# 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:** 7\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Sasquatch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e79b87/32.png) [@Sasquatch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sasquatch)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2001, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-you-cannot-pronounce/76793/81 "2001-08-21T04:43:35Z")
Somewhat in the spirit of [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=82389), what are words that you always misspell? I’m sure I’ll think of more later, but for now:[ul][li] **definitely** (even though I know that it has the word “finite” in it)[/li][li] **calendar** (I keep wanting to type “calander”, and they both always look wrong to me)[/ul][/li]Any others? ---
**Author:** ![Sasquatch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e79b87/32.png) [@Sasquatch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sasquatch)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2001, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-you-cannot-pronounce/76793/82 "2001-08-21T04:45:30Z")
Cripes, I meant for that to be a new thread. Sorrrrry! ---
**Author:** ![Ferggie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e99b99/32.png) [@Ferggie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferggie)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2001, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-you-cannot-pronounce/76793/83 "2001-08-21T10:29:59Z")
The name Rory drives me nuts. I cannot say “drawer” or “shower,” and it’s all my Mom’s fault. Like her, I say “drerr” and “sherr.” Also, when I get fouled in basketball I shoot “three froes.” I managed to drop my Texas accent pretty well while in Oregon last week, but I still managed to say “diff’ernt.” Oh well, the guys thought it was cute. “Edited it” comes up quite often on the copydesk, and I can’t say it either. ---
**Author:** ![Evnglion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f04885/32.png) [@Evnglion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evnglion)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2001, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-you-cannot-pronounce/76793/84 "2001-08-21T11:38:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DooWahDiddy \* > \*\*You know what word sucks? Rural. I can’t pronounce that for the life of me. \*\* Definetly! I _always_ have to slow down to say this word, it drives me nuts. There was another word I was having trouble with yesterday, but it has slipped my mind. Oh well… ---
**Author:** ![Q.N.Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/3da27b/32.png) [@Q.N.Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.N.Jones)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2001, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-you-cannot-pronounce/76793/85 "2001-08-21T14:46:06Z")
Vehement. vuh-HEE-ment? VEE-uh-ment? I’m clueless. The worst part is…I use this word a lot. Also…is it as-PART-uh-mee? Or AS-par-tayme? My father cannot pronounce serotonin. He says it sayr-ROT-un-in. He is always lecturing us about neurobiology as if he were an expert, and he STILL doesn’t know why my sister and I giggle every time he says this word. We don’t correct him because it’s our revenge for having to listen to him. (What little he knows about serotonin, he learned from reading the little pamphlet that came with his Prozac. My sister is in medical school and I studied neuropsychology and psychopharmacology as an undergraduate. He refuses to admit that we might know more than him on any subject, though.) ---
**Author:** ![nerv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/85e7bf/32.png) [@nerv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nerv)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2001, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-you-cannot-pronounce/76793/86 "2001-08-21T15:57:20Z")
If you think this is difficult for an English speaker, you should hear what happens to it in Japan. While I was in the process of learning katakana (a part of the Japanese writing system that is used , amongst other things, to transliterate foreign loan words) I came across an item on a menu in a restaurant in Japan that puzzled me. It was pronounced OHDOHBURU. Mind you, I bet the French are equally horrified by the way we English speaker pronounce the majority of French loan words in English. ---
**Author:** ![muffinman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e8c25b/32.png) [@muffinman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muffinman)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2001, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-you-cannot-pronounce/76793/87 "2001-08-21T18:14:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by nerv \* > \*\*I came across an item on a menu in a restaurant in Japan that puzzled me. It was pronounced OHDOHBURU. > \*\* Call me a moron, but i do not get this? What is the reference? If it’s overly obvious, drop by the cartalk ([cartalk.cars.com](http://cartalk.cars.com)) website and send me a digital dope-slap. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-you-cannot-pronounce/76793.md?page=4)