Words I Don't Know How To Pronounce..

Lichen. Until a couple of years ago I said it as it's spelt. Only recently I learned it was pronounced Liken.

In my childhood it was known as the Ti-volley cinema and Tirronie Power. (Tivoli and Tyrone). Loved DMiL's dinnersaw. (Dinosaur). My Scottish grandmother said scons, but Kindle's auto correct wanted it to be scones!.

Nelliemoser, my very first day in the UK, I had to get to Gloucester Road- it took me at least 5 minutes to buy a tube ticket! In the end I had to write it down- and oh they laughed, including the queue that had built up behind me.

Worst is Worcester (Wooster) especially with 'shire' at the end (which on its own is shire as in shire horse!) and even worst when you add 'sauce'. An exercise my English students love, Worcestershire sauce' ...

And of course I lived for 3 decades + in Lesta.

My daughter, when learning to read said Nursy Hugs for Nerys Hughes, Those Welsh pronounciations get the unwary ever time

Being from the Midlands I always say 'scon' rather than 'scone' (as in own).

However, these days I say 'I'm catching the bus into town' rather than 'I'm going down the town on the buz, duck'.

Aspirational or what!

I once amused some people by saying "Tow-cester" instead of "Toaster". The small town where I live can be tricky if you don't know it.

I still find Aspartame confusing I am not sure I have ever heard an official pronunciation.

JessA is nidifugous about small birds leaving the nest? I am piecing together nid as nest and fugous as derivitive of fugitive?
I am still not quite sure what segue means let alone pronounce it.

If the pronounciations are written like this..... Pronunciation: /prəˌnʌnsɪˈeɪʃ(ə)nuni in the more learned dictionaries they don't help me at all.

If you can't pronounce the word in the first place why do the make it more difficult by using what is an even more difficult "language".
Fortunately more and more places are writing tricky words in plain English not these flipping Hi-row-gli-fics. hieroglyphics (the gli bit) is stll tricky. Never mind it makes for variety.

Scone to rhyme with don.
Bath not barth, plants not plarnts and garridge rather than gararge!
When DS was two, he spent an age arguing with his 'southern' cousin about a big red double decker vehicle being a bus or a bas.....it's a bus or in parts of Lancashire a buz!

When I was a student nurse (eons ago) I struggled as many do with the pronunciation of all the medical terms. A ward sister made me say sphygmomanometer a dozen times after she heard me called it the sfig - like everyone else did.

They say you should never mock someone who mispronounces a word because they probably learned it from reading.

My problem used to be "Shrewsbury " When I moved to Shropshire I asked advice from a local person who explained: "If you say "Shrowsbury" people will call you affected but if you say "Shoes bury" others will call you common. So take your pick!

The poem I posted yesterday is fun to read with the grandchildren, once they are good readers. People so often say English is soooo easy, compared to German or French- but pronunciation is a nightmare as the same letters are pronounced totally differently depending on the word, and totally differently for the same word- depending on the meaning or grammatical context As in I read, I've read, I read, reading - oh then the town Reading).

And phrasal verbs are also a nightmare- a tiny preposition changes the whole thing. And worse, the same verb, with the same preposition, can mean a whole variety of things which are totally different and un-connected. As in 'put down' or 'put up'

Put me down for the steak
Stop putting me down
He had to have the cat put down
etc.

Elrel- my head is still trying to understand your post of 22:24:43 last night. About 'lingerie' - where is the correct 'a' - in lingerie?

lin is pronounced like the French bred 'pain'. Just puzzled.

My late FIL used to delight in telling the story of his boss misprouncing compromise. He used to say, com promise and no one had the nerve to correct him.

In music the Italian word segue pronounced segway is used at the of movement when the next movement follows on straight aWay. Havent heard it used anywhere else.

In Chic Murray's book he tells of a boy he knew who was called Gooey Scott. His mother had taken the name from a book, and had never actually heard it pronounced. It was only when he took his birth certificate to school that they discovered his name was Guy.

( This may, or may not be true!)

I always stumble over chiropodist - does it start with 'sh' or 'k'? And ebullient - is it e-bull-ient (like the animal) or e-bool-ient?

I say scons - from South Wales with Wiltshire roots, Hubby from Bristol says scones to rhyme with stones , we've had many ahpy hour arguing over this

Although it is true that a good (big/learners) dictionary will give you the correct pronunciation, often offering UK or US alternatives, you may need to learn the phonetic alphabet to be able to take advantage of this. You can get dictionary and/or pronunciation apps which will speak to you - useless as conversationalists, but brilliant for pronunciation

I am southern born and bred and have always rhymed scones with stones as have almost everyone I've known. I may be wrong here, but rhyming the word with dons always felt to me to be an aspiring upper class affectation.

DH says scons and I say scones but we only grew up 15 miles apart. Admittedly, he was slightly further south than I!

Eirel I'm Kentish born and bred and I and everyone I know says scones(stones).
Curious to know where you are to have picked up scones (dons)

Happy to be corrected Jalima

ninathenana

It's Leftenant Commander in the Royal Navy too!!
Lootenant is American (as in Lootenant Cable in South Pacific).

I thought a leftenant was army and a lootenant navy as well as being English and American pronunciations.

Always said scones to rhyme with stones until I moved south!

Yes GJ. I had an Irish mother who rhymed scones with stones and so that is what I call them, while most people I know say scons.