The Pronunciation Thread

Adrian_Thompson (Forum Supporter) said:

Well Ian in English is pronounced 'E-an', but a lot of people here in the USA pronounces it as I-an.

Another Ian here -- I've also encountered people who want to pronounced it "ayn".  When I first moved to the US in Maryland hardly anyone pronounce it properly.  When I moved to California in the late 80s things got a lot better, and these days I rarely encounter anyone who has trouble.

My brother has an even harder time, as his name is spelled Iain, same pronunciation as Ian, but somehow the extra I messes people up. 

RoddyMac17 said:

Here's a few:

 

Cholmondeley - pronounced chum-lee 

Milngavie - pronounced mul-guy

Beaulieu  - pronounced bew-lee

All are towns/villages in the UK

The funny thing is I would never have thought to mention any of those.  I've never heard anyone here try to pronounce them, so it would never have occurred to me that they could be difficult or unusual, to me they just are what they are! 

I grew up on Slaithwaite Rd, named as it goes over the hill to the town of Slaithwaite.  The correct pronunciation of that is Sl-owe-IT

Just thought of another name, but this time Irish in origin.  Siobhan, correctly pronounced 'Shevaun', incorrectly pronounced as..... well a whole slew of hilarious, err, well sounds.  

Just thought of another name, but this time Irish in origin.  Siobhan

Och, that's an easy one.  Try Soarise, Aoife, Eoin, or Ossian.  There's been an influx of Irish in Vancouver recently (or at least around where I live), so I've had to learn how to say peoples names correctly.  

I thought I had a stroke when I first moved to Austin. Turns out they just have their own way of pronouncing things

Manor -> may-nor
Burnet -> burn-it
Manchaca -> man-shack
Pedernales -> per-duh-nal-iss
New Braunfels -> new brawns-fulls
Guadalupe -> gwad-uh-loop
Koenig -> kay-nig
Parmer -> palmer
Elgin -> el-ghin  (hard G)
Loop 1 -> mo-pack
Gruene -> green
Llano -> lan-oh
San Marcos -> san mar-cuss
Buchanan -> buck-an-un

This is fun..

Have a coworker with first name spelled Thabang. Pronounced Ta-wah-nee. No idea how.

I still chuckle when I hear new Englanders use words like drawing (drawring) and lawr (law).

On local Atlanta radio there is a female radio personality who can't say baker... she says "becker". Literally on commercials.

There is a male radio personality who says sill the dill but he thinks he is saying seal the deal.

My Venezuelan buddy laughs about how words like food, good, mood, blood frustrate him - I understand why.

Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) said:

Come to PA.

North Versailles = North "ver-SALES."
Dubois = "DO-boys"
Muench St = "Minnick" St
Forster St = "Foster" St
Cavalry Rd = "Calvary" Rd
West Lebanon = "Wess Lev'n"
Primanti's Restaurant = "Permanny's"
House = "Hass" in western PA, "Hice" in central PA, and "Hoce" in Philly.
For many folks, Water = "warter" in western PA and "wooder" in Philly.
 

Pennsylvania is bad for this.  Some of our town names have native american roots, and I'm sure we've butchered the pronunciations for  hundreds of years.  But then, each region of the state has its own accents too.  We can't even agree on the same name for soda or shopping carts.

Lancaster: Lang-kiss-ter

Schuylkill: Skoo-kill

Bala Cynwyd: Bala Kin-wood

Conococheague Creek: I'm still not sure, and I live near it. Kon-a-ka-jig?

Porsche

Apis Mellifera said:

Porsche

Isuzu. Cheveray. 

eMy last name is Kea.  Rhymes with sea, tea, pea.  But a lot of people try way too hard and say Kee uh.  Usually these are telemarketers, but a lot of medical peeps mess it up too.   It used to be spelled it Key, but a relative from the early 1800s changed his spelling when he found some old family furniture with it spelled Kea and embraced it.  That causes untold problems trying to research my ancestry.  It also used to be spelled Kee and Kae.  Our DNA is Danish, so we were apparently Viking raiders that infested England.      

