words that should be easy to pronounce but you can't pronounce

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months, or anything else that ends in "nths"

― oops (Oops), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 21:52 (nineteen years ago) link

this kid i knew in high school had trouble with certain contractions--instead of "wouldn't" or "shouldn't" he said "wunt" and "shunt". he couldn't say "couldn't" right either...

― mookieproof (mookieproof), Tuesday, 3 August 2004 22:01 (nineteen years ago) link

I can't park the car properly. It's always pahk the cah.

New Englandish.

― jim wentworth (wench), Wednesday, 4 August 2004 02:50 (nineteen years ago) link

i cannot pronounce statutory no matter how hard i try. this is an important issue for me since i have to say it numerous times daily at work and i am also studying law. people think i'm even more ditsy than i actually am.

― gem (trisk), Wednesday, 4 August 2004 03:12 (nineteen years ago) link

After years of work in coffee shops, I'd become actively annoyed when people would order 'expresso' rather than 'espresso.' I've got trouble saying 'Claude Debussy' - he always comes out "Clawedee Deebyousee," and Prokofiev always ends up 'Prokofovich.'

― x j e r e m y (x Jeremy), Wednesday, 4 August 2004 03:19 (nineteen years ago) link

I used to similarly foul up and say "Profokiev."

― roxymuzak (roxymuzak), Wednesday, 4 August 2004 03:21 (nineteen years ago) link

i also have trouble with archipelago. you don't have to say that out loud very often though so that's ok.

― gem (trisk), Wednesday, 4 August 2004 03:22 (nineteen years ago) link

I keep pronouncing 'orchid' like 'orchard'. Shits me to tears.

― Which Describes How You're Feeling All the Almanac (Autumn Almanac), Wednesday, 4 August 2004 03:23 (nineteen years ago) link

A transposition of sounds of two or more words, especially a ludicrous one, such as Let me sew you to your sheet for Let me show you to your seat. (dictonary.com)

On a very tangential note - I once worked for a guy named A1an R0se. I pointed out to him that his name was a spoonerism (anagram, transposition, what-have-you) for Anal Sore. He got really, really, disproportionately fucking mad.

― x j e r e m y (x Jeremy), Wednesday, 4 August 2004 03:26 (nineteen years ago) link

Maybe he was tormented as a kid by a group of intelligent bullies.

― oops (Oops), Wednesday, 4 August 2004 05:53 (nineteen years ago) link

Nukeyoular

Abu grabbagabbagabba hey-you know that prison camp

― George W. Bush (AaronHz), Wednesday, 4 August 2004 06:39 (nineteen years ago) link

S'il vous plait.

I was actually better than most of the people in my class at pronunciation (not at other stuff though), but that one phrase just never felt right to me.

― Dan I. (Dan I.), Wednesday, 4 August 2004 07:50 (nineteen years ago) link

I get humiliated when trying to pronounce humiliated.

― oops (Oops), Wednesday, 4 August 2004 07:53 (nineteen years ago) link

Fith and sicth. My mum does this too, though, so it's her fault.

― Markelby (Mark C), Wednesday, 4 August 2004 11:52 (nineteen years ago) link

my mother pronounces the word "parsley" "parz-lee" rather than "pass-lee" and for years I did too, until someone put me right on the matter.

― MarkH (MarkH), Wednesday, 4 August 2004 12:07 (nineteen years ago) link

duty to do.

― CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Wednesday, 4 August 2004 12:12 (nineteen years ago) link

I remember someone from the US (tho I don't remember who) reacting in horror when an English person said they were going to wipe the dew off their window.

― MarkH (MarkH), Wednesday, 4 August 2004 12:16 (nineteen years ago) link

Worry. I need to stop myself saying war-ry and say wuh-ry instead. But now as I'm typing it out I'm not sure either is right. I also say odditer instead of auditor because as a kid I first heard the word from a Glaswegian accountant. (I have a London accent.)

― beanz (beanz), Wednesday, 4 August 2004 12:17 (nineteen years ago) link

Gatport Airwick always trips me up.

― NickB (NickB), Wednesday, 4 August 2004 12:28 (nineteen years ago) link

Itinerary, sixth, paella, subtly and like Liz my workplace often gets very garbled on the phone - 'SusxLngwidjInstoot' kind of.

― Archel (Archel), Wednesday, 4 August 2004 12:32 (nineteen years ago) link

my mother pronounces the word "parsley" "parz-lee" rather than "pass-lee" and for years I did too, until someone put me right on the matter.

?!??!?!?

― ken c (ken c), Wednesday, 4 August 2004 12:45 (nineteen years ago) link

i learnt to say that word from Simon and Garfunkel and they say "PARRRRSLEY!"

― ken c (ken c), Wednesday, 4 August 2004 12:45 (nineteen years ago) link

and S&G are like my yardstick for measuring correct pronunciation.

― ken c (ken c), Wednesday, 4 August 2004 12:46 (nineteen years ago) link

But they are poxy Americans!

― Liz :x (Liz :x), Wednesday, 4 August 2004 12:47 (nineteen years ago) link

but i like americans!

― ken c (ken c), Wednesday, 4 August 2004 12:48 (nineteen years ago) link

i also say "possibilidees" rather than possibilities

e.g. while i look around for my possibilidees.

― ken c (ken c), Wednesday, 4 August 2004 12:51 (nineteen years ago) link

and chaainsahhhhhh rather than chainsoaw

― ken c (ken c), Wednesday, 4 August 2004 12:51 (nineteen years ago) link

Iron.

