# Intentionally mispronounced words **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 3, 2004, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intentionally-mispronounced-words/253375 "2004-07-03T16:13:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2004, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intentionally-mispronounced-words/253375/21 "2004-07-03T21:11:09Z")
Oh! And there’s the time in high school I was asked to read a short passge aloud in bology class and I read, “orgasm” every time I saw the word “organism”… Not my fault. Stacy Meyers Parkerson wasn’t wearing a bra, right by the air conditioner. ---
**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:** [July 3, 2004, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intentionally-mispronounced-words/253375/22 "2004-07-03T21:26:46Z")
I think a good example of mass mispronunciation is the flower name _Fuchsia_, which I’ve always heard pronounced as “few-shi-a”. Fuchsia was named after a German named _Fuchs_, which is pronounced “fooks”. So Fuchsia should be pronounced “fooksia”, but I think people were afraid to pronounce it that way because it vaguely like “f\*\*\*sia.” Or maybe not. ---
**Author:** ![Shade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2bfe46/32.png) [@Shade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shade)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2004, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intentionally-mispronounced-words/253375/23 "2004-07-03T21:36:43Z")
ironical 😃 cow-orker pedanticism ---
**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2004, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intentionally-mispronounced-words/253375/24 "2004-07-03T21:56:35Z")
I’m surprised nobody pronounces it _whores de ovaries._ Maybe that’s too wrong even for a plate full of stuffed green olives. This isn’t quite in the same category, but I routinely tell people to make sure all the Is are crossed and all the Ts are dotted. I say it with a straight face and nobody ever questions it. ---
**Author:** ![ioioio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ioioio/32/316_2.png) [@ioioio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ioioio)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2004, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intentionally-mispronounced-words/253375/25 "2004-07-03T22:14:09Z")
When I’m around my siblings, we say “sammidge” for sandwich, and “brudder” or “bubber” for brother. I like to say “pum pum” (pumpkin) and “zee-buh-buh” (zebra) because my niece said them that way when she was little and cute. ---
**Author:** ![flamingbananas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f4b2a3/32.png) [@flamingbananas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flamingbananas)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2004, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intentionally-mispronounced-words/253375/26 "2004-07-03T22:33:23Z")
My friends and I say ‘bohemic’ instead of ‘bulimic’ A friend of mine thought one of the girls in our grade was bulimic and she said bohemic. The word doesn’t come up much, but when it does, it will earn laughing spasms from my friends and I for quite a while. ---
**Author:** ![Batsinma\_Belfry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@Batsinma\_Belfry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batsinma_Belfry)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2004, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intentionally-mispronounced-words/253375/27 "2004-07-03T22:35:39Z")
When my nephew was little he’d say something was eeeeeeelicious when it was yummy. So my husband still says it. I call feet, feeties. The singular is footy. My son has outgrown it, but I can’t stop myself. ---
**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2004, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intentionally-mispronounced-words/253375/28 "2004-07-03T22:37:05Z")
Oh, that’s right—the plural of “fish” is always _foosh._ Oakland’s shortstop is, of course, Miguel Tostada. ---
**Author:** ![Vision\_of\_Love](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Vision\_of\_Love](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vision_of_Love)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2004, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intentionally-mispronounced-words/253375/29 "2004-07-03T22:52:46Z")
There’s always LMAO. I have never had to say it out loud, just in my head, where I hear it like “lmao.” Yep, like “lumaoh.” LOL is, of course, “lol.” ---
**Author:** ![raz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@raz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raz)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2004, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intentionally-mispronounced-words/253375/30 "2004-07-04T02:02:33Z")
> [@](#): > > I’m surprised nobody pronounces it whores de ovaries. I say it like that sometimes. It’s because someone on the show “My Wife and Kids” (Junior I think) pronounced it like that and I thought it was funny. I always say “prolly” for probably, but I’m a naturally fast talker anyhow and a lot of my words get jumbled or mooshed when I talk. I work at a mexican restaurant and I always say “grassy-ass” insterad of gracias and “de nuda” instead of de nada. It just sounds funnier. I also pronounce jalapeno like jap-a-leen-yo. ---
