Sep 19, 2008
It’s legitimant! Nobody gives my epenthetic n any love.
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I get hassled for pronouncing legitimate with an n-sound before the final t.
legitimant
What pronunciations do people pick on you for?
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© 2012 Abuyo. All rights reserved.
I say “yest-a-day” instead of yesterday. My wife laughs at me when I say it, and sometimes she asks me to say it just so she can have a good laugh at my expense:)
wash…I say warsh
Kindergarten: I say kindeegarden… always gets a laugh.
the past tense of win. when i say it people tell me “no, that’s a Spanish name.” when other people say it i say “no, that’s the number that comes before two.”
I’m a southerner stuck with a northerner’s accent. My wife messes with me for about half the things I say. Not southern enough for her.
I’m from the South of England and am living in the North. They tell me off here for using the southern pronunciation of words like castle with a long ‘a’ like ‘parcel’ rather than castle like ‘hassle’.
Perhaps nobody gives it any love because it’s an excrescence.
NB this is witty, but you’ve got to spend more time working out why than it’s worth.
Plaza
We have a part of our church that is called the Women’s Plaza. Because I studied Italian in school, I tend to say “plawza” and it really bugs my daughter. Most people, including her, say plaza with a short a. I guess if I REALLY had an Italian accent, I would call it the Women’s Plawtsa, but it hasn’t gone that far.
It was funny, when we moved to another part of our state, I pronounced all kind of funny things. Susquehawnna, instead of Susquehanna, etc.
Even funnier was trying to find a place to buy pepperoni balls. I guess they only exist in Northwest Pa, where we used to live. We’d ask for them, and people would look so puzzled, like we were asking for Martian dust. Does anyone have pepperoni balls where you live? We’ll be sure to take our next vacation there.
human = “uman”
huge = “uge”
humid = “umid”
you get the idea.
Two ‘Minnesotan’ pronounciations that instantly indicate my Northern Minnesota origins to others……
mountain = mounten (barely say the ‘t’)
boat = bot (very long o sound with barely a t sound)
Then there are the words where I have had to change my pronounciation as the times have changed
himalaya from himel -lay- a to him- mall- ya
I always say “acrost” as in across the street
apparently that is wrong
I pronounce words like measure, pleasure, treasure, etc. with a long a sound. For instance, not mězh’ər but māzh’ər.
My daughter ribs me something wicked because I say Toosdey and Toolips instead of Tuesday and Tulips, and many others like them.
I’m from South Georgia and have always been called out for saying Warder (Water). Also, my wife says I emphasize the wrong syllable on Hotel. I guess it’s not supposed to be the first one.
Mine is the same – legitimant.
But also chocolate. I really hammer the hard ‘c’ in the middle, and kind of clear my throat, making it sound almost Hebrew or German – like the first sound of “Channukah”.
Cho-khh-let
I have been doing is subconsciously for so long, I don’t even realize it – but my wife sure does. I’ve pretty much stopped saying “chocolate” in public.
*fer*miliar as the pronunciation of “familiar”
(though i think it’s somewhat of a local thing)
and then my own *far*head as the pronunciation of “forehead”. i didn’t know that “fore” was part of the word until a little later in life (hadn’t seen it spelled) and so the other pronunciation has stuck.
my husband loves teasing me for both. :)
Many people have told my that my speech is devoid of any particular dialect, except when I say the word “measure.” I often pronounce it MAY-sure, which sounds a bit Southern.
Album, which I pronounce al-blum
That’s my mispronounced word. Thankfully, it’s rapidly growing obsolete (if it isn’t already), so it will be my little secret.
I have too many to list! But one that I do is with words like pattern and southern- I pronounce patteren adn southeren. I have been trying to correct it but it’s rare that I succeed.
I remembered one more (thanks to the “far-head” comment):
“Chester” drawers. The undeniably southern form of “chest of drawers”. I was probably in college when I finally realized the truth.
I’ve moved around a lot, so the words I pronounce are not just because of the region. But three words I sound like I have a Southern accent (although, I had said them this way before I lived in the south)
Naked=I say nekkid
Spaghetti=spagitti
Ghetto=gitto
Spaghetti and Ghetto I have always said like that, and my mom didn’t correct me until I was 16. I still say them that way so a lot of my friends (who pronounce all sorts of things funny, half of them are from Tennessee) give me a hard time. And naked, I didn’t ever get told any different until my freshman year of college, now everybody seems to notice.
tavren instead of tavern.
and hewm instead of home
I thought for a moment that your epenthetic was paragogic,
but then it passed.
