# Your Pronunciation **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 23, 2021, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-pronunciation/949375 "2021-08-23T15:27:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![TRC4941](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trc4941/32/6792_2.png) [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2021, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-pronunciation/949375/1 "2021-08-23T15:27:55Z")
I think this belongs here, if not feel free to move it. Are there certain words that you just cannot or will not pronounce correctly even though you know you’re pronouncing them wrong? Sherbet - It will always be sherbert to me. Clothes - I just noticed this lately. I listen to a lot of audiobooks and noticed that the readers pronounce the “TH”. I never have. I say “close”. Now that I’m aware of it, I try to say it correctly but more often than not, I don’t. These are the two that stand out for me. I’m sure I’ll think of more. ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2021, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-pronunciation/949375/2 "2021-08-23T15:31:57Z")
Entrepreneur. The E in the front throws me off. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2021, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-pronunciation/949375/3 "2021-08-23T15:37:44Z")
SureBet for for me. But I think I use to do the SureBert when I still had my NY accent. Why the extra R sound? Are you a Newyawker? ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2021, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-pronunciation/949375/4 "2021-08-23T15:57:03Z")
“Wrestling”. I always say “rasslin”, as in, “The dogs are rasslin’ all over the living room.” My husband once asked me if I knew the proper way to say it, and I admitted that I do, but it sounds oddly prim to use proper pronunciation to describe such a ridiculous activity. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2021, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-pronunciation/949375/5 "2021-08-23T16:18:50Z")
I keep saying Ka-RIB-BE-in for Caribbean even though I’m _pretty sure_ it’s supposed to properly be Kare-a-BE-in ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2021, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-pronunciation/949375/6 "2021-08-23T16:20:06Z")
I’ve always said sherbert and I don’t think I’ve ever actually heard anyone say it without the phantom second r. Not that it’s a word that I hear a lot, but it’s a pronunciation I look out for, as I know that’s how it’s supposed to be pronounced. My peers are mostly from the Great Lakes accent region (Milwaukee to Buffalo) and all say it with two rs. I also say “close” for “clothes.” I use both pronunciations for Caribbean. I think I use the one with the accent on the second syllable more. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanubv.2/32/3260_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUBv.2)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2021, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-pronunciation/949375/7 "2021-08-23T16:27:29Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I use both pronunciations for Caribbean. I think I use the one with the accent on the second syllable more. Same here. “CARE a be un” for the Disneyland ride and movies and “ca RIB e un” for the cruise line. I honestly have no idea which is “correct”, though I grew up saying the former. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2021, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-pronunciation/949375/8 "2021-08-23T16:35:36Z")
Tying this to current events, what is the correct (i.e. native) pronunciation for the capital city of Afghanistan? Is it Kuh-BOOL? Is it KAH-bull? Something else? ---
**Author:** ![anny\_m](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@anny\_m](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anny_m)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2021, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-pronunciation/949375/9 "2021-08-23T16:59:21Z")
Route. Do you pronounce it as if it rhymes with “out” or “boot”? I find I use R-out for local streets, but it’s always Root 66. ---
**Author:** ![BrickBat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac91a4/32.png) [@BrickBat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrickBat)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2021, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-pronunciation/949375/10 "2021-08-23T17:02:33Z")
Same with me regarding “sherbert” for sherbet. If I pronounced it correctly, I feel like I’'d be saying it with a NYC accent because I dropped the r, like the way they say “mustid” for mustard. Ditto for clothes = “close” - Often = “awffin” - Aunt = “ant” - Chocolate = “chawklit” ( not in literal phonetics, but close to it ) - Comfortable = “cumfterble” ---
**Author:** ![BrickBat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac91a4/32.png) [@BrickBat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrickBat)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2021, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-pronunciation/949375/11 "2021-08-23T17:06:11Z")
anny\_m, in regards to Route, as far as roads or a path to follow, my pronunciation rhymes with “boot”. When used as a verb, rhymes with “out”, as in, “I routed the wiring through the hollow enclosure”. ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2021, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-pronunciation/949375/12 "2021-08-23T17:17:33Z")
