# Share your favorite mispronunciations that you have heard **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 19, 2012, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-favorite-mispronunciations-that-you-have-heard/638273 "2012-10-19T20:55:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2012, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-favorite-mispronunciations-that-you-have-heard/638273/21 "2012-10-20T18:51:22Z")
The town of Beatrice in Nebraska is pronounced by the local yokels “Bee- AT- triss”. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2012, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-favorite-mispronunciations-that-you-have-heard/638273/22 "2012-10-20T19:16:58Z")
When you cut prices to incentivize people to purchase, it is not a “sell”. It is a “sale”, and that rhymes with whale, and if you say different, you fail. It is “impordunt” to get it right. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2012, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-favorite-mispronunciations-that-you-have-heard/638273/23 "2012-10-20T20:25:27Z")
A former co-worker always referred, in meetings no less, to the my-raid (myriad) of problems her department was facing. We all blushed silently. My father used to pronounce drought as “drouth” because that’s the way it used to be pronounced n the 17th century or something. He thought it was cute. Roddy ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2012, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-favorite-mispronunciations-that-you-have-heard/638273/24 "2012-10-20T20:57:59Z")
> [@Herbal\_Lady](#): > > Once had a neighbor who needed his chimley cleaned every Fall. How do you get chimley out of chimney? I don’t know, but [_chimbley_](http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/chimbley) is also fairly common. My aunt had a boss who was a master of malapropism – the only example that’s coming to mind right now, though, is when he asked her to make him a hotel reservation at the “Romano”. She eventually figured out he meant [Ramada](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramada). Oh, and he also "used “pacifically” instead of “specifically”, but that’s fairly common. The mispronunciation had an extra layer of humor, though, as the company involved was A&P – formally the Great Atlantic & \*\*Pacific \*\* Tea Company! ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2012, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-favorite-mispronunciations-that-you-have-heard/638273/25 "2012-10-20T21:00:37Z")
> [@Herbal\_Lady](#): > > Once had a neighbor who needed his chimley cleaned every Fall. How do you get chimley out of chimney? Was that person from MA? My fil fom the Boston area called it a chimley. ---
**Author:** ![boozilu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4da419/32.png) [@boozilu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boozilu)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2012, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-favorite-mispronunciations-that-you-have-heard/638273/26 "2012-10-20T21:11:00Z")
After an earthquake in the Los Angeles area, my boss from headquarters out east asked: 'Where was the Epcot Center of that earthquake, anyway?" Still used to this day by anyone who ever worked for him. ---
**Author:** ![August\_West](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/august_west/32/18069_2.png) [@August\_West](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/August_West)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2012, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-favorite-mispronunciations-that-you-have-heard/638273/27 "2012-10-20T21:14:42Z")
> [@delphica](#): > > In a short-lived TV show about Irish Travelers, Minnie Driver mispronounces “comeuppance” to sound like come - a - PONCE. Because she’s Minnie Driver and everything she does is amazing, her delivery as a character trying to impress by using a big word is absolutely hilarious. > > Ever since, we’ve said come-a-PONCE in our house, I’m sure people who overhear us are mortified that we’re so clueless. I just found The Riches on Netflix, fell in love with it, and then learned it got cancelled after two seasons. Boo, FX executives of 2008, boo!!! ---
**Author:** ![Docta\_G](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/2bfe46/32.png) [@Docta\_G](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Docta_G)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2012, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-favorite-mispronunciations-that-you-have-heard/638273/28 "2012-10-20T21:22:16Z")
I have a friend who really likes his “oskillating” fan. I wonder if he owns an oskilloscope. ---
**Author:** ![Rich\_Mann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ce73a5/32.png) [@Rich\_Mann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rich_Mann)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2012, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-favorite-mispronunciations-that-you-have-heard/638273/29 "2012-10-20T22:34:34Z")
Just remembered another one. I had a manager who pronounced ‘adage’, uh-DAZH. Like us Merkins say ‘garage’. **Roderick** , I’ve heard ‘drouth’ also–usually said by the same people that say ‘heighth’. ---
