I love hearing telemarketers try to sa Sammamish
It’s spelled Phnom Penh, and pronounced kinda like this-
P’uh-nom Pen.
A lovely city.
Yeah, I get the same chuckle out of hearing them try “Tigard” (usually they make it rhyme with “Tigger” rather than “tiger”), and Aloha (not pronounced the Hawaiian way, but rather “uh-LO-uh”).
This is for StephenG and godzillatemple:
Since you’re familiar with Massachusetts, is Holyoke pronounced “Hoy-ock”? I grew up in CT but I have a friend who lives in the south and swears it’s pronounced Holly-oak. It’s becoming a debate that I’d hate to lose, given this guy’s a know-it-all.
My biggest pet peeve with words (not names) is the southern pronounciation of chest of drawers as “chests-s-of-draws”
Still a yankee at heart!
Spelling, not pronunciation, but when I was watching TV the morning of the Columbia crash, one of the news stations spelled it “Nagadocious” for an hour or so.
Telemarketers frequently pronounce my last name NUGG-ent instead of NOO-gent.
I just attended a commencement ceremony at Mt Holyoke College. They pronounced it “holy-yoke”.
When I worked at a video store, I was often asked for “the new Carmen Diaz movie,” as opposed to the new CAMERON Diaz movie. I’d just sigh and feel superior. Same as when asked for the Werner Herzog film about Klaus Kinski - it’s NOT called “My Best Friend,” dammit, it’s “My Best FIEND!”
hrh
BurnMeUp: Natch. I did say those names were based on Native American tribal names. ‘Seattle’ is a gross bastardization of a local pre-European name, as is ‘Tacoma.’ People know how to pronounce 'em, though.
FISH
Kobe the city west of Osaka is not Kobe the basketball player! Short e (as all Japanese 'e’s)! I cringe on hearing people say “the Kobi earthquake”. :::shudder:::
TV3 News here in Ireland just reported on a wildfire raging outside of Tuskan, Arizona.