# Words that make you sound stupid if you pronounce them the way they're spelled **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 9, 2004, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-make-you-sound-stupid-if-you-pronounce-them-the-way-theyre-spelled/278933 "2004-12-09T16:01:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2004, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-make-you-sound-stupid-if-you-pronounce-them-the-way-theyre-spelled/278933/101 "2004-12-13T04:00:23Z")
> [@Labdad](#): > > victuals is pronounced “vittles.” (there’s only one pronunciation given in my Random House Dictionary) > > I was about to compare it to chitterling (pronounced “chitlen”), but my dictionary gives “chitlen” as a secondary pronunciation. Holy hell! I’ve always thought “victuals” was pronounced /vIk’ shu @lz/; hell, I’ve seen “vittles” spelled that way enough that I just thought they were two separate words. Now I see my dictionary says “victuals” is pronounced like “vittles”. I hope I’ve never said the word aloud. ---
**Author:** ![artemisia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e495f1/32.png) [@artemisia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/artemisia)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2004, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-make-you-sound-stupid-if-you-pronounce-them-the-way-theyre-spelled/278933/102 "2004-12-13T05:01:59Z")
how about naive suave I pronounced both to rhyme with pave ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2004, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-make-you-sound-stupid-if-you-pronounce-them-the-way-theyre-spelled/278933/103 "2004-12-13T05:40:26Z")
> [@Superdude](#): > > It’s pronounced Salt Saint Marie. At least in southern Indiana. Not pronouced that way in Michigan. Sault is “soo”, as in the [Soo Locks.](http://www.exploringthenorth.com/soo/locks.html) ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2004, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-make-you-sound-stupid-if-you-pronounce-them-the-way-theyre-spelled/278933/104 "2004-12-13T08:14:24Z")
[It’s Soo](http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=sault). ---
**Author:** ![irishgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@irishgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irishgirl)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2004, 9:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-make-you-sound-stupid-if-you-pronounce-them-the-way-theyre-spelled/278933/105 "2004-12-13T09:05:15Z")
Naive (ny-EVE) Suave (SWAH-vuh) ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2004, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-make-you-sound-stupid-if-you-pronounce-them-the-way-theyre-spelled/278933/106 "2004-12-13T12:51:49Z")
OK, three pages and nobody’s mentioned… **Arkansas?** You people are slip’n… ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2004, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-make-you-sound-stupid-if-you-pronounce-them-the-way-theyre-spelled/278933/107 "2004-12-13T13:20:43Z")
The French words for “long chair” are “chaise longue.” But you’ll sound ridiculous if you use the correct French pronunciation, or call it anything but a “chayz launj.” ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2004, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-make-you-sound-stupid-if-you-pronounce-them-the-way-theyre-spelled/278933/108 "2004-12-13T14:00:24Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > The French words for “long chair” are “chaise longue.” > > But you’ll sound ridiculous if you use the correct French pronunciation, or call it anything but a “chayz launj.” Not round these parts you won’t. Folks that pronounce (or, even worse, spell) it as “chaise lounge” mark themselves out as the worst sort of rubes 😉 “Shez long”, approximately, in English. ---
**Author:** ![Terrorcotta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dbc845/32.png) [@Terrorcotta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrorcotta)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2004, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-make-you-sound-stupid-if-you-pronounce-them-the-way-theyre-spelled/278933/109 "2004-12-13T15:06:35Z")
Evil Captor still has trouble with ‘Armeggedon’ (from studying too many dinosaur books) and ‘Himalyas’. He believes it is ‘ar-MEG-a-don’ (like a dinosaur) and ‘him-MALL-yahs’. Then again, my mom has trouble with ‘Granada’. Well, it IS spelled like ‘Canada’, right? Me? I embarrassed myself over ‘Nietzsche’. (I had even read the stupid book!!) ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2004, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-make-you-sound-stupid-if-you-pronounce-them-the-way-theyre-spelled/278933/110 "2004-12-13T15:12:00Z")
> [@SHAKES](#): > > OK, three pages and nobody’s mentioned… > **Arkansas?** Nope- **Martha** and **Xema** each mentioned it three days ago. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Batsinma\_Belfry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@Batsinma\_Belfry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batsinma_Belfry)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2004, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-make-you-sound-stupid-if-you-pronounce-them-the-way-theyre-spelled/278933/111 "2004-12-13T15:14:04Z")
Cognac Indictment ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2004, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-make-you-sound-stupid-if-you-pronounce-them-the-way-theyre-spelled/278933/112 "2004-12-13T17:07:58Z")
> [@sidle](#): > > And how do you say that, **Chefguy**? > (Always wondered myself). “Sault Ste. Marie” (note that it’s “St **e**.”, not just “St.”) is pronounced (roughly) “Soo Saint Marie”, not “Salt Saint Marie.” ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2004, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-make-you-sound-stupid-if-you-pronounce-them-the-way-theyre-spelled/278933/113 "2004-12-13T17:16:42Z")
