# People who insist on mispronouncing words

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-insist-on-mispronouncing-words/691471>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [June 23, 2014, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-insist-on-mispronouncing-words/691471 "2014-06-23T18:41:21Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 12

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mage-girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cc9497/32.png) [@mage-girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mage-girl)\
**Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-insist-on-mispronouncing-words/691471/221 "2014-07-04T19:16:50Z")

</div>

I say “koo-bicle” instead of “cubicle”.

I also sometimes will say I’m “furry-ous” rather than “furious”.

I don’t know how either of those started, and I don’t know how to stop doing it!

I pronounce some other words funny, mainly because I learned them first by reading.

(I have no excuse; I’m a native english speaker.)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\
**Post date:** [July 4, 2014, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-insist-on-mispronouncing-words/691471/222 "2014-07-04T23:47:05Z")

</div>

> [@staili](#):
>
> Having never heard the word pronounced my entire life until recently, I always thought the capital of Australia was pronounced can-BEH-ruh. Then I met someone from Australia, who said he was from “the capital, CAN-bra.” To which, I thought to myself, “But, that’s not the capital, the capital is. . .(long pause). . . oh.”
> 
> By the way, is it “CAN-bra” or “CAN-buh-ruh”? It sounded more like he pronounced it as 2 syllables rather than 3, but Merriam-Webster online gives a 3-syllable version…

CAN-bra but the people (if you can call them that) who live there are can-BEH-rans.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\
**Post date:** [July 5, 2014, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-insist-on-mispronouncing-words/691471/223 "2014-07-05T02:01:25Z")

</div>

> [@vontsira](#):
>
> Thanks ! “Chowki” is the one which had always puzzled me, till now – had no idea what it meant. /

Here are some other words from that Lear poem —

Chaprasi — messenger  
Ayah — wetnurse  
Mussak — waterskin  
Nala — open sewer  
Ghoriwallah — horsekeeper (horses lent out for weddings, etcetera.)  
Bhisti — water-bearer (presumably, he’d make use of a mussak)  
Jampan — sedan chair  
Nimak — salt  
Kamarband — sash (literally, waist-binding)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![vontsira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/51bf81/32.png) [@vontsira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vontsira)\
**Post date:** [July 5, 2014, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-insist-on-mispronouncing-words/691471/224 "2014-07-05T05:05:44Z")

</div>

> [@Acsenray](#):
>
> Here are some other words from that Lear poem —
> 
> Chaprasi — messenger  
> Ayah — wetnurse  
> Mussak — waterskin  
> Nala — open sewer  
> Ghoriwallah — horsekeeper (horses lent out for weddings, etcetera.)  
> **Bhisti — water-bearer (presumably, he’d make use of a mussak)**  
> Jampan — sedan chair  
> Nimak — salt  
> Kamarband — sash (literally, waist-binding)

And bhisti (to the regiment) was of course the job of Kipling’s famous Gunga Din.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\
**Post date:** [July 5, 2014, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-insist-on-mispronouncing-words/691471/225 "2014-07-05T11:53:33Z")

</div>

> [@vontsira](#):
>
> And bhisti (to the regiment) was of course the job of Kipling’s famous Gunga Din.

And “Gunga Din” literally means “give (me) Ganges.”

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-insist-on-mispronouncing-words/691471.md?page=11)