Entertaining mispronunciations

Never lean on the 'leans

The always say "Merry-land" in "1776." Maybe that was the accepted pronunciation at the time.

During the Branch-Davidian standoff, foreign reporters pronounced Waco as Whacko, which delighted me. (It's pronounced Way-koh, FWIW.)

Cay-roh.

When the movie August: Osage County came out in 2013, all the dipshit hipster film critics who’ve never left Brooklyn or Silver Lake kept pronouncing it “o-SAZZZZH.”

It's Pitts-bur-uh that always throws me.

R2 as it was named for the then Queen Consort Henrietta Maria, known in Britain as Mary, I suspect people would’ve said Mary Land or Mary’s Land. Also, because it was famously a haven for Catholics, many probably assumed it was the Virgin Mary, which would also fit with their neighbor Virginia, creating confusion for non natives.

Meryl Land.

Sounds like the scenery is getting chewed.

My Ontario ex, who lived in Edinburgh for a year, insisted on pronouncing it “edinburrow”. Super cringe

As a Canadian child riding on trains in England’s North West in the seventies with my English parents, though, I was always perplexed when they’d announce there was food available in the “buffit car”.

^^ er, I mean to say that the British Rail employees announced it, not my parents!

Go live in India and you can laugh at mispronunciations until your spleen bursts up.

An elderly relative of mine was in the British Army during the Second World War, stationed in Egypt. After the war, he wanted to do some sightseeing but didn’t have a map, so he stopped a fellow in the street and said, ‘Excuse me, how do I get to the sar-co-FAY-gus?’

Years ago I heard someone raving over that magnificent black soprano, LAY-on-TEE-nuh PRRREEE-chuh, with a heavily rolled R.

I still find it amusing when French friends pronounce friends as fwends.

R3 They also sometimes still call Houston, Texas House-ton, although words seems to have gotten out about that one.

Californians used to love a day trip to see Tía Juana.

You know, Tía Juana. I think she lives in Tíjuana.

I thought La Jolla was pronounced "La Hoya" until I was 25, when I met Spencer.

^ I mean spelled "La Hoya."

r17

They said MARY-land, not merry-land. The two words sound different from each other, and 'marry' sounds different from either one of them.

Those who don't know that Oregon ends in -gun.

On "American Idol," Simon was always calling Paula "Pauler."

[quote] They said MARY-land, not merry-land. The two words sound different from each other, and 'marry' sounds different from either one of them.

You are in the minority. The majority of Americans properly pronounce them the same.

Houston Street in Manhattan is pronounced House-ton. The street and the city in Texas are named after two different men who pronounced their names differently.

When the Brits say a very English name like New York they say it beautifully.

And they sound like idiots when they do so, r22.

You are correct, however. One of the questions on that "Where do you come from?" pronunciation test use to separate NY/NJ speakers from the rest of you is the "Mary, marry, merry" mess.

Pitts-bur-ah is actually the correct pronunciation because the city was named in the Scottish style (think Edinburgh).

[quote] And they sound like idiots when they do so, [R22].

I agree that people pronouncing them differently sound uneducated.

[quote] They also sometimes still call Houston, Texas House-ton, although words seems to have gotten out about that one.

[quote] Houston Street in Manhattan is pronounced House-ton. The street and the city in Texas are named after two different men who pronounced their names differently.

Brits actually pronounce the city in Texas as “Hoo-ston”.

Sign: Free Russian Jewry

"Pull over, I want to see what they have!"

The way many Brits say "pasta" and "oregano" is amusing.

R19 I have no idea how they could possibly sound different to each other.

[quote] The way many Brits say "pasta" and "oregano" is amusing.

It’s grating, as is their pronunciation of taco.

Tap-ass, often said by Brits who have actually been to Spain yet still butcher the name.

'Las Vegas' - how did it become 'LOS Vegas'?

Add pita bread to the mix, r32.

Brits like James Corden say Los “Anjeleeze.”

Granted, many Americans aren’t saying it correctly, either, but their pronunciation is a bit closer to the proper way.

I had a friend who'd read recently finished reading a play, and she excitedly told me the main character had been subjected to a "loo'-bee-too-mee." I said, "Oh... I think you mean "lobotomy."

ERA

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

Oops. R37 here. Strike "read." I guess I had a surprise lobotomy.

