# Ever find a word or name that you just can't pronounce? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 19, 2004, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-find-a-word-or-name-that-you-just-cant-pronounce/270024 "2004-10-19T13:39:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2004, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-find-a-word-or-name-that-you-just-cant-pronounce/270024/21 "2004-10-20T00:09:31Z")
I have a tough time saying “arbre” and “Sherbrooke” in French. For some reason, I keep choking on the “rbr” part. ---
**Author:** ![leenmi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f1d935/32.png) [@leenmi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leenmi)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2004, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-find-a-word-or-name-that-you-just-cant-pronounce/270024/22 "2004-10-20T00:47:05Z")
When I was in high school, we hosted an Austrian student named Gerhard. He’d pronounce it over and over, but we both finally admitted defeat and I called him George. He didn’t like it much, but it was better than Gare-heart. I just couldn’t pronounce it correctly. To this day, I also have a problem with ennui. I learned the word early in my reading life and had no guidance. I sounded it out and came up with en-you-eye. Now that I know better, it’s still en-you-eye to me. ---
**Author:** ![Cowgirl\_Jules](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4af34b/32.png) [@Cowgirl\_Jules](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cowgirl_Jules)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2004, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-find-a-word-or-name-that-you-just-cant-pronounce/270024/23 "2004-10-20T02:55:22Z")
I announced my first rodeo this weekend, and I nailed every name but one. Some of them were really tough, too, but I could not, for the life of me, pronounce “Fagliano”. That poor kid came through my arena at least four times; I asked the other timers, and finally resorted to just calling his first name rather than mangling his last name every time. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2004, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-find-a-word-or-name-that-you-just-cant-pronounce/270024/24 "2004-10-20T03:01:00Z")
Caricature. I tried saying it about a dozen times today while talking to a friend and I just couldn’t. I eventually just had to tell her “you know what I’m saying” and moved on with the rest of the discussion. ---
**Author:** ![Keapon\_Laffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e274bd/32.png) [@Keapon\_Laffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keapon_Laffin)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2004, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-find-a-word-or-name-that-you-just-cant-pronounce/270024/25 "2004-10-20T03:05:33Z")
Never had a problem with this before. But once Bush started saying _nukular_, I often catch myself saying it too. :smack: ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2004, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-find-a-word-or-name-that-you-just-cant-pronounce/270024/26 "2004-10-20T05:40:14Z")
Since I’m interested in a lot of the films coming out later in the year, I have recently been seeing the word “biopic” everywhere and in my head always read it as rhyming with myopic. I have to always tell myself that it is “bio-pic.” ---
**Author:** ![straykat23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@straykat23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/straykat23)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2004, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-find-a-word-or-name-that-you-just-cant-pronounce/270024/27 "2004-10-20T05:51:22Z")
Trompe d’oleil - I think that’s how it’s spelled. Too many hampsters in my phone-modem-world to begin looking it up again. Any help? ---
**Author:** ![StephenG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7feea3/32.png) [@StephenG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StephenG)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2004, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-find-a-word-or-name-that-you-just-cant-pronounce/270024/28 "2004-10-20T06:19:15Z")
> [@straykat23](#): > > Trompe d’oleil - I think that’s how it’s spelled. Too many hampsters in my phone-modem-world to begin looking it up again. > > Any help? _Trompe l’oeil_. It’s pronounced something like “TROHMP loy”, where the first word is very nasal and the second word has a rising inflection, and just a hint of an “L” sound at the end. ---
**Author:** ![mks57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@mks57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mks57)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2004, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-find-a-word-or-name-that-you-just-cant-pronounce/270024/29 "2004-10-20T06:40:14Z")
I used to know a guy with a very long Polish name. He had to wear a custom name tag on his uniform just to make all the letters fit in the allowed space. It was one of those names that had very few vowels. When people read his name, they were usually too intimidated by it to attempt to pronounce it. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2004, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-find-a-word-or-name-that-you-just-cant-pronounce/270024/30 "2004-10-20T06:48:27Z")
I cannot pronounce the Danish translation of _strawberries and cream_. If there is a Dane present who cares to give some sort of pronunciation for me, it would be most appreciated. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2004, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-find-a-word-or-name-that-you-just-cant-pronounce/270024/31 "2004-10-20T07:12:02Z")
