# Very stupid overheard conversations **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 30, 2020, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-stupid-overheard-conversations/926858 "2020-11-30T21:44:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 14
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2021, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-stupid-overheard-conversations/926858/261 "2021-02-03T19:38:23Z")
I had a professor in college who pronounced “trough” as “trow” (as in rhyming with “row” and “throw”). And he taught Econ 101, so he used that word a lot when referring to graphs of demand curves and such. Although to be fair I’m not entirely sure if English was his first language. He didn’t speak with any noticeable foreign accent, but his bio mentioned he’d previously taught at a university in Italy. So I suppose it’s possible he was Italian but had been in the US for do many decades he’d mostly lost any accent he might have had. And if that was the case, I could understand how it wouldn’t be obvious that “trough” shouldn’t rhyme with “through” but it should rhyme with “tough”. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2021, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-stupid-overheard-conversations/926858/262 "2021-02-04T04:27:06Z")
In another message board I saw “prima donna” spelled “pre-Madonna”… ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2021, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-stupid-overheard-conversations/926858/263 "2021-02-04T04:29:35Z")
I once saw “medieval” spelled “mid-evil” on another board. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2021, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-stupid-overheard-conversations/926858/264 "2021-02-04T04:52:28Z")
Oh, I screwed up a ton of pronunciations in my youth. It was a function of getting my vocabulary entirely from the written word. I think the funniest one was pronouncing epitome as ep-i-TOME. I got a lot of ribbing for that one from my college friends. Oh, and decipher. Clearly pronounced DES-I-fur. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2021, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-stupid-overheard-conversations/926858/265 "2021-02-04T05:58:39Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > And if that was the case, I could understand how it wouldn’t be obvious that “trough” shouldn’t rhyme with “through” but it should rhyme with “tough”. But “trough” doesn’t rhyme with “tough” either. “Trough” = trof “Tough” = tuff ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2021, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-stupid-overheard-conversations/926858/266 "2021-02-04T06:11:01Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > Oh, I screwed up a ton of pronunciations in my youth. It was a function of getting my vocabulary entirely from the written word. Heh, as a kid I thought “queue” was pronounced “kwey-yoo” because I had never connected it with hearing “cuing up” on line. Those must be two different words! (Like “quay” and “key.” I was actually in my late 20s before I realized that one.) ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2021, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-stupid-overheard-conversations/926858/267 "2021-02-04T06:54:53Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > I think the funniest one was pronouncing epitome as ep-i-TOME Wait, those are the _same_ word? ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2021, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-stupid-overheard-conversations/926858/268 "2021-02-04T10:35:42Z")
_The baker-man was kneading dough_ _And whistling softly, sweet and lough._ _Yet ever and anon he’d cough_ _As though his head were coming ough!_ _“My word!” said he,” but this is rough:_ _This flour is simply awful stough!”_ _He punched and thumped it through and through,_ _As all good bakers dough!_ _“I’d sooner drive,” said he “a plough_ _Than be a baker anyhough!”_ _Thus spake the baker kneading dough;_ _But don’t let on I told you sough!_ ---
**Author:** ![tofor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tofor/32/13727_2.png) [@tofor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tofor)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2021, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-stupid-overheard-conversations/926858/269 "2021-02-04T12:26:14Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > I think the funniest one was pronouncing epitome as ep-i-TOME. As a teenager, while driving to a vacation at Prince Edward Island with my parents and siblings, we were reading Anne of Green Gables (as you do in that situation) and I was reading the part where Anne takes Marilla’s “Amethyst Brooch”. Which I pronounced "Ameetheeist Broooch (like pooch). How was I to know? I have a long list of words I only learned how to pronounce years after I knew the word. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2021, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-stupid-overheard-conversations/926858/270 "2021-02-04T14:50:07Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > Oh, I screwed up a ton of pronunciations in my youth. It was a function of getting my vocabulary entirely from the written word. Me, too! And then I started living in Japan and started pronouncing unknown words with Japanese vowel sounds. . . ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_McQwark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4da419/32.png) [@Steve\_McQwark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_McQwark)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2021, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-stupid-overheard-conversations/926858/271 "2021-02-04T15:07:15Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > Oh, I screwed up a ton of pronunciations in my youth. It was a function of getting my vocabulary entirely from the written word. > > I think the funniest one was pronouncing epitome as ep-i-TOME. I got a lot of ribbing for that one from my college friends. > > Oh, and decipher. Clearly pronounced DES-I-fur. Forty years later and I can still hear my mother and my then girlfriend (\*) bonding together by laughing at me saying ep-i-TOME. (\*) Just to be crystal clear - those are two different women. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2021, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-stupid-overheard-conversations/926858/272 "2021-02-04T15:19:32Z")
Overheard at a restaurant: “Remember the time Roseanne sang ‘O Canada’ to the tune of ‘O Christmas Tree’?” It was Dennis Park who sang “O Canada” to the tune of “O Christmas Tree” (or something vaguely resembling it) at a 1994 CFL game. This person apparently had that incident confused with Roseanne Barr’s memorably off-key performance of “The Star-Spangled Banner” at a 1990 San Diego Padres game. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Wiggler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/red_wiggler/32/13190_2.png) [@Red\_Wiggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Wiggler)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2021, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-stupid-overheard-conversations/926858/273 "2021-02-04T16:25:20Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > I think the funniest one was pronouncing epitome as ep-i-TOME. I got a lot of ribbing for that one from my college friends. That’s an Ernest P. Worrell (Jim Varney) gag from his early days in commercials. “The ep-i-TOME of used car dealers!” ---
**Author:** ![tofor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tofor/32/13727_2.png) [@tofor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tofor)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2021, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-stupid-overheard-conversations/926858/274 "2021-02-04T16:33:37Z")
I also pronounced ‘banal’ as BANE-ul, not bun-ALL. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2021, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-stupid-overheard-conversations/926858/275 "2021-02-04T16:34:41Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > Heh, as a kid I thought “queue” was pronounced “kwey-yoo” because I had never connected it with hearing “cuing up” on line. Those must be two different words! (Like “quay” and “key.” I was actually in my late 20s before I realized that one.) For me it was segue. It took me a long time to realize SEG-way and segue were the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2021, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-stupid-overheard-conversations/926858/276 "2021-02-04T16:37:13Z")
> [@tofor](#): > > I also pronounced ‘banal’ as BANE-ul, not bun-ALL. Crap. I doubt I have ever heard it spoken in my life. It is definitely BANE-ul for me. ---
**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:** [February 4, 2021, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-stupid-overheard-conversations/926858/277 "2021-02-04T16:37:43Z")
> [@tofor](#): > > I also pronounced ‘banal’ as BANE-ul, not bun-ALL Both are correct, although bun-All is more common in the US. ---
**Author:** ![tofor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tofor/32/13727_2.png) [@tofor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tofor)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2021, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-stupid-overheard-conversations/926858/278 "2021-02-04T16:58:50Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > Both are correct, although bun-All is more common in the US I did not know that, but the dictionary confirms. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2021, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-stupid-overheard-conversations/926858/279 "2021-02-04T19:03:53Z")
> [@mixdenny](#): > > > [@tofor](#): > > > > I also pronounced ‘banal’ as BANE-ul, not bun-ALL. > > Crap. I doubt I have ever heard it spoken in my life. It is definitely BANE-ul for me. Ditto! For me it was _execrable_. Whaddaya mean, it’s not ex-EC-ra-ble? ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2021, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-stupid-overheard-conversations/926858/280 "2021-02-04T19:16:30Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > - _When Trump made some remarks not wanting gun control_ > “Nobody should have guns! In fact we need to disarm the police first, then have them disarm the rest of the crazy gunnuts out there!” Flip that sequence for a Dope poll and it might get majority support. Leave it as is and it would probably still have at least 20% in favor. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-stupid-overheard-conversations/926858.md?page=13) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-stupid-overheard-conversations/926858.md?page=15)