# What words, when mispronounced, set your teeth on edge? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 13, 2008, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-when-mispronounced-set-your-teeth-on-edge/472624 "2008-11-13T23:40:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2008, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-when-mispronounced-set-your-teeth-on-edge/472624/41 "2008-11-14T09:44:03Z")
> [@Rich\_Mann](#): > > I know that it’s rather pedantic to call a common pronunciation ‘wrong’, but I can’t accept ‘noo-cyu-lar’ or ‘noo-cu-lar’ for nuclear unless you change the spelling to ‘nucular’. > > It means “of or relating to ‘nu-cle-us’” not ‘nu-cle’ or ‘nu-cul’. > > Pronouncing it that way is, to me, like pronouncing ‘frog’ as ‘Wankel rotary engine’–it doesn’t matter how many people say it that way, you just can’t get there from the spelling of the actual word. Meh. You can get there the same way you get from the spelling of “iron” to the pronunciation “eye-ern”, from the spelling of “busy” to the pronounciation “bizzy”, from the spelling of comfortable to the pronunciation “cumfterbuhl” (though perhaps you don’t pronounce it this way), and “Wednesday” and “laboratory” and so on. Fixation on spelling as a guide to pronunciation is letting the tail wag the dog; spoken language is primary. Anyway, Merriam-Webster themselves give a fine tripartite explanation of why it is silly to object to popular pronunciations on grounds of spelling, so I’ll just link to [that](http://www.merriam-webster.com/help/faq/pronounce.htm). ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2008, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-when-mispronounced-set-your-teeth-on-edge/472624/42 "2008-11-14T09:57:21Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > “Nuptial” is not pronounced “NUP-choo-ul.” It’s “NUP-sh’l.” Would you say “MAR-choo-ul” or “PAR-choo-ul”? Supposing one would not say “MAR-choo-ul” or “PAR-choo-ul”, yet all the same, they would still say “NUP-choo-ul”. What of it? Is it any worse than pronouncing the rimes of “height” and “weight” differently, or the final syllables of “bouquet” and “banquet”, or the first syllables of “Christmas” and “Christ”? There’s no necessary link between the pronunciation of one word and the pronunciation of another word, even if they happen to have similar spellings or etymologically related components. ---
**Author:** ![Illuminatiprimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/illuminatiprimus/32/11520_2.png) [@Illuminatiprimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illuminatiprimus)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2008, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-when-mispronounced-set-your-teeth-on-edge/472624/43 "2008-11-14T10:37:55Z")
Schedule - it’s pronounced shed-du-el, not sked-dul. I appreciate the entire population of the US is about to argue with me, but after a week of hearing that in New York I was ready to punch someone. ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2008, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-when-mispronounced-set-your-teeth-on-edge/472624/44 "2008-11-14T12:22:20Z")
Cache as Ka-Shay!!! Please, god, make it stop!!! What is it about the freaking military that makes them say Ka-Shay? Now I have to look like the fucking retard because I refuse to pronounce it like that. And 70% of the time I am actually _corrected_ when I say “cash”! The other 30% of the time, I get a strange look. But I’m holding out! It’s a CASH people!! You didn’t uncover a fucking “Mortar Kashay”! Imagine spending 15 months in Iraq when part of your primary mission is to find caches. Now imagine that every… single… other… person… pronounces it as “ka-shay”. I hear it at least a dozen times a day. That’s being generous. Sometimes it’s a dozen times in one 3 minute conversation!! You would hate it too! Any idea how this happened??? ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2008, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-when-mispronounced-set-your-teeth-on-edge/472624/45 "2008-11-14T13:09:25Z")
> [@Bear\_Nenno](#): > > Cache as Ka-Shay!!! > > Please, god, make it stop!!! What is it about the freaking military that makes them say Ka-Shay? Now I have to look like the fucking retard because I refuse to pronounce it like that. And 70% of the time I am actually _corrected_ when I say “cash”! The other 30% of the time, I get a strange look. But I’m holding out! > It’s a CASH people!! You didn’t uncover a fucking “Mortar Kashay”! > > Imagine spending 15 months in Iraq when part of your primary mission is to find caches. Now imagine that every… single… other… person… pronounces it as “ka-shay”. I hear it at least a dozen times a day. That’s being generous. Sometimes it’s a dozen times in one 3 minute conversation!! You would hate it too! > > Any idea how this happened??? I have absolutely no idea, but yeah, this one gets me too. It’s obvious they’re confusing the pronunciation of cache with caché, even though I’m sure most are unaware of it, or even that they are two distinct words with different meanings. It’s just willful ignorance, in my opinion. ---
**Author:** ![Wallenstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5a626/32.png) [@Wallenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallenstein)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2008, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-when-mispronounced-set-your-teeth-on-edge/472624/46 "2008-11-14T13:20:46Z")
Herb: not 'erb. ---
**Author:** ![Illuminatiprimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/illuminatiprimus/32/11520_2.png) [@Illuminatiprimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illuminatiprimus)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2008, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-when-mispronounced-set-your-teeth-on-edge/472624/47 "2008-11-14T13:44:46Z")
> [@Wallenstein](#): > > Herb: not 'erb. Oh FUCK yes. My friends who live in NY have even started saying the h silently, I felt like slapping them. ---
