# Mispronounced words and descriptions that drive you crazy **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 22, 2018, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mispronounced-words-and-descriptions-that-drive-you-crazy/824951 "2018-11-22T18:31:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![EdelweissPirate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8491ac/32.png) [@EdelweissPirate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EdelweissPirate)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2018, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mispronounced-words-and-descriptions-that-drive-you-crazy/824951/181 "2018-12-16T21:03:03Z")
> [@BwanaBob](#): > > I had a math teacher that pronounced it that way. > > He also pronounced “asymptote” as “asthma-tote”. > > No lie. I took a geometry class in college with a young woman who could not pronounce “asymptote” as written. Instead, she said “ASS-a-ma-tote.” That killed me. As I write this, I’ve suddenly realized that I barely pronounce the p in that word, but I’m not sure why. I pronounce it more when saying “asymptotic,” probably by analogy with “symptom.” ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2018, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mispronounced-words-and-descriptions-that-drive-you-crazy/824951/182 "2018-12-17T05:32:38Z")
A couple more: That big belt worn with a tuxedo? It is NOT a cumberbun! It is a cummerbund! Momento is NOT an English word. Memento (a sentimental souvenir) is. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2018, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mispronounced-words-and-descriptions-that-drive-you-crazy/824951/183 "2018-12-17T05:37:43Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > The word \*you \*are looking for is diphthong. OK, that does it, y’all are learning proper spelling. _Diptongo, leche ya._ (The _leche ya_ is optional). ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2018, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mispronounced-words-and-descriptions-that-drive-you-crazy/824951/184 "2018-12-17T15:54:01Z")
> [@california\_jobcase](#): > > Momento is NOT an English word. Memento (a sentimental souvenir) is. Brings to mind for me, a semi-autobiographical novel read long ago; recounting at one point, an episode in England a bit more than a century ago. Boys aged ten or eleven are sitting an entrance exam for a grammar school (tailored to the brighter pupils). The young hero – well below genius-level – is struggling with the question,“What are the main products of Africa?”. He ends up writing: “Gold, diamonds, argichigo nuts and momentoes”. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2018, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mispronounced-words-and-descriptions-that-drive-you-crazy/824951/185 "2018-12-17T16:35:55Z")
> [@EdelweissPirate](#): > > As I write this, I’ve suddenly realized that I barely pronounce the p in that word, but I’m not sure why. I would assume because it’s on a boundary between the “m” and the “t” so the consonant combination already makes a light, implied “p” sound. I’d really have to stop and make a discrete, plosive “p” there for anyone to notice that I’m actually pronouncing a “p.” Same with “symptom.” If I say the “p” there – and I’m not completely sure if I do – it’s very light, as the transition from “m” to “t” already makes me say something akin to a “p” sound there. Looking a Merriam-Webster online, their pronunciation guide [lists it as \ˈsim(p)-təm]]([Symptom Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/symptom)), so it’s not unusual to elide or just “suggest” the “p” there. ---
**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 17, 2018, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mispronounced-words-and-descriptions-that-drive-you-crazy/824951/186 "2018-12-17T18:18:51Z")
Once I was in Baltimore’s National Aquarium when a woman was pointing into the one of tanks, reading the label, and telling her daughter, “There’s an AN-ə-moan!” ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2018, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mispronounced-words-and-descriptions-that-drive-you-crazy/824951/187 "2018-12-17T22:16:22Z")
> [@Enola\_Gay](#): > > This bugs me way more than it should. Same issue with less/fewer. "There were _fewer_ people in line than I expected. " “I want _less_ Soylent Green on my plate, as I’m dieting.” The words are not interchangeable dammit :mad: The less I hear about this nonsense “issue”, the happier I am. ---
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2018, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mispronounced-words-and-descriptions-that-drive-you-crazy/824951/188 "2018-12-18T00:47:32Z")
