# Cutesy mispronunciations from your own childhood **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 12, 2012, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cutesy-mispronunciations-from-your-own-childhood/612609 "2012-02-12T17:26:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2012, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cutesy-mispronunciations-from-your-own-childhood/612609/1 "2012-02-12T17:26:41Z")
Include your kids or others you’re close to, but point out which ones are your own. Some of mine from pre-school: Cookie = ditty Divinity (candy) = savanity My kids in their early years: Horse = hiffy Cow = pig I’m bound to think of others… ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2012, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cutesy-mispronunciations-from-your-own-childhood/612609/2 "2012-02-12T17:29:39Z")
My sister’s family always called bananas “bumbies” after the mispronunciation of her little brother. My first name is William, and my adorable niece long pronounced it “Willigum.” Another niece once called her grandmother “Grandy,” and the nickname stuck. When they later went through Grandy, N.C., they made sure to get a picture of the two of them next to the city-limits sign. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2012, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cutesy-mispronunciations-from-your-own-childhood/612609/3 "2012-02-12T17:37:57Z")
From what I’ve been told, when I was little I referred to a camera as (phonetically) mizels. Sort of a baby talk pronunciation of ‘smiles’ which is what people would say when they point the camera at a group. Mizles misles I’m not really sure how to spell it so that it looks the way it sounds. Sort of ‘smiles’ with the first syllable backwards, like saying pasgetti. Also, I have a cousin named Butch that I’m told I spent some time calling Bitch. ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2012, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cutesy-mispronunciations-from-your-own-childhood/612609/4 "2012-02-12T17:51:47Z")
My son **Jason’s** mispronounciation of “Horsies”: Hoggies. He’s now 42, and whenever we see horses and we’re with him, me and/or **D** always say, “Look, Jason! _Hoggies_!!!” 🙂 Q ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2012, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cutesy-mispronunciations-from-your-own-childhood/612609/5 "2012-02-12T17:56:34Z")
Speaking of names getting modified (often forever): Isaac = Igate Stewart/Stuart = Toopie Vera = Beebah Virgil = Burjah Timothy = Tiffy ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2012, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cutesy-mispronunciations-from-your-own-childhood/612609/6 "2012-02-12T18:12:41Z")
My best friend growing up said “pasketti,” and “cimamin,” which annoyed the heck out of me even then. My mom and I still call it “worsterererererer” sauce, from a hilarious moment when I was a kid and got stuck on the word and ended up sounding like a boat engine. (I can say it perfectly well now, honestly I can.) Babysat one little fellow who did the pretty common “f” substitution for “tr”. “Who’s trouble?” “ME! Me fubble!”, “Wanna play with da fain! (train)” that sort of thing. Mostly harmless, until he developed a public fascination with trucks. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2012, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cutesy-mispronunciations-from-your-own-childhood/612609/7 "2012-02-12T19:46:39Z")
My daughter had effalant and lellow. It was a sad day in my house when “elephant” came out of her mouth. My son didn’t talk much until he could talk well. However, now as a teenager he delights in mispronouncing words on purpose. It isn’t nearly as cute. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2012, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cutesy-mispronunciations-from-your-own-childhood/612609/8 "2012-02-12T21:31:43Z")
I used to call the Beverly Hillbillies, The Billy Bill Billies. (And, in those days, I was called, Billy). ---
**Author:** ![Euryphaessa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Euryphaessa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euryphaessa)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2012, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cutesy-mispronunciations-from-your-own-childhood/612609/9 "2012-02-12T22:49:08Z")
My brother still says “ambleance” instead of “ambulance”. He’s grown out of mazagine and learniversity, though. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2012, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cutesy-mispronunciations-from-your-own-childhood/612609/10 "2012-02-13T01:44:07Z")
I just remembered my sister referred to the Wright Brothers “monumement.” ---
**Author:** ![Dragwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dragwyr/32/2855_2.png) [@Dragwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragwyr)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2012, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cutesy-mispronunciations-from-your-own-childhood/612609/11 "2012-02-13T02:01:14Z")
From my own childhood: I have no recollection of this, but my mother tells me that instead of “Poison Ivy” I used to call it, “Poisonous Ivory”. My brother used to call “Salt and Pepper”, “Salten Pepper”, and used to say, “Please pass the salten”. ---