Some friends of my parents moved from Lansing to Los Angeles and used to pronounce "Sepulveda" Blvd. as "Sepple Vida" Blvd.

quinoa

*

[quote]“Why 80 per cent of British people struggle to pronounce common words”

Fruit and Veg

Veg reminds me of VAG

This is the ultimate American accent quiz, it narrowed me down to the zip codes I've lived in.

They've apparently since released a British and Irish version of the same quiz. Can't vouch for its accuracy.

Marylebone

when a fat, stupid slob spelled covfefe!

R49 When the who did what?

Illanoise!

I could listen to Brits mangle Spanish all day. In particular the way they say Taco and Nicaragua cracks me up.

Fooled around with a guy several years ago & as we were making out in an alley, I invited him over to my place & asked what he might be up for. He looks at me, smiles & says "maybe some 'fella-TEE-oh." I was like "what is that?" & he says "You know! Like 'oral fella-TEE-oh!" I was laughing too hard & told him that is not how "fellatio" is pronounced!

Hilarious! Of course Americans are famous for their pronunciation.

Tourists in London in the early1970s wanting a taxi to visit the Tutankhamun exhibition were often delivered to Tooting Common.

Always find these threads funny because invariably, as OP has done, they get it wrong with how Brits actually pronounce things! As R19 points out, we would say it "MARY-LAND" not Merry Land, I don't know where you would have got that from? I'm pretty sure it's meant to be pronounced "Mah-ruh-lin" but I don't think that's common knowledge for Brits - there is a cookie brand here called Maryland and I have only ever heard people call it MARY-LAND.

As for New Orleans, I guess it's meant to be "Or-Luns" but really, you're pronouncing it incorrectly too as it's "Or-Lee-On" if you want to get pedantic.

R28 I would say Brits are more likely to say Houston - HEW-STUN than "HOO" just FYI. I have never heard anyone say "Whitney Hoostun" for example.

“Wuh-ter” for water from the Baltimore natives.

R56 You pronounce Mary and Merry differently?

The MA edition:

Swansea = Swan-C

Quincy = Quin-C

Scituate = rhymes with "bitch you ate"

Athol = "asshole," but with a lisp

Assonet = "ass on it"

Worcester = too many mispronunciations to list, most having three syllables

Gloucester = see Worcester

Leicester = see Worcester

Leominster = four syllables unless they throw in a fifth, "Leo Minister"

Raynham = Rayn-ham

Needham = Need-ham

And weirdest of all, Lake Nippenicket = Lake Nippenetick

I used to work at a call center and I had to forward calls from Massachusetts numbers a few times because I straight up couldn't understand them.

I thought the Louisiana city is NAW-lins.

And we find it entertaining when Americans can't pronounce places like Leicester Worcester and Gloucester as we do, because they're so insular they've never heard of the places- despite there being a Worcester, MA.

Let's see you pronounce that fabled breakfast treat kedgeree properly without a lesson first. And those idiotic long Os you insist on inserting into the word "scone".

Talk about reaching the bottom of the barrel for a spasm of Brit-hate.

How fat does everybody think OP is?

Serious question how should you pronounce Maryland. New Orleans, etc

When you're from NY or NJ, "Maryland" sounds like "Marilyn" with a D on the end. Other places will make it sound like "Mary."

R56 and R64 Maryland is pronounced like either Marilyn or Merlin. I grew up in Philadelphia and say Marilyn, although when I moved to Maryland my parents pronounced it as Merlin. The D is usually silent.

[quote]those idiotic long Os you insist on inserting into the word "scone".

I've heard both pronunciations (skone and skahn) on lots of British TV shows (from British native speakers.) I'm also starting to notice American pronunciations creeping into Britain as well--I've started hearing SKED-jool instead of SHED-jool, as well as MY-grain instead of ME-grain.

R62 Plenty of Non-British examples all over this thread. Silly Brit!

Yes R58, they are two different words. Can Americans really not distinguish between the two?

Merry vs Mare-ee are clearly different. If a British person called someone Merry when their name was Mary, you'd look at them like they had gone mad.

R67 when have you ever heard a British person call a scone 'skahn'?? It's either 'scohne' (rhymes with bone) or 'scon' (rhymes with gone).

Skahn sounds like it would rhyme with BARN and no one calls it that!

