# Things You Cannot Pronounce Right to Save your Soul ...



## Geoffrey (Jun 20, 2009)

The 'Whom' thread in the Book Corner got me thinking.  There are certain words that I know I pronounce 'wrong' purely because of my different regional dialects.  For some, no matter how hard I try, I will always mis-pronounce - but there are others I can pronounce correctly if I'm paying attention.

For example, I grew up in Southwestern Michigan where the accent is very similar to how Chicagoans speak ("Da Bears ...') but with more of a nasally twang to it.  I love berries (which is pronounced 'bairee') of all varieties but their names as Straw-burry, blue-burry, Razz-burry, etc .... I can stop it.  

After living in North Texas for the past 26 years, I don't have a Midwestern accent any longer but my Texan accent is a little spotty as well.  But, I sometimes catch myself elongating my I's.    "Oh, that's niiiice"  "I'm fiiine" ....

So somethings just come out all kinds of wrong like  'blue-burry piiiie ....


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

I've largely beat it now, but for years as a youngster I pronounced "similar" as "simular".  My mother tells me that my third grade teacher had that quirk, and I assume I picked it up from her.  I'd largely cured myself by the time I graduated from high school, but I still slip up and do it maybe once a year.


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## intinst (Dec 23, 2008)

My problem is picking up accents with too much ease. When I vacationed in Minnesota, in a week I am beginning to sound like a native. Same thing with Texas and also the Deep south. People who know me always laugh at my transition, especially LoonLover. For some reason, the north central pronunciation of mouse and house has stuck with me and I haven't been to the Land of Lakes for ten years. I have to be careful when saying those or similar sounding words or LL will break out laughing.


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## Geoffrey (Jun 20, 2009)

I also pronounce the thing on the top of a house and the thing at the bottom of trees the same as 'book'.  Roof, root and book all sound the same where I grew up.


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## Scheherazade (Apr 11, 2009)

I used to say "want" like "won't" and "dog" with the same long "o" sound, but constant beratement by friends finally got me to stop.  I am also one of those folks who read so much that I will end up knowing words I've never said before, then when I go to use them in conversation I say them incorrectly.  This doesn't happen a lot, but it's embarrassing when it does.  I also tend to pick up accents really easily, but since I'm not a big traveler I've only really noticed it with Southern accents.  Hm... maybe that's why Madonna turned British on us.


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## Vegas_Asian (Nov 2, 2008)

Could not say "portugese" until my high school crush taught me in the tenth grade. Used to say the "tu" with a "chi" annoyed my mom


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## BTackitt (Dec 15, 2008)

There is a town near us... (and I think a KB member lives there) called Waxahachie..
now, my DS#2 can say it correctly, but he refuses to, because he likes to annoy the puddin' outta his brother. He pronounces every "a" in it, with the long A sound.


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## pidgeon92 (Oct 27, 2008)

Worcestershire


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

Since I was born and raised until my early 20's in northern IL and northwest OH, I don't have an accent. (Well, the Midwest _is_ where most of the top national newscasters come from, for a reason.  ) However, I can sometimes have problems with the letter "L". Most of the time I don't (or maybe I just slur over them a bit), but occasionally I'll stumble on an L in a word, then become self-conscious about it and get tongue-tied on that particular word. "Wow! That was a real llllulllllu...llllulllllu...uh...doozie!"


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)

I'm from Brooklyn.  So the word for query sounds like the item you use to chop down a tree.  

And I'm like intinst, an accent chameleon.  Give me week somewhere and I start sounding like a native....  Let me hang out with friends with heavy Brooklyn accents and I start sounding like Joe Pesci.


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## corkyb (Apr 25, 2009)

scarlet said:


> I'm from Brooklyn. So the word for query sounds like the item you use to chop down a tree.
> 
> And I'm like intinst, an accent chameleon. Give me week somewhere and I start sounding like a native.... Let me hang out with friends with heavy Brooklyn accents and I start sounding like Joe Pesci.


What the heck sounds like query that one can use to chop down a tree? Ax? Saw? I give up?


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## intinst (Dec 23, 2008)

Ask/axe, as in can I ask/axe you a question?


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## Victorine (Apr 23, 2010)

corkyb said:


> What the heck sounds like query that one can use to chop down a tree? Ax? Saw? I give up?


