# Pronunciations that make your skin crawl **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 25, 2007, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-that-make-your-skin-crawl/397430 "2007-03-25T16:16:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**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:** [March 27, 2007, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-that-make-your-skin-crawl/397430/81 "2007-03-27T02:19:51Z")
Again, no difference in my dialect. I’m pretty sure you’re talking about /ɔ/ vs. /a/ (c **au** ght vs. c **o** t, respectively). Most Californians–myself included, again–pronounce both as /a/ and can’t hear the difference. ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2007, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-that-make-your-skin-crawl/397430/82 "2007-03-27T03:02:22Z")
Your parent’s sister is your _ant_, not your _awnt_. ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2007, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-that-make-your-skin-crawl/397430/83 "2007-03-27T03:29:44Z")
[QUOTE=River Hippie] Your parent’s sister is your _ant_, not your _awnt_. [/QUOTE] No, no, no. My aunt (awnt) is my mother’s sister. An ant is something you step on when you find it in the kitchen. Looked at another way, you’ve got _daunt, guant, flaunt, haunt, and taunt_, then _aunt_ is suddenly “ant”? (Incidentally, our kids are going to be terribly confused, as my sister categorically refuses to be called “ant”, and my sister-in-law will not allow “awnt”. So they’ll have one of each.) ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2007, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-that-make-your-skin-crawl/397430/84 "2007-03-27T03:30:12Z")
[QUOTE=zelie zelerton] Well I suppose that depends on where you live. For the UK it would be jag-u-ar though that’s mostly in reference to the car. We tend not to have too many giant kitties running around. 🙂 I’ve never heard the first version of Eck-you-a-dor. Is that an American thing? [/QUOTE] I haven’t either, but perhaps the poster was thinking of Brit. “Nick-uh-rah-gew-ah” vs. Amer. “Nick-a-rah-gwuh”, where I think they definitely have a point. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2007, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-that-make-your-skin-crawl/397430/85 "2007-03-27T03:35:34Z")
[QUOTE=DMark] San-TEE instead of San-ta Claus . [/QUOTE] “Santy” often used to be used by train conductors for for "Santa \. My first year at UCSD the Amtrak conductors would still walk through the cars when we neared a station…“Santy Ana, next stop! Santy Ana next!” That was only during my first year; after that they had recorded announcemnents sent over the intercom. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2007, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-that-make-your-skin-crawl/397430/86 "2007-03-27T03:39:18Z")
I used to have a large Reader’s Digest dictionary; a big thick volume with all sorts of supplemental material at the end. It was pretty interesting actually. But in one of the supplements, which was about commonly mispronounced words, it insisted that the correct pronunciation of _grimace_ was “grim-AYCE”. Go figure. RD may not be Webster’s, but “grim-MAYCE”? Please! ---
**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:** [March 27, 2007, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-that-make-your-skin-crawl/397430/87 "2007-03-27T06:19:11Z")
I know I’m fighting a losing battle here, but: Nuptial (as in pre-nuptial) only has one “U” in it, in the first syllable. And there are two syllables, not three. It should be pronounced NUP-sh’l, and the second syllable should be the same as that in “partial” or “martial.” It is NOT pronounced “nup-choo-ul.” And then there’s “ATH-uh-leet.” Wrong. It’s “ATH-leet.” ---
**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:** [March 27, 2007, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-that-make-your-skin-crawl/397430/88 "2007-03-27T06:25:59Z")
[QUOTE=fetus] Again, no difference in my dialect. I’m pretty sure you’re talking about /ɔ/ vs. /a/ (c **au** ght vs. c **o** t, respectively). Most Californians–myself included, again–pronounce both as /a/ and can’t hear the difference. [/QUOTE] How do you say “saw”? Is it really “sah”? I guess I’ve never really noticed that, if it is the case. ---
**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:** [March 27, 2007, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-that-make-your-skin-crawl/397430/89 "2007-03-27T06:44:52Z")
[QUOTE=pulykamell] How do you say “saw”? Is it really “sah”? I guess I’ve never really noticed that, if it is the case. [/QUOTE] Yup. I can mimic the pronunciation you’re probably thinking of, but it doesn’t sound natural to me. When I say it it sounds like “sah”. ---
