# 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:** 18\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Rdshooze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e9a140/32.png) [@Rdshooze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rdshooze)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2004, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intentionally-mispronounced-words/253375/61 "2004-07-07T00:31:32Z")
When my son was a toddler, he coined the word “disastrophe,” which we’ve all used ever since to describe something awful. My dad has a lot of strange expressions, including “No thanks, I don’t care for some, I just had any.” and “The H is silent, as in Windmill.” My husband refers to Dairy Queen and Sizzler as Dairy Queer and Sniveler, and I have been known to ask a waiter or two for a breakfast quickie. My uncle was once saying grace at a family reunion, when he unwittingly asked for blessings on our “fappy family.” We’ve all made good use of that one for many years. ---
**Author:** ![RindaRinda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/dfb087/32.png) [@RindaRinda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RindaRinda)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2004, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intentionally-mispronounced-words/253375/62 "2004-07-07T03:39:08Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > I heard a guy, early eighties, describe a particular racist trait as “hereditatious and shit.” All within hearing laughed at him, and now we still add “–atious and shit” to everything and anything. Someone smells funny? They’re “funkilaceous and shit.” Lying? “Mendacious and shit.” Granola is very nutratious and shit. It works, honest, for everything. It’s very versatatious and shit. A great story…chuckilatious and shit…but was the guy in his early 80’s, or did this incident occur in the early 1980’s? I’m so confused… Your story reminds me of a habit I have of adding “~al” to words; for example, the “armpittal area” or the “groinal region.” My sisters and I do a lot of intentional mispellings in writing. For example, instead of “one,” we’ll type “juan” - as in, “I prefer the steamed juans over the fried juans.” Very hot becomes “HAHT,” very angry becomes “hangry.” And other assorted oddities. ---
**Author:** ![Isosleepy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/isosleepy/32/479_2.png) [@Isosleepy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isosleepy)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2004, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intentionally-mispronounced-words/253375/63 "2004-07-07T15:01:33Z")
Stellars for Steelers. How can you not? Something odd about a Dutchman making fun of the yunzers, but yunz guys are asking for it… ---
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2004, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intentionally-mispronounced-words/253375/64 "2004-07-07T17:04:04Z")
“Mental pause” for menopause. ---
**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 7, 2004, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intentionally-mispronounced-words/253375/65 "2004-07-07T19:26:50Z")
> [@lainaf](#): > > 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. My wife and I say “lumptious” instead of “luscious” for a joke. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2004, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intentionally-mispronounced-words/253375/66 "2004-07-07T20:12:32Z")
I think I have a lot of these, but I hardly notice myself doing it anymore. Vegg-ET-able for vegetable Q-pon instead of COO-pon. (If Q-pon is wrong, I don’t wanna be right.) The cats are my AMinals. Then there are lots of mispronunciations by the kids which have worked their way into our vocabularies, “nake” for snake, “Testitos” for Tostitos or testicles, whichever we happen to be talking about. Kidspeak is a very large category. Sometimes I take off all my clothes and then I am nudiferous. I’ll probably think of more. ---
**Author:** ![Indygrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@Indygrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indygrrl)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2004, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intentionally-mispronounced-words/253375/67 "2004-07-07T20:26:58Z")
I like to say I’m going to the “Groceria for some Ve-jot-ables.” It’s from the AbFab episode where they go to France. Funny. ---
**Author:** ![Padmaraga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f07891/32.png) [@Padmaraga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padmaraga)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2004, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intentionally-mispronounced-words/253375/68 "2004-07-07T21:12:02Z")
> [@yellowval](#): > > My favorite word to mis-pronounce is “crouton.” I pronounce it “crau-ton” with emphasis on the second syllable. It’s from the episode of “The Cosby Show” when Dr. Huxtable takes Rudy and her little friends to a fancy restaurant. OOH! I remember that episode; the one little boy kept saying it “ **crau** -ton” (emphasis on **first** syllable), though, and that’s how I always say it ever since. My husband seems to have gotten used to it. ---
**Author:** ![Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bad_News_Baboon)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2004, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intentionally-mispronounced-words/253375/69 "2004-07-07T21:15:48Z")
> [@masonite](#): > > 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. It is my understanding that Porshe (Porsh) is the correct way to say it in English. Porshe (Porsha) if you are speaking German. In fact, American Porshe commercials pronounce it Porche. A lot of people say that it’s ‘proper’ to call it a porsha, but then don’t use the ‘proper’ name for other foreign cars (such as Folks Vagon, Opel, etc). ---
**Author:** ![Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bad_News_Baboon)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2004, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intentionally-mispronounced-words/253375/70 "2004-07-07T21:16:55Z")
> [@Bad News Baboon](#): > > In fact, American Porshe commercials pronounce it Porche. > . d’oh! I meant: American Porshe ads pronounce them “porsh”. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2004, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intentionally-mispronounced-words/253375/71 "2004-07-07T23:29:25Z")
