# I didn't know American's pronounced it like that! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 19, 2009, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-know-americans-pronounced-it-like-that/521836 "2009-12-19T05:15:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-know-americans-pronounced-it-like-that/521836/41 "2009-12-19T20:57:08Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > The only Cecil that Americans pronounce “Cess-ill” was Cecil B. de Mille. All others are SEE-sill. And some people. Cecil Fielder? ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-know-americans-pronounced-it-like-that/521836/42 "2009-12-19T21:07:17Z")
> [@amarone](#): > > BAAAH-ZIL (Torquay). That pronounciation only works IF your wifes a shrew 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-know-americans-pronounced-it-like-that/521836/43 "2009-12-19T21:31:42Z")
‘John’ and ‘Peter’, my flight instructors when I was learning helicopters, are both Irish; but they sounded English to me. ‘John’ was wearing a shirt that I liked, so I said, ‘I like that shirt. Does it come in khaki?’ Of course I used the American pronunciation ‘kackee’. He said, ‘“Kackee”? What’s that?’ I told him it was a sort of light brown or tan. ‘Oh! You mean "_kah-KEE"!_’ At this point ‘Peter’ walks in and says, ‘“Kah-kee”? Isn’t that what you start your car with?’ Funny guys. The hell of it is, the word has become lodged in my brain. I can’t say it in a sentence without hesitating, or else it comes out as sort of an American/British hybrid. ---
**Author:** ![infinitii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e8c25b/32.png) [@infinitii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/infinitii)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-know-americans-pronounced-it-like-that/521836/44 "2009-12-19T21:58:26Z")
My favorite odd pronunciation that I’ve heard very recently is what I assume to be the normal British way of saying ‘aluminum’ – something like ‘al-yoo-min-eyum’, while I’ve always heard it as more like ‘a-loom-anum’. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-know-americans-pronounced-it-like-that/521836/45 "2009-12-19T22:03:50Z")
> [@infinitii](#): > > My favorite odd pronunciation that I’ve heard very recently is what I assume to be the normal British way of saying ‘aluminum’ – something like ‘al-yoo-min-eyum’, while I’ve always heard it as more like ‘a-loom-anum’. I think the ‘al-yoo-mineum’ pronunciation corresponds to how it’s spelled over there, “aluminium”. So it’s more a case of a similar but different word, than of pronouncing the same word differently. ---
**Author:** ![infinitii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e8c25b/32.png) [@infinitii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/infinitii)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-know-americans-pronounced-it-like-that/521836/46 "2009-12-19T22:06:53Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > I think the ‘al-yoo-mineum’ pronunciation corresponds to how it’s spelled over there, “aluminium”. So it’s more a case of a similar but different word, than of pronouncing the same word differently. Wow, I did not know that. ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-know-americans-pronounced-it-like-that/521836/47 "2009-12-19T23:05:10Z")
Wait, most people say “Cecil” with a long E? I do not know anyone IRL named Cecil, so I just had to guess at the pronuciation. ---
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-know-americans-pronounced-it-like-that/521836/48 "2009-12-19T23:09:56Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > That pronounciation only works IF your wifes a shrew > > 🙂 Glad to see somebody got it. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2009, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-know-americans-pronounced-it-like-that/521836/49 "2009-12-20T00:47:45Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > I think the ‘al-yoo-mineum’ pronunciation corresponds to how it’s spelled over there, “aluminium”. So it’s more a case of a similar but different word, than of pronouncing the same word differently. The same thing occurs with Jewelry vs Jewellery, and Airplane vs Aeroplane. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2009, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-know-americans-pronounced-it-like-that/521836/50 "2009-12-20T02:07:36Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > I grew up in the suburbs of Baltimore, and while I don’t speak [this way](http://diclaudio.org/fun/bawlmer.php), I know a lot of folks who do. Some of the terms have to be heard to be understood… well, sorta. Oddly enough, I can’t do a Bawlmer accent. My youngest sis, tho, can nail it. Since I first learned about it I’ve been fascinated by the Balmer/Merlin dialect. It seems to combine elements of the general U.S. Southern accent with accents heard much farther north, even into New England, in a unique way. There’s a dash of Pennsylvanian, too. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2009, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-know-americans-pronounced-it-like-that/521836/51 "2009-12-20T02:30:22Z")
> [@Mr.Krebbs](#): > > I pronounce graham “gram” for ease of use; I have a BA in English. Sorry. Does that also apply to Alexander Bell’s middle name? I pronounce it something like GRAY-um. ---
**Author:** ![Stillwell\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/96bed5/32.png) [@Stillwell\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stillwell_Angel)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2009, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-know-americans-pronounced-it-like-that/521836/52 "2009-12-20T02:41:06Z")
> [@wedgehed](#): > > People who say the words _look, book,_ & _took_, so that they rhyme with Luke. > > I associate this with Indiana for some reason. 😕 Hoosier born and raised here, and never in my life have I heard anyone speak the way you described. In or outside of Indiana. ---
**Author:** ![Jamaika\_a\_jamaikaiake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7993a0/32.png) [@Jamaika\_a\_jamaikaiake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jamaika_a_jamaikaiake)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2009, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-know-americans-pronounced-it-like-that/521836/53 "2009-12-20T03:01:42Z")
> [@Stillwell\_Angel](#): > > 😕 Hoosier born and raised here, and never in my life have I heard anyone speak the way you described. In or outside of Indiana. This Hoosier-born-and-raised thinks he mispelt India. ---
