:eek: :smack:
OH! Is **that **why there’s two "U"s in it?
(And, yeah, Yahoo’s dictionary confirms that “vacuum” is a three syllable word with a schwa in it. Weird.)
Yep. Compare “continuum.”
You say Wed (d and all?)…nes…day? I’m trying it. It sounds like Witness day.
Otherwise, If it’s a local name, I go with the local pronunciation. Otherwise, I pronounce words the “correct” way. But no, I don’t correct people, other than in a similar way to the example of the sequins/sequences.
Further, if I’m unsure of a word, I make sure others know it if I use it, such as “Nuk lee ur…is that correct?”…(though until I AM sure, I’ll usually avoid using a word that is “iffy” to me in conversation).
Well, I thank you for that. I wore perfume today called Leanan Sidhe and I had no idea how to say it. 
Nucular is definitely wrong, anyone can tell you that, but…
Is it noo~ or nyoo~ ? The latter of the two is probably most common here, and this pronunciation is pretty consistent across quite a few different words with similar forms.
Doesn’t make sense to me either. I’ve never known anyone, ever, to pronouce it with the heavy D usage. WeDD-Ness-day? Please!
My thread on this:
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=200041&highlight=wednesday
I got some shit for it, but I still stand by my reasoning that the spelling is ridiculous, and that nobody pronounces it as it’s spelled.
From Earl Snake-Hips Tucker’s MW cite in the 2nd post of my GQ thread:
Plenty of people pronounce it pretty much as spelt on this side of the pond, including me (although it comes out more like more like wed’n’sday and the D is more of a stop than an explicitly pronounced letter).
That’s how I say it.
Ditto, and I’ve never had anyone call me on it in conversation.
If it’s of any help, you could go by the card attached to the studio window in the news booth: “Never say nu - cu - lar. Always say new - clear.”
God, I’ve known people who add an S to the end of any business. “Yeah, we went to Kmarts and then ate at Burger Kings”. Annoying.
I screw up most french words. Once on Married With Children there was a joke where Kelly pronounces faux pas as “Fox Pause”, and I didn’t get what was so funny at all. I’ve since learned that one but for the most part french still baffles me.
I’m usually forgiving about place names, but anyone who pronounces the S in Illinois in front of me is really endangering their life.
As an egregious example, everybody adds an S to this name, which is particularly annoying here in Seattle because it’s a national chain with famously local roots. You’d think if anybody knew better, we would.
I have a possible example. Do you know how to pronounce “Chateau Souverain”? I know “chateau”, it’s the “souverain” part we’re wondering about - it’s a wine we sell at the restaurant I work at and I don’t think the managers are pronouncing it correctly (they say “soov-RAIN”, I think it’s “sohv-RINE” with little to no pronunciation of the “n” but none of us really seem to know our French)
I do this. I also say “sal-mun” instead of “sammin” or however most people pronounce “salmon,” “ant” for “aunt” and I pronounce the “h” in herb even though I know the “correct” way to say it. I’m not embarassed by my accent, in fact, I’ve tried to avoid losing it. I love hearing different accents and I enjoy comparing different pronunciations with people.
Only when on strange turf, so somebody else can be the target for comments. On local ground I pronounce things, how they should be. I used to be great at doing voices and imatation, so then the pronounciation is everything. I had a more advanced vocabulary, and I would use more common words that were less specific in meaning in certain settings. My illness messes up my spelling and volcabulary something nasty at times, but I’m remembering a lot more agin. Slow but sure I’m adding in forgotten vocabulary. I hope that wasn’t TMI.
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.
And some admen actually say die-ah-per for diaper?!?
Apparently the San Francisco vineyard is named after the guy’s daughter’s mangled pronunciation of sovereign so all bets are off.
Officially, it’s the second sound described on this page.
Sorry for the multiple posts. If you have heard the old ads for “Bain de Soleil, the St. Tropez tan”, it’s the sound in “Bain”. And again, I could be completely wrong!!
It’s a nasalized “e”. In French, the sound is usually spelled “in” or “ain”.
Yeah, the pronunciation guide showed a lower-case episilon with a tilde over it and at that point my head exploded 