrong-in-your-head-at-least/959805/76 "2022-02-24T18:16:04Z")
@Dung_Beetle I’m told it’s inde-fat-a-gable
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### Author:  [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2022, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-words-you-insist-on-reading-wrong-in-your-head-at-least/959805/77 "2022-02-24T18:21:34Z")
> [@peedin](#):
>
> Indefatigable is indefatigue-able according to my brain.
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#):
>
> Uh oh. That’s not right?
Considerably better than the way I mis-read it.
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### Author:  [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2022, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-words-you-insist-on-reading-wrong-in-your-head-at-least/959805/78 "2022-02-24T18:44:14Z")
I thought Portia DeGeneres’ name was spelled Porche, then I remembered Julius Caesar’s wife’s name.
I read that Anthony Hopkins deliberately mispronounces Chianti in _Hannibal_ Key-an-ti. How is it pronounced?
I’m not sure my nephew believed me when I told him how Worcestershire is pronounced.
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### Author:  [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2022, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-words-you-insist-on-reading-wrong-in-your-head-at-least/959805/79 "2022-02-24T19:51:08Z")
decade=DEK ade
decadent=DEK ade ent, wait, dek ADE ent, no…
JFK said “We choose to go to the moon in this de KADE…”
[![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/Q7HvxDhlI6U/hqdefault.jpg "John F Kennedy: "We choose to go to the moon."") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7HvxDhlI6U)
British English? Mick sang it that way in “Sympathy for the Devil.”
> I watched with glee
> While your kings and queens
> Fought for ten decades
> For the gods they made
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### Author:  [@moes\_lotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moes_lotion)
#### Post date: [February 24, 2022, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-words-you-insist-on-reading-wrong-in-your-head-at-least/959805/80 "2022-02-24T21:06:14Z")
Mine is the building supply/hardware retail chain, Home Despot. Amusingly, typing this in to the two main online search engines returns the actual company name.
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