Mine is more of a local thing. There’s a local community and school named Coopers, and I pronounce it like it’s spelled. Everyone who is from here pronounces it Cuppers, so I get a hard time about that.
My husband pronounces thoroughly ther-EW-ly, and it drives me crazy.
The first sermon I ever preached was on the “perserverence” of the saints.
Their ridicule was just.
I’m from Philly.
water=wooder
We all know it’s wrong, but can’t help ourselves.
I know several people who say it “legitimant.” Another one I hear people say is stupit instead of stupid. I knew a girl in college who always pronounced stuff with a t on the end for some reason, like “stufft”. The one that gets on my nerves for some reason is when people say “expresso” instead of espresso. I think the main reason it gets on my nerves is because almost everybody I hear say it says it wrong.
As for me, my wife makes fun of the way I say iron and worship. I still don’t really know what’s wrong with how I say them but she says I put too much emphasis on the second sylables.
My husband and I go around and around about the month of February. I was always under the assumption that the first ‘r’ was silent so it’s actually Febuary. I had never heard it pronounced with an ‘r’ in the middle until I met him. He insists that he’s correct, but I think I am.
I say “SEE-rup”, instead of “SUR-up” referring to the sticky liquidy goodness you pour on pancakes.
don’t have one for myself, but my parents–they pronounce Amish ey-mish. I don’t remember them pronouncing it like that as a kid, so I think it’s a recent thing.
“Nekkid”
“Ol” (with one syllable and a long o, as opposed to “oi-yul”)
“Tom” for “time”, and similar for other long i’s
“Own” for “on”
And the g’s in -ing endings don’t stand a chance.
I guess this is probably true of most people with some trace of an accent, but the Southern-ness comes out more when I get angry or excited.
They’re gonna love me when I get to Prague.
Oh, and the “-day” at the end of Monday, Tuesday, etc. is “-dee”.
Most of the time I leave the “re” off of remember and just go with “member”. My husband says “why” for “while”.
Oh…and also “fur” in place of “for”.
I guess I do have one: bag. I pronounce it with an “ey” sound. My wife makes fun on me.
I’ve been gently ribbed for pronouncing “both” with an “L” (“bolth”) and “wh” words by enunciating both the “W” and the “H”, making a word like “what” into two syllables. I can’t quite figure out the second one, except to think that maybe I pronounce the “H” first, like “hwat” almost. Hmmm…
Oh, and I chronically mispronounce “gesture” with a hard “G” – no one calls me on it but myself, and I’m getting steadily better.
Courtney, I think you are right about February, but I wouldn’t worry about it.
Melissa, one day I was waiting in line at DQ and the teenage girls at the register were debating over whether the correct pronunciation was SEE-rup or SUR-rup. I piped up and joked that if it’s raining, you say SEE-rup, but if it’s sunny, you say SUR-rup. They actually thought I was serious–and that it was true!
I often say “draw” instead of drawer if I am not thinking about it. As in “sock draw” or “silverware draw.” I have been told this is a North Jersey thing.
Courtney- dictionary.com (take it for what it’s worth) says you and your husband are both right on February.
I usually pronounce “else” as “eltse.”
I also get mocked for pronouncing “mature” as “matoor” rather than “machoor” (though both are legitimate dictionary-authorized pronunciations.
mike t. ALWAYS makes fun of the way i say ‘bag.’
Wow! This is a fun one.
For me it’s the word “crayon.” I have no idea how it’s supposed to sound but I say “crown” and get ribbed about it by everyone.
coupon.
is it Q-pon, or coo-pon?
I say Q-pon.
wait, just checked the dictionary. both pronunciations of coupon are legitimaNt.
I definitely pick on my mom for saying the notorious…
Suppose-bly rather than Suppose-dly.
I’m guilty of plenty things myself, however.
Living in the South for ten years I was constantly picked on for:
“beg” instead of bag (long a sound)
“fleg” instead of flag
…and so on. But being back in MN, I am in the majority again!