Ha ha ha! I was thinking the same thing. Now I get it. 

I can't say "indubitably" to save my life. Lucky for me, I don't NEED to say it very often. 

Vicki


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)

intinst said:


> Ask/axe, as in can I ask/axe you a question?


Give that man a Coney Island Kewpie doll!


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## Kathy (Nov 5, 2008)

I've been hard of hearing since a child and have always had problems pronouncing words. I have to practice in front of a mirror for hours with any new word or new name I hear. I have to practice with words like concatenate. I work for Obstetrix branch of my company and had to practice saying it. I have clever ways of getting around words that I'm not sure of. My husband is a great help and very patient with me.


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## intinst (Dec 23, 2008)

Kathy said:


> I've been hard of hearing since a child and have always had problems pronouncing words. I have to practice in front of a mirror for hours with any new word or new name I hear. I have to practice with words like concatenate. I work for Obstetrix branch of my company and had to practice saying it. I have cleaver ways of getting around words that I'm not sure of. My husband is a great help and very patient with me.


I am always amazed at the wondrous ways that people find to deal with life, rather than let life deal with them.


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## ◄ Jess ► (Apr 21, 2010)

Oh man, this is something that drives me crazy. I never thought I had an accent until I moved to Illinois and my boyfriend's family made fun of the way I say mom, box, wok, anything with that o-sound in it. I pronounce wok the same way I pronounce walk, with an aw-sound. Apparently it's a Pacific NW thing. I read about it on google when they started laughing at it. 

For awhile, I tried to correct it, but eventually just gave up. I just cannot make that weird o-sound (and neither can any of my friends from Oregon!). It's like some vowel we never grew up using.


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## Magenta (Jun 6, 2009)

Similarly

Simply can not say it... especially when I think about it.


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## ◄ Jess ► (Apr 21, 2010)

Oh, in a slightly related topic, my mom also used a slew of weird words as my sister and I were growing up that took us forever to switch out of. The worst was probably "daveno" which is...a couch. It took me until I was 9 or 10 to finally stop using that word (although I'll still use it around her). Slightly more normal (but still drives my boyfriend crazy because I'll occasionally slip up and use it) is "clicker" instead of remote. 

And according to his friends, my boyfriend used to pronounce "vehicle" as "veelicle." Thank goodness he corrected himself before he met me!


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## DonnaFaz (Dec 5, 2009)

I speak perfectly ::snort:...but my brother says 'ung-yon' for onion. And my step-mother (may she RIP) said 'zink' for sink and 'breaktrist' for breakfast.


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## izzy (Jun 12, 2010)

I was born in Indiana and have moved around a ton, but i've always said crayon funny for some reason.
I'm not sure why.
I say it more like crown i guess than crayon. I've never met another person who says it like that also.


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## David &#039;Half-Orc&#039; Dalglish (Feb 1, 2010)

My wife can't pronounce 'creek' or 'salmon' correctly.

David Dalglish


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## lonestar (Feb 9, 2010)

I lived in Southern California 25 years ago and they made fun of my speech all the time.  What the heck is wrong with y'all?  Bunch of goobers!

I do sometimes have trouble with the word cinnamon.  It's very tricky.


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## loonlover (Jul 4, 2009)

intinst said:


> Ask/axe, as in can I ask/axe you a question?


I worked with a woman who pronounced ask as axe. In addition, she always put an "R" in the word question. It came out "Can I axe you a querstion"? Sometimes it was really hard to respond as quickly as expected.


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## nomesque (Apr 12, 2010)

Pronunciation-wise, I consistently pronounce a *t* near the end of a word as a *d*. eg. 'fordy' instead of 'forty'. It's a regional accent thing. I've managed to ditch almost everything else from my childhood region that causes confusion, but that one just keeps hanging around 

On a vaguely-related note, I lose words from short-term memory. Frequently. It's almost as though there are only a certain number of word slots allocated, and my large vocab doesn't fit, so words just fall out or get overwritten  And it can be any word - not just the lesser-used ones. I might lose 'car' or the name of my husband, or 'indubitably'. It'll come back as soon as I can build enough associations to drag it out of long-term memory (about 5 minutes), but in the meantime I'm talking about 'those things on wheels with a motor, made from metal and plastic, you drive them, petrol-based... cars!!!'. Seriously. *shakes head* Embarrassing and irritating.


