MovieChat Forums > General Discussion > Words you pronounced wrong

Words you pronounced wrong

posted 3 years ago by [deleted]
63 replies | jump to latest

I was in my fifties when I learned that 'chasm' is pronounced 'casm'. And I had to be corrected by a guy who speaks English as a second language.

Hirsute. No a big deal, but I didn't realize that it was pronounced 'hirsuit'.

Bury, buried. My wife corrected me on this when I was in my 30s. I always said it like it's spelled, 'brrr-y' rather than the correct "berry". In my defense though, I've occasionally encountered other people who pronounce it wrong. We were watching a movie some nights ago and one the actors pronounced it my way, so now I'm not sure I'm wrong.

About. I'm Canadian and I pronounce it 'abowt'. Apparently, I should be pronouncing it 'aboot' according to Americans, LOL.

[–] nyctc7 (44116) 3 years ago

If someone identifies as Chinese, is this really a mispronunciation?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xb1PRxV0mpw

[–] PaladinNJ (21784) 3 years ago

Worcestershire. Don't ask me why. I can spell it easily but for some reason I can't pronounce and I have tried.Some of the results have been amusing.

On related note: My wife can't pronounce the words Specific (Sespific) or Film (filum). People correct her all the time but she goes on doing it.

[–] jonathan_k80 (6436) 3 years ago

I had a coworker who pronounced "specific" as "Pacific." I found out later that she had a slight hearing problem, which would explain her pronunciation. She had probably misheard the word at a young age.

[–] jonathan_k80 (6436) 3 years ago

There are a few replies here from people who are only familiar with certain words because they read them in a book, and have never heard them spoken. That made me think.

What does English (or any language) sound like in the mind a person who was born deaf? They have never heard spoken words but have only read them. Do they imagine sounds for vowels and consonants?

[–] [deleted] 3 years ago

Mind blown! I have never even thought of this before. Most of us 'think' in spoken language. If you've never heard spoken language, how do you form thoughts?

A quick Google search turned up this:
https://voxy.com/blog/2012/05/deaf-language/
https://captioncall.com/hearing-loss/can-deaf-people-hear-themselves

If deaf people think in terms of sign language, I wonder if you can convey abstract thoughts such as relativity, mathematical concepts such as imaginary numbers, etc.

[–] AmeriGirl26 (15124) 3 years ago

When I was little, I pronounced a few words in my mind the wrong way when I learned how to read at age 6. Like when I saw the word "chaos," I'd mistakenly pronounce it "CHA-ohs," hehe. Or I'd see "Nutrition Facts" on food containers, and mistakenly think it was pronounced "NUT-tritch-un facts." For a short time, as a kid, I mispronounced "buried" as "burr-eed." On a few occasions, mom and I would get into a silly "fight" on how to pronounce "pumpkin" xD. I'd say it right, but then she'd go all Midwestern and pronounce it "PUNK-in!" (Good thing I never introduced her to the "Punkin' Chunkin'" contest they hold every year on tv after Halloween). My brother called apples "ockies," apricots "apple-cots," and both he and I would call popcorn "pop-tee-torn." Hehehe. The joys of learning how to talk when you're little ;)

I know a single word that can make any British person laugh :D. Just pronounce Worchestershire "WOR-ster-sher." Hehehe.

[–] damocci (1516) 3 years ago

Until perhaps two years ago I had no idea that Arkansas is pronounced "ark-in-saw"

[–] jonathan_k80 (6436) 3 years ago

Take off the "Ar" and you have the state of Kansas. Same two syllables pronounced differently.

[–] damocci (1516) 3 years ago

Precisely! This became a thing for me when I watched a documentary about Bill Clinton (I think it was called "The War Room") where it was mentioned that he was a former governor of "ark-in-saw." Now, as a non-American, I was familiar with the state of Arkansas but I had never heard of "ar-kin-saw" before, and I swear I spent a good 20 minutes scrutinizing a US map looking for this elusive "ar-kin-saw" to no avail. The only state remotely close was Arkansas. Eventually I used WordWeb (the dictionary I have installed on my PC) and realized the correct pronunciation.

But why, though? Why is it pronounced that way? What language does it originate from? Kansas is pronounced the way it looks, but you stick an "AR" in front and suddenly it's totally different? It's the same for me with other American words like Tucson, Sioux, Navajo (I think that's a Mexican word so the "J" sounds like an "H") and a couple of others I can't think of right now.

[–] jonathan_k80 (6436) 3 years ago

A lot of the U.S. states got their names from the Native American languages. Many of the names used today have gone through multiple stages of translation. "Arkansas" is the English spelling of the French transliteration of a word from the Algonquian language. See the explanation of the meaning and pronunciation here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arkansas#Etymology

[–] [deleted] 3 years ago

Many Canadians -- myself included up til a few years ago -- typically pronounce Oregon as "Ore-eh-gone". We've taken many road trips to there from Canada, and locals continually had to correct me til I got it right. It's pronounced "Ore-eh-gun"... almost like "organ".

In Oregon, you'll find Tillemook, which is famous for its cheese. We pronounced it as it is spelled: "Till-eh-mook". It's actually pronounced "Till-eh-muk".

[–] damocci (1516) 3 years ago

Yeah, "or-eh-gon" is how I would pronounce it too.