The phrase “chaise lounge”. It’s French for “lounge chair”. But I quickly learned that pronouncing it the French way will make people look at you funny.
Here’s one that is maybe open for debate: When talking about a suite of furniture, my mom would pronounce it “suit” and I’d always say it like “sweet.” Which are you most familiar with? I hear from a lot of people that they’ve heard both.
Assuming this ain’t a whoosh, it’s actually a chaise longue - a long chair. But yeah, a lot of people say it as if it’s a Shay’s Lounge and apparently this “has persisted so strongly in America that it is no longer considered incorrect there”.
Heaven forfend.
and voguevixen, I’ve always heard and said it as “sweet”
It’s half a whoosh – I know it’s not actually French for “lounge chair” and I am familiar with “chaise longue”. But I have never actually seen anyone say “chaise longue” one way or another. I used to work at Ace Hardware and the long patio chairs always said “chaise lounge” on the box and in the catalog.
Well, the article doesn’t specify pronunciation, but I always hear it as “chase lounge”, both pronounced as if they were the regular English words. I have acquiesced to this pronunciation but it still doesn’t feel right. I used to say “chaise lounge” (but not “longue”) as both words would be pronounced in French, although I’m pretty sure “lounge” is not a valid French word.
One time I made the mistake of pronouncing debridement, “de-BRIDE-ment”, instead of the correct, *“de-BREED-ment” *(dĭ-brēd’mənt). The deriding I received kept me saying debriding correct ever since.
I guess it’s strangely fitting that every time I say pronunciation, I have to pause and make sure I don’t say pro-NOUN-ciation.
Yes, dour (rhymes with tour, not with sour) is one I learned recently. Now, I try to pronounce it right, but it still sounds weird.
My supreme embarrassment is the word “CLANDESTINE.”
I’ve always pronounced it CLAN-des-TEEN.
And then I took a class on how clandestine drug labs can impact highway workers.
Open mouth, insert foot.
I still think my proununciation is best, LOL.
~VOW
“Guillotine.”
I say “gill-o-teen”. My old roommate laughed at me and said it’s pronounced “gee-o-teen”.
I always want to refer to Tanzania (“tan-zuh-NEE-uh”) as tan-ZAY-nee-uh. Like Tazmania.
I used to have trouble with “heinous.” I always want to insert an extra E: “HEE-nee-us” instead of “HAY-nus.”
I was recently surprised to learn that “coitus” is pronounced “COH-it-us,” not “COY-tus.” Someone better tell Sheldon Cooper.
Not me, but an old acquaintance in high school thought that “biped” rhymed with “tipped.”
And then there’s “Mxyzptlk.” For years, footnotes in the Superman comic books have said it’s pronounced “MIX-yez-PITEL-ick,” but I can’t pronounce PITEL as one syllable. One Superman writer, though, said that it’s “mix-IZP-tulk,” and that sounds much better. 
Huh. I put inflection on the ‘dam’ part and that’s it. Remind me never to invoke his name orally!
And if it wasn’t for Yosemite Sam, I probably would pronounce that one wrong, too!
My Grandma always said “YO-sem-ite,” and laughed at people who said “yo-SEM-ih-tee.”
An Onion reader, huh?
Our daughter is Gaia, and we pronounce it Guy-uh - backed up by Merriam-Websterhere.
Let me second this. Cache is pronounced “cash” even by the military. It’s the woefully uneducated enlisted boobs in today’s military who pronounce it “cachay”.
Nice site!
Apparently I’ve been pronouncing Tokyo wrong. I pronounced it To-kee-oh.