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## intinst (Dec 23, 2008)

nomesque said:


> Pronunciation-wise, I consistently pronounce a *t* near the end of a word as a *d*. eg. 'fordy' instead of 'forty'. It's a regional accent thing. I've managed to ditch almost everything else from my childhood region that causes confusion, but that one just keeps hanging around
> 
> On a vaguely-related note, I lose words from short-term memory. Frequently. It's almost as though there are only a certain number of word slots allocated, and my large vocab doesn't fit, so words just fall out or get overwritten  And it can be any word - not just the lesser-used ones. I might lose 'car' or the name of my husband, or 'indubitably'. It'll come back as soon as I can build enough associations to drag it out of long-term memory (about 5 minutes), but in the meantime I'm talking about 'those things on wheels with a motor, made from metal and plastic, you drive them, petrol-based... cars!!!'. Seriously. *shakes head* Embarrassing and irritating.


If you think it is bad now, wait 10 years.


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## Scheherazade (Apr 11, 2009)

izzy said:


> I was born in Indiana and have moved around a ton, but i've always said crayon funny for some reason.
> I'm not sure why.
> I say it more like crown i guess than crayon. I've never met another person who says it like that also.


I know a lot of "crown" people actually. That one I hear a lot around here as well as people who say "warter" or "warsh" instead of "water" and "wash". I also... as far as I know say wok similar to how I say walk with the aw sound... I didn't know that was odd. I'm told I have a cute accent by people from the west coast and the north and I never thought I had one either, I get kind of self conscious about it now though that so many people have said I do.


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## Jane917 (Dec 29, 2009)

I can't for the life of me figure out why every once in a while someone asks me if I am from New York. I am a 5th generation Californian, and have never lived further from the west coast than Montana! I am a speech therapist, and don't hear a bit of accent. I did used to say "Warshington" instead of "Washington", but my brother corrected me when he went of to Stanford and learned proper English. We had no idea at the time that I would end up living in Washington. When I lived in Montana, the grammar drove me crazy. "Do you live there yet?" meant "do you live there still." You can guess how I rolled my eyes at "the lake is froze." The shit hit the fan when I heard the word "crik", obviously spelled "creek."


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## ◄ Jess ► (Apr 21, 2010)

Jane917 said:


> I did used to say "Warshington" instead of "Washington", but my brother corrected me when he went of to Stanford and learned proper English. We had no idea at the time that I would end up living in Washington.


Hey, as long as you don't pronounce Oregon "Or-uh-gone," all is forgiven!


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## nomesque (Apr 12, 2010)

intinst said:


> If you think it is bad now, wait 10 years.


I hate to think what I'll be like at 60 years of age. That's in almost 30 years, btw...  *frowns at anyone even THINKING of implying I'm an old fart*


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## intinst (Dec 23, 2008)

nomesque said:


> I hate to think what I'll be like at 60 years of age. That's in almost 30 years, btw...  *frowns at anyone even THINKING of implying I'm an old fart*


I am 58. Are you saying that I...never mind, I know I am.


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

Half-Orc said:


> My wife can't pronounce 'creek' or 'salmon' correctly.
> 
> David Dalglish


Depends on what you consider "correct", isn't it?  A lot of people where I was born in IL pronounced it "crick", while out here in NJ I think I've only heard it pronounced with the long E sound, except when my father says "crick."


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## nomesque (Apr 12, 2010)

intinst said:


> I am 58. Are you saying that I...never mind, I know I am.


Not at all, you may be many things other than a fart... 

Ahhh, old happens to most of us - we tend to prefer it to the only real alternative  It starts with youngsters asking you "Who's Jim Morrison?" and ends with you asking youngsters, "Who are you again?"


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## caracara (May 23, 2010)

I moved to California within 6 months of being born, so my mom feared that I would have a Valley Girl accent, instead I sounded more Boston because I could never pronounce my "r"s right.

I think Arkansas is just confused, the ending should be pronounced the same way Kansas is *rolls eyes*.

I usually am just talking too fast so things come out wrong, and don't ask me to spell, it will be wrong.


