How do YOU pronounce these words?

Same here, pretty much, except my “mature” has a pretty clear “ch,” and “February” has the accent on the first syllable.

ETA: Oh, for Cthulu I say “KTHOO-loo.” I have no idea how it’s supposed to be pronounced.

I grew up in central Indiana and never heard mature, furniture, temperature, or literature pronounced without a “ch” sound for the t before the u until I moved to south Georgia. It still grates when I hear people use the hard T sound in those words.

Waitaminuute, somebody said “Cthulhu” at the Oscars?

I think I better read the OP again.

For the record, I pronounce them all CORRECTLY. :stuck_out_tongue:

niche – NEESH

mature – ma -TYOUR

cache – CASH

Adirondacks – add - er - RON - dax

fetish – FET - ish

Cthulhu – (k)THOOOOOL

etcerera – et - SET - er - a

February – FEH - broo - air - ee

sherbet – SHER - bet

except maybe Cthulhu

That would work if he were pronouncing it how it appears in English. But there is no English patter to turn “et” into “ex,” nor can I think of any other foreign word that gets that sort of treatment.

Anyways, I say

“neesh” because the other pronunciation would be “nitch”
“Machoor,” because the “ty” combination always becomes “ch” in my accent.
“Cash” because cachet is a completely different word.
“Fettish” because, um, that’s the only pronunciation I’ve ever heard, and that’s the way it looks like it should be pronounced?
“K-THoo-Loo” for almost the same reasons as above, except that I know that that’s not the original pronunciation. But no one uses that pronunciation because it’s hard to say.
“ett setera” because that’s the way it’s spelled, and I saw it spelled way before I ever heard it said.
“Febuary” because it’s one of those words where the “correct” pronunciation is seen as elitist and actually confuses kids. Unlike Library or surprise where you can say them correctly.
“ShurBAY,” but with a caveat. That’s how I pronounce that particular word when reading it, but I call the actual substance “sherbert” and pronounce it accordingly. As both my usual brand and spell check indicate, “sherbert” is a legitimate word.

Bonus: I still say Wensday instead of Wednsday, for the same reasons as February. And I say expresso, a change that is actually common (es -> ex happens all the time.)

Interesting. So there are people who actually pronounce “sherbet” with one “r.” Fascinating.

That’s not what I heard.

I assume people who pronounce “sherbet” as “sherbert” also pronounce “spaghetti” as “pasketti.”

Yeah, it’s absolutely crazy to imagine that a voiceless alveolar stop might become a voiceless velar stop which when followed by a sibilant would sound like the traditional english x.

That’s a stupid thing to assume.

Niche: neesh
Mature: ma-CHUR
Cache: Cash
Adirondacks: AD-uh-RON-dacks
Fetish: FEH-tish
Cthulhu: kuh-THOO-loo
Et cetera: et SEH-ter-uh
February: FEB-u-wary
Sherbet: SHER-bet

Niche: Nish.

Mature: Ma-CHUR.

Cache: Cash.

Adirondacks: Add-uh-RON-dacks.

Fetish: FET-ish. Well, maybe not “ish” so much as a cross between “ish” and “esh.” Let’s call the vowel a schwa.

Cthulhu: No idea. I never say it, I never need to say it, and I’ve never heard anybody say it in real life. I get that it’s some kind of Lovecraftian monster, but I also never need to say “King Kong” or “Dracula” or “Godzilla,” unless I’m referring to the movies.

Et cetera: Et SET-uh-rah. Not quite as clipped and enunciated as Yul Brynner in “The King and I,” but close.

February: FEB-u-ary in colloquial speech; FEB-ru-ary in more formal speech

Sherbet: SHER-bet. My ex-wife (an American) used to throw the second R into it, and I never understood why. This thread may help explain.

Then what the hell is this thread about?

British RP, well, mine, at least. Using ə to represent a schwa, and ɜ: for the sort-of long schwa, otherwise not using IPA:

neesh
neesh
mach-OO-wə
cash
I’ve never had the need to say Adirondacks. I’d probably say ad-I (like eye)-rən-dax.
FEH-tish
kə-THOOL-hoo
et SEH-ter-ə
FEB-yə-ry - just three syllables. The a dissapears as well as the first first r. If I’m emphasising the word, the a comes back.
SHɜ:-bət. As if there were an r turning the ‘e’ into a schwa, like at the end of the name Robert.

Yeah, it’s et followed by s that’s the issue, not et in itself. We have plenty of words that start with ex and no other common words that start with ets.

Sherbet is a different thing in the UK to the US; it’s a child’s sweet (though I still like it and have some in my cupboard now) that is basically sugar with some sort of weird flavouring. You usually eat it by either dipping a lolly or a licorice stick in it. Like so:

http://sweetsfortreats.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/dip-dab-1024x682.jpg

Niche neesh

Mature Mat-yewer or Mat-chewer. I can’t decide and it’s stopped making sense when I say it.

Cache kaysh. What? Shut up, I’m Australian. :slight_smile:

Adirondacks: I’ve never said this word in my life.

Fetish fet-tish

Cthulhu k-THOOL-oo

Et cetera et setera

February feb-U-airy

Sherbet sher-b’t.

The way that’s written, I’m now hearing it as spoken by Adelaide from “Guys and Dolls” - “yoo-wə so mach-OO-wə, Nathan”. Or possibly Marisa Tomei in “my Cousin Vinnie”.

I used to say “sher-bert” growing up but I’ve training myself to say “sher-b’t” now.

I would assume sharing our various pronunciations in a positive and affirmational manner as mature and secure adults rather than mocking people who happen to speak a different dialect than we do.

Of course not, silly.

But I’ve honestly never heard “sure-bit.” Not that I get into a lot of conversations about sherbet, but the ones I do with the people I do with always include the “r” in the second syllable.

Dachshund is always an interesting one, too. I say DOCKS-und, but most people around me say “DASH-und” or “DASH-hound,” even people who own them.

There are different dialects, and then there are errors.

Only to people who don’t understand how language works.
(I mean, there are errors but expresso and sherbert are not examples of them.)

Well, my pronunciation of mature is more of a London thing than RP, really, and I’ve always noticed a few similarities between the stereotypical accents of London and New York. So there’s that.