“Pacific” for "Specific,’ it is a (U.S.) Army thing.
sammich = sandwich
musckles = muscles
hunnid = hundred
finna -or- fixina = fixing to
skinned = skinneded (e.g. fair skinneded)
That’s all I can think of right now.
I say “lex-dis-ick” instead of dyslexic.
aminals instead of animals.
pelancks instead of pelicans.
- some others, which are a bit too rude to repeat, IMO
Nothing off the top of my head, except for Feb-yoo-ary. I know how it’s supposed to be pronounced, and even said it correctly for a while, but for some reason that now escapes me, I switched back (which took some real effort, too…). I can still say it ‘correctly’ when I want to sound like an overly pretentious grammar Nazi (hmmm, that might have something do with my decision to switch back ;)).
Five Year Old MilliCal does this. We haven’t been able to break her of it.
My mother apparently does not have the words “antique” and “unique” in her vocabulary. They are “anti-Q” and “uni-Q”. She knows it’s wrong, and that it drives me crazy. But she won’t stop! Argh…
Electrickery - my eldest son coined this, and it just seems to explain electricity so much better than the actual word.
Mamote matrol - remote control: another one invented by my son which just kind of stuck in our house.
And my favourite… Darth Maul = Daft Maud: as pronounced by my nephew when Phantom Menace came out!
February–how is it “supposed” to be pronounced? I was taught way back when that it was feb-yoo-ary. Is that “correct”? It’s the one that sounds right to me; feb-Roo-ary is too labored.
And Parisienne = pah-ree-zee-en, n’est-ce pas, njufoic? Parisian = Pah-RHEE–zhen.
Man, I’ve got time on my hands.
Heh. A friend of mine does that. For her, it comes from making a discount department store sound chic.
From my baby sister when she was 2 yo:
pa SKE ti = spaghetti
From my ex-boyfriend:
par MEE zhen cheese = parmesan cheese
(it rolls off the tongue better)
Librarians = Libertarians armadildo = armadillo
Actually, this word is pronounced muh-REE-no.
And I say* jye-raff *for that long necked spotted creature they keep in the local zoo.
I picked up these bad pronunciations from my mother (whose first language is NOT English) as a kid.
-
chiropractor = cowpactor (I once said this to my Gr. 6 teacher, who made a joke about “Bessy on the farm”, which I didn’t get at the time… I thought my mom was pronouncing it correctly… I was soon disabused of this ridiculous notion)
-
anus = AH-nus. (don’t ask ME why she thought it was the right way to say it…)
Now, of course, I pronounce the words the right way… but still occasionally pronounce them “the Mom way.”
F_X
My brother had a speech impediment as a child and couldn’t say his Ls, so a lot of those words got modified, such as
piddow = pillow
wow-ee-pop = lollipop
On one occasion, he said, “I wanna leave!” and it came out “I wanna weave!” Now all my friends say that when THEY want to leave. He also used to say “Bolshoi” instead of “bullshit,” and I can’t hear about that ballet company now without thinking of him.
My grandmother spoke broken English (we were just a mess at my house, pronunciation-wise), and I picked up some of her idioms, such as
hook = hood (of your jacket)
jeepiz creepiz = jeepers creepers
cooom ona = come on (as in, hurry up, c’mon!)
Some other words I modify:
poopy dog = puppy dog
puddy tat = pussy cat
foosies = pussies, when referring to CATS
And the famous Sylvester the Cat mispronunciation: DESTHPICABLE!
I say par-a-dig-em for paradigm. I say it in a broken, stereotypically redneck accent.
I ain’t got me none of that them there fancy par-a-dig-ems. I lost me one of my dig-ems, now I only got one ldig-em left.
Actually, yes, Feb-yoo-ary is an acceptable pronunciation, but technically February is meant to be pronounced as spelled. As I essentially said, however, insisting that Feb-yoo-ary is wrong is the kind of thing a hair-across-their ass grammar nazi would do. Feb-yoo-ary is quite acceptable, including educated conversation. Please keep saying it that way, it’s easier on everyone. I only sound out the r when spelling it.
achally - actually
shopEE - shoppe
walrus - wallet
pYooblix - publix grocery store
miss you at yahoo juanita 
skreemr], I love armadildo.
In our family, we have “chay-os” for “chaos,” ever since my sister saw Chaos: Making A New Science on the bookshelf and said, “Daddy, what’s ‘chay-os’?” We use it mostly to tease her. My mom and I also say “automobubble” for “automobile,” and “de-briss” for “debris.”
Among friends, it’s “grassy-ass” for “gracias.”
Daft Maud??? BWAHAHAHA…that had me laughing to tears.
My older sister once pronounced “awry” as “awree”…she really thought it was pronounced that way. I called her on it and we laughed about it, and we pronounce it that way now.
I called “fajitas” Fajytas (like vaginas)…it grosses people out. heehee.
Know one’s mentioned “gyro”? I pronounce it “jie-row”.