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## Margaret (Jan 1, 2010)

For some reason, I get completely tongu tied when I try to say defibrillate or defibrillator.  We have to take a CPR class every other year, and I stumble all over with that word.


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## geoffthomas (Feb 27, 2009)

Jessica Billings said:


> Hey, as long as you don't pronounce Oregon "Or-uh-gone," all is forgiven!


If you don't pronouce it Or-a-gone, then how DO you pronounce it?


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## ◄ Jess ► (Apr 21, 2010)

geoffthomas said:


> If you don't pronouce it Or-a-gone, then how DO you pronounce it?


Or-eh-gun. More or less.


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## geoffthomas (Feb 27, 2009)

Thank you.
I never knew I was mispronouncing it.

You can usually tell when someone has increased their vocabulary by reading and being online compared to engaging in verbal communication.  They pronounce a bunch of words "the way they are spelled" rather than the correct way.
A common example is: Gross venn orr  rather than Grovenor for Grosvenor.

Or locally her in the WashDC/Baltimore/Annapolis area, Balt ee more rathere than Balmer for Baltimore.  Of course only people from Balmer pronounce it that way.

Just sayin......


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## R. M. Reed (Nov 11, 2009)

I pronounce everything correctly. Especially the word "coupon." It's "cyoopon," not "coopon." I'm probably the only one who still pronounces it correctly.


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## intinst (Dec 23, 2008)

caracara said:


> I moved to California within 6 months of being born, so my mom feared that I would have a Valley Girl accent, instead I sounded more Boston because I could never pronounce my "r"s right.
> 
> I think Arkansas is just confused, the ending should be pronounced the same way Kansas is *rolls eyes*.
> 
> I usually am just talking too fast so things come out wrong, and don't ask me to spell, it will be wrong.


Different Indian tribes


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## prairiesky (Aug 11, 2009)

My auntie says "worsh" for wash.  That always makes me smile!


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## 4Katie (Jun 27, 2009)

I grew up near Philly, and pronounced water 'wudder' and coffee 'cawfee'. I broke the habit when my kids were learning to talk and used to make fun of me. I've lost most of my accent over the years, but it comes out when I'm tired.

DH pronounces the 'l' in folks, and it drives me crazy. I know it's an acceptable alternate pronounciation, but it's like fingernails on a blackboard to me. My sister used to put an extra 'l' in social, pronouncing it 'solcial', and that's just plain wrong.

Geoff is so right that people who do much of their learning by reading mispronounce a lot. DS, who is very book smart, will often pronounce a word wrong, while saying it with total confidence. I realized he's reading new words, and has never heard them spoken.


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## 4Katie (Jun 27, 2009)

My dad's relatives are from upstate PA, where language is practically foreign to me. We were eating pizza once, and my aunt said 'Put the taap on the baax.' Took us a while to figure out she wanted us to put the top on the box.


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## ◄ Jess ► (Apr 21, 2010)

R. Reed said:


> I pronounce everything correctly. Especially the word "coupon." It's "cyoopon," not "coopon." I'm probably the only one who still pronounces it correctly.


Haha, since I moved to Illinois, I started hearing people pronounce it "coopon." I almost thought they were joking at first! Cyoopon sounds so much better.


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## R. M. Reed (Nov 11, 2009)

Jessica Billings said:


> Haha, since I moved to Illinois, I started hearing people pronounce it "coopon." I almost thought they were joking at first! Cyoopon sounds so much better.


Really? I grew up near Chicago, and that's where I learned to say "cyoopon."


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## sandypeach (Oct 28, 2008)

Around here, the words sprite, pepsi, dr. pepper, shasta, 7-up, root beer, soda, pop, etc. are all pronounced coke


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## Geoffrey (Jun 20, 2009)

prairiesky said:


> My auntie says "worsh" for wash. That always makes me smile!


So do many of my relatives in NE Ohio .... does she 'Outen' the lights too?


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## Geoffrey (Jun 20, 2009)

sandypeach said:


> Around here, the words sprite, pepsi, dr. pepper, shasta, 7-up, root beer, soda, pop, etc. are all pronounced coke


When I first moved to Dallas and someone asked me what flavor coke I wanted, I got all confused and stuff ...