ELL-i-noy or ILL-i-noiz WES-con-sin MELK _brain implodes_ ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2018, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mispronounced-words-and-descriptions-that-drive-you-crazy/824951/189 "2018-12-18T02:01:37Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > The less I hear about this nonsense “issue”, the happier I am. The dictionary-happy teachers I had in school tried to teach less v. fewer with the following: use one for amounts, and the other for quantities. Which, no one ever remembered, because for us, quantities and amounts were synonyms! Seriously- a dictionary of that era reads: quantity: a definite _ **amount** _ or portion: use an equal quantity of nuts and raisins in the cake. amount: the sum total to which anything mounts up to or reaches: _ **quantity** _: a great amount of snow. No wonder many baby boomers are confused. I hear the current method is to teach fewer for things one counts (five apples are fewer than six), and less for the other quantifications (five pounds is less than ten pounds). This seems much more logical. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2018, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mispronounced-words-and-descriptions-that-drive-you-crazy/824951/190 "2018-12-18T14:47:19Z")
When I grew up in Boston, the name of our hockey team was pronounced with one syllable: BROONS, to rhyme with prunes… When I hear BROO-ins, I want to scream. ---
**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, 2018, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mispronounced-words-and-descriptions-that-drive-you-crazy/824951/191 "2018-12-20T00:07:42Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > The word [syrup] is ‘sur-up’, first syllable rhyming with ‘burr.’ Not ‘seer-up’. I suppose it depends on where you’re from. But the standard pronunciation of syrup is [“seer-up”](https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/pronunciation/english/syrup). I tend to think of “sur-up” alongside “sherbert”. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2018, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mispronounced-words-and-descriptions-that-drive-you-crazy/824951/192 "2018-12-20T00:41:40Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > I suppose it depends on where you’re from. But the standard pronunciation of syrup is [“seer-up”](https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/pronunciation/english/syrup). I tend to think of “sur-up” alongside “sherbert”. For me, it’s closer to “sih-rup” (with a “short i” like in “sit”), but I’ll say “surrup” sometimes when I’m playing around with accents. It’s definitely not said that way in my dialect area. But I am one of those “sherbert” folks. I’ve only once heard it said without the second “r.” ---
**Author:** ![lingyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d2c977/32.png) [@lingyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lingyi)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2018, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mispronounced-words-and-descriptions-that-drive-you-crazy/824951/193 "2018-12-20T05:59:53Z")
I thought that sirup was strictly a reduced sugar/water liquid used for things like iced tea or coffee. But according to Merriam-Webster, it’s an alternate spelling for syrup with the exact same definition. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2018, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mispronounced-words-and-descriptions-that-drive-you-crazy/824951/194 "2018-12-20T08:27:35Z")
I was never explicitly taught the less/fewer distinction, but it just sounds better to me to say “fewer” with countable objects. “I have less apples,” just sounds wrong to my ears. And I say that as someone who doesn’t care about the vast, vast majority of these “incorrect” pronunciations. I do share the OP’s distaste for people who incorrectly teach that a variation is the one correct pronunciation, but I don’t care about most of these. The ones that juxtapose letters or syllables do bug me a bit. Along with “lie-berry” for library, it carries a class association to my ear. Oddly, the same is not the case with “Febuary” and “suprise”–though those could be because they are how I say them. ---
**Author:** ![CharmaChameleon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@CharmaChameleon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CharmaChameleon)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2018, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mispronounced-words-and-descriptions-that-drive-you-crazy/824951/195 "2018-12-20T11:38:18Z")
ampersand != “oppersine” Massachusetts != “masstooshuts” Saturday != “sairdee” Social Security != “soscurity” constitution != “constooshun” “Bring me my Bow of burning gold: Bring me my arrows of desire: Bring me my Spear: O clouds unfold! Bring me my Chariot of fire!” – William Blake, _Jerusalem_ ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2018, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mispronounced-words-and-descriptions-that-drive-you-crazy/824951/196 "2018-12-20T11:51:46Z")
