I always (and I mean always…) get hung up on the word ancillary. I always want to say “an-SIL-lee-airy”. I constantly mispronounce it the first time. Now I just say “ur…, and all that extra stuff included…”
Brother!
I grew up in a francophone environment. With my non-francophone friends I feel extremely freakin’ weird pronouncing “hors d’oeuvre” properly, but i’t seems so silly to pronounce it with a bogus broken-French accent.
I also go crazy in fine French restaurants, not knowing how I should order. (In * really* fine French restaurants, I just order in French and let my buddies think I’m pretentious.)
Or for that matter, any French word in an English context or vice versa. I once had to aFrench public speaking engagement in which I had to refer to the title of an English movie. I could figure out if I should pronounce the English words with a French accent or in straightforward English. Made me feel like an idiot!
Speaking, non-issue, but reading I always mentally hear “segyoo” instead of segue.
I’m with David Simmons.
For place names, Iowa has a bunch of french ones and other goofy ones. I live in Des Moines county. Duhmoyn. I went to school in Ames, which is near Nevada (neVAduh). I always liked to call Dubuque Dub-a-Q, just to be annoying. Then there’s all the native words, like Sioux City/Center/River.
Everyone in the fireworks industry calls it a pee-uh-nee.
Most of my ‘do not pronounce’ words have already been listed, and I forgot one that hadn’t while writing this post. It’ll come to me in a few hours when I’m in bed…
Can someone help me out with chutzpah? ;j
I’ve seen it in books and magazines, and I have heard it said, but I still can’t grasp it. Does it sound like it starts with an “s” like “shuutz-pah” or is it more of an “h” pronounchs “hootz-pah.”
Help this midwestern kid out.
In my personal experience I’ve found most natives of Nevada pronounce the first A as in crack and the last A as more of an UH sound. Neh-va-duh
Colorado is spoken as Collar-add-oh or Call-er-rad-oh
Starts with a hard “h” sound. Think of the “ch” in “loch.” (That is, unless you pronounce it as “lock.” Then think of a Scotsman saying “loch” or “och, aye!” or the “ch” in “Bach” or whatnot.)
Anyhow, you’ll also noted “hannukah” spelled with a “ch” these days instead of an “h,” as well. (I hope I got the rest of the letters right there.)
Vlad Tepes (Zep-ish)
You used to say “zep-ish” or is that what you think the correct pronunciation is? Cuz it’s “TEH-pehsh.”
“Bivouack”
I have no idea how to say this one.
Biv-oh-wack in Australia, I think.
I always thought psychopathy was pronounced psyc-o-path-ee, but it is actually psy-cop-ath-ee.
No, Western NY (where I used to live) and Southern Louisiana (where I live now) take the cake on weird names!
NY:
Charlotte (shar-LOTT)
chili (CHIE-lie)… the vowel sound as in eye or try
avon … with a short “a”
LA:
Fountainbleau (FAWN’in bloo)
Pontchartrain (POHN-cha train)
Breaux Bridge (Broh-brihj)
Tchoupitoulas (CHOP-i-TOO-luhs)
Tchfuncte (chah-FUHNK-tuh)
Dalrymple (DAHL-rihm-pull)
Calliope (kah-LIE-o-pee)
Oh, and there’s “Terpsichore,” a street in downtown New Orleans… still can’t figure that one out!
BIV-whack is what I’ve heard.
And a slight hijack to Charmain – I took several years of Spanish classes in high school - but I discovered it was not formal Spanish, it was more of a Mexican dialect. I also have a Puerto Rican uncle with whom I used to practice my Spanish. Then, I went to work in the restaurant business, where many of my co-workers were native Spanish speaking Mexicans. I can’t tell you how many times I was asked “Why do you speak Mexican with a Puerto Rican accent?” And now, even though my spoken Spanish is not bad, I hate ordering in Mexican restaurants unless I am with other Spanish speakers. I sound ridiculous when they are all ordering “in-chill-A-das” and I’m ordering “an-cheel-AH-dhahs.”
scythe (the tool) = “sith” (short i) or “sithe” (long i, hard th) or “sithe” (long i, soft th)
Scyths (the people) = siths (short i)?
necromancer = ne-CRO-man-cer or NE-cro-man-cer?
Walther Banjamin = ben-YA-min or ben-ya-MEEN?
Mine are not so much that I don’t know how they’re pronounced, it that I can’t say them. I have a slight country accent that I can talk mostly without, except for a few words. Heel. I say it exactly the same as “hill”. If I try to actually sound out the double E, I sound as though I’m trying to speak a foreign language. Same thing with “peel”.
As far as just not knowing how to pronounce a word, I used to have a problem with “epitome”. I knew what the word meant in speech, but when I saw it in writing I thought that it was a different word. I thought the word I saw in writing was said ep-i-tohm. I finally realized my error when I looked in the dictionary to see what “ep-i-tohm” meant. :smack:
**There’s a difference in the pronunciation of those words? How are they supposed to be said?
LindyHopper and amarone, ‘robot’ is from Czech. It came into English via Karel Capek’s play R.U.R, first published in 1921. Here 's a link that says it doesn’t mean ‘slave’ (as often cited), but refers to the labour that peasants owed their landlord back in feudal times.
And according to this page, his name is pronounced “chop’ek”.
I meant to add, “Now I can actually speak his name!”
I’m talking about Nevada the city near the city Ames in the state of Iowa, not Nevada the state. It’s pronounced differently and non-intuitively, thus the inclusion in this thread.
My American friend makes me pronounce anything and thorough a lot… (I pronounce them, being a Brit, ‘ennuh-thing’ and ‘thuh-ruh’, instead of ‘en-ee-thing’ and ‘thuh-row’ as I believe is common in America).
As for placenames, well, Llanfairpwllgwyn(snip about 50 letters)gogogogoch isn’t one I’m trying anytime soon.
As for the accusation that we pronounce second as Seh-COND - Seh-COND has a different meaning from SEH-cund. To be seh’COND-ed. To come SEH-cund. To wait a SEH-cund. I’ve never heard anyone wait a seh-COND.
-James
On place names, there is a village on the outskirts of Glasgow which is spelt "Milngavie"
It is pronounced ‘Mull-Guy’. You figure that one out.
bon moe
bluh mahnj (if you are a Scotsman playing tennis with one)