― oops (Oops), Wednesday, 4 August 2004 18:30 (nineteen years ago) link

Wennsday instead of Wedensday.

― Michael White (Hereward), Wednesday, 4 August 2004 18:35 (nineteen years ago) link

or even Wednesday.

― Michael White (Hereward), Wednesday, 4 August 2004 18:35 (nineteen years ago) link

Does anyone pronounce it some other way besides "Wennsday"? Not around my parts they don't.

― oops (Oops), Wednesday, 4 August 2004 18:36 (nineteen years ago) link

seven months pass...

why can't anyone pronounce "nuptials" right? nup - shulls. not nup - shoe - ulls.

― jbr (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 4 March 2005 00:09 (nineteen years ago) link

hmmm, i hear it with a "ch" rather than an "sh"...

― gygax! (gygax!), Friday, 4 March 2005 00:25 (nineteen years ago) link

Me too.

― Michael White (Hereward), Friday, 4 March 2005 00:31 (nineteen years ago) link

aubade

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Friday, 4 March 2005 00:35 (nineteen years ago) link

what about 'nupe choo ulls'?

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Friday, 4 March 2005 00:35 (nineteen years ago) link

actually the 'p' and the 't' are supposed to be silent

― j blount (papa la bas), Friday, 4 March 2005 00:42 (nineteen years ago) link

GWB cracks my shit up when he pronounces "mullahs" as "moo-lahs." It's "mull-ahs," right?

I, on the other hand, have never pronounced anything incorrectly.

― sugarpants (sugarpants), Friday, 4 March 2005 00:49 (nineteen years ago) link

actually the 'p' and the 't' are supposed to be silent

NUH-YALLZ????

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Friday, 4 March 2005 00:51 (nineteen years ago) link

Candicepants, your boyfriend is out of town, surely hyuo can find something bettert o be doing!?!?

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Friday, 4 March 2005 00:52 (nineteen years ago) link

I can't ever quite get "futile" right on first pass. I'm always in a hurry and say "feudal".

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Friday, 4 March 2005 00:53 (nineteen years ago) link

Then I repeat myself all fyoo-TAEuhl and sound like a cartoon.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Friday, 4 March 2005 00:54 (nineteen years ago) link

Candicepants, your boyfriend is out of town, surely hyuo can find something bettert o be doing!?!?

HELL NO that would involve leaving the house and talking to people!

― sugarpants (sugarpants), Friday, 4 March 2005 01:34 (nineteen years ago) link

nihttp://cache.lexico.com/dictionary/graphics/AHD4/GIF/ubreve.gifphttp://cache.lexico.com/dictionary/graphics/AHD4/GIF/prime.gifshihttp://cache.lexico.com/dictionary/graphics/AHD4/GIF/schwa.gifl, -chihttp://cache.lexico.com/dictionary/graphics/AHD4/GIF/schwa.gifl

― jbr (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 4 March 2005 02:29 (nineteen years ago) link

fuck, i had a feeling that wouldn't work

― jbr (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 4 March 2005 02:29 (nineteen years ago) link

i can't say 'rural' very well.

― ai lien (kold_krush), Friday, 4 March 2005 03:13 (nineteen years ago) link

Perhaps more of a misreading I guess but I went for ever calling that game Morrowind "Morrowmind".

Also some of these pronunciation things seem regional rather than wrong, ya? Not espresso tho, I'm with Jeremy on that one - IT IS NOT EXPRESSO ARGH.

My nan says maintenance as "maintain-ants", ie the same way maintain is said.

― Trayce (trayce), Friday, 4 March 2005 03:35 (nineteen years ago) link

I'm totally with ailen on 'Rural'. It's the only word that really troubles me.

My Dad has always pronounced available as 'avaidable'. I have no idea where he gets the 'd' from. It always frustrated me that someone could fuck up such a simple word. And in such a weird way.

― Seuss, Friday, 4 March 2005 08:23 (nineteen years ago) link

I've never been able to say 'economical' in my entire life. I remember being 7 years old and practicing on the schoolbus!

― Remy (null) (x Jeremy), Friday, 4 March 2005 08:24 (nineteen years ago) link

"excuse me" comes out "ex-cruise me."

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Friday, 4 March 2005 08:32 (nineteen years ago) link

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Rural :'(

― Scampidocio (Le Bateau Ivre), Sunday, 2 August 2020 08:46 (three years ago) link

When I was a child I always had problems with the 'unvoiced th' /θ/ sound - and that is a problem for an English speaker! And it carried over into adulthood so I sometimes found myself having to think about pronouncing words before I said them - I'm OK now though, sorry, though.

― Sonny Shamrock (Tom D.), Sunday, 2 August 2020 09:34 (three years ago) link

I was tongueties as a kid so although it was operated on when I was 6ish I strugged to articulate some words and still have mental blocks on. I tend to refactor sentences around them if I can so "you should" becomes "you ought to", "just because" becomes "mainly because" anything involving the dishwasher avoids the name of the machine itself, I pronounce "schedule" the american way with a hard "k" sound. Lots of other examples I'm no longer even conscious of. ( there's another one... "conscious" becomes "cognisant"!)

― thomasintrouble, Sunday, 2 August 2020 09:49 (three years ago) link

https://64.media.tumblr.com/b6b527f27309ea3678704ef206425f26/tumblr_o856abYMZl1u2if3uo1_400.png

― A True White Kid that can Jump (Granny Dainger), Sunday, 2 August 2020 10:51 (three years ago) link

My pronunciation of "Minneapolis" often gets an extra syllable like "Indianapolis"

― Vinnie, Sunday, 2 August 2020 11:02 (three years ago) link

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