# Words you just have to mispronounce **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 20, 2015, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-have-to-mispronounce/715450 "2015-03-20T02:59:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Orionizer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/orionizer/32/4442_2.png) [@Orionizer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orionizer)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-have-to-mispronounce/715450/41 "2015-03-20T17:39:57Z")
Coca-cola = Choke of cola Doughnuts = Dowg nuts Necessary = Nececelery Hors d’ourves (sp)? = Horse Dow Vres ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-have-to-mispronounce/715450/42 "2015-03-20T17:48:24Z")
When I want a snack and a good cheap cup of coffee, I go to Drunken Donuts. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-have-to-mispronounce/715450/43 "2015-03-20T18:22:19Z")
> [@Dread\_Pirate\_Jimbo](#): > > In somewhat of a reverse of that, my wife and I were at a local mall a few years ago and saw a glasses store called Spectacles. I remarked, “Hey look! Spec-ta-cleez, the Greek god of corrective eyewear!” Testicles = Test-a-cleez. ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-have-to-mispronounce/715450/44 "2015-03-20T18:22:37Z")
> [@CaptMurdock](#): > > There’s a street named Ximeno in Long Beach. If you refer to it with the proper pronunciation “He-MEN-o” you’ll get funny stares (not just from me, from most longtime Beachers). If, however, you pronounce like I learned it, “Ex-IM-en-o”, peopl will respond, “Oh, yeah, it’s a couple blocks west of PCH.” One of the main streets through El Cajon is Jamacha Road. I was told locals pronounce it “ham-a-shaw”. That’s such a bizarre mixture of getting it right and getting it wrong … worse even than Vallejo. ---
**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 20, 2015, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-have-to-mispronounce/715450/45 "2015-03-20T18:29:10Z")
> [@Greg\_Charles](#): > > One of the main streets through El Cajon is Jamacha Road. I was told locals pronounce it “ham-a-shaw”. That’s such a bizarre mixture of getting it right and getting it wrong … worse even than Vallejo. That reminds me; my brother and his family live in Mission Viejo but I call it _Mission Pendejo_. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-have-to-mispronounce/715450/46 "2015-03-20T18:31:52Z")
Samsung = Gnusmas Tustin = It nuts! Nooksack = Nooksack, Baby! ---
**Author:** ![Soylent\_Juicy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@Soylent\_Juicy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soylent_Juicy)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-have-to-mispronounce/715450/47 "2015-03-20T18:33:05Z")
> [@Barking\_Dog](#): > > Saying ‘juh-lop-penn-oh’ for jalapeno. Sort of a private joke with my cousins from when we were kids. I say “ja-la-pen-oh.” As in, “I’d like nachos please, _no ja-la-pen-ohs_.” > [@Shoeless](#): > > When someone is choking I ask them if they want me to perform the “hymen remover” on them. Mine’s “hind lick” from Beavis & Butthead. > [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](#): > > Can’t remember the last time I said “sandwich.” Same here. I say “sammich.” We have a low-end grocery store here called “No Frills.” I say “No Thrills.” At my old work a girl and I had our own secret language. One thing we did was pronounce the hard consonents in some words. I’d ask for the “sKizzors” or she’d ask me for a “kuh-nife.” If something was important we needed it “right kuh-now.” ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-have-to-mispronounce/715450/48 "2015-03-20T19:35:07Z")
My dad, who definitely knew how the word was properly pronounced, would almost always use the Lt. Pulver pronunciation of “buttocks”, which rhymes with “you clocks”. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-have-to-mispronounce/715450/49 "2015-03-20T19:49:50Z")
laundrymat devil’s avocado ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-have-to-mispronounce/715450/50 "2015-03-20T19:52:41Z")
banammas, you know, those long yellow fruit. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-have-to-mispronounce/715450/51 "2015-03-20T20:48:13Z")
“fruh-JEEL-ay” any time a package comes. I pronounce aluminum like the Brits because it sounds so absurd. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-have-to-mispronounce/715450/52 "2015-03-20T20:54:15Z")
My white-bread Midwestern grandmother, whose speech was as close to the [General American Accent](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_American) as one could possibly get; who was well-read and generally eloquent (her father was a school principal and a lay preacher); and who eschewed slang, regionalisms, and other variations in her speech, _always_ pronounced “window” as “windle” (rhymes with “spindle”), for no reason that I could discern. To this day my wife and I do the same, just for the lulz. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-have-to-mispronounce/715450/53 "2015-03-20T20:57:15Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > “fruh-JEEL-ay” any time a package comes. Yeah, I do that. > [@Maserschmidt](#): > > I pronounce aluminum like the Brits because it sounds so absurd. My spell-checker insists I spell ‘aluminum’ wrong (See? I got the red underline right there!) because I don’t spell it ‘-ium’. The other thing about ‘aluminum’ is that I like to pronounce it ‘moony moolah!’ (Yes, with the exclamation mark.) ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-have-to-mispronounce/715450/54 "2015-03-20T21:23:35Z")
For me it’s mostly place names. I’ve lived in AZ and CA for 30 years - I know how they’re _supposed_ to sound. But that’s not how they _should be_ pronounced 🙂 : The town by Oxnard, Port Who enemy Down by San Diego lies La Jollah South of Phoenix is Geela Bend (hard g, not “heela bend”, like it is supposed to be), and Cahsah Grandy. But, I’ll go the other way with that city 90 miles south of Phoenix, Tucksone, which is closer to how it is spelled (Tucson - FYI the American pronunciation is Too san, the Spanish is Took sone.) My wife insists on pronouncing the place filled with books as a “liberry”. I have a co-worker (non-native English speaker) who adds an extra bit on the end when he asks me how words are supposed to be “pronounciated”. That is like the epi-tome of bad pronounciation! ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-have-to-mispronounce/715450/55 "2015-03-20T21:47:07Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > South of Phoenix… Which I must pronounce as ‘Puh-HOE-niks’. And then there’s the Mo-jave Desert. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-have-to-mispronounce/715450/56 "2015-03-20T21:56:45Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Which I must pronounce as ‘Puh-HOE-niks’. > > And then there’s the Mo-jave Desert. Al-boo-kwair-kway. ---
**Author:** ![Barking\_Dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Barking\_Dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barking_Dog)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-have-to-mispronounce/715450/57 "2015-03-20T22:10:50Z")
When I’m out on the town, I might go buy a shirt at Old Gravy. And since it’s in the same shopping center, I just have to go visit boobsandnipples to see if the latest book by my favorite author is out yet. And then my girlfriend will usually drag me to see her puh-syke-ic. It’s all hogwash, of course, but it’s harmless and she usually buys me a double scoop of freetome for being a good sport. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-have-to-mispronounce/715450/58 "2015-03-20T22:11:47Z")
And there’s that military installation in southern Arizona, Fort Hoocha-koocha. ---
**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:** [March 20, 2015, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-have-to-mispronounce/715450/59 "2015-03-20T22:17:08Z")
> [@Dendarii\_Dame](#): > > February FEB-ee-air-ee ? ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2015, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-have-to-mispronounce/715450/60 "2015-03-21T00:02:15Z")
I like the Ford light sport ute, the Escape. Pronounced “ES Ca Pay”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-have-to-mispronounce/715450.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-have-to-mispronounce/715450.md?page=4)