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## akagriff (Sep 8, 2009)

I agree with r reed I pronounce everything correctly including the proper usage of pop.  I even pronounce house and mouse correctly.  We minnesotans are always right.    My dad however is a warsh person.  He also says athaletic, smpany instead of symphony.


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## akagriff (Sep 8, 2009)

I also say ant for aunt vs ounght for aunt.


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## vikingwarrior22 (May 25, 2009)

soldier for shoulder ...


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## Brenda Carroll (May 21, 2009)

horse barn... I always say harse bairn.


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## 1131 (Dec 18, 2008)

Jessica Billings said:


> Oh man, this is something that drives me crazy. I never thought I had an accent until I moved to Illinois and my boyfriend's family made fun of the way I say mom, box, wok, anything with that o-sound in it. I pronounce wok the same way I pronounce walk, with an aw-sound. Apparently it's a Pacific NW thing. I read about it on google when they started laughing at it.
> 
> For awhile, I tried to correct it, but eventually just gave up. I just cannot make that weird o-sound (and neither can any of my friends from Oregon!). It's like some vowel we never grew up using.


I had the same problem when I moved from the Inland NW to Illinois. My friends made fun of the way I said just about anything with an o in it, mom, down, lounge. And I just found out that wok isn't pronounced walk. Who knew?


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## Vegas_Asian (Nov 2, 2008)

As my family comes from Hawaii, there is some pidgeon that I can't help (as unhawaiian I sound). When I say mine. I can't help but say "mines". It annoyed my dormmate.


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## DLs Niece (Apr 12, 2010)

I have to get on the Worcestershire band wagon. I can't say that to save my life.  Or Weimaraner. I always just say, "you know those ghost grey dogs with big floppy ears?"  Another one is the dreaded triangle.... Bermuda. Don't ask me why but I stumble over that one all the time. 

Being from Canada (eh), my US friends say that I pronounce a bevy of words incorrectly.


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## crebel (Jan 15, 2009)

akagriff said:


> I also say ant for aunt vs ounght for aunt.


That was always a point of contention with my family - I had multiple "ants" and one "auuunt" ("I am not an insect that crawls on the gound"), plus one "ain't" that lived to 103 and wouldn't answer to it pronounced any other way.


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## B-Kay 1325 (Dec 29, 2008)

I have a sister that cannot pronounce "Aluminum" she says aluminimum (or something like that).  My BFF and her husband both say a couple of things pretty funny, he says "pacific" for "specific" and she says "samwhiches" for "sandwichs".  Cracks me up every time.


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## 4Katie (Jun 27, 2009)

I had a friend from Germany who also could not say aluminum. No matter how hard she tried, it always came out al-loo-min'-ee-um.

And I have a friend who pronounces sandwich as sangwich. Drives me crazy!


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## ◄ Jess ► (Apr 21, 2010)

Oh I also have problems with the word "sea anemone," which is terrible seeing as I'm a scuba diver and majored in biology during college!


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## Cindy416 (May 2, 2009)

imallbs said:


> I had the same problem when I moved from the Inland NW to Illinois. My friends made fun of the way I said just about anything with an o in it, mom, down, lounge. And I just found out that wok isn't pronounced walk. Who knew?


I'm a real stickler about pronunciation, and try my best to never mispronounce anything. Of course, with regional dialects, I'm sure others think that those who speak differently are mispronouncing words. As for "wok," the dictionary shows it rhyming with clock and dock, and as a homonym of "walk." I can't find any resource that shows an alternate pronunciation. That said, I don't really have a problem with accents, as that's just the way it goes.

My pet peeve: People who discuss the correct "proNOUNciation" of words. I have to bite my tongue whenever I hear that. I'm a reading teacher, and I am baffled by the pronunciation of words in ways that cannot possibly be correct _(samwich_ for _sandwich, _,_ shoulder_ for _soldier_, _pacific_ for _specific_, _axe_ for _ask_, etc. Fortunately, only my blood pressure suffers from such mispronunciations, so I guess I'll get by.


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## nomesque (Apr 12, 2010)

4Katie said:


> I had a friend from Germany who also could not say aluminum. No matter how hard she tried, it always came out al-loo-min'-ee-um.


Ya know it's spelt (and pronounced) 'aluminium' in some parts of the world, right? Result of a bizarre naming argument when the element was discovered.


