MovieChat Forums > General Discussion > Words you pronounced wrong

Words you pronounced wrong

posted 3 years ago by [deleted]
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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.

[–] [deleted] 3 years ago

Corps. I pronounced it corpse.

Cache. I didn't know it was pronounced like cash.

[–] nyctc7 (44116) 3 years ago

https://www.military.com/video/forces/marine-corps/obama-mispronounces-corpsman/663155186001

[–] CreosoteXmp37 (294) 3 years ago

In my young ( early grade school ) formative years, I was around quite a few people who had a non-rhotic NYC accent and it confused me. Consequently I ( over ) compensated by adding the "R" sound to certain words because I assumed these people dropped their "Rs".

It got to where I would pronounce words like "theater" as "theer-turr" or "Chicago" as "Chicargo".

I never pronounced "idea" as "Eye-dear" though.

[–] snepts (11123) 3 years ago

I tried to use the word "coterie" with a friend once. It looks fancy so I tried to make it sound like French, coe-TARE-ee, (throw in a little slur on the R). She immediately said "coat-er-ree" and I knew I was mistaken.

And I had a friend hear me say something was "banal" (buh-NAL -rhymes with ALL) and she exclaimed "it's BAY-nil," like "anal."
Later she admitted I was right.

[–] ColumboKate (5788) 3 years ago

Automaton. I'd only ever read it books and never heard it spoken.

I pronounced it auto-mayton and not aut-om-e-ton.

[–] Quasimodo (16388) 3 years ago

Many I guess growing up. As someone said it's from sounding out unfamiliar words in your head when you're reading and English being what it is you're bound to get a few wrong.

I used to say litch-en instead of lie-ken for lichen, and eppy-tome instead of ee-pit-om-me for epitome.

[–] [deleted] 3 years ago

Yeah, I used to think it was litch-en too because it was a word I only read and not heard.

[–] [deleted] 3 years ago

Happens with names too... when I read the Harry Potter books to my toddler sons, the movies hadn't come out yet. I pronounced Hermione as 'HER-mee-ohn".

When I was in elementary school I read a book about Stuart Little. I had only ever encountered the version that is written as Stewart, and I knew how to pronounce that. The double-vowel combo of Stuart had me mentally pronouncing it as 'Stuuuuh-art" which sounded super awkward.

[–] nyctc7 (44116) 3 years ago

Svenjolly

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yD1wB7L36CU&t=135s

[–] MaximRecoil (4855) 3 years ago

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

The stereotypical Canadian pronunciation of "about" is more like "aboat". I don't know where "aboot" came from; just a bad attempt at a phonetic spelling I think.