# People who insist on mispronouncing words **URL:** \ **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:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-insist-on-mispronouncing-words/691471/81 "2014-06-25T06:14:21Z")
I can’t begin to try to spell what an old friend uttered while trying to say “squirrel” but it was obviously close to some speech impediment or an inability to hear what he was actually saying. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-insist-on-mispronouncing-words/691471/82 "2014-06-25T06:26:24Z")
I, personally, am well aware that the word “draught” is the British spelling of “draft”, and that there are plenty of other words in the English language where “ugh” is pronounced “F”, as with tough or rough or enough and so on. That being said, I am completely incapable of stopping myself from reading it aloud as “drawt” whenever I encounter it. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-insist-on-mispronouncing-words/691471/83 "2014-06-25T06:53:21Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > I, personally, am well aware that the word “draught” is the British spelling of “draft”, and that there are plenty of other words in the English language where “ugh” is pronounced “F”, as with tough or rough or enough and so on. > > That being said, I am completely incapable of stopping myself from reading it aloud as “drawt” whenever I encounter it. If it helps at all, I share that tendency. And even though I know the basis (and the humor) behind “ghoti” as a spelling for “fish” to me it looks like a bad spelling of “goatee.” And I have to pinch myself to keep from saying to myself “my-zulled” when I see “misled.” ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-insist-on-mispronouncing-words/691471/84 "2014-06-25T07:13:48Z")
There is a song on _Tales of Mystery and Imagination_ (Alan Parsons Project) of the story _A Cask of Amontillado_ that grated on me the first time I heard it. I had never heard of that kind of wine before, but the way he said the name sounded wrong to me. Maybe as an American, I am more sensitive to the pronunciation of Spanish words. ---
**Author:** ![Clarisse\_McClellan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Clarisse\_McClellan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clarisse_McClellan)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-insist-on-mispronouncing-words/691471/85 "2014-06-25T14:10:29Z")
> [@CheshireKat](#): > > The only other time I can recall her mispronouncing a word was when she mortified me in front of her bridge club, telling them I had just purchased a Vulva. :o My mother-in-law pronounces it that way. Years ago she drove one so we heard it a lot. She also says pop-u-lar tree for Poplar. I had a co-worker once who was reseeding her lawn over a period time so I frequently heard about the finer qualities of Ber-moo-da grass. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-insist-on-mispronouncing-words/691471/86 "2014-06-25T14:23:08Z")
I had a First Sergeant in the Army who talked a lot about the “physical” year. I think he thought that’s what other people were saying, and if he’d ever seen “fiscal” written, he didn’t connect it with the phrase “physical year” he was always saying. I wonder if he ever wondered what the purpose or derivation of the “physical year” was. In basic training, our Kevlar helmets were called our “Kevlars,” as in “Wear your Kevlars today, not your barracks caps.” Some people never did figure out exactly what the drill sergeants were saying, and called the helmets “cavaliers.” After the first maybe two times I told someone “They’re called ‘Kevlars,’ because that’s what they’re made out of, not ‘cavaliers,’” I gave up. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-insist-on-mispronouncing-words/691471/87 "2014-06-25T15:08:41Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > …Hell, in Internet English, many people are concerned about our society’s serious heroine addiction problem. :smack: “I found this ‘Sweet Valley High’ book in your desk drawer. How long has this been going on?” ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-insist-on-mispronouncing-words/691471/88 "2014-06-25T15:17:37Z")
> [@wolfman](#): > > I have a dedicated effort to change height to heighth, and pronounce it that way, and I don’t apologize at all. > > Length, Width, Heighth, it makes the world a better place. Are you one of those nitwits who also pronounces “across” as “acrosst?” ---
**Author:** ![JacobSwan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@JacobSwan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JacobSwan)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-insist-on-mispronouncing-words/691471/89 "2014-06-25T15:19:24Z")
There’s one word in the English language that everyone pronounces wrong. ‘Wrong’ of course! ---
**Author:** ![CheshireKat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheshirekat/32/1207_2.png) [@CheshireKat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CheshireKat)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-insist-on-mispronouncing-words/691471/90 "2014-06-25T15:22:47Z")
> [@JacobSwan](#): > > There’s one word in the English language that everyone pronounces wrong. > ‘Wrong’ of course! Veri, I say. ---
**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:** [June 25, 2014, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-insist-on-mispronouncing-words/691471/91 "2014-06-25T15:38:58Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > And even though I know the basis (and the humor) behind “ghoti” as a spelling for “fish” to me it looks like a bad spelling of “goatee.” I think it looks like that to everybody. It’s kind of dumb in that English doesn’t actually work that way (no “gh” to start a word sounds like “f” and no “ti” to end a word is pronounced simply as “sh,”) but it does, I suppose, whimsically illustrate the oddball nature of spelling in the English language. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-insist-on-mispronouncing-words/691471/92 "2014-06-25T17:42:42Z")
I can think of two common English words that have a double vowel: “premium”, IME, rarely gets mispronounced, though I think the i may sometimes get lost under the y-sound that follows it; and “casual”, which ISTR sometimes gets pronounced “kazhul” – but that is kind of an understandable casualty of the vagaries of the language. I always pronounce “err” in the classical way, which I picked up from my HS English teacher. It is kind of wrong, in the sense that other people who are used to the common pronunciation might not understand me. But, of course, the most troublesome common word is “schedule”. There must be four or five variants on how that word is uttered, but luckily it sits in an aural position that protects its mispronunciation can be a matter of opinion (there are no similar words likely to be confused with it). ---