In my house, Tostitos are “toasty toes.” On a grocery list, wrapped slices of cheese-like substance and small bottles of orange juice are called “cheezingles and juicingles.” When they were having bad years, (and they sure had some) the Indianapolis Colts were the “Clots” or the “Dolts.” A smallish Ford SUV is an “Exploder.” This came from a Doper named **5speed** or something. He was a transmission mechanic who thanked Og every day for the Exploder. ---
**Author:** ![Fox\_Paws](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/85e7bf/32.png) [@Fox\_Paws](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fox_Paws)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2004, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intentionally-mispronounced-words/253375/72 "2004-07-08T01:34:59Z")
> [@AskNott](#): > > In my house, Tostitos are “toasty toes.” Hey, I do that too! I started doing it several years ago when the Nebraska Cornhuskers were playing in the Fiesta Bowl. Coach Tom Osborne was at a press conference talking about the game and, mocking the commercialized atmosphere of the event, made sure to always say “the TosTEEtos Fiesta Bowl.” When I first read his comments in a newspaper article, though, I misread his pronunciation. I asked a friend of mine, “Why the Hell does Osborne keep calling it the Toasty Toes Fiesta Bowl?” Eventually I realized my error, but the name stuck. ---
**Author:** ![Uncle\_Dragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecc23a/32.png) [@Uncle\_Dragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncle_Dragon)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2004, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intentionally-mispronounced-words/253375/73 "2004-07-08T02:32:32Z")
> [@picker](#): > > I also tend to ‘reckon’ and ‘figure’ a lot. I use these frequently. Also, when I need to think somthing over, I say “Let me ponder that for a spell.” ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2004, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intentionally-mispronounced-words/253375/74 "2004-07-08T04:47:49Z")
Small Mexican dogs are chi-hoo-ah-hoo-ahs, of course. Roast beef is always tastier when you call it roast beast, a la the Grinch, although I’m not quite sure that counts as a mispronounciation. (When I was an American working in Italy) a coworker and I once overheard a native Italian speaker making fun of our Italian. This person did not actually know us – believe me, if he did, he would have more than enough material because our Italian was pathetic – it was the kind of thing where he was saying “oh, I heard the Americans are coming to this meeting, I know we’re going to have to listen to them mangle our language” and then went on to speak with a goofy Texas-type accent. NATURALLY, we were then forced to put on as obnoxious an American accent as possible, and there were certain choice words that sounded especially funny (to us, hey, we were jetlagged) and so we kept those mispronounciations. I would caution anyone against doing this sort of thing on purpose when first learning a language, because it becomes very difficult to remember to pronounce those words correctly when you are in important business situations, as we came to find out. ---
**Author:** ![Largo62](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/45deac/32.png) [@Largo62](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Largo62)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2004, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intentionally-mispronounced-words/253375/75 "2004-07-08T06:34:31Z")
A former co-worker of mine, when referring to a street named Sepulveda (Se-PUL-ve-da) Boulebard would deliberately call it SEP-pull-VEEda Boulevard. No matter how many times my brother-in-law hears it pronounced correctly, when he speaks of El Pollo (poy-yo) Loco he calls it polo loco. My sister has long since given up correctiong him. I don’t say anything either, but it jars me every time. ---
**Author:** ![Beauty\_Personified](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e480ec/32.png) [@Beauty\_Personified](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beauty_Personified)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2004, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intentionally-mispronounced-words/253375/76 "2004-07-08T06:56:46Z")
> [@Spectre of Pithecanthropus](#): > > 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. Thanks for pointing that out, **Spectre**. “Fook-see-ah”, or “fooks-ee-ah”. But could it also be pronounced “fook-she-ah”, or “fooks-he-ah”? I’d like to know for sure before I start pronouncing it the “proper” way. 😉 Reminds me of the word “quixotic” which, according to the dictionary, should be pronounced “qwik-zah-tik”. _What?_ The word comes from the novel _Don Quixote_, in which “Quixote” is pronounced “key-ho-tee” (or “key-ho-tay”). So, “quixotic” should be pronounced “key-ho-tik” or “key-ha-tik”. And that’s how I intend to pronounce it from now on. And then there’s the word “pronunciation”. _Stupid._ It comes from the word “pronounce”. Where’d the second “o” go? I’m considering spelling that word from now on the way it should be spelled - “pron **o** unciation”. And pronouncing it the same way. 😛 Anyhoo… ---
**Author:** ![GrizzRich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7ba0ec/32.png) [@GrizzRich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrizzRich)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2004, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intentionally-mispronounced-words/253375/77 "2004-07-08T08:10:53Z")
Not so much mispronunciation as _perceived_ mispronunciation. I say **kil** ometer. (emphasis on first sylable rather than the second) I say prote **in**. (that is, I pronounce it “protey-in” rather than “pro-teen”) While GrizzWife knows they’re both acceptable pronunciations, she still rolls her eyes every time I do it because she claims I’m just trying to be different. ---
**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 8, 2004, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intentionally-mispronounced-words/253375/78 "2004-07-08T08:25:20Z")
> [@Bad News Baboon](#): > > It is my understanding that Porshe (Porsh) is the correct way to say it in English. Porshe (Porsha) if you are speaking German. In fact, American Porshe commercials pronounce it Porche. > > A lot of people say that it’s ‘proper’ to call it a porsha, but then don’t use the ‘proper’ name for other foreign cars (such as Folks Vagon, Opel, etc). :eek: I stand corrected, but, not totally believing you, I think I will have to call up some American dealerships and listen to how the receptionist answers the phone. You’re probably right, though; at least you can spell the word correctly. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intentionally-mispronounced-words/253375.md?page=3)