# Pronunciations I have learned... **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 19, 2007, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-i-have-learned/426995 "2007-11-19T03:03:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Sunrazor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sunrazor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunrazor)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2007, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-i-have-learned/426995/61 "2007-11-23T14:03:39Z")
My father and brothers and I often deliberately mangle pronunciations just because … well, we’re sick twists and enjoy doing it. Common mispronunciations: Chester’s drawers (pun intended) You-tit-ilty new-cue-leer pick-em-up (truck) fam-damn-bly (usually preceded by the word “whole,” making it something of a spoonerism of "whole damn family) swell foop (fell swoop) orvital (orbital) – there’s a long story about a funny exchange between my father an my youngest brother over an orbital sander, Orville Wright and bicycles. It takes a long time to tell. ---
**Author:** ![Mahna\_Mahna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e47c2d/32.png) [@Mahna\_Mahna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahna_Mahna)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2007, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-i-have-learned/426995/62 "2007-11-23T14:31:11Z")
[QUOTE=Sunspace] And **Nava** would probably have a fit if she heard how Torontonians pronounce Roncesvalles, which is a major street in west-central Toronto (in an area noted for a high Polish population), as well as being a [Navarrese battlefield](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roncesvalles): “RON-suss-VAILZ”. 🙂 [/QUOTE] Except that half the people who live in the area usually pronounce it as “RON-see”. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Lionne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Lionne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lionne)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2007, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-i-have-learned/426995/63 "2007-11-23T15:14:51Z")
A girl I taught preschool with in Florida referred to crayons as ‘crowns’. “The red crown and the blue crown go together and make…purple!” An ex-boyfriend from Massachusetts called potatoes, “podaddoes”. His whole family did it, bugging me endlessly. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2007, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-i-have-learned/426995/64 "2007-11-23T15:36:49Z")
[QUOTE=Mahna Mahna] Except that half the people who live in the area usually pronounce it as “RON-see”. 🙂 [/QUOTE] But that’s not what the automated announcements on the streetcars say… ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2007, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-i-have-learned/426995/65 "2007-11-24T04:24:44Z")
[QUOTE=Lionne] An ex-boyfriend from Massachusetts called potatoes, “podaddoes”. [/QUOTE] Well that’s just ridiculous. Everyone knows it’s pronounced “pertaters,” or just “taters,” if you’re in a hurry. ---
**Author:** ![thirdwarning](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecccb3/32.png) [@thirdwarning](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdwarning)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2007, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-i-have-learned/426995/66 "2007-12-03T06:53:57Z")
[QUOTE=fachverwirrt] There’s a “my-lin” in New Hampshire, too. Just north of “BER-lin”. Isn’t Cairo, IL pronounced “cay-ro”? [/QUOTE] Not cay-ro. Karo, like the syrup. If you give it that long a sound they’ll have your head. Personally, I like Marseilles. You know, mar-sayles. ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2007, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-i-have-learned/426995/67 "2007-12-03T07:03:53Z")
I’m going to refrain from reading the thread, to keep from going ballistic over people claiming that their or other peoples’ pronunciations are “wrong”. However, I have to share this little tidbit with you: my dad, who otherwise speaks with a standard Midwestern accent, pronounces “robot” like “ro-butt”. You can’t take all of Kansas City out of the man, I suppose. ---
**Author:** ![tremorviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47774/32.png) [@tremorviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tremorviolet)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2007, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-i-have-learned/426995/68 "2007-12-03T17:18:04Z")
[QUOTE=Leaffan] A friend of mine has a funny story from buying shoes in Buffalo a few years back. The clerk asked him if he wanted the “backs?” The backs? Yes, the backs. Right there. There! The backs! Do you want the backs? In front of you! Right there! THE BACKS! . . . . . . . Ohhhhhh, the box! :smack: [/QUOTE] That reminds of when I first moved to Athens, Ga and worked at a record store which also sold tickets. A customer called up and asked for “wrasslin” tickets and another employee actually had to get on the line and tell me he meant “wrestling”. (I’m from the south and my momma’s from Alabama but this pronunciation was out of my experience.} ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2007, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-i-have-learned/426995/69 "2007-12-03T21:35:11Z")
My grandma always told me to watch out for “ant bids”. I always said it too, but I’ve got a sneaking suspicion now that she meant to say ant beds. You normals probably refer to them as ant hills. ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2007, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-i-have-learned/426995/70 "2007-12-03T23:40:03Z")
Sometimes, my friends from scary midwestern places make fun of me for drinking wooder, as most people in the English speaking world instead drink water. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2007, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-i-have-learned/426995/71 "2007-12-03T23:44:22Z")
I recently learned how to pronounce “ennui”. I thought it was latin, so was pronouncing it (in my head only, having never spoken it out loud) as “N-U-I”. Turns out it’s french, so it’s pronounced “On-Wee”. Weird. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-i-have-learned/426995.md?page=3)