Just use the mnemonic: “Chick-Fil-A, it rhymes with gay.”
Let me get this straight…you’re in Canada, and you had trouble adding an ‘eh’ to the end?
My brother from Minnesota did the same as the OP when he first saw one in Tennessee. Chick fill uh? He is the type to joke around a lot, so I assumed that he was kidding. The confused look on his face told me otherwise, so I corrected him.
It can be pronounced either way according to some on-line dictionaries. I learned it as dow-er from my Scottish heritage. I have never even heard it pronounced as du-er and thought you were totally wrong until I started Googling around.
It doesn’t even seem to be an American vs. British thing, but I’m convinced no one in Scotland says du-er.
I’ve never heard anyone say “Chick-fil-A” out loud (we don’t have them here) so I never got it either. It’s a stupid name anyway. Do they offer chick fillets? I doubt it. Anyway, if you pronounce “fillet” properly, it doesn’t work at all.
Personally, I can see a serious market for t-shirts that say “CHICK FILLA” on them.
I think it’s one of those words where the “wrong” pronunciation has become so widespread due to assumptions that it’s now standard enough to be included in dictionaries.
I suspect your confidence in the ignorance of all Scottish people may be a little misplaced.
I probably missed a few people in my survey.
AS a disc jockey/radio producer, I used the word segue daily for years before I ever saw it in print, and just assumed it was probably spelled ‘segway’. It was insider professional shop-talk and I had no idea that there was such a word that had a broader meaning outside my field.I was using the word in about 1960, when it was only about 1/8 the common usage it now has:
Several years ago I learned that:
Arby’s=fast food joint that serves roast beef sandwiches (that much I figured out on my own)
roast beef initials = rb (I suppose I knew that, too)
rb = Arby (epiphany!)
And until today to learn that story is (almost) completely incorrect. Arby’s is indeed a play on the letters “R” and “B”, but from “Raffel brothers”, the guys who started the business. Oh, the ignorance I have spread!
They used to have a tagline in their commercials, “America’s Roast Beef. Yes, Sir!”
There was a three-dot columnist in Portland, Oregon named Doug Baker who used to use LOL to stand for little old lady. They showed up in a lot of his items. The first time I saw it online that’s what I thought it meant.
Yeah, I think Scotland pretty much invented dour. “He’s a dour Scots fella” - almost redundant.