# Words you just can't say correctly
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-cant-say-correctly/396889
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [March 21, 2007, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-cant-say-correctly/396889 "2007-03-21T17:27:37Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Mouse\_Maven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mouse_Maven)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2007, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-cant-say-correctly/396889/1 "2007-03-21T17:27:37Z")
Here’s my list:
Any derivation of _specific_
_Impetus_
I say _physical_ when I mean _fiscal_.
How about you guys?
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### Author:  [@Bobotheoptimist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bobotheoptimist)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2007, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-cant-say-correctly/396889/2 "2007-03-21T17:37:58Z")
“Apotheosis”, I stumble over that one every time. I also refuse to pronounce “gibbering” correctly, but only because I think it’s funnier the other way.
50/50 on “nuclear”
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### Author:  [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2007, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-cant-say-correctly/396889/3 "2007-03-21T17:41:50Z")
Statistics. It’s a pity, because it’s a very useful word. (And I even once worked for a few months at a government bureau of statistics).
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### Author:  [@dinahmoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dinahmoe)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2007, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-cant-say-correctly/396889/4 "2007-03-21T17:44:14Z")
Rural and furor. All of those Rs make my mouth squinch up. My not-from-Boston friends enjoy watching me try to say these words.
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### Author:  [@Marathon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marathon)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2007, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-cant-say-correctly/396889/5 "2007-03-21T17:47:54Z")
February. It sounds like I’m drunk every time I try to say it correctly, so I gave up and just started pronouncing it “feb-yoo-wary”.
Also, “Propranolol”.
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### Author:  [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2007, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-cant-say-correctly/396889/6 "2007-03-21T17:51:04Z")
[QUOTE=Marathon]
Also, “Propranolol”.
[/QUOTE]
Which is why god gave us Inderal. 😉
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### Author:  [@gonzoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzoron)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2007, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-cant-say-correctly/396889/7 "2007-03-21T17:55:44Z")
“Synthesis”
Which is unfortunate, since I need it on a regular basis at work.
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### Author:  [@enigm4tic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enigm4tic)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2007, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-cant-say-correctly/396889/8 "2007-03-21T17:56:05Z")
I used to pronounce fragrant “frag rant” with a short “a”
I also used to pronounce (and spell) strategy “stragedy”, which, oddly enough, would be a great play on words to describe the current situation in Iraq…
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### Author:  [@brewha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brewha)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2007, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-cant-say-correctly/396889/9 "2007-03-21T17:56:21Z")
Vicenza - the city in Italy.
It’s pronounced Va chen za (I think)
I always say something like Vin chez na
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### Author:  [@Arien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arien)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2007, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-cant-say-correctly/396889/10 "2007-03-21T17:59:47Z")
If I think too hard on how to say the word “comfortable” I can’t say it in that semi-slurred way most people do. I end up enunciating every syllable.
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### Author:  [@DaphneBlack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaphneBlack)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2007, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-cant-say-correctly/396889/11 "2007-03-21T18:24:46Z")
I always have to think before I say, and still say wrong 50%: ‘vapid’ and ‘rabid’.
why oh why do I always want to say ‘vay-pid’ and ‘ray-bid’?
I think I have finally conquered: ‘celibacy’, because in my line of work (studying religion in late antiquity) I encounter the word a whole damn lot.
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### Author:  [@Paintcharge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paintcharge)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2007, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-cant-say-correctly/396889/12 "2007-03-21T18:33:29Z")
“rear-wheel drive” I always sound like Elmer Fudd when I try to say that. Which is bad if you’re talking to a cop about ending up in a ditch.
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### Author:  [@Astroboy14](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astroboy14)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2007, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-cant-say-correctly/396889/13 "2007-03-21T18:39:47Z")
For me it’s “phenomenon”… it’s not that I can’t pronounce it, it’s that I can’t help but say “_doo-doo-de-doo-doot_” in my head right afterwards, and it always throws me off what I was saying.
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### Author:  [@Susie\_Derkins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Susie_Derkins)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2007, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-cant-say-correctly/396889/14 "2007-03-21T18:41:13Z")
Manipulate. There’s a another, similar word that gives me the same trouble, but damned if I can remember it right now.
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### Author:  [@Big\_Norse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Big_Norse)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2007, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-cant-say-correctly/396889/15 "2007-03-21T18:41:59Z")
Sandwich
I can’t pronounce it correctly without saying it really slowly. I usually just resort to “sammich” - much easier to say.
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### Author:  [@Anastasaeon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anastasaeon)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2007, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-cant-say-correctly/396889/16 "2007-03-21T19:03:38Z")
I have a very hard time with the letter ‘r’ (rhotacism). I’ve learned ways to fake through it over the years, to the point that if I speak fast enough over it or “disguise” it somehow, most people don’t notice it (unless I stumble and stammer mildly).
However, pull out a ridiculous phrase like _rural route_, and I’m scwooed.
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### Author:  [@Spiral\_Stairs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiral_Stairs)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2007, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-cant-say-correctly/396889/17 "2007-03-21T19:09:19Z")
[QUOTE=Marathon]
February. It sounds like I’m drunk every time I try to say it correctly, so I gave up and just started pronouncing it “feb-yoo-wary”.
[/QUOTE]
It feels so intellectually dishonest to say “feb-yoo-ary,” so I say the “R” even though it makes me sound drunk too.
However, my wife mocks me about it, and I’m pretty sure people think I’m weird for it.
Also, this is different from something I _can’t_ say correctly, but I abbreviate words as follows:
Probably = “Probly”
I’m going to = “Ah-munna,” or even “Ah-muh”
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### Author:  [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2007, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-cant-say-correctly/396889/18 "2007-03-21T19:13:41Z")
[QUOTE=Arien]
If I think too hard on how to say the word “comfortable” I can’t say it in that semi-slurred way most people do. I end up enunciating every syllable.
[/QUOTE]
Once it occurred to me that comfterbull actually changes the order of the letters, I have switched to com-for-tah-bull and feel much better about myself.
But I do say Febyooary and Probbly.
I sometimes slip and say something between library and libary, even though I know perfectly well which is correct.
Forward I pronounce fah-ward.
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### Author:  [@RetroVertigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RetroVertigo)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2007, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-cant-say-correctly/396889/19 "2007-03-21T19:15:29Z")
I for the life of me can’t say **rivalry** unless I stop and think about it first.
My wife instead of saying breakfast says something like Brekfrist for which she gets teased.
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### Author:  [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2007, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-cant-say-correctly/396889/20 "2007-03-21T19:17:36Z")
“virgin” and “version” Whichever one I’m going for, I frequently end up with the other.
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