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2007, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-that-make-your-skin-crawl/397430/90 "2007-03-27T09:08:32Z")
I don’t know who the hell decided that it was acceptable to pronounce the 2nd month of the year as **Febyooary** , but I refuse to dumb down, and I will stubbornly hold my ground till they rip that **R** from my cold, dead lips. And I used to love a girl who loved **ju-lu-ry**. I don’t love her anymore. ---
**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:** [March 27, 2007, 9:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-that-make-your-skin-crawl/397430/91 "2007-03-27T09:12:03Z")
What, you say it “feb-roo-rary”? ---
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2007, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-that-make-your-skin-crawl/397430/92 "2007-03-27T09:24:51Z")
[QUOTE=fetus] What, you say it “feb-roo-rary”? [/QUOTE] No. Feb **R** uary. Just like it’s spelled. ---
**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:** [March 27, 2007, 9:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-that-make-your-skin-crawl/397430/93 "2007-03-27T09:34:36Z")
Did you intentionally start pronouncing it that way because the idea of a silent consonant offended you? ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2007, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-that-make-your-skin-crawl/397430/94 "2007-03-27T09:46:41Z")
Saying _strenth_ instead of str_eng_th. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2007, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-that-make-your-skin-crawl/397430/95 "2007-03-27T09:51:04Z")
[QUOTE=River Hippie] Your parent’s sister is your _ant_, not your _awnt_. [/QUOTE] Oh my, I now have this naisal American pronunciation wringing in my inner ear. Always ‘ARNT’ in GB. ---
**Author:** ![Secret\_Volcano\_Lair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Secret\_Volcano\_Lair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Secret_Volcano_Lair)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2007, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-that-make-your-skin-crawl/397430/96 "2007-03-27T10:22:33Z")
Pretty sure these have all been mentioned… ‘warsh’ ‘ree-la-tor’ ‘jew-la-ree’ any day of the week ending in ‘-dee’ rather than ‘-day’ Now I realize its only little kids that do this, so I should probably cut them some slack, but it still aggravates me… There was a Campbell’s soup commercial about ten years ago where some kid’s mom asks him what he learned in school that day, and as he hands his mom a cup of tomato soup or something, he answers “shao-wing” (sharing). I guess this was supposed to be “cute”. I hope the next day he learned how to speak correctly. ---
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2007, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-that-make-your-skin-crawl/397430/97 "2007-03-27T10:24:40Z")
[QUOTE=fetus] Did you intentionally start pronouncing it that way because the idea of a silent consonant offended you? [/QUOTE] I pronounce it that way because the R is _not_ silent. Never was. ---
**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:** [March 27, 2007, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-that-make-your-skin-crawl/397430/98 "2007-03-27T10:31:48Z")
Fair enough, I suppose, but I’ve never heard it pronounced before. Is it a Chicago thing? ---
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2007, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-that-make-your-skin-crawl/397430/99 "2007-03-27T11:01:51Z")
[QUOTE=fetus] Fair enough, I suppose, but I’ve never heard it pronounced before. Is it a Chicago thing? [/QUOTE] Not at all. Hell, I grew up in New York City. It’s only been the past few years that I’ve noticed it being accepted by the general public and the media although it’s been mispronounced as long as I can remember. We used to get hollered at in school if we left out the R. Same thing with \*(shudder) \* **Liberry**. ---
**Author:** ![Secret\_Volcano\_Lair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Secret\_Volcano\_Lair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Secret_Volcano_Lair)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2007, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-that-make-your-skin-crawl/397430/100 "2007-03-27T11:02:23Z")
Forgot to add: “Rill”/“Rilly” (real/really) “Fill” (feel), etc. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-that-make-your-skin-crawl/397430.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciations-that-make-your-skin-crawl/397430.md?page=6)