**Author:** ![Agent\_Foxtrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc29f/32.png) [@Agent\_Foxtrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agent_Foxtrot)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2008, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-when-mispronounced-set-your-teeth-on-edge/472624/48 "2008-11-14T14:16:05Z")
Crayon as crown. This has bothered me since elementary school when I was excited that some kid on the bus offered me crowns. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2008, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-when-mispronounced-set-your-teeth-on-edge/472624/49 "2008-11-14T14:26:23Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Dudes just can’t seem to get that sometimes there is _no one true way,_ that sometimes there are two 100% legit ways of pronoucing a word. > > _Nuclear_ is one example. I can appreciate that some words are pronounced two different ways, but “Nuclear” has one correct and literate pronounciation. “Nu-kew-ler” is retarded. > [@](#): > > Names of countries is another= “Germany” is pronounced “Deutschland” if you want to be really precise.😛 No, it’s not. “Deutschland” is pronounced “Deutschland.” “Germany” is pronounced “Germany.” I expect other languages have different words, and therefore ways of pronouncing, “Nuclear.” The French say “nucléaire.” English has “nuclear,” that it’s pronounced that way. The popularity of “nu-kew-ler” among dumbasses and people pandering to them doesn’t make it right any more than “supposably” or “warshing machine.” ---
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2008, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-when-mispronounced-set-your-teeth-on-edge/472624/50 "2008-11-14T15:21:18Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > I can appreciate that some words are pronounced two different ways, but “Nuclear” has one correct and literate pronounciation. Would that be nooclear or nyooclear? You will not find many people saying the former in the UK, for example. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2008, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-when-mispronounced-set-your-teeth-on-edge/472624/51 "2008-11-14T15:33:59Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > I can appreciate that some words are pronounced two different ways, but “Nuclear” has one correct and literate pronounciation. “Nu-kew-ler” is retarded. Don’t worry about it. It’s a mute point. ---
**Author:** ![Turpentine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecd19e/32.png) [@Turpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turpentine)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2008, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-when-mispronounced-set-your-teeth-on-edge/472624/52 "2008-11-14T15:53:39Z")
People pronouncing “God” as “Og”. ---
**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:** [November 14, 2008, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-when-mispronounced-set-your-teeth-on-edge/472624/53 "2008-11-14T16:06:26Z")
> [@amarone](#): > > Would that be nooclear or nyooclear? You will not find many people saying the former in the UK, for example. In one of my speech and theater classes (which was taught by a Brit, now that I think of it), I was taught the “Daniel Sitteth” rule, which is that if “ew” or “u” is preceded by any of the consonants in the phrase Daniel Sitteth, it is pronounced “yoo.” (Except for “sew”!) So, nyooclear, enthyoosiasm, consyoome. I don’t believe I’ve ever met another person who has heard that rule. ---
**Author:** ![Illuminatiprimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/illuminatiprimus/32/11520_2.png) [@Illuminatiprimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illuminatiprimus)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2008, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-when-mispronounced-set-your-teeth-on-edge/472624/54 "2008-11-14T16:10:15Z")
> [@Turpentine](#): > > People pronouncing “God” as “Og”. Doesn’t set my teeth on edge but I don’t understand the need for it myself. I’m not religious but use of the word god in exclamations or as a form of expletive is understood by everyone which is why we do it. If you want to denote that you’re not willing to be deferential to said non-existent being then just use the lower case (god) like I do. ---
**Author:** ![Duhkecco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8491ac/32.png) [@Duhkecco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duhkecco)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2008, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-when-mispronounced-set-your-teeth-on-edge/472624/55 "2008-11-14T16:10:21Z")
Vichyssoise as vichy-swa. ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2008, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-when-mispronounced-set-your-teeth-on-edge/472624/56 "2008-11-14T16:22:20Z")
> [@freckafree](#): > > In one of my speech and theater classes (which was taught by a Brit, now that I think of it), I was taught the “Daniel Sitteth” rule, which is that if “ew” or “u” is preceded by any of the consonants in the phrase Daniel Sitteth, it is pronounced “yoo.” (Except for “sew”!) > > So, nyooclear, enthyoosiasm, consyoome. > > I don’t believe I’ve ever met another person who has heard that rule. I have. It’s used in classical singing as well. I use it with my students. ---
**Author:** ![YoudNeverGuess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a587f6/32.png) [@YoudNeverGuess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YoudNeverGuess)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2008, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-when-mispronounced-set-your-teeth-on-edge/472624/57 "2008-11-14T16:23:22Z")
Bruschetta as ‘brush-etta’ instead of ‘brusk-etta’. That might come across as a bit pernickety but that’s the first one that came to mind as genuinely irritating to me. Oh and ‘specific’ as ‘pacific’ - ehhhh, that’s not a silent ‘s’ people! ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2008, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-when-mispronounced-set-your-teeth-on-edge/472624/58 "2008-11-14T16:36:50Z")
As long as we’re bringing in the foreign pedantry: people pronouncing the name of the second Mozart/Da Ponte opera as “Don Gee-oh-vah-nee” irritate me. That particularly applies to people who ought to know better. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2008, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-when-mispronounced-set-your-teeth-on-edge/472624/59 "2008-11-14T16:39:56Z")
Off-ten instead of Offen. Do you say Mois-ten? Glis-ten? No? Then stop with the Off-ten. ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2008, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-when-mispronounced-set-your-teeth-on-edge/472624/60 "2008-11-14T16:55:50Z")
> [@Illuminatiprimus](#): > > Schedule - it’s pronounced shed-du-el, not sked-dul. > > I appreciate the entire population of the US is about to argue with me, but after a week of hearing that in New York I was ready to punch someone. Yes I was the subject of your fury on that one. Too bad you were stuck with groups of people who needed to take trains 😛 How do you pronounce “school”? 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-when-mispronounced-set-your-teeth-on-edge/472624.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-words-when-mispronounced-set-your-teeth-on-edge/472624.md?page=4)