Don't use a word if you can't pronounce it correctly!

I was looking at ceramic hobs in Curry's and asked a young lad member of staff for more info. He said "Do you want a kerra-mick one?"

A senior staff member happened to overhear and said to me "I know, but we keep him on because he's a whizz with computers!"

I do indeed Nonnie (what was your name then?)
Poor boy, how we sniggered once he was out of earshot.

And the dinosaur Diplo do cus has become Diplod o cus

DH's pet hat is dissection pronounced di- ssection.

We had one like that a few weeks ago Jane. DH went up to the bar in a theatre and asked for a glass of red wine. "ordinary or superior" "What's the difference" "Marrlott or Sovignon". We won't ever drink merlot again, it will now always be marrlott.

Do any of you remember a Birmingham meet up some years ago when we moved on to a hotel for a drink. We asked for a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc and the waiter asked us if we wanted red or white. I seem to remember we all kept straight faces and said 'white please' until he had gone to get it.

I answered that question as Bow de see a Grannyknot when Armstrong’s pronunciation was Boodika I shouted, oh, make up your mind ?

What about when pronunciations are willy-nilly changed? On the quiz show Pointless last night, Alexander Armstrong said that Boo-di-ka was pronounced Bow-de-see-a when he was at school. (Boadicea).

That made me feel better for the time I was laughed at (really) at work for pronouncing it as Boodika.

annsixty pictureskew was one of my dad’s favourites, thanks for the memory

We had a mispronunciation incident in a small diner in deepest North Carolina once.

Waitress (aged about 15) can I get you guys drinks?
Us: Do you have wine?
Waitress <goes off to check, looking puzzled> yes Sir, we do.
Me: What kind?
Waitress: Red or white.
Me: what sort of white? Pinot Grigio?
Waitress: <goes away and comes back after some time> It’s Chab-liss, ma’am.

Almost needless to say, it wasn’t Chablis as we know it

Pity it's not warm enough to sit out in the gaze-bow, eating cruddites.

Of course. She was a character from Greek mythology as I understand

www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/hesione

And I once taught a Hesione which was pronounced Hez-*eye*-on-ee

PECS and Maggiemaybe
I quote...
“Sir Menzies "Ming " Campbell is one of the most respected and successful politicians of his generation. He was MP North East Fife.”
And rest the case for Ming-iss!

My late DM nearly fell off her chair laughing when I read Stephen as Step-hen (I must have been about 6).
And I say lattay and Pretzo.
And how is clematis pronounced? Some people say clem-ay-tis with the stress on the ay, and some say clem-a-tis with a short a and stress the clem bit. I never know!

* maggie* I have known a Mr & Mrs Menzies for years. They get cross when folk called them ming-iss! Sometimes it is hard to know!

After reading this thread I spent long periods of time trying to remember a word we always deliberately mispronounced when we used to holiday with one couple of dear friends many moons ago.
It came to me in the middle of the night as these things often do.
It was picturesque which we always pronounced pictureskew.
We got some odd looks if anyone overheard.

Re Quinoa.. it can be pronounced either way: kinwah or kinowah..as local dialects in the regions, in S America, where it is grown vary!

Oh and have we had Menzies - Ming-iss?
I was mispronouncing the name of our paper shop for all those years? Too late to make amends now!

If you go to Google Translate, put in a word and, if it doesn't come up with the original language (latte comes up as English) change it - in this case to Italian. Then click on the sound button and listen to a native speaker say it. Italians say 'latte' very differently from the English version.
I have a friend who always says, 'pronounciation', she quite a Mrs Malaprop but I get a bit of secret fun from her 'mispronounciation'.

I once corrected my Mum when she said Go-eth, rather than Goethe (gerter - approx) and she looked so ashamed that it's stayed with me as a moment I wish I could recall.

Oh and have we had Menzies - Ming-iss?

Of course she would be gmelon that's the story of my life too.
Regarding the latte, I always say 'lattay' but why do some people say 'parsta' and not pasta.

TerriBull
When my youngest son was a newborn my husband and I went out of our way to avoid the birth certificate being signed by Mrs De'ath at the local registry office.
We found out her working hours to try to avoid her.
I didn't want Death on the birth certificate of my baby.
Of course, she was filling in for a sick colleague the day we went. Of course she was.

Quinoa . (Keen-wah)
Guilty of pronouncing it Kwin-o-ah, until corrected.

Mainwaring = Mannering

Dalziel = Dee - all

I had a friend who called their daughter Dalziel, a family name, pronounced as given. I think the child decided when she was 10 to be called by her middle name, something simple like Elizabeth

How about Gooey? A mother insisted that was how her son's name was pronounced.
She'd read a lovely book while pregnant with Guy the hero!

Percy phone is how one of my children pronounced Persephone back in primary school.