**Author:** ![Caricci](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Caricci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caricci)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2012, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cutesy-mispronunciations-from-your-own-childhood/612609/12 "2012-02-13T02:24:56Z")
My nephew used to call pteradactyls “terrible bats”. ---
**Author:** ![cfa3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e4f/32.png) [@cfa3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cfa3)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2012, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cutesy-mispronunciations-from-your-own-childhood/612609/13 "2012-02-13T02:26:07Z")
Pizgety ---
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2012, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cutesy-mispronunciations-from-your-own-childhood/612609/14 "2012-02-13T02:40:32Z")
How to pronounce the ‘just twenty years away’ form of nuclear power that would revolutionise the world? Surely it must rhyme with fission. So ‘fushion’ it was until 3rd form physics. ---
**Author:** ![Ahoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/50afbb/32.png) [@Ahoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ahoy)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2012, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cutesy-mispronunciations-from-your-own-childhood/612609/15 "2012-02-13T02:47:29Z")
When my son was small, he used to call anything not a car “big ruck”, and penguins were “lengins”. He had a funny way of saying onion, too, like “ON-YAWN”. My daughter was a late talker, but by the time she did speak she was pretty good with pronunciations. Except for one thing: apples were always “bapples”. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2012, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cutesy-mispronunciations-from-your-own-childhood/612609/16 "2012-02-13T03:18:44Z")
I couldn’t say “grammy” as a child, and instead called my grandmother “mimi”. I and the rest of our family call her that to this day (30+ years later). ---
**Author:** ![kjbrasda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/74df32/32.png) [@kjbrasda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kjbrasda)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2012, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cutesy-mispronunciations-from-your-own-childhood/612609/17 "2012-02-13T03:56:25Z")
my daughter: I’m glad I saved many of these. Shared them in mIRC chatroom and later compiled these from logs 🙂 Looking back on the weird stuff she used to say has cheered me considerably from my bad headcold. Spunbob Squishpants Konkey Dong (Donkey Kong) limbosine Tormatoes for both tomatoes and tornados quackamole for guacamole optoplets for octuplets “chi-prone” for chaparone she once called her dad a ‘sycopack’ not exactly a mispronouciation but “My Three Python and the Horror of the Rabbit” for “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” Don’t remember why it came up but, ‘antidispatulamintrespitorysystem’ for “Antidisestablishmentarianism”(I think there was a commercial on at the time trying to get a kid to say it for a treat) my nephew used to say ‘torantulated spider’ ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2012, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cutesy-mispronunciations-from-your-own-childhood/612609/18 "2012-02-13T03:58:32Z")
To this day I call Puffy paint “puppy” paint. I did it when I was younger cuz I liked puppies and I really thought that was its name and it pretty much just stuck with me until I learned (in college) that it was not called that. Screw em…it’s puppy paint to me ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2012, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cutesy-mispronunciations-from-your-own-childhood/612609/19 "2012-02-13T04:31:35Z")
I never mispronounced anything as a child.\* As an adult I do all the time. I’m afraid to talk. But my kids. One of them pronounced “Cincinnati” as “Sunset Daddy.” “Breakfast” was “breffkast” and this actually went on for a long, long time–until he was maybe 10. He listened to the radiadio and in the winter sat next to the radiadiators. Just a little extra syllable. He had a friend named Jonathan which he pronounced as Gonathan, and a friend named Josh who he pronounced Gosh. \*Okay, I lied. When we drove through the country I thought Ramada Inns were Rama-dama Inns, I thought municipal buildings were munciple buildings, and I knew how to pronounce La Jolla and El Cajon but anything new with a J that needed to be pronounced differently than a J I was going to get wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2012, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cutesy-mispronunciations-from-your-own-childhood/612609/20 "2012-02-13T04:45:17Z")
The only one I can remember doing is the alphabet song. At the “L M N O P” part, I would say “menno menno p.” My cousin’s name was Melanie, and her baby brother couldn’t pronounce it right until he was like 6. He always called her “Nony” (pronounced like no-knee). It was cute 🙂 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cutesy-mispronunciations-from-your-own-childhood/612609.md?page=2)