# 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:** 14\ **Page:** 17
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2019, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-we-pronounce-wrong-but-nobody-cares/831807/321 "2019-05-01T19:04:47Z")
But there is a use for fillet (pronounce fill-it), meaning a radius on a corner, which I use in my mechanical design work. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2019, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-we-pronounce-wrong-but-nobody-cares/831807/322 "2019-05-02T14:48:39Z")
Incendiary. Even firefighters mispronounce it. I’ve heard it on the news as ‘incenerary’ and ‘incenery’. Drive me nuts, it does. And yeah, ‘plantains’, as mentioned before. I was watching some cooking show the other night, and every professional chef on there was saying ‘plan-tanes’. I even had an argument with my wife over it. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2019, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-we-pronounce-wrong-but-nobody-cares/831807/323 "2019-05-02T14:54:40Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > “Oh” is fine. What really got me confused as a kid was the Chicago city vehicle stickers used to have the words written out beneath the sticker number, and “0” was always written out as “cipher.” That’s the only context I’ve ever seen zero written out as such, though the dictionary does say that is a definition of the word “cipher.” This would have been in the 80s, possibly as late as the early 90s. Oh can be a problem, specially when you’re talking about computer codes. No, O4 and 04 are not the same thing. There are many other contexts where it’s not a problem, but it always surprises me when I run into someone who uses oh for zero while working in an industry where the difference is so important that people came up with writing zeroes as ø in longhand to avoid confusion. > [@DPRK](#): > > Chirurgeon. Is it “ch” as in “loch”? “church”? “character”? A funny spelling of “surgeon”? Or does nobody care… Chirurgeon should be with a k sound, but I’ve heard character pronounced both with a k and as in church… _hands chocolate to DPRK_ ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2019, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-we-pronounce-wrong-but-nobody-cares/831807/324 "2019-05-02T14:55:10Z")
I frequently hear Americans pronounce _coup de grâce_ without the final S sound. Presumably they’re showing off their French knowledge that final S’s aren’t pronounced. :smack: ---
**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:** [May 2, 2019, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-we-pronounce-wrong-but-nobody-cares/831807/325 "2019-05-02T15:06:30Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Incendiary. Even firefighters mispronounce it. I’ve heard it on the news as ‘incenerary’ and ‘incenery’. Drive me nuts, it does. > > And yeah, ‘plantains’, as mentioned before. I was watching some cooking show the other night, and every professional chef on there was saying ‘plan-tanes’. I even had an argument with my wife over it. Plantains? There’s some pronunciation other than “plan-tain” /plæn teɪn/? I’ve never heard it pronounced any other way, by professional chefs or anyone else. There was even a “Seinfeld” episode in which everyone pronounced it that way. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2019, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-we-pronounce-wrong-but-nobody-cares/831807/326 "2019-05-02T15:47:21Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Plantains? There’s some pronunciation other than “plan-tain” /plæn teɪn/? I’ve never heard it pronounced any other way, by professional chefs or anyone else. There was even a “Seinfeld” episode in which everyone pronounced it that way. Much to my surprise, [there are two plants called “plantain”](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/plantain). One is an herb and seems to be properly pronounced\*\* /ˈplæn-tᵊn/, with no alternate pronunciation given. The more familiar starchy, banana-like fruit can be permissably pronounced /ˈplæn-tᵊn/, but Merriam-Webster marks that as a third alternate pronunciation for the fruit behind /plæn- **ˈteɪ:n** / and / **ˈplæ:n** -ˌteɪn/ (stressed syllable bolded). To my own experience, largely in the Southern U.S., I have never heard /ˈplan-tᵊn/ in the wild. In my own dialect, it’s pronounced as /pleən- **ˈteɪ:n** /. \*\*\* In this post, I have ‘translated’ [M-W.com](http://M-W.com)’s pronunciation descriptions into IPA.\* ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2019, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-we-pronounce-wrong-but-nobody-cares/831807/327 "2019-05-02T16:11:12Z")
Veterinarian has lamentably become vet’narian, even by people who should know better. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2019, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-we-pronounce-wrong-but-nobody-cares/831807/328 "2019-05-02T16:29:40Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Plantains? There’s some pronunciation other than “plan-tain” /plæn teɪn/? I’ve never heard it pronounced any other way, by professional chefs or anyone else. There was even a “Seinfeld” episode in which everyone pronounced it that way. Apparently there’s a variant pronunciation where one drops the “e”: plæntɪn. I wonder if there is a visual map where one can look up how people say a certain word and which variant with what frequency. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2019, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-we-pronounce-wrong-but-nobody-cares/831807/329 "2019-05-02T16:50:30Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Plantains? There’s some pronunciation other than “plan-tain” /plæn teɪn/? I’ve never heard it pronounced any other way, by professional chefs or anyone else. There was even a “Seinfeld” episode in which everyone pronounced it that way. Look in the dictionary. You may be surprised. (I say it as “plan-tane” though. Most dictionaries I’ve looked at don’t even acknowledge that variant, which I find bizarre, as it’s the only way I’ve heard it, too, and dictionaries are supposed to be descriptive.) ---
