# Is that how it's spelled? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 8, 2009, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-that-how-its-spelled/520426 "2009-12-08T09:22:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2009, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-that-how-its-spelled/520426/101 "2009-12-12T14:34:13Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > I’ve even been told that façade is proper. Well, I think it’s proper, because once the cedilla is dropped you have people like my college professor who pronounced it “fa-KAYD”. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2009, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-that-how-its-spelled/520426/102 "2009-12-12T15:44:58Z")
> [@AWB](#): > > I had a new coworker/friend at an office I worked at who was from Denmark. He was doing his best to fit in, even participating in our weekly NFL pool. > > He came to me and asked my opinion of the team from Fernicks. > > “Fernicks?” I asked. > > “Yes, the Fernicks Cardinals.” He might have been over generalizing. German borrow words “mit umlauts” commonly will be written with an e following the letter if no umlaut is available, for example, foehn for [föhn](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foehn_wind). If so, Phönix would be approximately be pronounced “fernicks.” Why a germanic borrow word would have a ph in it would be a mystery though. How’d he do with “Chicago?” ---
**Author:** ![glowacks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/glowacks/32/5548_2.png) [@glowacks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glowacks)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2009, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-that-how-its-spelled/520426/103 "2009-12-12T16:32:45Z")
> [@AWB](#): > > I had a new coworker/friend at an office I worked at who was from Denmark. He was doing his best to fit in, even participating in our weekly NFL pool. > > He came to me and asked my opinion of the team from Fernicks. > > “Fernicks?” I asked. > > “Yes, the Fernicks Cardinals.” I highly suspect that he didn’t actually pronounce an ‘r’; you’re just used to hearing the vowel used (an umlauted ‘o’) in the phoneme ‘er’ in which it’s often not pronounced fully, and thus hear the ‘r’ when it’s not actually there. The vowel is just not used in any native English words outside of that phoneme. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2009, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-that-how-its-spelled/520426/104 "2009-12-12T20:01:21Z")
> [@glowacks](#): > > I highly suspect that he didn’t actually pronounce an ‘r’; you’re just used to hearing the vowel used (an umlauted ‘o’) in the phoneme ‘er’ in which it’s often not pronounced fully, and thus hear the ‘r’ when it’s not actually there. Most English speakers unfamiliar with German\* hear the German “oe” or umlauted “o” as “er”. Ask any Chicagoan how “Goethe Street” is pronounced and you’ll likely be told “Gerty Street”. - That would make them “non-Teutophones”, I guess. I used to think a Teutophone was something you played in high school band. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2009, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-that-how-its-spelled/520426/105 "2009-12-12T20:18:41Z")
My high school band had one, he used to teut away on his Teutophone. But it would only play works by German-speaking composers. ---
**Author:** ![Chanteuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de053/32.png) [@Chanteuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chanteuse)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2009, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-that-how-its-spelled/520426/106 "2009-12-13T04:00:36Z")
Bodice. Several years ago, while sewing maternity jumpers for me, my MIL would read this word from the pattern and pronounce it bow-dyce. Many times I referred to the same pattern piece as the BAH-diss, but she still consistently mispronounced it. Nearly drove me nuts! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2009, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-that-how-its-spelled/520426/107 "2009-12-14T16:24:44Z")
Anything with a silent e on the end. **needscoffee** said: > [@](#): > > Liason - at a former place of employment, it was pronounced as if it rhymed with niacin, hard “s” and all. This was at a huge aircraft/aerospace corporation. It might help if they spelled it right - liaison. ---
**Author:** ![BobArrgh](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobarrgh/32/2881_2.png) [@BobArrgh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobArrgh)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2009, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-that-how-its-spelled/520426/108 "2009-12-14T16:37:32Z")
It amuses me when I see someone spell “resume” (the document that details one’s career) as “resumé”. The correct spelling is “résumé”, but we Americans seem to have completely dropped the diacriticals on that word. We have already discussed “voila” (or “voilà”) as being pronounced “walla”. However, I usually see it spelled as “viola”. A few weeks ago, I was at a restaurant where the waitress said they didn’t have Guinness on tap, but they had it in the can. A passing waiter corrected her and said, “Sir, we do have Guinness Draught, from a can.” The waitress was annoyed at the interruption, and later said, “I yelled at him because he can’t tell people that we have Guinness Draft … what we have is Guinness _Drawt_, which is a different type of Guinness.” I had to explain to her that what she was pronouncing “drawt” was really pronounced “draft”, in other places, and that he was correct not only in the pronunciation, but also in setting the expectation that it was from a can and not a tap. ---
**Author:** ![sniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4bbf92/32.png) [@sniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sniz)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2009, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-that-how-its-spelled/520426/109 "2009-12-14T18:35:31Z")
> [@spoke-](#): > > Orangutan > > The most common pronunciation is as if there were a ‘g’ at the end. As a small child, I knew the word “arrangatang”, but every time I was at my grandma’s house, going through the same 3 tired viewmaster discs, I’d get to the picture of the monkey and wondered why it said Orange Utah. Indict was one I always had trouble reading as well. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2009, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-that-how-its-spelled/520426/110 "2009-12-14T20:15:20Z")
> [@pancakes3](#): > > i’m going to have to +1 on synecdoche. i can’t even say it. it’s the only word that i legitimately cannot pronounce. even when i say it right, it sounds wrong in my ear. uber-frustrating. I’m reasonably sure it’s suh-NECK-duh-kee, with maybe a bit of a secondary stress on the last syllable. Kind of like Schenectady, New York. On a related note, \*Synecdoche, NY \*was a great film. ---