**Author:** ![gms453](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@gms453](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gms453)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2012, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-favorite-mispronunciations-that-you-have-heard/638273/30 "2012-10-20T22:44:58Z")
nm ---
**Author:** ![gms453](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@gms453](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gms453)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2012, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-favorite-mispronunciations-that-you-have-heard/638273/31 "2012-10-20T22:46:13Z")
Hearing a newly elected municipal official repeatedly say DEB-riss during a public meeting about garbage collection contracts. It wasn’t 'til the way home in the car that I realized he meant di-BREE (spelled debris). He turned out to be a great public servant and he and I still laugh about his first encounter with the written version of that word. ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2012, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-favorite-mispronunciations-that-you-have-heard/638273/32 "2012-10-21T00:35:27Z")
A friend insists on pronouncing subsequent as sub-SEE-quent (s/b SUB-suh-quent), because the word sequence is pronounced SEE-quence. ---
**Author:** ![Pyper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Pyper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pyper)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2012, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-favorite-mispronunciations-that-you-have-heard/638273/33 "2012-10-21T00:40:16Z")
I had a client recently tell me her daughter was “asphyxiated” on her iPhone. (She meant “fixated.”) ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2012, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-favorite-mispronunciations-that-you-have-heard/638273/34 "2012-10-21T00:43:45Z")
OMG, I can’t believe the king of all mispronounced words hasn’t been mentioned yet. It even has more than one regular variation of mispronunciation: supposedly. “Supposably” and “supposively”. Aaahhck! I seriously judge people who do this, I can’t help it, I’m a small man. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2012, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-favorite-mispronunciations-that-you-have-heard/638273/35 "2012-10-21T00:50:44Z")
A college classmate of my sister’s asked in class, “But what about the libbiddy-doo?” [libido] There was a quiet pause while the class processed what he had said, then gales of laughter. Suffice it to say he never mispronounced that word again. ---
**Author:** ![freckafree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freckafree/32/3050_2.png) [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2012, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-favorite-mispronunciations-that-you-have-heard/638273/36 "2012-10-21T01:10:28Z")
One of my college professors used to pronounce “specificity” as “spefisicity,” thus forever ruining my ability to say the word without pausing to think twice. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2012, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-favorite-mispronunciations-that-you-have-heard/638273/37 "2012-10-21T01:21:25Z")
The wife, who does have excellent English, used to get tripped up on “nowadays,” saying “nowsaday” instead. It was cute, but she didn’t like that I thought it was cute and has since trained heself to say it properly. Pity, because it really was cute. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2012, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-favorite-mispronunciations-that-you-have-heard/638273/38 "2012-10-21T01:30:54Z")
This reminds me of the Everybody Loves Raymond episode where it was brought up that he once came across the word ‘stomachache’ while reading. In trying to sound it out, he pronounced it sto-MA-cha-chi. mmm ---
**Author:** ![NGC2024](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f475e1/32.png) [@NGC2024](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NGC2024)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2012, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-favorite-mispronunciations-that-you-have-heard/638273/39 "2012-10-21T01:34:31Z")
I was babysitting a friend’s young daughter one day and took her to visit another friend. It was a Saturday afternoon and a sudden snow squall appeared. My friend decided to use the event as a teaching moment. She took my friend’s daughter to the window, pointed to the sudden snowfall and said, very seriously, “This is called a snow squabble”. I nearly lost my mind. I also routinely hear people say “real-a-tor” instead of realtor, which pretty much makes me crazy. ---
**Author:** ![diggerwam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/919ad9/32.png) [@diggerwam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/diggerwam)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2012, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-favorite-mispronunciations-that-you-have-heard/638273/40 "2012-10-21T01:41:45Z")
Around these parts many people pronounce ornery as on-ree. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-favorite-mispronunciations-that-you-have-heard/638273.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-favorite-mispronunciations-that-you-have-heard/638273.md?page=3)