> [@Excalibre](#): > > Holy hell! I’ve always thought “victuals” was pronounced /vIk’ shu @lz/; hell, I’ve seen “vittles” spelled that way enough that I just thought they were two separate words. Now I see my dictionary says “victuals” is pronounced like “vittles”. > > I hope I’ve never said the word aloud. A few people have posted their embarrassment upon discovering “victuals” is properly pronounced as vittles. This little quirk in our language is explained in a History Channel one-hour documentary entitled, “The Adventure of English from 500AD to 2000.” Under Henry V, there was a national movement for the everyone in the country to speak English, and one dialect of English, at that . In a break of 350 years of tradition, Henry himself stopped using French in his written and spoken communications and resorted to English, instead. The country would have to follow his lead. But the problems were considerable. England had a mass of regional dialects, along with a host of words coming from the French, German, Latin, and probably others. So the task of standardization fell to the Chancellery (reduced to Chancery), kind of a civil service office, responsible not only for dissemination of royal documents, but also that these communiqués would be understood throughout the kingdom. So Chancery made thousands upon thousands of decisions on which words were to be used and how they’d be spelled. **“In a desire to make the roots of the language more evident,” the narrator tells us, “words that had entered from the French, for instance, were given a Latin look. The letter ‘b’ was inserted into “debt” and “doubt”; the letter “c” went into ‘victuals’ [pronounced “vittles” by the narrator].“Words that were thought to be of Greek origin sometimes had their spelling adjusted, so that throne and theatre acquired their “h.”** It goes on and on. If you like rummaging through the history of our language, you should catch this documentary. I recorded it on 12/10 of this year, and still have it on disk. I’m sure it’ll play again. ---
**Author:** ![Earthling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/90db22/32.png) [@Earthling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthling)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2004, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-make-you-sound-stupid-if-you-pronounce-them-the-way-theyre-spelled/278933/114 "2004-12-13T18:08:12Z")
depot (DEE-poh) catheter (CATH-eter) cache (cash) Proust (proost, not prowst) ---
**Author:** ![Earthling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/90db22/32.png) [@Earthling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthling)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2004, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-make-you-sound-stupid-if-you-pronounce-them-the-way-theyre-spelled/278933/115 "2004-12-13T18:25:38Z")
> [@Terrorcotta](#): > > ‘Himalyas’…‘him-MALL-yahs’. It may sound weird to those used to American English (him-a-LAY-ahs), but his pronunciation is actually pretty close to how the locals say it (him-MAH-lyas, as best as I can recall and approximate it). ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2004, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-make-you-sound-stupid-if-you-pronounce-them-the-way-theyre-spelled/278933/116 "2004-12-13T22:23:41Z")
[ul] [li]debacle – debba cul[/li][li]decoupage – DEE coo page[/li][li]czar – CEE zaruh[/li][li]lieu – lie ooh[/li][li]heirarchical – hair ARCH I cull[/li][/ul] and for proper names… [ul] [li]Rodeo (as in Drive) – rod E O[/li][li]Boise D’ Arc – boys duh ark[/li][/ul] I also had problems with corp, minutae and queue. Which all came out as, respectively; corp (like corpse minus the se), min U tay and qua ehhhh. Like Fonzie was saying it. Ugh! I’ve also bungled plenty of names and some others mentioned here. However, I’m too embarrassed to add them to the list. I need to find the thread where you always misspell words no matter how hard you try to remember otherwise. ::: hangs head in disgrace with, at least, stellar company ::: ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2004, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-make-you-sound-stupid-if-you-pronounce-them-the-way-theyre-spelled/278933/117 "2004-12-13T22:30:26Z")
And in keeping with the theme… [Check this out!](http://yourdictionary.com/library/mispron.html) ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2004, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-make-you-sound-stupid-if-you-pronounce-them-the-way-theyre-spelled/278933/118 "2004-12-13T22:32:59Z")
> [@faithfool](#): > > And in keeping with the theme… > > [Check this out!](http://yourdictionary.com/library/mispron.html) Wow. I cross myself off the “reasonably erudite” - I’ve been mispronouncing _and_ misspelling barbiturate my entire life. Had absolutely no clue it wasn’t barbituate. ---
**Author:** ![mincus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bc79bd/32.png) [@mincus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mincus)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2004, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-make-you-sound-stupid-if-you-pronounce-them-the-way-theyre-spelled/278933/119 "2004-12-20T15:14:28Z")
superlative senior year of high school asking about the “Super Laytives” in front of the whole class… great times. ---
**Author:** ![Algul\_Siento](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f17d59/32.png) [@Algul\_Siento](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algul_Siento)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2004, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-make-you-sound-stupid-if-you-pronounce-them-the-way-theyre-spelled/278933/120 "2004-12-20T18:57:05Z")
I used to have some trouble spelling out the word psychic. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-make-you-sound-stupid-if-you-pronounce-them-the-way-theyre-spelled/278933.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-make-you-sound-stupid-if-you-pronounce-them-the-way-theyre-spelled/278933.md?page=7)