# Words that you CANNOT pronounce **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 17, 2001, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-you-cannot-pronounce/76793 "2001-08-17T19:28:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![brachyrhynchos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brachyrhynchos/32/376_2.png) [@brachyrhynchos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brachyrhynchos)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2001, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-you-cannot-pronounce/76793/61 "2001-08-20T01:53:25Z")
Crepuscular (or is it crespucular?). That sort of dusk-dawn time when mosquitoes are active. My mother can’t say Ibuprofen. It comes out “Ibebarfin.” ---
**Author:** ![ndorward](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c2a13f/32.png) [@ndorward](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ndorward)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2001, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-you-cannot-pronounce/76793/62 "2001-08-20T02:23:20Z")
Syntagm. Not that I want to use it in polite conversation. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2001, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-you-cannot-pronounce/76793/63 "2001-08-20T02:26:32Z")
I’m really confused as to why “rural” is so hard for people to pronounce… ??? I’d have never guessed that it posed a problem to anyone. My cousin does “Ax” for “ask” and it makes my skin crawl. ---
**Author:** ![burundi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3ec8ea/32.png) [@burundi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burundi)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2001, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-you-cannot-pronounce/76793/64 "2001-08-20T02:39:43Z")
Even though I know the difference, I always confuse “bought” and “brought.” I say things like “I brought this shirt at Lerners,” or “He bought the cake to the party.” Argh! Plus, I have a real hard time saying “wings.” It always comes out “wangs.” ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2001, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-you-cannot-pronounce/76793/65 "2001-08-20T03:16:32Z")
I was so ashamed about my speech impediment. I am so glad to see there are others with my particular problem: I cannot say either **Worcestershire** or **Massachusettes** (sorry if I spelled it wrong, but you should hear me try to say it.) I just can’t. One other, when I was younger I was only able to say “specific” when I slowed down and thought “Just like pacific”. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![a35362](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@a35362](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a35362)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2001, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-you-cannot-pronounce/76793/66 "2001-08-20T03:33:22Z")
Oh, I have to be careful with “self-sufficient.” Selfish FISH? My brother used to mispronounce “abominable,” as in the Abominable Snowman in the [Rudolph special](http://www.rankinbass.com). I told him to say, “A bomb in a bull,” and then he got it. Roger Ebert cannot say “humor.” He says “YOU-mer.” Argh! That’s SO downstate Illinois! If we can teach Gene Hackman and Dick Van Dyke to pronounce it correctly, why can’t Roger get it right? ---
**Author:** ![Bboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7ea924/32.png) [@Bboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bboy)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2001, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-you-cannot-pronounce/76793/67 "2001-08-20T03:48:29Z")
This may sound moronic, but I have the most trouble with my own name. You see, my parents inadvertantly played a rotten trick on me by naming me Jeff…Not so bad you say? My last name starts with a V. The V sound is easy enough to pronounce, but the mechanics of clearly producing the F sound with the V immediately following, are a bit of work. On a sidenote, Did anyone else see Regis Philbin tonight on _W.W.T.B.A.M._ say: Ant **art** ica? Somebody shoot me!..no wait, Shoot Regis! ---
**Author:** ![Bboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7ea924/32.png) [@Bboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bboy)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2001, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-you-cannot-pronounce/76793/68 "2001-08-20T04:12:22Z")
OK…I posted too soon. I simply avoid this one. I don’t think there **is** a correct way to say it. **Comfortable**. The **R** _obviously_ comes before the **T** , but that trivial fact dissuades none from saying **Kumf-ter-b’l**. Admittedly, I have a dictionary right here, that lists this as an acceptable pronunciation… **UGH!** ---
**Author:** ![toshirodragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e68b1a/32.png) [@toshirodragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toshirodragon)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2001, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-you-cannot-pronounce/76793/69 "2001-08-20T04:43:53Z")
Yerrrrrkkk! I CANNOT say ornithischian, as in bird hipped dinosaurs. And of course my 5 year old LOVES dinosaurs and we read books about them every night! Also I cannot get lunch rush right without thinking first… it always comes out lush runch And I always said cren until someone pointed out when I got to high school that it is crayon ---
**Author:** ![muffinman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e8c25b/32.png) [@muffinman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muffinman)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2001, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-you-cannot-pronounce/76793/70 "2001-08-20T06:38:43Z")
My trouble: Monticello and Armadillo… I don’t hear it, but my girlfriend says I say “Monticeller” and “Armadiller”. Pen and Pin? What’s the difference. I always assumed these were pronouced the same… homonymns, aren’t they? What really urks me are “Skreet” and “Aks”… you know, “Aks someone from the skreet.” Makes my blood boil. Rural… No problem… think of it as being spelled “Roo-Rul” Fire: How can you say “I-yer” without two syllables? Its a dipthong… saying it as one sylable would either give you Far or Fir… maybe your’re supposd to say it realy fast like Beavis “FIRE FIRE! HEH HEH” I HATE the word “Multiplication”… always endup with Multiplitacation. Also, people from south florida hate hearing folks from up here in north florida say the name of the state. They say “FLOOR-eh-dah” We says “FLAR-duh”. Screw em, we’re the real “Flur-ID-yans” ---
