# Words you know you're pronouncing wrong, but still do **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 11, 2012, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-know-youre-pronouncing-wrong-but-still-do/618459 "2012-04-11T11:47:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![kirk1168](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/45deac/32.png) [@kirk1168](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kirk1168)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2012, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-know-youre-pronouncing-wrong-but-still-do/618459/101 "2012-04-18T00:05:48Z")
Egregious. It always comes out as “eg-reg-rious”. I don’t know why… ---
**Author:** ![Poodlegirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecae2f/32.png) [@Poodlegirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poodlegirl)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2012, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-know-youre-pronouncing-wrong-but-still-do/618459/102 "2012-04-19T16:38:50Z")
My hairdresser - aka “stylist” - is from Quebec, Canada. She was QUITE appalled when I said kwa-BECK. She told me I was saying it incorrectly and it is K-beck. So when I talk to her I say K-beck but to everyone else I say say kwa-BECK. Sorry, but K-bec for “everyday” is out of the question…I use it only on special occasions. I say sherbert but my mother is from Rhode Island and says sherbet…I always thought it was because of her r-deletion. Lot I know… In Massachusetts, town pronunciation is a joy for visitors: Worcester (WOOS-ter), Peabody (pea-BUDY), Gloucester (GLAUS-ter), Haverhill (HAVE(rhymes with Dave)-rill), etc. I know that this is OT but where I live a submarine (hoagie) sandwich is called a “grinder”…try explaining THAT to a person at a deli in Southern California…🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Nature\_s\_Call](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nature_s_call/32/19006_2.png) [@Nature\_s\_Call](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nature_s_Call)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2012, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-know-youre-pronouncing-wrong-but-still-do/618459/103 "2012-04-19T18:54:20Z")
Your hairdresser should stay away from Windsor ON. The area is replete with French names. Across the river is Detroit, pronounced (as everyone knows) dee-TROYT instead of day-TRWA. A major street in Windsor is named Ouellette, which is locally pronounced oh-LET instead of wuh-LET. There are other examples, but perhaps the worst is Pierre St. Is there anyone who doesn’t know the proper pronounciation is pee-AIR? The answer is yes: Windsorites who pronounce it PEE-ree. I live in the neighbouring town of LaSalle. We locals pronounce it luh-SAL - the proper way. Go Sabres! (which we, of course, mispronounce SAY-ber instead of SAH-bruh). ---
**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:** [April 19, 2012, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-know-youre-pronouncing-wrong-but-still-do/618459/104 "2012-04-19T21:00:55Z")
I used to butcher cummerbund until I looked it up- it’s the fat belt thingy that goes with a tuxedo. It is properly pronounced as it’s spelled. ---
**Author:** ![voltaire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voltaire/32/313_2.png) [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2012, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-know-youre-pronouncing-wrong-but-still-do/618459/105 "2012-04-19T21:16:09Z")
I know how to spell and pronounce it properly, but for some reason, I got stuck on pronouncing “narrate” or “narrator” as _nararate_, or _nararator_. Sometimes I consciously catch myself and sort of blend in the extraneous syllable, creating a sort of hybrid between the correct and incorrect pronunciation. But I have a hard time kicking the habit altogether - for some reason, my incorrect pronunciation just seems more right, to me. ---
**Author:** ![Sparky812](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Sparky812](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparky812)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2012, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-know-youre-pronouncing-wrong-but-still-do/618459/106 "2012-04-20T16:30:04Z")
> [@Nature\_s\_Call](#): > > Your hairdresser should stay away from Windsor ON. The area is replete with French names. > > Across the river is Detroit, pronounced (as everyone knows) dee-TROYT instead of day-TRWA. You forgot Dee- TROY - it. Around here there’s TRAW-na (Toronto) or Glaw-SESS -ter (Gloucester, pronounced GLAW-ster). ---
**Author:** ![Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maggie_the_Ocelot)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2012, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-know-youre-pronouncing-wrong-but-still-do/618459/107 "2012-04-20T17:03:29Z")
“Honey, my head hurts. Can you get me the aceta-acitia-asitaminifina-the goddamn Tylenol?” ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2012, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-know-youre-pronouncing-wrong-but-still-do/618459/108 "2012-04-21T02:37:37Z")
As a child, I read a _Peanuts_ cartoon where Linus used the word “gauche.” For years, just to amuse my mother, I would malaprop it as “GOW-chee.”🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2012, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-know-youre-pronouncing-wrong-but-still-do/618459/109 "2012-04-21T07:16:43Z")
Every time I see a sign or business with the spelling “Shoppe” in its name, I pronounce it with two syllables, to rhyme with “choppy,” out of sheer perversity with the intent of mocking the pretentiousness of pseudo-Ye Olde Englysshe misspellings. That goes for anything else that adds a gratuitous final -e. ---
**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:** [April 21, 2012, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-know-youre-pronouncing-wrong-but-still-do/618459/110 "2012-04-21T11:18:56Z")
Aren’t they usually meant ti be more whimsical than pretentious? ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2012, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-know-youre-pronouncing-wrong-but-still-do/618459/111 "2012-04-21T15:30:32Z")
I don’t know what their motivation is. There are a lot of Americans using British spellings imagining it makes them look more high-class, which deserves mockery. ---
**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:** [May 2, 2012, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-know-youre-pronouncing-wrong-but-still-do/618459/112 "2012-05-02T19:22:29Z")
I always say “par-tay” just because I think it sounds fun. I always say “deee-vorce” (with a Southern drawl) - it’s from an ex-boyfriend who brought home a loud friend one night - I heard him say “Shh! You’re gonna get me a dee-vorce!” ---
**Author:** ![wellanuff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/57b2e6/32.png) [@wellanuff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wellanuff)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-know-youre-pronouncing-wrong-but-still-do/618459/113 "2012-05-02T20:08:29Z")
I pronounce Uranus as “your anus,” because if that pronunciation was good enough in 1970 then it is good enough now, eight-year-olds be damned. I also pronounce “Raymond Luxury Yacht” as "/θrəʊt/ /ˈwɔː®bla®/ /ˈmæŋˌɡrəʊv/ " ---
**Author:** ![MickNickMaggies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/59ef9b/32.png) [@MickNickMaggies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MickNickMaggies)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2012, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-know-youre-pronouncing-wrong-but-still-do/618459/114 "2012-05-04T12:12:27Z")
> [@heathen\_earthling](#): > > I purposely mispronounce all French words whenever possible, because my ability to speak/read French is so poor I might as well have some fun with it. Do it. I told a tram inspector that ‘Jay nay parleee paz frank-aze’ and got out of a ticket. On the way home from my intensive French lessons. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-know-youre-pronouncing-wrong-but-still-do/618459.md?page=5)