**Author:** ![PeskiPiksi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e495f1/32.png) [@PeskiPiksi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PeskiPiksi)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2009, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-know-americans-pronounced-it-like-that/521836/54 "2009-12-20T03:03:30Z")
Do Brits hear/speak a difference between the names Carrie/Kerry? I’ve lived most of my life in Oklahoma, but my husband’s family is from Long Island. I remember the first time I met my now MIL, she asked me, “Is it Carrie or Kerry?” I was so confused–to me it sounded like she was asking, “Is it carry or carry?” and I didn’t know what else to say except, “yes?” We cleared up the confusion later, and now I can hear the difference when they say it, but I can’t replicate it in my own voice. ---
**Author:** ![Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Springtime_for_Spacers)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2009, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-know-americans-pronounced-it-like-that/521836/55 "2009-12-20T03:48:28Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > ‘John’ and ‘Peter’, my flight instructors when I was learning helicopters, are both Irish; but they sounded English to me. > > ‘John’ was wearing a shirt that I liked, so I said, ‘I like that shirt. Does it come in khaki?’ Of course I used the American pronunciation ‘kackee’. He said, ‘“Kackee”? What’s that?’ I told him it was a sort of light brown or tan. ‘Oh! You mean "_kah-KEE"!_’ At this point ‘Peter’ walks in and says, ‘“Kah-kee”? Isn’t that what you start your car with?’ Funny guys. > > The hell of it is, the word has become lodged in my brain. I can’t say it in a sentence without hesitating, or else it comes out as sort of an American/British hybrid. And the kackee pronunciation sounds like cacky, as in shitty, to the Brits and irish which can earn you some really funny looks if you say you’re going to wear your khaki pants to dinner tonight. Oh and I, born and bred in Southern England, thought for the longest time that my Mum had two Uncles, Sissil and Cecil (pronounced Sessil) before I realised that “Sissil” was just how she said Cecil. ---
**Author:** ![Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Springtime_for_Spacers)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2009, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-know-americans-pronounced-it-like-that/521836/56 "2009-12-20T03:54:58Z")
> [@PeskiPiksi](#): > > Do Brits hear/speak a difference between the names Carrie/Kerry? > > I’ve lived most of my life in Oklahoma, but my husband’s family is from Long Island. I remember the first time I met my now MIL, she asked me, “Is it Carrie or Kerry?” > > I was so confused–to me it sounded like she was asking, “Is it carry or carry?” and I didn’t know what else to say except, “yes?” We cleared up the confusion later, and now I can hear the difference when they say it, but I can’t replicate it in my own voice. Yes and no. We can all hear the difference but in some dialects they do sound the same. A guy I know from Rochdale in Lancashire can have people in fits with his monologue about Terry, Mary and Larry driving in a lorry to go for a curry in which every one of those vowels and a few more beside all sound the same but it’s funny to him because he knows full well how the rest of us say them. ---
**Author:** ![SecretaryofEvil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@SecretaryofEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SecretaryofEvil)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2009, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-know-americans-pronounced-it-like-that/521836/57 "2009-12-20T05:55:51Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > You know what’s weird? People who pronounce “leg” with an “a” sound as in “lay.” Laaaayyg. I never could figure out where that accent comes from. > > There was a character on The Sopranos who held for ransom a prosthetic laaaaayyg belonging to a Russian prostitute. Sounded really out-of-place for someone who was supposed to be from New Jersey. In that episode of The Sopranos, Tony’s sister Janice stole her mother’s Russian nurse’s prosthetic leg. The Russian nurse pronounced it laaayyg. Janice pronounced it that way in order to mock the Russian nurse. People from Jersey generally pronounce it leg. ---
**Author:** ![gang\_green](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f07891/32.png) [@gang\_green](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gang_green)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2009, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-know-americans-pronounced-it-like-that/521836/58 "2009-12-20T06:26:36Z")
The “laig” and “aig” pronunciations are more southern, for sure. One that always puzzles me is the way many British folks add an r at the end of words ending with a. The one that springs to mind is Elton John saying Princess Diana’s name as “Dian-er”. Very odd. ---
**Author:** ![Jamaika\_a\_jamaikaiake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7993a0/32.png) [@Jamaika\_a\_jamaikaiake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jamaika_a_jamaikaiake)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2009, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-know-americans-pronounced-it-like-that/521836/59 "2009-12-20T08:44:01Z")
> [@SecretaryofEvil](#): > > In that episode of The Sopranos, Tony’s sister Janice stole her mother’s Russian nurse’s prosthetic leg. The Russian nurse pronounced it laaayyg. Janice pronounced it that way in order to mock the Russian nurse. People from Jersey generally pronounce it leg. Nothing personal, but to say that “leg” is pronounced “leg” in New Jersey is amazingly unhelpful. Anyone who reads that will read it in their own dialect. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2009, 8:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-know-americans-pronounced-it-like-that/521836/60 "2009-12-20T08:49:14Z")
> [@Stillwell\_Angel](#): > > 😕 Hoosier born and raised here, and never in my life have I heard anyone speak the way you described. In or outside of Indiana. I think it’s really an example of Scouse, at least with regard to “book”. In a Pete Best interview about a book he’d written, he pronounced it almost as “bewk”. I think the other Beatles pronounced it almost the same, but Pete’s Scouse accent is considerably thicker from what I’ve heard. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-know-americans-pronounced-it-like-that/521836.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-know-americans-pronounced-it-like-that/521836.md?page=4)