# Do you "go with" mispronunciations? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 2, 2006, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-go-with-mispronunciations/362928 "2006-07-02T11:33:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-go-with-mispronunciations/362928/81 "2006-07-06T13:39:57Z")
1. I try to always say words correctly and enunciate clearly. I used to speak very quickly and people wouldn’t understand. I have a slightly formalized way of speaking anyway, which has drawn attention before, but it’s just a way of training myself to speak slowly and clearly. 2. When I’m casual, though, I’ll sure as hell say words the way I feel. I’ve said “grosheries” (sorry) and “wosh” - I don’t like the sound of “waash”. Also coffee instead of ca-fee - another one I don’t like. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-go-with-mispronunciations/362928/82 "2006-07-06T14:09:39Z")
Here’s the American pronunciation, which is the one I use: [WEDNESDAY Definition & Usage Examples | Dictionary.com](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Wednesday) ---
**Author:** ![rhiannon777](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/dfb087/32.png) [@rhiannon777](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rhiannon777)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-go-with-mispronunciations/362928/83 "2006-07-06T15:27:10Z")
[QUOTE=Zeldar] For me the difficulty arises when I try a new placename phonetically only to learn the local pronunciation has almost nothing to do with its spelling. Louisiana and Texas are good about this sort of thing. [/QUOTE] So’s Massachusettes. Worcester is pronounced “Wister.” How many consonants can you skip in a single word? ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-go-with-mispronunciations/362928/84 "2006-07-06T15:35:25Z")
[QUOTE=rhiannon777] So’s Massachusettes. Worcester is pronounced “Wister.” How many consonants can you skip in a single word? [/QUOTE] Until I was grown and had moved away from Alabama I had never heard “Worcestershire” (as in the sauce) pronounced any way but “Wooster” (as in Jeeves and) and then only as “Wooster-sher” by a few. It’s still “Wooster” most places I go. I avoid the issue by asking for A-1 or Heinz. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-go-with-mispronunciations/362928/85 "2006-07-06T15:38:33Z")
[QUOTE=Zeldar] “Nu-Ku-ler” is just wrong. If people insist on saying that that way, I’ll just continue with “Nu-kle-ar” as if they had said it right. The only hassle arises if they “correct” me, and then things get nasty. Many times, there are more than one “correct” ways to pronounce some words or phrases. As often as not, a dictionary worth its salt will show alternate pronunciations if they are standard enough to be regionalisms. If they are, I allow for the variations. [/QUOTE] So which is it? Most dictionaries disagree with you and allow “Nu-Ku-ler” . ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-go-with-mispronunciations/362928/86 "2006-07-06T15:48:15Z")
[QUOTE=DrDeth] So which is it? Most dictionaries disagree with you and allow “Nu-Ku-ler” . [/QUOTE] It’s less that they disagree and more that they allow the alternative. I do accept that weight of evidence supports the “wrong” version. To me, regardless of persuasion otherwise, “Nu-ku-ler” is just unacceptable. Same for “mass-a-too-sitch” even though “educated” types I have known can’t seem to say it any other way. In the spirit of the OP, however, I “go with” these variants and don’t try to correct them. They just annoy me. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-go-with-mispronunciations/362928/87 "2006-07-06T15:58:18Z")
I hardly ever bother with corrections unless it is someone that I think will use it in circumstances where they will look silly and I figure they will cope with having it explained to them. I often don’t bother correcting factual errors or pointing out that things such as astrology are bunkum if there is no reason to disrupt a conversation that others are enjoying. ---
**Author:** ![homeskillet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/7ba0ec/32.png) [@homeskillet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/homeskillet)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-go-with-mispronunciations/362928/88 "2006-07-06T16:13:15Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] I know how to pronounce the name of the writer “Goethe”. That doesn’t change the fact that the name of the street in Chicago is pronounced “GO-thee” [/QUOTE] It could only be people from Des Plaines that would say it that way. 😃 Honestly though, I’ve never heard it pronounced anything other than “Gurta” or “Goda”. This isn’t really a mispronunciation, but since moving out east I’ve noticed a little quirk in the accents around New York & Boston. Invariably, in conversation, someone will have to put an R at the end of a word ending in A. So that: **Idea** becomes **Idear** **Agenda** becomes **Agender** **Data** becomes **Datar** Where that R comes from is beyond me. I’ve never made an issue of it, but everytime I hear it, a little part of me dies inside.