The mary-marry-merry merger distribution (US)

R69 We pronounce them both as Mare-ee.

Unless we're from New Jersey or Eastern Massachusetts, apparently, according to R71.

I’m from Atlanta and one of the major roads is Ponce de Leon, which of course we Southerners mangled into “Pawnce-duh-LEE-on.” I can always tell an out of towner if they ask for “Pohnce-ay-day-lee-OHN.”

R64 It's New OR-linz, with the emphasis on the first syllable. Often comes out as N'Or-linz. The people that live there often pronounce "or" as "ah" so they'll say something more along the lines of "Nawlinz."

Winston Churchill once referred to QE (the queen mother) as "the Queer old Dean"..........not kidding.....

Driving through Amarillo, TX...one comes across the "ROSS-OSSAGE" exit while on the main interstate through town. I get a chuckle about that every time I drive through.

R70 Skahn is the American approximation of scon, which we would read as having a long vowel, or at least I would.

In most of the US, UK Guy/r69, the three words are usually pronounced "meery," rhyming with "cheery." It's insane-making if you're from the northeast. Even worse is the way they say "horror", which sounds like "whore."

R75 A very very olde joke, usually attributed to a master at Cambridge or was it Oxford proposing a toast.

[quote] In most of the US, UK Guy/[R69], the three words are usually pronounced "meery," rhyming with "cheery."

It’s like Mary Cherry on the TV show Popular.

R78 I've never heard that. It's merry to rhyme with cherry most places.

Acai

Born and raised in Maryland -pronounced MERRIL lind- the d is soft but definitely NOT silent. And water is wooder, hon.

Entertaining but unfortunately correct:

LYE-muh (Lima), Ohio

vuhr-SALES (Versailles), Kentucky

KAY-roe (Cairo), Illinois

noo MAD-rid, (New Madrid), Missouri

That first quiz put me in the Pacific Northwest which was pretty close--I'm in Northern California. The soda/pop/coke thing is confusing though because I hear 'soft drink" a lot and that's what I say.

Cholmondeley.

Is St. Clair pronounced the same as Sinclair? Do you pronounce St. John as Sinjin? Jill Sinjin sounds weird to me.

Old people trying to say chipotle.

Beaufort, SC is BEW-fert. Not very far up the coast is Beaufort, NC, which is BOW-fert.

Well, it is kinda far away.

Route-er our root-er

Cash-ay or cash

R83 Seems like you were born and raised (sic) in Bawlmer, the worst part of Maryland, which sounds like a vile chunk of South Philly that got broken off in a riot . Most of the rest of the state says "Marilyn" - no D sound except a soft one before vowels. Only Baltimorons and occasional rednecks pronounce it like "Merlin"

Don’t get me started on “Belvoir” Castle!

[quote]Cash-ay or cash

Two different words.

Cachet

Cache

There is no English word spelled "caché."

The cot-caught merger map (US)

Pend Oreille.

Hoquiam.

Boise.

Deschutes.

Sequim.

Steilacoom.

buoyant

[quote]you're pronouncing it incorrectly too as it's "Or-Lee-On" if you want to get pedantic.

I’d love to see you to go NOLA and lecture the locals on pronunciation. If this thread irritates you, Yat would make your head explode.

R77. I'm Texan and say "scone" with a long o. Scahn sounds ridiculous.

Some of the overly sensitive MM hating frauen are hysterical in that they are obviously too sensitive to really fit in on DL.

Old non Hispanic ladies saying tor-til-ah and jala-peen-oh.

When I was very young I was a waiter in a restaurant and some couple from up north were visiting and came in and ordered "fuh-jitas". I kindly corrected them but it was very bizarre as I grew up speaking "tex-mex" English. "Jala-pino" is another I've heard instead of the proper "hala-peeño"

Huger Street a major street downtown in Columbia, SC, is used to know if a person is familiar with the area because it is pronounced U-gee Street.

[quote]"Jala-pino" is another I've heard instead of the proper "hala-peeño"

Both of those are wrong. It's hah-lah-PEHN-yoh. Not as long a sound as "pain," but that's an approximation. Should be in between a long a and a short e. But NEVER a long e.

Actually R105 that's what I meant but wasn't sure how to word it like you did. Yes, definitely the "pain" sound.