> [@california\_jobcase](#): > > The dictionary-happy teachers I had in school tried to teach less v. fewer with the following: use one for amounts, and the other for quantities. Which, no one ever remembered, because for us, quantities and amounts were synonyms! Seriously- a dictionary of that era reads: > > quantity: a definite _ **amount** _ or portion: use an equal quantity of nuts and raisins in the cake. > > amount: the sum total to which anything mounts up to or reaches: _ **quantity** _: a great amount of snow. > > No wonder many baby boomers are confused. > > I hear the current method is to teach fewer for things one counts (five apples are fewer than six), and less for the other quantifications (five pounds is less than ten pounds). This seems much more logical. Brings back memories of my briefly and very unsuccessfully “doing” physics at school, not far off sixty years ago. A total lack of any scientific bent on my part, plus – I think I can fairly say – a not very good teacher. He was an irascible Ulsterman who “didn’t suffer fools gladly”, and was far less endowed with patience than would have been ideal for his profession. I remember him fiercely saying, in his strong accent: “I utterly hate the word “amount” ! It should be obliterated from the dictionary !” I was puzzled as to the reason for his quarrel with the word; it didn’t occur to me to ask for an explanation – I was scared of the guy, and probably such an enquiry from a dimwit like me, would have elicited heavy sarcasm and no understandable enlightenment. Clarification from other sources, much later, would suggest that as a physicist – desiring that everything should be meticulously counted and measured – he found “amount”, actually referring to that which is not countable, annoyingly imprecise and wishy-washy. ---
**Author:** ![Sparky812](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Sparky812](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparky812)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2018, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mispronounced-words-and-descriptions-that-drive-you-crazy/824951/197 "2018-12-20T13:06:28Z")
Most of my peeves are listed here but I’ll add a couple I’ve heard. “Tubalization” for tubal ligation “Peasant” for pheasant “Care-a-fay” for carafe I also cringe when people say “niche” and “foyer” in english but apparently they are the accepted American pronunciations so I’ll give it a pass. Which reminds me… I once had a roommate who thought of herself as very intelligent. She insisted that it was “Pro- Nunk- chew- A-shun”. No matter how many times I explained and spelled it for her. We were at the pub at the time and this went on for hours. The irony was lost on her… but it was side-splitting hilarious for everyone else. ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2018, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mispronounced-words-and-descriptions-that-drive-you-crazy/824951/198 "2018-12-20T13:10:34Z")
> [@Sparky812](#): > > Most of my peeves are listed here but I’ll add a couple I’ve heard. > > “Tubalization” for tubal ligation > **“Peasant” for pheasant** > “Care-a-fay” for carafe (My bolding) Squire Squint, aiming at a pheasant, Hit instead, a sitting peasant. “Well,” he laughed, “sport can’t be stopped Just because an h is dropped”. ---
**Author:** ![Sparky812](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Sparky812](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparky812)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2018, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mispronounced-words-and-descriptions-that-drive-you-crazy/824951/199 "2018-12-20T13:35:58Z")
> [@Sangahyando](#): > > (My bolding) > > Squire Squint, aiming at a pheasant, > Hit instead, a sitting peasant. > “Well,” he laughed, “sport can’t be stopped > Just because an h is dropped”. Ha ha ha! I had a friend that came over freaking out that there were peasants all over her front yard. She was scared to death and couldn’t get out of her front door! ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2018, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mispronounced-words-and-descriptions-that-drive-you-crazy/824951/200 "2018-12-20T14:45:37Z")
> [@digs](#): > > Does Greek even have a J (or “soft G”) sound? I figured the first letter was a Gamma, which a Greek-American told me was always a hard G sound. > > Is that not true? (He said _"Gear’_-ohss") Not for modern Greek, at least. Gamma in Greek makes one of two sounds:a voiced palatal fricative (/ʝ/) before a front vowel (/e/, /i/), or as a voiced velar fricative /ɣ/. Neither of these is /g/. The second one is closest to /g/, but it’s a fricative, not a stop. It actually [sounds](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Voiced_velar_fricative.ogg) closer to a the French back-r. But the one for gyro is the first one, as the y represents a front vowel. It [sounds](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Voiced_palatal_fricative.ogg) more like a harsh, emphasized “Y” sound, with a hint of the sound of the S in measure. Or like I’ve heard the ll pronounced in Spanish. So both YEE-ro and ZHEE-ro make sense to me. JIE-ro does not. Not because it couldn’t be anglicized, but because that pronunciation is short for gyroscope or gyrocopter. At least, it is for me. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mispronounced-words-and-descriptions-that-drive-you-crazy/824951.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mispronounced-words-and-descriptions-that-drive-you-crazy/824951.md?page=11)