\* Not really, that’s just for dramatic effect, Goethe would be proud. ---
**Author:** ![minlokwat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minlokwat/32/2844_2.png) [@minlokwat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minlokwat)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-go-with-mispronunciations/362928/89 "2006-07-06T22:33:53Z")
[QUOTE=homeskillet] Where that R comes from is beyond me. [/QUOTE] It migrated of course. Thus the Bostonian “Park the car” which comes out as [pahk the kah] lost its “r” and that –r- had to turn up somewhere, right? And it landed in the further south’s version of “wash” –and sometimes even “squash” and on the tail end of the words you cite. Now if we could just figure out where that –w- in “answer” has been hiding… ---
**Author:** ![Gleena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b3f665/32.png) [@Gleena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gleena)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-go-with-mispronunciations/362928/90 "2006-07-06T23:42:26Z")
I get a bit peevish when I’m corrected for words that I use in my American accent. I drop the “h” in herb. I pronounce the letter “h” as “aitch”, not “haitch”, and I say the word leisure as “lee-sure” not “leh-sure”. All of these in Australia have gotten me corrected. On the other hand, I messed with the teenage girl’s head the other day in Subway when I ordered a basil and oregano bread with chicken filets. (Here, that would come out bah-sil and or-REE-gone-o bread with chicken fill-ets). She asked me three times what I’d just said. I only correct my husbad, but not for Australianisms (he’s Aussie) but because he does the “I read it this way in my head” pronunciation. The only reason I correct him is because he refuses to entertain any other way. Thus, segue has become “seeg” and melee has become “mealy” and they stay that way, so I get to tease him because he does know better! The only pronunciation that drives me mental here is adding a “d” to the teen numbers, so thirteen becomes “thirdeen”. I don’t correct anybody, I just wince! And Saturday becomes “Sadity”, that makes me wince, too. Ugh! Oh, well, I catch him picking up my way of pronouncing things now and again, so its a fair trade. And I’ve developed this bizzare half-Aussie accent that I just hate, but can’t seem to shake, so I’ve got no room to talk about pronunciation. 🙂 Cheers, G ---
**Author:** ![sundog66](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@sundog66](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sundog66)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-go-with-mispronunciations/362928/91 "2006-07-06T23:57:36Z")
[QUOTE=Gleena] The only pronunciation that drives me mental here is adding a “d” to the teen numbers, so thirteen becomes “thirdeen”. [/QUOTE] Does it also drive you mental when Americans add a “d” to any of the following words in the same way? ratty fatty pretty sanity lottery setting thirty forty etc. It’s interesting that Australian English also does this with words like “thirteen”, “fourteen”, etc. I would imagine it has something to do with differences in syllable stress, but I’m no phonologist. ---
**Author:** ![onedayfishsale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onedayfishsale/32/4398_2.png) [@onedayfishsale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/onedayfishsale)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2006, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-go-with-mispronunciations/362928/92 "2006-07-07T03:32:38Z")
[QUOTE=norinew] My big irritant is “comfterble”. No, no, no, no! The “r” comes _before_ the “t”. Com-for-ta-ble. It’s not that hard. [/QUOTE] Too: auxiliary, vegetable, miniature. Pronouncing them the hard way helps remember how they’re spelled. ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2006, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-go-with-mispronunciations/362928/93 "2006-07-07T04:10:04Z")
[QUOTE=gigi] I would say soove-raih oh my gosh I don’t know how to describe the sound…um…oh, like **fin** de siecle , a guttural aih in the back of your throat. Of course I could be way off base. [/quote] Normandy-based accent, but that’s how I’d say it. The aih is … sort of like an A, only further back in your throat. If you said “Enh,” you’d be kinda close. I can’t think of a word in prestige American English with that sound in it, though, so it’s hard to draw a meaningful comparison. > [@](#): > > And some admen actually say die-ah-per for diaper?!? Believe it or not, I learned it as such from my father, who also says meye-o-nez. ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2006, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-go-with-mispronunciations/362928/94 "2006-07-07T12:14:02Z")
In my world, diaper and mayonnaise are both three syllable words. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2006, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-go-with-mispronunciations/362928/95 "2006-07-07T12:19:10Z")