**Author:** ![dcshrink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@dcshrink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dcshrink)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2009, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-that-how-its-spelled/520426/111 "2009-12-14T21:11:44Z")
pinochle euchre ---
**Author:** ![dcshrink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@dcshrink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dcshrink)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2009, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-that-how-its-spelled/520426/112 "2009-12-14T21:14:51Z")
I remember the eureka moment when I figured out that ep-i-tome and eh-pit-o-me were the same word. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Great\_Philosopher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3ec8ea/32.png) [@The\_Great\_Philosopher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Great_Philosopher)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2009, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-that-how-its-spelled/520426/113 "2009-12-14T22:31:29Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > then there are proper names. England has three family names spelled (approximately, who could remeber them) Marjoriebanks, Fetherstonhaugh, Chomondeley, that are pronounced, respectively, Marchbanks, Fanshaw, and Chumly. And ‘Magdalene’ is often pronounced ‘Maudlin’. That confused me. For that matter, it really confused me that Kansas and Arkansas have completely different pronunciations. How does that work?! ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-that-how-its-spelled/520426/114 "2009-12-15T00:55:32Z")
> [@dcshrink](#): > > I remember the eureka moment when I figured out that ep-i-tome and eh-pit-o-me were the same word. Me too. I remember a Calvin and Hobbes where Hobbes forces Calvin to sing a pro-tiger song before being admitted to a clubhouse or something. He sings: “Tigers are perfect, the e-pit-o-me (sic) Of good looks and grace and quiet dignity.” I assumed it was a different word that epitome, which I pronounces ep-ih-tome. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-that-how-its-spelled/520426/115 "2009-12-15T15:13:39Z")
> [@fachverwirrt](#): > > Gunwale and boatswain. Quahog. Quahog is the only word in this thread I had to look up. And two days later I was at a restaurant on Cape Cod that had quahog on the menu, so I tried it, just because I had seen it here. Not bad! (It’s a kind of clam, and it’s pronounced “co-hog.”) ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-that-how-its-spelled/520426/116 "2009-12-15T15:30:26Z")
\*\*The Great Philosopher \*\* said: > [@](#): > > For that matter, it really confused me that Kansas and Arkansas have completely different pronunciations. How does that work?! Blame the French. > [@](#): > > The name “Arkansas” derives from the same root as the name for the state of Kansas. The Kansas tribe of Native Americans are closely associated with the Sioux tribes of the Great Plains. **The word “Arkansas” itself is a French pronunciation of a Quapaw (a related “Kaw” tribe) word meaning “land of downriver people” or “people of the south wind”.** The pronunciation of Arkansas was made official by an act of the state legislature in 1881 after a dispute between the two U.S. Senators from Arkansas. One wanted to pronounce the name /ɑrˈkænzəs/ ar-KAN-zəs and the other wanted /ˈɑrkənsɔː/ AR-kən-saw.[4] Bolding added. > **[Arkansas](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arkansas)** > > Arkansas (/ˈɑːrkənsɔː/ ⓘ, AR-kən-saw\[c\]) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma to the west. Its name derives from the Osage language, and refers to their relatives, the Quapaw people. The state's diverse geography ranges from the mountainous regions of the Ozark and Ouachita Mountains, which make up the U. Previou... ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-that-how-its-spelled/520426/117 "2009-12-15T18:14:16Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > Quahog is the only word in this thread I had to look up. If you’d ever watched _Family Guy_, you wouldn’t have this problem. 😃 ---
**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:** [December 15, 2009, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-that-how-its-spelled/520426/118 "2009-12-15T20:05:07Z")
> [@dcshrink](#): > > I remember the eureka moment when I figured out that ep-i-tome and eh-pit-o-me were the same word. Me, too. I got a feeling in epitome stomach.😛 Years ago, in a movie I’ve mostly forgotten, characters talked about this kind of word. Chophouse, one said, looks like it’s pronounced cho-FOOSE. Misled, said the other, seems like it would sound like MY-zuld. Instead, they’re CHOP-house and miss-LED. Chophouse never fooled me, but I’m glad I never got caught saying misled wrong. I thought is was something misers did. I knew what sinews were, but I thought it was SIGH-nooz. I was in college before I was caught saying it that way, instead of SIN-yooz. Rather than get into the mire of Jag-wahr/Jag-you-ar/Jag-wire, I say it as the Conquistadors taught it to the rest of the world. HA-gwahr. ---
**Author:** ![nivlac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3bc359/32.png) [@nivlac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nivlac)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2009, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-that-how-its-spelled/520426/119 "2009-12-15T23:47:20Z")
> [@dcshrink](#): > > I remember the eureka moment when I figured out that ep-i-tome and eh-pit-o-me were the same word. Reminds me of an acquaintance who pronounced _ **Yosemite** _ as **Yosa** - **mite**! ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2009, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-that-how-its-spelled/520426/120 "2009-12-16T00:12:36Z")
> [@AskNott](#): > > Years ago, in a movie I’ve mostly forgotten, characters talked about this kind of word. Chophouse, one said, looks like it’s pronounced cho-FOOSE. Misled, said the other, seems like it would sound like MY-zuld. Instead, they’re CHOP-house and miss-LED. > > Chophouse never fooled me, but I’m glad I never got caught saying misled wrong. I thought is was something misers did. The “chophouse” gag was in Carnal Knowledge. It doesn’t work when you read it, it works when you spell the word to somebody else. You say it C-h-o-P-h-o-U-s-e, and it sounds like CHO-FO-USE. The “misled” line is from The Accidental Tourist, although I remember it from the book and don’t remember if it carried over into the film. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-that-how-its-spelled/520426.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-that-how-its-spelled/520426.md?page=7)