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2004, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intentionally-mispronounced-words/253375/31 "2004-07-04T02:18:20Z")
My dad has owned a number of Porsche automobiles over the years, and he and I both say “Porsh.” This is an affectionate shortening; we know the word actually has two syllables. But many people think it really is “Porsh.” I’d hate to be mistaken for one of those but I guess I frequently am. All fashion copywriters say “fucksia” softly to themselves, by the way. It’s the only way to spell “fuchsia” properly without looking it up. At the keyboard, shift your right hand one key to the left. Then type the word “lesbian” and you get “kesbuab.” Discovered this years ago; ever since, all girls-who-like-girls are kesbuabs to me. ---
**Author:** ![NajaNivea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/22d042/32.png) [@NajaNivea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NajaNivea)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2004, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intentionally-mispronounced-words/253375/32 "2004-07-04T04:25:59Z")
Mine are “prolly,” “sammitch,” and “veggimles.” As in, you could prolly chop the veggimles for the salad while I make the sammitches. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![angelicate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@angelicate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/angelicate)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2004, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intentionally-mispronounced-words/253375/33 "2004-07-04T04:26:11Z")
My 14 year old cousin somehow had the idea that “infomercials” were actually called “nymphomercials.” We set her straight, but the phrase “nymphomercials” stuck. ---
**Author:** ![Roland\_Orzabal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c2a13f/32.png) [@Roland\_Orzabal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roland_Orzabal)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2004, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intentionally-mispronounced-words/253375/34 "2004-07-04T04:29:38Z")
Whenever my family plays Clue, the revolver is always referred to as the lualua (say _revolver_ with a really bad Chinese accent. Get it?). No idea when or why this started. ---
**Author:** ![shijinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2004, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intentionally-mispronounced-words/253375/35 "2004-07-04T07:39:10Z")
meelee. it just sounds better that way. ---
**Author:** ![lynxie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e99b99/32.png) [@lynxie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lynxie)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2004, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intentionally-mispronounced-words/253375/36 "2004-07-04T08:28:53Z")
bones - spareribs trees - broccoli bumbershoot - umbrella froggy - foggy (all obvious and dull) 🙂 effelump - elephant murky buckets - merci beaucoup bissketti - spaghetti hanguber - hamburger ---
**Author:** ![Largo62](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/45deac/32.png) [@Largo62](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Largo62)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2004, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intentionally-mispronounced-words/253375/37 "2004-07-04T10:34:56Z")
If I had a heckalopter I’d fly it to Grass Pants (Grant’s Pass, OR). ---
**Author:** ![Already\_in\_Use](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9adbd/32.png) [@Already\_in\_Use](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Already_in_Use)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2004, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intentionally-mispronounced-words/253375/38 "2004-07-04T10:44:18Z")
I pronounce Oregon “Or-eh-gone” as opposed to the “correct” pronunciation (something like “Organ”) because I’m a stubborn asshole and think that I’m right and everyone who lives in that state is wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Vision\_of\_Love](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Vision\_of\_Love](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vision_of_Love)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2004, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intentionally-mispronounced-words/253375/39 "2004-07-04T11:00:45Z")
> [@lynxie](#): > > bissketti - spaghetti That was my sister’s pronunciation too. > [@Already in Use](#): > > I pronounce Oregon “Or-eh-gone” That’s not a valid pronunciation? I never knew. ---
**Author:** ![BlackNGold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@BlackNGold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlackNGold)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2004, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intentionally-mispronounced-words/253375/40 "2004-07-04T12:23:39Z")
I always say “not nessi-celery”, got it from Benny Hill I believe. Sammitch - From Tom Servo’s “Mitchell” song All French words are spoken phonetically. A woman was telling me about a house she was looking at and mentioned the “Fwa-yea”. Toots, that’s a “foy-er”. Appetizers are “horse ovaries”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intentionally-mispronounced-words/253375.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intentionally-mispronounced-words/253375.md?page=3)