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## Cat (Nov 10, 2008)

crebel said:


> plus one "ain't" that lived to 103 and wouldn't answer to it pronounced any other way.


Heyy ... her initials weren't MT were they?

Statistic is hard for me. If I say it quickly it comes out sta-stis-tic, so I have to really concentrate. Luckily I hardly ever need to say it.

Linoleum, on the other hand, is the bane of my existence. Niloleum. Niloleum, niloleum, niloleum.

stoopid word  grr.


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## ◄ Jess ► (Apr 21, 2010)

Cindy416 said:


> I'm a real stickler about pronunciation, and try my best to never mispronounce anything. Of course, with regional dialects, I'm sure others think that those who speak differently are mispronouncing words. As for "wok," the dictionary shows it rhyming with clock and dock, and as a homonym of "walk." I can't find any resource that shows an alternate pronunciation. That said, I don't really have a problem with accents, as that's just the way it goes.


The wiki article reads: "The Pacific Northwest English accent is considered to be "very neutral" to most Americans. It does, however, possess the low back vowel merger, or the Cot-caught merger."

Those are two other words I say _exactly_ the same way. When I ask anyone around here to say them, there's a subtle difference and I can hear the difference on those pronunciation dictionaries where they say the words aloud. Anyway, I love my accent, but I wish I could pronounce that short o-sound the way everyone else does, haha.

About aluminum...I once stumbled over that word when reading aloud in 7th grade science. *shudders* The teacher finally got fed up and said it for me. So traumatizing!


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## Tripp (May 28, 2009)

The names in Washington state can be challenging for transplants. There is a town here called Puyallup. It took me years to say it correctly. I used to say "Peeallap". It is actually pronounced *Pew* (like in church) *al* (like the name) and *up*. And geoduck clams are pronounced "gooeyduck". Finally, there is another town on the Olympic peninsula called Sequim. It is pronounced "Squim". Nothing identifies an out of stater more than when these are mispronounced.


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## RichardDR (Jul 8, 2010)

While down hyar in Tennessee we don't have accents, drawls nor ANY trouble with pronunciashuns...I have noticed the occassionul damyankee who's hard to communicate with.  I used to work part-time in a store where a lady was trying to find a "map".  I attempted to direct over at the books an' such, but she just looked at me sorta funny!  So I again asked if she was indeed looking for a "map" and she said "Yes, like to clean the floor with."  Well, once I now knew she was looking to purchase a MOP, I sent her right over to the cleaning supplies and hurried her big yankee ass right on out the door to the northern direction and back on home to Illinoize where she belonged!  End of story.


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## Brenda M. (Nov 26, 2008)

So Oregon is really Or-ah-gun I always say Or-ah-gon. 

What about elementary? I say el-eh-men-ta-ry. My kids say is should be el-eh-mentry.


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## Angela (Nov 2, 2008)

Vegas_Asian said:


> Could not say "portugese" until my high school crush taught me in the tenth grade. Used to say the "tu" with a "chi" annoyed my mom


Isn't that how it is pronounced?? 

As for the word "crayon" that is pronounced "colors" and I have many "aints" and a couple of "ants" but no "ounghts."


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## ◄ Jess ► (Apr 21, 2010)

Brenda M. said:


> So Oregon is really Or-ah-gun I always say Or-ah-gon.
> 
> What about elementary? I say el-eh-men-ta-ry. My kids say is should be el-eh-mentry.


Yes, it's really Or-uh-gun. I like to tell people that "Oregon is not a polygon." So it doesn't end in -gone. I even made a picture and wanted to make t-shirts for awhile... 

Oh, and I say "el-eh-mentry," but that's probably just sloppy speech on my part.


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## Brenda M. (Nov 26, 2008)

Jessica Billings said:


> Yes, it's really Or-uh-gun. I like to tell people that "Oregon is not a polygon." So it doesn't end in -gone. I even made a picture and wanted to make t-shirts for awhile...
> 
> Oh, and I say "el-eh-mentry," but that's probably just sloppy speech on my part.


I am so goad you told me this! I will say Oregon correctly from now on out!


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## Vegas_Asian (Nov 2, 2008)

Angela said:


> Isn't that how it is pronounced??
> 
> As for the word "crayon" that is pronounced "colors" and I have many "aints" and a couple of "ants" but no "ounghts."