**Author:** ![saraphin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dbc845/32.png) [@saraphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saraphin)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2001, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-you-cannot-pronounce/76793/71 "2001-08-20T07:29:48Z")
Cthulhu ---
**Author:** ![Scupper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Scupper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scupper)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2001, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-you-cannot-pronounce/76793/72 "2001-08-20T16:53:09Z")
oeuvre - Can’t say it without turning into a nasty French waiter and craning my head forward while it dribbles out as “oooovverregghh.” Antarctica - I have the same problem as Regis (An-ART-i-cah), unless I concentrate. Arctic, for that matter, comes out “Artic.” Strangely, I can say Worcestershire. At least I think so. As a child, I pronounced these wrong: pseudo = “suede-o” chaos = “chay-oss” chute = “chu-tee” ---
**Author:** ![Pucette](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/278dde/32.png) [@Pucette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pucette)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2001, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-you-cannot-pronounce/76793/73 "2001-08-20T17:12:32Z")
Somewhat along the same lines as ‘rural’… I can’t pronounce the word ‘girlfriend’ properly. I mean I do, but it always feels really wrong when I say it. There are more, but I can’t think of them right now. ‘Sixths’ is actually a lot of fun to say 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Bboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7ea924/32.png) [@Bboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bboy)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2001, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-you-cannot-pronounce/76793/74 "2001-08-20T18:49:08Z")
Forgot a couple… **Mirror** and **Horror** I don’t botch them, but it requires conscious effort nonetheless. About everybody I know says Meeor, and Hor-rr. ---
**Author:** ![Chance\_the\_Gardener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@Chance\_the\_Gardener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chance_the_Gardener)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2001, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-you-cannot-pronounce/76793/75 "2001-08-20T19:28:05Z")
Add me to those who find **rural** problematic. Add **mirror** to that. Oddly enough, I have no problem with **horror** and **terror** , which would seem to follow. **Starnbergersee** drives me bats. Luckily, I usually don’t need to use that one more than once a year. I have no problem with **Yoknapatawpha** , though. **muffinman** — **pin** and **pen** are pronounced differently in most places where English is spoken. However, it’s exactly the same in the American South. A fellow teacher at the English-as-a-second-language school where I teach is from north Florida, originally, and will lapse into his native accent when he’s mad. He’s written academic papers about his dialect, and the non-standard words y’all have, like **fis’n’a** , which is **fixing to** according to the Northern pronunciation, though we Northerners don’t have this idiom, ourselves. My native western Pennsylvania has an accent of its own, which is y’uns can see is poked fun at [here](http://www.pittsburghese.com). ---
**Author:** ![Politzania](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3ab097/32.png) [@Politzania](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Politzania)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2001, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-you-cannot-pronounce/76793/76 "2001-08-20T19:45:53Z")
My husband makes fun of the way I pronounce asphalt. I put an H in it = ash-falt. Blame it on my mother. The other way sounds too much like a butt-crack. (She also says cahparation - for corporation - that one I managed to avoid!) So whenever he asks what that black stuff is on the road, I say … “macadam.” ---
**Author:** ![ENugent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/4af34b/32.png) [@ENugent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ENugent)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2001, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-you-cannot-pronounce/76793/77 "2001-08-20T19:54:39Z")
rhythmically ---
**Author:** ![HerMajestyLorna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/7cd45c/32.png) [@HerMajestyLorna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HerMajestyLorna)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2001, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-you-cannot-pronounce/76793/78 "2001-08-20T20:14:56Z")
for me… comfortable= com-FORT-uh-buhl vegetable= veg-ET-uh-buhl hard to say: the sixth thing my dad has a problem with “eh” he says “tray-sure” (teasure), “may-sure” (measure), “bayg” (beg), and “ayg” (egg). It’s weird…he’s from California. My aunt from there too speaks the same way. ---
**Author:** ![Jake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2001, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-you-cannot-pronounce/76793/79 "2001-08-20T20:51:51Z")
I always have trouble with “particularly”. I want to put an “ul” in there somewhere. Maybe I’m to particular. ---
**Author:** ![Abe\_Babe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3ab097/32.png) [@Abe\_Babe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abe_Babe)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2001, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-you-cannot-pronounce/76793/80 "2001-08-20T21:05:46Z")
isthmus - it’s brutal. My tongue is still in a sling. [slight hijack] In 7th grade, the first day of a new unit in History, we had an asian substitute teacher. He proceeded to tell us that today we were going to study the “arps” silence. “The arps. You know.” more silence. “When Hannibar crossed the arps with his erephants.” much laughter. [end slight hijack] [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-you-cannot-pronounce/76793.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-you-cannot-pronounce/76793.md?page=5)