No, that isn’t a typo in the title! Last week I did a blog post on mispronounced words, and once again, the floodgates opened with your comments . (Thank you!)
I wasn’t going to do another post on mispronounced words for a while, but . . . since someone mentioned Valentines Day being called “Valentimes” Day (and I have heard it said that way many times!), and it is time for a Valentine post, I figured I would add the other mispronounced words you wrote about to this “Valentimes” Day post!
Let me begin by making sure you all know that we are not making fun of anyone here! Some people pronounce words the way their parents or friends said them. Sometimes it is a matter of a regional accent or a cultural way of saying something. Other times, words are just plain mispronounced!
Here are some of the mispronounced words you added to my list this week. I am sure you have heard many of them before; some might be new! Enjoy — and Happy Valentines Day for real!
asterik, asterix, asterikses (plural) and any number of ways to say asterisk!
ek-cetera and ex-cetera for et cetera
expresso for espresso, although someone said that in Italy, expresso is correct (I think)
excape for escape
versatile with a long i at the end instead of versatil for versatile
forte apparently has only one syllable unless you are talking about music (grammar is my forte, not fortay)
preezentation for presentation (we’ve all heard that one)
rowter instead of rooter for router
perogative for prerogative (hear that, Bobby Brown? Didn’t he sing that song?)
Eye-ran and Eye-talian for Iran and Italian
perscription for prescription, and perfessional for professional
hunderd or hunnert for hundred
pitcher for picture
chiminey for chimney (someone even added chimley!)
probly for probably
expecially for especially
Chiner and Afriker for China anad Africa
worsh for wash (apparently a regional or hereditary thing!)
amboolence for ambulence
comf-table for comfortable (I have heard only one person say this correctly, and it isn’t I!)
infa-structure for infrastructure
supposably (argh!!!!!!) for supposedly
calvary for cavalry
periphial for peripheral
Walmarts and K-Marts (isn’t one enough???) (I’m going to Walmarts? Walmart’s?)
empisode for episode, Tie-enol for Tylenol, oral for oil (what??!)
terrist for terrorist and partically for particularly (on New Zealand radio)
twunny for twenty (pretty common) (guilty as charged)
Innernet for Internet
pleece for police
melk for milk (heard it all the time when I was a kid)
Is it ay-men or ah-men???
nothink and somethink for nothing and something
processez for processes
dubya for W (we all know where that one comes from)
ax and axt for ask and asked
reconize for recognize (there is a g)
rool for rural
Is it poinsettia? poinsetta? poinsietta? I think the first two are acceptable.
pa-leaze for please
workt and finisht for worked and finished
secretry for secretary
reprize instead of repreeze for reprise (but reprisal is reprizal)
nucular for nuclear (and we know where that one came from)
with and breath for width and breadth (which do have ds)
somethink and somefink for something
markee for marquise (the diamond shape) which does not, apparently have a silent s
Then there are the mispronounced foods!
quin-o-a instead of keen-wa for quinoa
ciabatta is pronounced chee-a-bata
gyro – is it euro? yee-ro, jy-ro, geero? hero? I don’t know. The dictionary I looked in had five correct was to say it.
salad nicoise apparently doesn’t have a silent s (in either nicoise or salad!)
acai – I don’t have a clue
And here are some of my favorites:
haitch for the letter h (this is, I believe, not in this country)
Specific Ocean (yes, someone did say it that way) for Pacific
flamingo dancers (I used to say it that way!) for flamenco dancers
Silicone Valley for Silicon Valley
and apparently said by weather readers on TV:
the Golf of Mexico (maybe it was really a sports report?)
Then there are the place names. I am from Massachusetts, where there are some cities that are always mispronounced because of the way they are spelled:
Worcester is correctly pronounced Wister.
Leominster is correctly pronounced Leminster.
Leicester is correctly pronounced Lester.
Quincy is usually pronounced Quinzee.
Peabody is generally pronounced Peep-udy.
Haverhill is correctly pronounced Havril.
And people who live in Chelmsford pronounce it without the l or the r: Chemsfid
I hope you have enjoyed reading this post as much as I have enjoyed collecting these words and writing it . .
How about “intrical?” It should be “integral” but a lot of people confuse it with “intricate” so they combine the two words.
Philip McCann
That’s a good one! Thanks for the comment!
versatile (hostile & missile) and secretry are British English pronunciation.
“wooster” as in book or look (not Wister) for Worcester
The topic of mispronunciation + the love holiday = cute ways my 3-1/2 year old grandson says things. He’s rapidly learning the right way to say words without “baby-talk”, but still has problems with “sn-” words. Snow is ‘no. Snowman is ‘no-man. Snack is ‘nack. But the random word I decided never to correct (he’ll change it on his own eventually) is his version of marble––narvel.
Thanks for the great list!
How about: libary?
And the “rad” in Colorado is rad (like rat), not rod.
Radiator – not rahdiator.
Bob
I know how to pronounce acai. It is a-si-e with a long i and long e. Say the a as if you were saying “a” book or “alone.”.
That little word has three syllables???
Hi again, Arlene,
Is it OK put two Comments?
What about Feb-uary instead of February? Linda Jay
As many comments as you like! But I think we must have Febuary either last week or this week. Such a common one.
Router pronounced as roo’ ter is British. We Americans (and Australians) say rauw’ ter, whether we’re referring to the carpentry tool for carving wood edges or the box that sends WiFi around the house. Wikipedia confirmed my opinion on this (and added the Australian note).
Thank you for the clarification on that one!
Did you forget this one: judishuary for judiciary? Well,. I’m owney axiin’.
No one mentioned that one!
Well dang! So that’s how versatile is pronounced!
Apparently!
About “forte” – dictionary.com disagrees and allows both the one-syllable and two-syllable pronunciations. It also does the audio pronunciation both ways.
“prerogative” – pri-rog-uh-tiv, puh-rog-] (dictionary.com)
“amen” – [ey-men, ah-men] per dictionary.com; audio pronunciation is done both ways.
“Quincy” – both ways depending on which of four definitions (dictionary.com).
What about “Nevada”? dictionary.com provides [nuh-vad-uh, -vah-duh]; I tend to say it the first way but think the second sounds classier.
Finally, “Los Angeles”: [laws an-juh-luh s, -leez, los or, often, laws ang-guh-luh s, -leez, los] (dictionary.com). As a native, I always thought only the first pronunciation preceding was correct. In fact, as a native, I order that to be the only acceptable pronunciation! 🙂 If anyone refuses, just pronounce it as the initials.
Thanks, Diane! I say Navahda!
As I said, I think that’s the classier pronunciation. So you must be one classy dame! 🙂
Yikes! I think I’m guilty of a few mispronunciations. So easy to do when you don’t enunciate. Good piece!
We are all guilty of a few! Thank you!
Wunnerful, wunnerful (oops!), Arlene!
“acai” – could that mean OK?
“flamingo dancers” conjures up a great image.
And…when I was a kid, we lived in Des Moines for two years. Our neighbor said these three gems:
* chimley (which I see is on your list above), pokey-dots (for polka dots), and housies (for houses). Linda Jay
pokey-dots????? How cute! NOT. Thanks, Linda!