# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2015, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-have-to-mispronounce/715450/61 "2015-03-21T02:48:47Z")
I often say “Ukrainian Tire” instead of Canadian Tire. And after I heard my friend mispronounce a certain state’s name, it’ll always be New Ham Sphere to me. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2015, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-have-to-mispronounce/715450/62 "2015-03-21T03:57:08Z")
Well, there’s always the Captain and Toenail and Sine-Aid O’Connor in the music genre. ---
**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 21, 2015, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-have-to-mispronounce/715450/63 "2015-03-21T04:07:17Z")
> [@california\_jobcase](#): > > Sine-Aid O’Connor in the music genre. After she shaved her head, Skin-Haid O’Connor. ---
**Author:** ![Jake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2015, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-have-to-mispronounce/715450/64 "2015-03-21T10:58:39Z")
> [@Barking\_Dog](#): > > Saying ‘juh-lop-penn-oh’ for jalapeno. Sort of a private joke with my cousins from when we were kids. Or Japoleano ---
**Author:** ![Jake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2015, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-have-to-mispronounce/715450/65 "2015-03-21T11:01:32Z")
Kindergarden instead of Kindergarten. ---
**Author:** ![Jake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2015, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-have-to-mispronounce/715450/66 "2015-03-21T11:03:52Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > FEB-ee-air-ee ? Or Febuwary? ---
**Author:** ![GreenElf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@GreenElf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenElf)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2015, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-have-to-mispronounce/715450/67 "2015-03-21T16:23:49Z")
> [@california\_jobcase](#): > > Well, there’s always the Captain and Toenail and Sine-Aid O’Connor in the music genre. and John Cougar Mellonhead I sometimes say pas-ketty for spaghetti and prob-ly for probably, fun-tastic for fantastic. Another common one is soit-anly for certainly (Three Stooges). ---
**Author:** ![Teach-me-not](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a4c791/32.png) [@Teach-me-not](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teach-me-not)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2015, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-have-to-mispronounce/715450/68 "2015-03-21T17:04:29Z")
For our computer architecture course at college we used an American textbook, so we came across god-awful spellings such as _selector_ (the right spelling being, of course, _selecter_ ;)). My friend made it a point to exaggerate this by pronouncing it _selec-TAWR_. It started as an amusing shtick but the pronunciation stuck to me for quite a few years. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2015, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-have-to-mispronounce/715450/69 "2015-03-21T20:39:35Z")
I don’t know why but I often have a hard time saying “Internet” out loud. It ends up sounding more like “Inner Net” when I say it unless I consciously enunciate it. ---
**Author:** ![Uhib\_D\_Jaj](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uhib_d_jaj/32/13448_2.png) [@Uhib\_D\_Jaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uhib_D_Jaj)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2015, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-have-to-mispronounce/715450/70 "2015-03-21T20:55:10Z")
As I read through these posts I was thinking, “hmmm, we don’t seem to do this”. Then\*\* Johnny LA\*\* reminded me of the fact that _chez_ us we use as standard English Gonad (Son of Testicles) for Howard’s barbarian hero. Also the state of Illinois is pronounced ill in waa. The misuse by the rest of Ohio of the name Gallipolis will go without comment. ---
**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 21, 2015, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-have-to-mispronounce/715450/71 "2015-03-21T20:59:19Z")
What’s an ‘ackman’? 'Cause I keep hearing about a ‘huge ackman’. ---
**Author:** ![kcor1953](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kcor1953/32/3221_2.png) [@kcor1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kcor1953)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2015, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-have-to-mispronounce/715450/72 "2015-03-21T21:29:30Z")
OP means mispronounce for fun, but what comes immediately to mind is the time the copy editor, me, was working on a piece in which the writer had someone found **prostrate** (longhand mss) which I turned into\*\* prostate\*\*, and which the compositor fixed but fact-checked w/me, and we discovered I could not consistently correctly pronounce either word, and she changed it back, and I found it in a later proofing stage, and the day was saved, but she & I took a vow of silence because we couldn’t talk about it without becoming hysterically. I have to practice in order to say either word out loud, and first I have to look them up in a dictionary to know which is which. Thank god for “prone.” ---
**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 21, 2015, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-have-to-mispronounce/715450/73 "2015-03-21T22:05:10Z")
> [@kcor1953](#): > > … she & I took a vow of silence because we couldn’t talk about it without becoming hysterically. Ironically, one of the terms for that condition is “prostrated” (rofl) – I am not sure that that form gets used much in any other ways (but I am also quite _prone_ to err). ---
**Author:** ![kcor1953](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kcor1953/32/3221_2.png) [@kcor1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kcor1953)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2015, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-have-to-mispronounce/715450/74 "2015-03-21T22:31:01Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > Ironically, one of the terms for that condition is “prostrated” (rofl) – I am not sure that that form gets used much in any other ways (but I am also quite _prone_ to err). I am not inclined to argue. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2015, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-have-to-mispronounce/715450/75 "2015-03-21T23:51:10Z")
Uranus. It has two correct pronunciations, one of which is an unfortunate homonym in English. I prefer the other, arguably more correct pronunciation _YERunniss_, so that the elephant in the room isn’t invoked even momentarily. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2015, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-have-to-mispronounce/715450/76 "2015-03-22T00:19:49Z")
So instead of sounding like “your anus”, it sounds like “urine us”. I suppose that’s some measure of improvement, but not all that much. Better than either is to start the word with a vowel sound, like in Greek: “OO-ra-noos” ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2015, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-have-to-mispronounce/715450/77 "2015-03-22T00:58:21Z")
> [@74westy](#): > > To me [Rich Terfry](http://music.cbc.ca/#!/profile/Rich-Terfry) is Rich Stir Fry. And I thought I was the only one who called him that. I tend to think “palette” is pronounced “puh-LET,” though I know now how it’s pronounced. And I pronounce “carillon” the French way, though it’s not a word that comes up often in day-to-day conversation. ---
**Author:** ![MacCat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maccat/32/216_2.png) [@MacCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacCat)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2015, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-have-to-mispronounce/715450/78 "2015-03-22T02:46:45Z")
My brother and I both still like to use Horse Do-overs for hors d’oeuvres. My son, when very young bargage for garbage and one we still use from our daughter, jamanas for pajamas. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2015, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-have-to-mispronounce/715450/79 "2015-03-22T04:36:49Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > And after I heard my friend mispronounce a certain state’s name, it’ll always be New Ham Sphere to me. Schenectady is Shuh-NACK-ted-dee for me ever since a friend was trying to show off all the cities he knew in NYS. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2015, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-have-to-mispronounce/715450/80 "2015-03-22T12:17:34Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > Uranus. It has two correct pronunciations, one of which is an unfortunate homonym in English. I prefer the other, arguably more correct pronunciation _YERunniss_, so that the elephant in the room isn’t invoked even momentarily. While appreciating the sky full of stars, I sometimes point out, “There is the North Star. If you line up so that you can point at it with your right hand, while holding your left hand pointed toward the horizon, and bend over this way as far as you can, you can see your anus.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-have-to-mispronounce/715450.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-just-have-to-mispronounce/715450.md?page=5)