# Words you just can't say correctly **URL:** \ **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:** 2
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2007, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-cant-say-correctly/396889/21 "2007-03-21T19:19:28Z")
I know that “chalcedony” is supposed to be pronounced “kal-SED-uh-nee,” but I still want to pronounce it “CHAL-sih-doh-nee,” with the “ch” sounding like that in “chair.” ---
**Author:** ![Bobotheoptimist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/919ad9/32.png) [@Bobotheoptimist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bobotheoptimist)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2007, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-cant-say-correctly/396889/22 "2007-03-21T19:25:18Z")
[QUOTE=Anastasaeon] 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. [/QUOTE] Let’s not go there. Therapy as a kid and little tricks over the years, but I still feel funny trying to say anything with that blasted letter **rr** r-rr in it. Giving speeches in front of crowds doesn’t bother me, but that damn thing is waiting, hidden in the most innocent of words. My G-Grandma was from Missouri (or thereabouts) originally and introduced me to some weird pronunciations. She ahrned clothes after wershing 'em, but I don’t think that counts. Once knew a girl who spelled the nations capital “Wershington” “Alumimum” is one I’ve heard occasionally, which I think has caused some family members to continue calling the stuff in the kitchen “tin foil”. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2007, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-cant-say-correctly/396889/23 "2007-03-21T19:26:56Z")
Fortunately, I seem to be able to pronounce the few words I do know correctly…at least as far as I know…but this thread reminds me of my 10th grade biology teacher (a very sweet and not uncute woman, btw) who couldn’t pronounce esophagus or aluminum. She tried and tried and still they came out esogophus and alunimum. 😛 And my late stepfather couldn’t say eucalyptus; it always came out eulypticus. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2007, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-cant-say-correctly/396889/24 "2007-03-21T19:27:58Z")
I pronounce it okay, “yoo-clid”, but whenever I see it in print, I always confuse the name Euclid with Euler, and pronounce the former in my mind as “Oy-clid”. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2007, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-cant-say-correctly/396889/25 "2007-03-21T19:31:10Z")
Anthropomorfinpisize. Anthrofopnopnize. Attributing human-like qualities to inanimate objects. I can’t spell it, either. ---
**Author:** ![StinkyBurrito](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b9e5f3/32.png) [@StinkyBurrito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StinkyBurrito)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2007, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-cant-say-correctly/396889/26 "2007-03-21T19:35:01Z")
[QUOTE=Astroboy14] 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. [/QUOTE] Whoa, that was way weird, I saw the word “phenomenon” and got distracted singing the song a couple times… then I regained focus and read the rest of your post. ---
**Author:** ![Arien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Arien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arien)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2007, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-cant-say-correctly/396889/27 "2007-03-21T19:38:46Z")
[QUOTE=pinkfreud] I know that “chalcedony” is supposed to be pronounced “kal-SED-uh-nee,” but I still want to pronounce it “CHAL-sih-doh-nee,” with the “ch” sounding like that in “chair.” [/QUOTE] Oh. Well, you learn something new every day! ---
**Author:** ![Solfy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Solfy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Solfy)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2007, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-cant-say-correctly/396889/28 "2007-03-21T19:51:30Z")
Proximety I stumbled over it once, years ago, and it came out pro-mixety. I’ve had to be careful with it ever since. Tiger I can’t keep it from sounding like tagger. Very twangy, and stands out in Pittsburgh (which has its own well-documented language quirks). Can I share a pet pronunciation peeve of mine? I want to throw things at every television weather man who talks about the current “tempichure.” ---
**Author:** ![rucciface](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ba9def/32.png) [@rucciface](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rucciface)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2007, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-cant-say-correctly/396889/29 "2007-03-21T20:11:16Z")
Vagabond. According to me, one who lives an unsettled life is a “bagavond”. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2007, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-cant-say-correctly/396889/30 "2007-03-21T20:30:26Z")
I have a lot of dialect and accent related issues (horror/whore, jewelry/jury, pin/pen/peeing), but there are some _phrases_ I just trip over every time. “Long Island Iced Tea” and “Arnold Palmer” are two. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2007, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-cant-say-correctly/396889/31 "2007-03-21T20:31:15Z")
[QUOTE=Arien] Oh. Well, you learn something new every day! [/QUOTE] Same here! I pronounce it the latter way as well. Oo, [this](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/chalcedony) does have an alternate of **kal** -_suh_-doh-nee. So I guess the CH sound is right out. :o ---
**Author:** ![Key\_Lime\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/48db29/32.png) [@Key\_Lime\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Key_Lime_Guy)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2007, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-cant-say-correctly/396889/32 "2007-03-21T20:32:53Z")
Superfluous. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2007, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-cant-say-correctly/396889/33 "2007-03-21T20:33:42Z")
Oh, and my dad can’t handle “armoir”. “Yeah, we need to get an ardmore for the bedroom.” ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2007, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-cant-say-correctly/396889/34 "2007-03-21T20:34:53Z")
[QUOTE=Astroboy14] 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. [/QUOTE] Cute 😛 ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2007, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-cant-say-correctly/396889/35 "2007-03-21T20:35:26Z")
[QUOTE=Solfy] Can I share a pet pronunciation peeve of mine? I want to throw things at every television weather man who talks about the current “tempichure.” [/QUOTE] I don’t pronounce every bit of the real word; something like tempra-chure. Is that OK? ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2007, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-cant-say-correctly/396889/36 "2007-03-21T20:48:31Z")
pomegranate I generally pronounce it with extra letters so it sounds something like pome_na_granate or promengranite. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2007, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-cant-say-correctly/396889/37 "2007-03-21T20:53:03Z")
I cannot say the name of the Iranian president. There’s too many consonants or something and I can’t get my tongue wrapped around it. ---
**Author:** ![FatBaldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecd19e/32.png) [@FatBaldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FatBaldGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2007, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-cant-say-correctly/396889/38 "2007-03-21T20:56:03Z")
[QUOTE=Astroboy14] 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. [/QUOTE] Darn you. Now I’ll never be able to say that word with a straight face again. ---
**Author:** ![Caridwen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c89c15/32.png) [@Caridwen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caridwen)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2007, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-cant-say-correctly/396889/39 "2007-03-21T21:01:06Z")
[QUOTE=Zsofia] I have a lot of dialect and accent related issues (horror/whore, jewelry/jury, pin/pen/peeing), but there are some _phrases_ I just trip over every time. “Long Island Iced Tea” and “Arnold Palmer” are two. [/QUOTE] Howard Johnson is a tough one too. Try to say that three times without losing the d. My father was sort of proper and it used to crack me up when he pronounced Camden = Candem. Sometimes I add a syllable to remnant for some odd reason. ---
**Author:** ![UKCatGirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/a88e57/32.png) [@UKCatGirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UKCatGirl)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2007, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-cant-say-correctly/396889/40 "2007-03-21T21:22:25Z")
Marlboro. Which is inconveniently the brand of cigarettes I smoke. I don’t really know how to even spell out the way I pronounce it, but imagine someone saying it with marbles in their mouth and that’s about it. Sometimes I end up with different cigarettes than I asked for, but I usually don’t say anything because I’m the one who can’t say the word right. Just the other day I ended up with Parliament Lights, and I actually completely understand how the guy interpreted that out of me saying “Marlboro Reds.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-cant-say-correctly/396889.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-cant-say-correctly/396889.md?page=3)