[QUOTE=homeskillet] > [@](#): > > Originally Posted by **WhyNot** > I know how to pronounce the name of the writer “Goethe”. That doesn’t change the fact that the name of the street in Chicago is pronounced “GO-thee” It could only be people from Des Plaines that would say it that way. 😃 Honestly though, I’ve never heard it pronounced anything other than “Gurta” or “Goda”. [/QUOTE] The street or the writer? I assure you that Chicagoans say “Gothee”, even the recorded voice on the CTA busses. We also have the intersection of “De-VAHN” (Devon) and “Paul-EYE-nuh” (Paulina), where I used to work. I learned pretty quickly when giving the address to out-of-town suppliers to lie and say it was on “DEV-in”, like the boy’s name. Easier that way. ---
**Author:** ![Gleena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b3f665/32.png) [@Gleena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gleena)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2006, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-go-with-mispronunciations/362928/96 "2006-07-07T14:23:56Z")
[QUOTE=sundog66] Does it also drive you mental when Americans add a “d” to any of the following words in the same way? [/QUOTE] To no end, it does. And don’t start me on “fitty” for fify, either. Bah. Get off my lawn! Cheers, G ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2006, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-go-with-mispronunciations/362928/97 "2006-07-07T14:30:59Z")
[QUOTE=minlokwat] > [@homeskillet](#): > > Where that R comes from is beyond me. It migrated of course. [/QUOTE] Actually, smartaleckry aside, I wonder if it might actually have. In some British accents, an R sound is inserted as a separator between a word ending with a vowel and a word beginning with one. As a lowbrow example, I’ve heard this on _Star Trek Next Gen_, when Picard’s dialogue includes a phrase like “Data isn’t,” or similar. In Patrick Stewart’s pronunciation, that comes out as “Data Risn’t,” or “Dater isn’t” if you prefer. Given the still-noticeable British ancestry of certain Atlantic-coast U.S. dialects, I wouldn’t be surprised at all if the “idear” phenomenon isn’t something of a holdover from the above. I mean, I don’t know this for sure. I’m just saying it seems like a plausible link. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2006, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-go-with-mispronunciations/362928/98 "2006-07-07T15:26:32Z")
[QUOTE=Zeldar] For me the difficulty arises when I try a new placename phonetically only to learn the local pronunciation has almost nothing to do with its spelling. Louisiana and Texas are good about this sort of thing. Nacogdoches is “nack-a-tish” and how you get that from the spelling beats me. [/QUOTE] Actually, you got your Texas and Louisiana confused. Nacogdoches, TX is basically pronounced “Nack-a-do-ches”, while Natchitoches, LA is “Nack-a-tish”. There are lots of names like that in Texas and Louisiana, because of the non-English derivation of many of the places, and subsequent bastardization of the pronunciation. Refugio, Texas is pronounced “re-furio”, which I suspect is a anglicized version of the original Spanish pronunciation. Or Palacios, which isn’t “pa-la-cios”, but “pa-lashus”. Manchaca… which is pronounced “Man-shack”. Oddly enough, Mexia (hometown of Anna Nicole Smith), is pronounced right- “Mu-hay-uh”, instead of “Mex-eeya” ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2006, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-go-with-mispronunciations/362928/99 "2006-07-07T15:38:13Z")
[QUOTE=bump] Actually, you got your Texas and Louisiana confused. Nacogdoches, TX is basically pronounced “Nack-a-do-ches”, while Natchitoches, LA is “Nack-a-tish”. [/QUOTE] Thanks for the correction. Some Cajun friends in Lafayette introduced the pronunciation of Natchitoches to me, and I later heard the Nacogdoches pronunciation during the search for pieces of the shuttle. I did have them confused as to which is which. I could get out the atlas and find many more such examples, and not just in TX and LA. I do hope my main point was valid: going by spelling can make you sound like an idiot in some locales. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2006, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-go-with-mispronunciations/362928/100 "2006-07-07T15:49:06Z")
[QUOTE=Achren] [QUOTE=Zeldar] For me the difficulty arises when I try a new placename phonetically only to learn the local pronunciation has almost nothing to do with its spelling. Louisiana and Texas are good about this sort of thing. Nacogdoches is “nack-a-tish” and how you get that from the spelling beats me. \ [/QUOTE] Nacogdoches, TX is Nac-a-do-ches. Natchitoches, LA is Nack-a-tish. [/QUOTE] Just to let you know I saw this earlier correction, too. Thanks to you, too. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-go-with-mispronunciations/362928.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-go-with-mispronunciations/362928.md?page=6)