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Words I Don't Know How To Pronounce..

(154 Posts)
gettingonabit Sat 02-Jul-16 21:32:40

Like tuberose, for example. Is it tuber-ose, or tube-rose?

Another one is aspartame. Is it aspart-aym? Or aspart-amee?

And don't get me going on pedagogy Is it peda-godgy or peda-goggy?

And pedagogical? I don't even want to go there!

And as for uranus- when I was a kid it was always your-anus. Cue giggles round the classroom..

It took me until I was in College to realise that epitome is not pronounced eppy-tome and to this day I don't know if segway and segue are the same thing.

Any more you can think of, o wise ones?

NfkDumpling Mon 04-Jul-16 06:08:19

Did you mean chimbley BBbevan? Thas Norfik tha' is! Along with fillum for film.

BBbevan Mon 04-Jul-16 05:27:59

Lots of people say 'susstificate' for certificate around here, and chimney for chimney

ninathenana Mon 04-Jul-16 01:22:45

Jalima down sarf we say grass with a long a

Phoebes Sun 03-Jul-16 23:01:01

My friend always used to pronounce "misled" as "mizzled"!

gulligranny Sun 03-Jul-16 21:57:56

There's a housing association in my area called Paradigm ... which I think is pronounced paradime. But why choose such a difficult name to start with?

Currently I am shouting at the tv/radio when I hear "Sunk" used instead of "Sank" (e.g. Rory McIlroy sunk a putt from 25 yards). And I am definitely sitting at my computer, I am not sat at it.

Ana Sun 03-Jul-16 21:08:26

But that website doesn't take into account regional accents, chrissyh And I've come across some very dodgy pronunciations given on it..grin

Bellanonna Sun 03-Jul-16 20:54:48

Same as Indi.

chrissyh Sun 03-Jul-16 20:49:58

There is an excellent website called 'howjsay' which tells you how to pronounce words.

Indinana Sun 03-Jul-16 20:48:57

Where I come from, we say crass, lass and mass with a short 'a', and grass, pass and glass with a long 'a'. Daft, I know (and that's daft with a long 'a' grin).
Then, to make things even more complicated, there's a double bass, which is pronounced 'bayss' confused

Jalima Sun 03-Jul-16 20:15:24

Crass rhymes with lass where I come from. Crass rhyming with grass would sound really snobby here.
I thought crass rhymed with lass rhymed with grass confused
(short 'a')

rosesarered Sun 03-Jul-16 20:11:47

You say potato and I say po-tata...etc ( let's call the whole thing off.)

Jalima Sun 03-Jul-16 20:11:09

Suddenly, all TV interviewers and interviewees begin their pieces to camera with the word 'so'. Who started that fad?
It's obligatory, along with the nodding of the head grin Bucksfizz

Indinana Sun 03-Jul-16 20:05:21

An ex colleague of my DD used to drive her mad by always pronouncing 'pull' to rhyme with skull instead of bull. She said it sounded absolutely ridiculous! I used to work with someone who insisted on saying 'plarstic'. But affectation was her middle name grin.

Lilyflower Sun 03-Jul-16 20:04:24

Lichen.
Used to be lichen as in kitchen.
Now lichen as in liken.
Doh!

A real problem foe me was 'concupiscence' which is a biblical no-no. It's mentioned in 'Measure For Measure' which I used to teach so I had to block it out in syllables as "Con. Kew. Piss. Sense."

Newquay Sun 03-Jul-16 19:58:30

Towts

Newquay Sun 03-Jul-16 19:58:05

One of our DDs worked in the local M&S while in the 6th form and had a colleague who used to ask her to check the price of the mangy towts-mange tout! They've been mangy (hard g) towns ever sincesmile

gettingonabit Sun 03-Jul-16 19:39:55

polly I remember those pesky unpronounceable things in My Family and Other Animals.
I say sick-AR-ders but I haven't a clue really.

Another one I'm never sure of is Madonna's surname ciccone. Just as well she doesn't use it much!

pollyperkins Sun 03-Jul-16 19:05:11

As a child i used to say bed-raggled with the emphasis on the first syllable as if youd got raggled in bed! And lots of children read Hermione as herm -i -own in Harry Potter until the film came out as they realised it was herm- eye- onee!

pollyperkins Sun 03-Jul-16 18:49:31

Just remembered cicadas! Read abouvthem and in my head said kick-a-das with even emphasis. I know thats wrong now but cant remember whats right. Is it chik-ay-das with emphasis on second syllable?

Belleringer Sun 03-Jul-16 18:23:34

Is it sub-sid-ence or sub-side-ence?

ninathenana Sun 03-Jul-16 17:22:27

Not strictly speaking I know but ........

ninathenana Sun 03-Jul-16 17:20:33

Crass rhymes with lass where I come from. Crass rhyming with grass would sound really snobby here.
Crass in fact grin

Spangles1963 Sun 03-Jul-16 17:15:29

A word I always struggle with is 'crass'. Does it rhyme with 'grass' with a long 'a'sound,or 'lass' with a short 'a'?

granjura Sun 03-Jul-16 17:02:22

phonemic? Never heard the word before- what happened to phonetics?

Elrel Sun 03-Jul-16 17:01:16

Once met at a party a student of electromicroscopy who kindly spent the evening teaching me to say it as we downed wine ...