Why are these words said like that? Is it right, or another manipulation of the english language?
Depends where you’re from.
I like iorn and siern, personally. Meerr instead of mirror, too.
I say iurn, with the “u” being almost non-existant. I have never heard anyone say i-run, and it’s not in m-w.com, so there, nyah.
However, I do say sigh-run
Actually, the word “iron” is pronounced i-urn, according to the pronunciation authorities. This reversal is a phonetic process fairly common in the English language, which is why we no longer say thrid for “third” and thurh for “through”.
But “irony” and “ironic” are pronounced i-ruh-nee and i-ron-ik, and “siren” is correctly pronounced sigh-run.
Now where’s that darn pedant smiley?
Just to complain about pronunciation, I work with a woman who pronounces errer “arrow”. Not even “era” - “arrow”
Since she is my tester, the word comes up a lot.
It drives me nuts.
You wanna talk about annoying pronunciation, why do people from Cincinnati all think that the “l” on the end of Pepto Bismol is silent?
What about “every” instead of “ever”? It’s been driving me nuts ever since I heard someone mispronounce it.
-Dirty
Here in Tennessee, your tire is a “tar”, fire is a “far”, and kind of is pronounced “kindly”.
No. It’s arn.
Iron = I-earn
Siren = Sigh-rin
It’s fingernails-on-a-chalkboard to hear “Strength” & “length” pronounced WITHOUT sounding the “g”.
Also:
Pecan = Pee-can NOT peh-con
And, I swear to Many Unholy Things, I want to pull someone’s eyebrows off their face every time I hear:
“Nook-yuh-ler.”
FertheluvaPete! It doesn’t look anything LIKE that!
Absolutely, positively, amen, brotha
[sup](except for that pee-can thing. PeeCON doesn’t rhyme with toucan in my neck of the woods!)
I go positively “nukleer” when I hear someone say “strenth” and “axe”, as in “Kin I axe you a question?”
And it is “pah-con”, not “pee-can”.
And as long as we’re on the subject, it’s filbert, not hazelnut. 
Ath-uh-leet
On-vel-ope
I just wanna say, that was the hardest subject line I’ve ever tried to interpret.
Ok, It’s Less-ter Square, not Lie-cess-ter.
And don’t get me started on Worcestershire.
And the strip of grass in the center of the interstate is a “median”, not a “medium”.
And when you poop, you’re taking a “dump”, not taking a “dunk”.
And you’re bellybutton is your “navel”, not your “nabel”.
Only them high-falutin’ city folks say “pah-con”.
Seriously, though. I’ve lived in Savannah my entire life and I’ve heard it pronounced “pee-can” by nearly everyone. Unless they were trying NOT to sound Southern.
BTW, I do not have a noticable “Southern” accent.