I don't know. Maybe it's a regional thing. No one pointed it out until I moved into the area


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## Daisysmama (Nov 12, 2008)

What about    coursea......darn, can't spell it either.......you know, the hotel person you go to for help getting tickets, directions, etc. etc.....


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## Lionspaw (Jan 4, 2010)

Tabernacle. (As in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.)  I ususally get it after 2-3 tries.


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## RJ Keller (Mar 9, 2009)

Thoroughly.

Ugh! What a horrible, tongue-twisting word. (Even though one of my favorite movies is _Thoroughly Modern Millie_.)


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## mom133d (aka Liz) (Nov 25, 2008)

Tripp said:


> The names in Washington state can be challenging for transplants. There is a town here called Puyallup. It took me years to say it correctly. I used to say "Peeallap". It is actually pronounced *Pew* (like in church) *al* (like the name) and *up*. And geoduck clams are pronounced "gooeyduck". Finally, there is another town on the Olympic peninsula called Sequim. It is pronounced "Squim". Nothing identifies an out of stater more than when these are mispronounced.


Yep. Same around here. Mr. Jefferson's home is "Mon-ti-cell-o" not mon-ti-chell-o. And Staunton is pronounced "Stawn-ton" for some odd reason. And there is "Rye-o" Road (spelled Rio). The 'reason" for that? "It used to be Route 10." Doesn't explain the pronuncation to me, just the spelling.


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## sandypeach (Oct 28, 2008)

Everywhere except N. Georgia, Lafayette is pronounced LAH-fee-et, but here it's pronounced Luh-FAY-et.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Then there's Beaufort NC and SC.

One is Bow-fǝrt and the other is Bew-fǝrt.


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## 4Katie (Jun 27, 2009)

mom133d said:


> Yep. Same around here. Mr. Jefferson's home is "Mon-ti-cell-o" not mon-ti-chell-o. And Staunton is pronounced "Stawn-ton" for some odd reason. And there is "Rye-o" Road (spelled Rio). The 'reason" for that? "It used to be Route 10." Doesn't explain the pronuncation to me, just the spelling.


I've always heard that Staunton, VA is pronounced 'stan-ton'...


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## mom133d (aka Liz) (Nov 25, 2008)

4Katie said:


> I've always heard that Staunton, VA is pronounced 'stan-ton'...


Did I say that? oops, yeah, Katie is right. (What was I smoking?...) Make more sense for the proposed motto "There's a "u" in Staunton". They went with - "As "U" like it" in reference partly to the Blackfriars Playhouse, (the only re-creation in the world of Shakespeare's theatre.)


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## 4Katie (Jun 27, 2009)

This one sticks with me cuz DH INSISTS on saying Stawn-ton. Drives me crazy!


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## Daisysmama (Nov 12, 2008)

Johnnie Carson's home town....Norfolk, Nebraska.....

Outsiders pronounce it.......Nor..folk....and those of us who live live here pronounce it....Nor..fork.

We also have Beatrice, Nebraska and it is pronounced....Bee..AT...rice, not BEE..a...trice. I believe this is the nome town of Larry, the Cable Guy!!


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## Tripp (May 28, 2009)

Daisysmama said:


> Johnnie Carson's home town....Norfolk, Nebraska.....
> 
> Outsiders pronounce it.......Nor..folk....and those of us who live live here pronounce it....Nor..fork.
> 
> We also have Beatrice, Nebraska and it is pronounced....Bee..AT...rice, not BEE..a...trice. I believe this is the nome town of Larry, the Cable Guy!!


My mom grew up in a very small town called Willis, Nebraska (just outside of South Souix City). When she and my dad married, he said he had to break her from saying "warsh" for wash. (or Warshington, you get the idea). Putting an R in where it doesn't exist must be common to the area.


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## JuneGem (Jul 3, 2010)

I get tongue tied when there are 2 "R"'s in a word. Nearby, there is a town called Aurora. It just sounds so stupid coming from my mouth Uh-roh-ruh. I try to let it flow like Jack Nicholson in "Terms of Endearment", but it won't.  Then I have a coworker called Rory, again, it just doesn't flow out of my mouth. Thank goodness Rory doesn't live in Aurora.


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