I always pronounce “Wednesday” as if it were spelled “Wendsday”. I always pronounce “iron” as if it were spelled “eye-ern” I always pronounce “nuclear” the way it is spelled. I honestly do not know how I pronounce “February”. Do I say “Feb-roo-ary” or “Feb-yoo-ary”. You’d have to catch me off-guard to find out. I hope I say it correctly, as “Febrooary”, but I’m really not sure. Flowers go in a vase – vahz, not vaze. The red spice is called PAPrika, not papREEKa. There is no “w” in “chocolate” except when I am singing the Nestle’s jingle from when I was a kid. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2021, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-pronunciation/949375/13 "2021-08-23T17:22:23Z")
For years, even as an undergraduate math major, I had an unreasonable amount of difficulty correctly pronouncing the word “integration”. Now that I’m a math professor the years of incessant repetition of the term have fixed that, but I’m still kind of surprised it was ever a problem in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![TRC4941](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trc4941/32/6792_2.png) [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2021, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-pronunciation/949375/14 "2021-08-23T17:23:51Z")
> [@BrickBat](#): > > Same with me regarding “sherbert” for sherbet. If I pronounced it correctly, I feel like I’'d be saying it with a NYC accent because I dropped the r, like the way they say “mustid” for mustard. > > Ditto for clothes = “close” > > - Often = “awffin” > > - Aunt = “ant” > > - Chocolate = “chawklit” ( not in literal phonetics, but close to it ) > > - Comfortable = “cumfterble” I’m the same as you with often, aunt, chocolate and comfortable. Also, Route = if I’m using it like this: What route are you taking to the lake? I’d pronounce it with the “OU”. Route = if it’s a named road, I’d say “root”. Another one is: Roof = I never say “roooof”, I say it so it rhymes with “hoof”. And I’m not a New Yawker - I’ve lived in Minnesota my entire life. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2021, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-pronunciation/949375/15 "2021-08-23T17:26:55Z")
> [@TRC4941](#): > > Sherbet - It will always be sherbert to me. That’s not wrong, it’s just an alternate pronunciation (and spelling, “sherbert”). There’s a lot more dialectal variation in pronunciations than most people realize. And the variations aren’t wrong, just different. ---
**Author:** ![TRC4941](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trc4941/32/6792_2.png) [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2021, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-pronunciation/949375/16 "2021-08-23T17:27:08Z")
As far as I know your pronunciations of Wednesday and iron are correct. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2021, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-pronunciation/949375/17 "2021-08-23T17:30:35Z")
I’ve never been to Denmark, but a 6th grade music teacher in rural Illinois must have expected me to, and warned us never to say “Copen-hah-gen,” citing that as how the Nazis had pronounced it I may order “phoe” or “expresso,” but I won’t be a Nazi ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2021, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-pronunciation/949375/18 "2021-08-23T17:42:41Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > warned us never to say “Copen-hah-gen,” Yup, we lost a [fine Danny Kaye song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEwdroXuL8A) to that unfortunate pronunciation choice. It is hard for non-Danish speakers to grasp how few consonants Danish speakers need for the approved pronunciation of “København” (= “Copenhagen”). AFAICT you start out straightforwardly enough with the syllable “Keuh-”, and then think about the consonants “b” and “n” while saying “hah”, and then think about “v” and “n” while closing your mouth. You don’t even have to think about the schwa vowel “e” at all. ---
**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:** [August 23, 2021, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-pronunciation/949375/19 "2021-08-23T17:42:41Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > Tying this to current events, what is the correct (i.e. native) pronunciation for the capital city of Afghanistan? > > Is it Kuh-BOOL? > > Is it KAH-bull? The latter. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2021, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-pronunciation/949375/20 "2021-08-23T17:46:05Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](#): > > I honestly have no idea which is “correct”, though I grew up saying the former. As I understand it with my Google-level education, the region is named after the Carib (Car-ib) tribe of people and thus Car-ib-be-an is the proper pronunciation. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-pronunciation/949375.md?page=2)