# Words We Pronounce Wrong But Nobody Cares **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 31, 2019, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-we-pronounce-wrong-but-nobody-cares/831807 "2019-03-31T14:08:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2019, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-we-pronounce-wrong-but-nobody-cares/831807/201 "2019-04-03T16:48:28Z")
> [@PitJ](#): > > I wonder why nobody came up with “Coupé”. Apparently (I’m not a native speaker) Brits and Americans feel correct in persistently pronouncing it like “koop” … > [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > Americans tend to, british do not. We pronounce it “coo-pay” True, but don’t assume that we’re are entirely without blame. After all, we pronounce Café as “Caff”. Like this: OK, not all of us do. But plenty enough. j ---
**Author:** ![Old\_Blue\_Eyes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e480ec/32.png) [@Old\_Blue\_Eyes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Old_Blue_Eyes)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2019, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-we-pronounce-wrong-but-nobody-cares/831807/202 "2019-04-03T17:02:59Z")
How about Wednesday (WeNDSday) and February (silent R?) FebUary ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2019, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-we-pronounce-wrong-but-nobody-cares/831807/203 "2019-04-03T17:59:43Z")
There is no ‘d’ in there: it is “Wenzday”. ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2019, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-we-pronounce-wrong-but-nobody-cares/831807/204 "2019-04-03T18:19:27Z")
And Damn, I forgot. Any England football fan will tell you that the national stadium is Wemberly. Sorry, that should be _Engerland_. j ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2019, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-we-pronounce-wrong-but-nobody-cares/831807/205 "2019-04-03T18:19:40Z")
The variation between ask and aks\* not only goes back to Old English, it goes back to Proto-Germanic, clear back to Proto-Indo-European. A little historical context helps to keep from getting steamed up over dialectal variants, to know that it isn’t a recent corruption. A similar metathesis has always occurred with wasp (originally waps). \*Everybody gets that the letter \ stands for two sounds, not one, right? ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2019, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-we-pronounce-wrong-but-nobody-cares/831807/206 "2019-04-03T18:46:52Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > What’s messy about it? Or do you just speak from ignorance? It’s only incomprehensible to those who refuse to take the brief time it takes to learn it. Yep, that’s me and most other people. Esperanto is a puzzle to me, too. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2019, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-we-pronounce-wrong-but-nobody-cares/831807/207 "2019-04-03T19:40:27Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > Chaucer uses “aks” in the _Canterbury Tales_, IIRC. Sure, but how did he pronounce it? ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2019, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-we-pronounce-wrong-but-nobody-cares/831807/208 "2019-04-03T20:36:40Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > Yep, that’s me and most other people. Esperanto is a puzzle to me, too. Again, not remotely comparable. Esperanto is a completely different language. IPA is a small set of supplemental symbols for concepts you mostly understand. It’s like learning a few more street signs. Or the new icons they release each year for text messages. ---
**Author:** ![Wallaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/dc4da7/32.png) [@Wallaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallaby)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2019, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-we-pronounce-wrong-but-nobody-cares/831807/209 "2019-04-03T20:42:21Z")
"_I won’t ask my wife where the “too-meric” or the “tuR-meric” is, I’ll go root around the spice cabinet on my own._ \*\*Or you could go all swankily back-to-the-Indian-roots, and call the stuff “haldi” – its name in the places most associated with it \*\*" Oh! I’m stealing that one! (_Rushes off to brunch at the trendy cafe-wank-a-teria_). ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2019, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-we-pronounce-wrong-but-nobody-cares/831807/210 "2019-04-03T20:45:06Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > Sure, but how did he pronounce it? Chaucer spelled things the way he pronounced them. ---
**Author:** ![Chicken\_Fingers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Chicken\_Fingers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chicken_Fingers)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2019, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-we-pronounce-wrong-but-nobody-cares/831807/211 "2019-04-04T00:37:35Z")
When I say “Pin-ter-est” (as I still say the verb “in-ter-est”) I’m roundly mocked by younger people. Apparently we’ve lost the middle syllable over the years. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2019, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-we-pronounce-wrong-but-nobody-cares/831807/212 "2019-04-04T00:49:41Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Again, not remotely comparable. Esperanto is a completely different language. IPA is a small set of supplemental symbols for concepts you mostly understand. It’s like learning a few more street signs. Or the new icons they release each year for text messages. I text every day and only occasionally use emojis. I drive every day and never see new street signs I haven’t encountered before. I’d use IPA like, twice a year and there’s at least two more convienent alternatives (spelling things out as others have done, or listening to audio clips on dictionary websites). I’m not saying nobody should learn IPA. I’m saying most people don’t really have any reason to ever think about it. I’d probably have more use out of learning how to tie a bowline properly but I haven’t bothered to do that either. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2019, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-we-pronounce-wrong-but-nobody-cares/831807/213 "2019-04-04T01:52:10Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > I text every day and only occasionally use emojis. I drive every day and never see new street signs I haven’t encountered before. I’d use IPA like, twice a year and there’s at least two more convienent alternatives (spelling things out as others have done, or listening to audio clips on dictionary websites). > > I’m not saying nobody should learn IPA. I’m saying most people don’t really have any reason to ever think about it. I’d probably have more use out of learning how to tie a bowline properly but I haven’t bothered to do that either. You’re responding to a statement about how difficult it is to learn IPA with statements that have nothing to do with the difficulty of learning IPA. And what you did say is strawmanning. I have not said that everyone in these threads MUST learn IPA. I have said that (1) it takes very little effort and time to learn IPA sufficient to use it for discussing English pronunciation, (2) anyone who did learn IPA would find it useful in these kinds of discussions, (3) that the costs of an absolute layperson learning IPA are negligible compared to even the potential benefits (meaning that even in the eventuality that you benefit very little, you have lost very little) (4) and that FTG’s claims that IPA is “a mess” and useless to anyone who isn’t an expert in linguistics are nonsensical and ignorant. Given that, I’m not going to argue with your own personal cost-benefit analysis for your own life on the matter—it doesn’t affect any part of my argument. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2019, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-we-pronounce-wrong-but-nobody-cares/831807/214 "2019-04-04T05:28:55Z")
> [@Chicken\_Fingers](#): > > When I say “Pin-ter-est” (as I still say the verb “in-ter-est”) I’m roundly mocked by younger people. Apparently we’ve lost the middle syllable over the years. This is a common BrE-AmE distinction - words in which a two-syllable pronunciation predominates in BrE and a three-syllable pronunciation predominates in AmE. Examples include medicine, regiment (the noun) and interest (both the noun and the verb). The missing syllable reappears in the adjectival form - medical, regimental. In BrE the two-syllable ponunciation is, or used to be, regarded as a class marker - the more socially privileged your background, the more likely you were to use the two-syllable pronunciation. However in more recent times the three-syllable pronunciation has become more common - possibly in reaction against speech perceived to be “posh” or affected, and in favour of demotic speech. Chicken Fingers’ post suggests that the opposite trend may be occurring in AmE. ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2019, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-we-pronounce-wrong-but-nobody-cares/831807/215 "2019-04-04T10:07:01Z")
> [@UDS](#): > > This is a common BrE-AmE distinction - words in which a two-syllable pronunciation predominates in BrE and a three-syllable pronunciation predominates in AmE. **Examples include medicine, regiment (the noun) and interest (both the noun and the verb).** The missing syllable reappears in the adjectival form - medical, regimental. > > In BrE the two-syllable ponunciation is, or used to be, regarded as a class marker - the more socially privileged your background, the more likely you were to use the two-syllable pronunciation. However in more recent times the three-syllable pronunciation has become more common - possibly in reaction against speech perceived to be “posh” or affected, and in favour of demotic speech. Chicken Fingers’ post suggests that the opposite trend may be occurring in AmE. (My bolding above). Of those three: to best of my memory, I have never heard anybody in Britain say “regiment” in two syllables (“redge-ment”) – the other two, yes. Can imagine the two-syllable “regiment”, I suppose, in the mouths of upper-crust military officers; as per your second paragraph. (Much-loved slightly rude joke: She was only the colonel’s daughter, but she knew what Reggie meant.) ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2019, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-we-pronounce-wrong-but-nobody-cares/831807/216 "2019-04-04T10:08:28Z")
> [@Treppenwitz](#): > > True, but don’t assume that we’re are entirely without blame. After all, we pronounce Café as “Caff” I don’t think so, we may shorten the word “Cafe” to “caf” (I know I do). Just like we shorten “university” to “uni” I don’t think it is an alternative pronunciation though. I can’t see any logic to that. ---
**Author:** ![PitJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e9bcb4/32.png) [@PitJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PitJ)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2019, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-we-pronounce-wrong-but-nobody-cares/831807/217 "2019-04-04T11:35:10Z")
> [@Treppenwitz](#): > > True, but don’t assume that we’re are entirely without blame. After all, we pronounce Café as “Caff”. Like this: > > OK, not all of us do. But plenty enough. > > j Being German as (apparently, seeing your username) you are as well, I am familiar with Tass’ Kaff’ since the Werner comics but I haven’t heard that outside a reference to the comics, like Life of Brian quotes. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2019, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-we-pronounce-wrong-but-nobody-cares/831807/218 "2019-04-04T13:09:01Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Chaucer spelled things the way he pronounced them. Great! How did he pronounce “yronne”? ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2019, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-we-pronounce-wrong-but-nobody-cares/831807/219 "2019-04-04T13:38:06Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > Great! How did he pronounce “yronne”? Hints on Pronouncing Middle English - [This page has moved to http://faculty.smu.edu/bwheller/IJAS/](http://faculty.smu.edu/bwheeler/chaucer/pronounciation.html) I’m not a Middle English or Chaucer expert, but reading guides like this, I would say three syllables, with a geminated [n], so my first guess would be [ɪ rɔn nə] Like “ih-RON-nuh” with [ɪ] as in “bit,” [ɔ] as in “caught” in dialects without the cot-caught merger ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2019, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-we-pronounce-wrong-but-nobody-cares/831807/220 "2019-04-04T13:48:32Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Hints on Pronouncing Middle English - [This page has moved to http://faculty.smu.edu/bwheller/IJAS/](http://faculty.smu.edu/bwheeler/chaucer/pronounciation.html) > I’m not a Middle English or Chaucer expert, but reading guides like this, I would say three syllables, with a geminated [n], so my first guess would be > > [ɪ rɔn nə] > > Like “ih-RON-nuh” with [ɪ] as in “bit,” [ɔ] as in “caught” in dialects without the cot-caught merger Great, thanks! Although I think he pronounced it “why-ronnie” 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-we-pronounce-wrong-but-nobody-cares/831807.md?page=10) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-we-pronounce-wrong-but-nobody-cares/831807.md?page=12)