I just watched a documentary on RUF Porsches and found out I've been pronouncing their name wrong (it's said in the first few seconds of the video if you don't want to watch it all.)

fullbeans said:

I thought I had a stroke when I first moved to Austin. Turns out they just have their own way of pronouncing things

There are some street signs along Loop 1 that say Mopac, comes from the railroad along side being/was called the Missouri-Pacific line.

Parmer Lane and Palmer Events Center are pronounced differently, I think people are confusing them and just calling them both the same.

Now they say Mueller should be pronounced Miller when it's been Mule-ler as long as I've known it.

Most of Texas is just mangled Spanish or whatever colonial language was used and then Americanized.

Palacios = "Pa-lashes"

I find Houston interesting, here it's Hue-stin but up north it's House-stin.

fullbeans said:

I thought I had a stroke when I first moved to Austin. Turns out they just have their own way of pronouncing things

Koenig -> kay-nig

This one is technically correct which is especially hilarious among the others.

ok y'all try this...

Kuykendahl..........ker ken doll (NW Houston)

In reply to Nitroracer (Forum Supporter) :

or Gobs/Whoopie Pies.

I think us Okies just tawk funny. My last name is Hall, but a lot of time talking on the phone people think it sounds like "Hull"

Dad's shop is 15ish minutes from Cairo, Ga. home of Mule Day!

Its not pronounced Cairo, like the Egyptian city but closer to "kay-row"  it is in Georgia afterall

I come from rural central Indiana where we warsh our clothes, the president lives in Warshington and bridges cross the crick.

If youre ever interested in a one-word fight starter, mispronounce Louisville by saying anything other than luh-vull while in central Kentucky

In reply to bobzilla :

They speak pittsburghese in Indiana? Weird world

A few from NC:

Durham - Durm

Beaufort - Bow-fort (as opposed to Beaufort SC, pronounced Bew-fert)

Lejeune - Lajern 

Corolla - Cor-awl-la

bobzilla said:

I come from rural central Indiana where we warsh our clothes, the president lives in Warshington and bridges cross the crick.

As a former Evansville resident, I can confirm.  Those cricks usually have carp in them which is sometimes pronounced Corp.  You guys also have brain sandwiches available at many diners.  Pro tip... eating brains doesn't make you smarter, it makes you a zombie suspect.

Mr_Asa said:

Dad's shop is 15ish minutes from Cairo, Ga. home of Mule Day!

Its not pronounced Cairo, like the Egyptian city but closer to "kay-row"  it is in Georgia afterall

This whole thing reminds me of a funny story from my honeymoon.  We did Rt 66 from Chicago to L.A in a travel trailer.  We were somewhere in OK and stopped at a QT station for beef jerky and diesel.  Wife and I went in the store and we both noticed the girl behind the counter was stunningly beautiful.  While choosing our jerky flavor, we joked about how we could take her out to the RV and [insert adult activity here]

I got up to the counter, the hottie rung up my snacks, and said, "You wanna poke?"  My wife nearly spit her slurpie out her nose.  The girl held up a plastic bag and repeated, "a poke?  For your stuff?"

That day I learned that some regions call a bag a poke.  I'm glad I was speechless when she asked me or I might have said something way out of context.

Adrian said "I love this E36 M3." Me too. But I'd first say "oh my, my, oh hell yes," I love this E36 M3.

So here's one: Reims (as in the old French GP circuit). Should it be Reems? Rims? RRRonch (rolled r's)? Or something else?

This thread has what it takes to be a long term epoch thread, because I personally continuously come up against names, places, and words which I have no idea how to pronounce correctly. Or, I just pronounce it wrong and look like an illiterate boob. So I can keep this thread going forever.