**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:** [May 2, 2019, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-we-pronounce-wrong-but-nobody-cares/831807/330 "2019-05-02T17:44:49Z")
To you, there is a difference between “plan-tain” and “plan-tane”? ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2019, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-we-pronounce-wrong-but-nobody-cares/831807/331 "2019-05-02T18:32:20Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Look in the dictionary. You may be surprised. (I say it as “plan-tane” though. Most dictionaries I’ve looked at don’t even acknowledge that variant, which I find bizarre, as it’s the only way I’ve heard it, too, and dictionaries are supposed to be descriptive.) I gave the Merriam-Webster link for “plaintain” a few posts up. They have your pronunciation as one of the two most popular (in the U.S. only? English-speaking world? Not sure), with “plant’n” bringing up the rear. [Dictionary.com, however, gives only “plant’n”](https://www.dictionary.com/browse/plantain) for the starchy fruit. No mention of “plan-tane” at all. Generously … I’ll call that less than authoritative. Others: [Cambridge English Dictionary](https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/plantain) gives only “plan-tin” (IPA: /ˈplæn.tɪn/) for both U.K. and U.S. usage. No mention of “plan-tane”. [OxfordDictionaries.com](https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/plantain) gives both “plan-tin” and “plan-tane”, with the former as the majority pronunciation. Does not distinguish between U.K. and U.S. usage. Unclear as to whether this site is affiliated with the Oxford English Dictionary. [Collins](https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/plantain) gives “plan-tin” as the SOLE U.S. English pronunciation while giving both “plan-tin” and “plan-tane” (in that order) as variant U.K. pronunciations. [Macmillan](https://www.macmillandictionary.com/us/dictionary/american/plantain) gives ONLY “plan-tin” with no distinction for U.K./U.S. Exactly as Cambridge above. [Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English](https://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/plantain) gives ONLY “plan-tin” with no distinction for U.K./U.S. Exactly as Cambridge and Macmillan above. [American Heritage](https://ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=plantain) gives ONLY “plant’n” (IPA /ˈplæn-tᵊn/) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooking_banana) gives “/plæntɪn/, US: /plænˈteɪn/, UK: /ˈplɑːntɪn/”, citing Merriam-Webster and Longman. [Wiktionary](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/plantain) gives: " (UK) IPA: /ˈplant(e)ɪn/ (US) IPA: /ˈplæntɪn/, IPA(key): /ˈplæn.teɪn/" It’s interesting to me that as major of a source as Merriam-Webster would be something of an outlier. From the reading I have done … this looks like a word in flux that’s trending strongly toward “plan-tane” in Americans under ~40 years old. I don’t think I ever heard the word said out loud until maybe 20 years ago. People might have just adopted their own nonce pronunciation as plantains became more widespread in the U.S. (I know it has a long history in Florida, Puerto Rico, and other parts of the Carribean). … And finally … some articles and a poll: [Let’s Settle This Once And For All: How Do You Pronounce “Plantain”?](https://www.buzzfeed.com/genamourbarrett/team-tin-forever-and-ever) Poll results showed 84% of respondents (~75,600 votes) voted for “plan-tane”. [Dear South Florida, How Do You Pronounce Plantain?](https://www.wlrn.org/post/dear-south-florida-how-do-you-pronounce-plantain) Interesting, but just concludes that both major pronunciations are fine. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2019, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-we-pronounce-wrong-but-nobody-cares/831807/332 "2019-05-02T18:42:08Z")
John Wells, one of the contributors to Longman’s, wrote [a 2010 blog piece about pronouncing “plantain”](http://phonetic-blog.blogspot.com/2010/09/plantains.html). The comments at the bottom are interesting. I find they support my theory that Americans who have learned the word ‘by eye’ in recent decades go with “plan-tane”. I mean ‘by eye’ to mean ‘exposure almost exclusive through writing’ – many commenters noted that “plantain” was infrequently used in their conversations. ---
**Author:** ![Karmal64](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9dc877/32.png) [@Karmal64](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Karmal64)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2023, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-we-pronounce-wrong-but-nobody-cares/831807/333 "2023-08-29T13:57:33Z")
As for speaking American versus English, the newly independent Americans, after they threw off the shackles of British tyranny were proud of their “new” American language, wearing it, as yet, another badge of independence. In 1789, Noah Webster wrote in his Dissertations on the English Language: “The reasons for American English being different than English are simple: As an independent nation, our honor requires us to have a system of our own, in language as well as government.” Our leaders, including [Thomas Jefferson](https://www.legendsofamerica.com/ah-thomasjefferson/) and Benjamin Rush, agreed — it was not only good politics, but it was also sensible. So, if you are from the regions of the USA, Canada, and (gasp!) even parts of the UK (current or former) where many grew up pronouncing Celtic with an S, then please keep saying the way you always have. Just be authentically who, what, and where you’re from. There are far more important things to concern ourselves with in this life than being the big buckaroo of the grammar rodeo. And God bless you–even if you use the K sound. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2023, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-we-pronounce-wrong-but-nobody-cares/831807/334 "2023-08-31T08:53:04Z")
There appear to be quite a number of pronunciation variants for turmeric: tur-muh-ric (no emphasis on any syllable - common in the UK) TOO-muh-ric (emphasis on first syllable seems to be common in the USA, but can’t say for sure, from here) Also: TYOU-muh-ric too-MER-ic (emphasis on second syllable) tuh-MER-ic Of course, everyone thinks their version is correct and to add to the confusion, some people spell it ‘tumeric’ [![](https://i.etsystatic.com/20705170/r/il/61e344/5131231797/il_1588xN.5131231797_ocve.jpg) ](https://i.etsystatic.com/20705170/r/il/61e344/5131231797/il_1588xN.5131231797_ocve.jpg) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-we-pronounce-wrong-but-nobody-cares/831807.md?page=16)