People in my life revel in some great names, all of which I had trouble with for a long time: Csillaghegyi - KssILLa-GYEG-ye Szczesny - Ssk-ezz-knee Rezakhanlou - REZZ-a-HAAN-loo Radziwon - RAT-chee-von Ain’t living in a multicultural society great? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2004, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-find-a-word-or-name-that-you-just-cant-pronounce/270024/32 "2004-10-20T07:23:55Z")
Decatur. La Jolla. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2004, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-find-a-word-or-name-that-you-just-cant-pronounce/270024/33 "2004-10-20T07:53:27Z")
> [@Snooooopy](#): > > Decatur. dehKAYtur > [@](#): > > La Jolla. La Jolla? I don’t get how it could be pronounced any differently. My town’s name (Havre) can be hard to pronounce, I suppose. It’s pronounced HAVer, but newcomers always want to pronounce it something like HAVray, in a way that makes the final `re’ make sense. I, too, always thought `ennui’ was pronounced ENN-you-i, and when I first heard it pronounced I was at a loss to understand it for a few moments. Polish and Vietnamese names give me fits, but I’ve never come across anyone who actually has one. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2004, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-find-a-word-or-name-that-you-just-cant-pronounce/270024/34 "2004-10-20T08:02:59Z")
Shibboleth {Heh, heh} ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2004, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-find-a-word-or-name-that-you-just-cant-pronounce/270024/35 "2004-10-20T09:46:51Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > La Jolla? I don’t get how it could be pronounced any differently. Well, there’s the Spanish way (roughly “La Hoya”) or the English say-as-you-see way. I’m guessing it’s the Spanish way, but I’m a Brit so I could be wrong. > [@](#): > > My town’s name (Havre) can be hard to pronounce, I suppose. It’s pronounced HAVer, but newcomers always want to pronounce it something like HAVray, in a way that makes the final `re’ make sense. That reminds me of another one I have trouble with - the French port of Le Havre. There’s a really awkward stop between the Le and the Havre, kind of like “Luh-'Ahhv” with a hint of an “r” sound at the end. Ugh. > [@](#): > > Polish and Vietnamese names give me fits, but I’ve never come across anyone who actually has one. Polish is actually reasonably easy - it’s a phonetically unambiguous language as far as I know - once you know the rules you can tell the pronunciation exactly from the spelling. People just get scared by the “sz” and “cz” and even “szcz” letter combinations (“sh” as in shoe; “ch” as in church; and “sh-ch” as in “fresh cheese” respectively) ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2004, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-find-a-word-or-name-that-you-just-cant-pronounce/270024/36 "2004-10-20T09:56:37Z")
**Colophon** : Thanks for the hints with Polish consonant clusters. Having been around German speakers for portions of my life, consonants in and of themselves don’t bother me, but my gut reaction to a Polish surname was usually fear and loathing. And I suppose this is the very first time I’ve ever seen La Jolla written out. I’ve heard it pronounced (Spanish way), but I thought the written version was a town in Missouri or northern Illinois and, therefore, _French_-derived, not Spanish. (I was born in southern Illinois, and I have never spent significant amounts of time in California or, indeed, the American Southwest in general. I suppose my bias is obvious.) ---
**Author:** ![AngelicGemma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/439d5e/32.png) [@AngelicGemma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AngelicGemma)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2004, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-find-a-word-or-name-that-you-just-cant-pronounce/270024/37 "2004-10-20T14:20:54Z")
When I was a kid, I couldn’t pronouce “Samantha.” So I just said ‘Mantha’ ---
**Author:** ![Izzybella](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e56c9b/32.png) [@Izzybella](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Izzybella)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2004, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-find-a-word-or-name-that-you-just-cant-pronounce/270024/38 "2004-10-20T14:35:00Z")
Neither my sister nor I can pronounce our cousin’s name–Rory. It comes out sounding like Woh-wee. ---
**Author:** ![Nutty\_Bunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d07c76/32.png) [@Nutty\_Bunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nutty_Bunny)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2004, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-find-a-word-or-name-that-you-just-cant-pronounce/270024/39 "2004-10-20T14:40:51Z")
> [@Trunk](#): > > **particularly** is a mouthful. > > particulully is how it comes out, and if I concentrate, I say partick-you-lar-lee with an emphasis on the whole “lar lee” part. That’s another one. It’s the same problem I have with regularly, although particularly is worse. **Gynecological** always sounds like it has an extra syllable when I say it. But it’s not like I say it all that often. ---
**Author:** ![Anonymous\_Coward](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/94ad74/32.png) [@Anonymous\_Coward](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anonymous_Coward)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2004, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-find-a-word-or-name-that-you-just-cant-pronounce/270024/40 "2004-10-20T15:13:32Z")
For some reason I have problems with “Desktop” . It usually comes out “desstop” unless I really take care to put the “k” in there, and then it sounds forced and odd sounding. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-find-a-word-or-name-that-you-just-cant-pronounce/270024.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ever-find-a-word-or-name-that-you-just-cant-pronounce/270024.md?page=3)