**Author:** ![CatherineZeta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@CatherineZeta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CatherineZeta)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-insist-on-mispronouncing-words/691471/93 "2014-06-25T18:05:52Z")
My father’s family have bizarre pronunciations for words (and terrible grammar as well) despite being native English speakers. My aunt pronounces “mocha” like “ma-cha” and I know from context that she definitely means mocha, not Matcha tea. She named her bird that unfortunately. My uncle pronounced carousel “ca-rousal” once and it took me forever to figure out what on earth he was talking about. And for what ever reason they all pronounce restaurant as “restrint.” Is this a regional thing? They’re from upstate New York. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-insist-on-mispronouncing-words/691471/94 "2014-06-25T18:16:24Z")
A good friend pronounces asphalt as “ash-falt.” No idea why the “s” gets pronounced as “sh”. ---
**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:** [June 25, 2014, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-insist-on-mispronouncing-words/691471/95 "2014-06-25T19:10:17Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > I can think of two common English words that have a double vowel: I can think of shit-tons of words in English that have two vowel sounds in a row. Any word ending in “-ious”, any “-ium” word, any word that starts with a vowel after a “re-” or “de-”, etc., and “-ing” form of a verb that ends with a vowel sound. And so on. It doesn’t seem all that rare to me. Even looking at the posts showing in my reply box, I see: “Indian,” “pronunciation,” “Italian,” “Louisiana,” “Vienna,” etc. Am I misunderstanding something? ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-insist-on-mispronouncing-words/691471/96 "2014-06-25T19:25:01Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I can think of shit-tons of words in English that have two vowel sounds in a row. … Am I misunderstanding something? I was referencing this part of the conversation: > [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > > [@RivkahChaya](#): > > > > The reason so many people want to say “nucular” instead of “nuclear” is that it isn’t typical for English to have two vowels in a row. In some languages, it’s perfectly, and occurs in lots of words. I remember when “Vietnam” used to get pronounced “Vetinam” a lot for the same reason. > > Really? You certain about that? > [@RivkahChaya](#): > > > [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > > > Note the original quote was that “it isn’t **typical** for English to have two vowels in a row,” not that it never happens. I can’t comment if its true, but also can’t think of many counterexamples. > > That’s what I meant :smack:. You can check with my mother the linguist, if you want, but words with two vowels in a row get screwed all the time. “Realtor” gets pronounced “relitor” (even by people who can say “real”), “ruin” becomes “roon” (and “ruined” becomes "roond-- something that really grates on me), while a lot of people pronounce “deal” and “dill” identically. The same people usually say “rill” for “real,” and almost every American says “rilly” instead of “really.” > > Not everyone does it, and it happens more with three- and four-syllable words than it does with two-syllable words-- most people can say “deal,” but “dill” is a fixture of a lot of American dialects. > > And it’s because there aren’t that many English words with two vowels in a row. People don’t expect them, and “correct” them. > > It’s actually an interesting phenomenon that people correct imperfect models. This has been studied extensively… ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-insist-on-mispronouncing-words/691471/97 "2014-06-25T19:27:55Z")
“-ium” are technically loan words, and many people pronounce them “ee-yum,” so they do stick a consonant in there. Words that end in a vowel, and then take -ing also actually get pronounced “ying.” A “Y” gets stuck between prefixes and words that begin with vowels as well-- say “reapply”-- most people actually say something like “RE-yuh- **PLY**.” It’s not just how they’re spelled, it’s how they are actually said. FWIW, a lot of people who DON’T say “NU-cu-ler,” actually say “NU-klee-yer.” Few people say “NU-klee-ar.” There’s nothing wrong with it. It’s normal for English. But there are languages, like Hebrew, that actually have two clean vowel sounds in something like every fourth word. Sometimes even the same vowel sound. ---
**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:** [June 25, 2014, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-insist-on-mispronouncing-words/691471/98 "2014-06-25T19:36:43Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > " > FWIW, a lot of people who DON’T say “NU-cu-ler,” actually say “NU-klee-yer.” Few people say “NU-klee-ar.” Yes, there is often an implied semi-vowel glide of a “y” in there, but that’s a perfectly fine pronunciation (which I assume you agree with). I say it as “new” + “clear,” but my “clear” is closer to a “kli(ə)r,” with two vowels in there, than a pure vowel. If you really want to hear it, you can hear a glide in there, too, I suppose. That doesn’t seem to explain to me why people say “nucular,” though. The reasonable explanation, to me, is not so much the vowel sounds, but analogizing it with the “cl” cluster in words like “circular” and “molecular” and the such. ---
**Author:** ![movingfinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@movingfinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/movingfinger)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2014, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-insist-on-mispronouncing-words/691471/99 "2014-06-26T07:08:33Z")
Am I the only one who finds the pronunciation of the cheese from Parma as Parmazhaan instead of Parmezaan irritating? I know it is Parmegiano in Italian, but in English it should be Parmezaan, no? Or is this battle already lost? ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2014, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-insist-on-mispronouncing-words/691471/100 "2014-06-26T07:23:39Z")
> [@movingfinger](#): > > Am I the only one who finds the pronunciation of the cheese from Parma as Parmazhaan instead of Parmezaan irritating? I know it is Parmegiano in Italian, but in English it should be Parmezaan, no? > > Or is this battle already lost? There are at least two of us who consider the _-zhan_ pronunciation a bit pretentious but I suppose either is preferable to _par-MEE-zun_ or _par-ma-ZANN_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-insist-on-mispronouncing-words/691471.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-insist-on-mispronouncing-words/691471.md?page=6)