I never say anything weird or with an accent. Never …
Sometime I lisp or transpose words (or even the first letters of words, which can be really embarrassing). Then there is the accursed Twin Trails, a road by my house. It often comes out “Twin Twails.” And I thawt I saw a puddy cat.
I grew up in Texas and since moving to Minneapolis, the word interesting has been a common discussion topic when I speak.
I used to say inner-estin but now say in-trest-ing so that people know what I’m saying.
Other favorites from my family:
Michigan=Mitch-igan
pizza=pee-za
Missouri=Mizz-ur-uh
Hawaii=ha-why-yuh
Classic. Legitimant is one I’ve caught myself saying as well – so there’s some love for the “n”.
I had a roommate in college who said said “lusually” instead of just plain ole’ usually, as well as “cal-ca-la-tor” instead of cal-cue-la-tor….both drove me nuts!
Comfortable = Comfturble
I worked with a man who always pronounced “business” as bid-ness. It would drive me crazy.
I went through a period of time where I thought it was actually pronounced “E-cle-zi-as-ti-seas”
You know… that book about how useless life and language are… ;) I’ve since learned to eliminate the extra syllable.
My mom can’t pronounce the name Graham. She always says “gram” like the cracker. Pity: we like that name but we couldn’t submit our poor future son to his grandmother constantly referring to him as a snack food…
I say on-righteous instead of un-righteous, and some people at a Bible study pointed it out to me laughing.
Wait. Mrs. Manz, how do you say Graham?
I’m wondering too….
Gr-ham?
Billy?
these comments have been most edifying to my linguistic soul. /research. thanks everybody. :]
mrsmanz- I have a brother-in-law named Graham. We all pronounce it gram. Sometimes, in jest, it’s gray-ham. I’d have to say I don’t think of the cracker all that often when I think of his name, if that helps to open the name up as a possibility for you.
Maybe it’s gray-um, like Nahum.
French is my mother tongue and I can’t pronounce “donkey” properly. I shorten the first syllable and stress the second. Makes preaching at Christmas and Palm Sunday difficult and humorous.
Gray-um – like… yeah – like Nahum without the emphasis on the ‘h’.
C’mon… don’t tell me she’s always had it right and we’ve teased her without mercy for years? All this time she was just with the wrong crew…
My poor mother… I’ll phone her and apologize as soon as I’m done typing. (LOL!)
My family laughs at how I say pint. It sounds more like paint.
In recent days, there are quite a few words I get picked on for. You’ll have to ask Mike for his running list.
Gray-ham is more funny though. Although, gray ham sounds more disgusting than funny.
I say:
Ah-nt for Aunt (not AW-nt)
My family and friends say:
Ant for Aunt
I say:
Root for Route
They all say:
Rowt for Route
I’m always hearing about it.
I can’t pronounce “cinnamon” correctly. I say “cimanon” every time. You’d think, as a speech therapist, I could come up with some strategies to pronounce it as it should be, but, alas, I still say it incorrectly. I usually say it so quickly, though, that no one seems to notice. I guess I have taught myself a strategy after all :)
I’m from NY and am living in the DC area.
* When I first got here and someone on the street wanted to display his machismo, he yelled at me, “you murred?” I usually don’t even respond to hollerin’ dudes on the street, but I was intrigued by his question. I simply didn’t know what he was talking about. It turns out he was asking “are you MARRIED?”
* We go to Philly often and find ourselves on Broad Street to attend events at Epiphany Fellowship. One time we got lost and asked for directions. The man we stopped told us to continue up “Broad” Street. While repeating the directions to him, I said, “Bruuad Street?” My friends had a fit.
Apparently it’s pronounced “Braahd.”
“gray-ham”…
sounds like a dr seus book. (big grin)
The word ‘pecan’… it can be pronounced various ways. I lived in TX all my life before moving to PA in July of 07 so I am used to pi-KAHN… I say that here and I am ridiculed… People here say PEE-can… Haha. Pee can. Anyhow. It is interesting that what was accepted in Dallas is not the norm here in Philly!
LOL eve (hey eve! lol)… ‘murred’… LOL!
I enunciate & pronunciate perfectly in every instance.
I just happen to make up imaginary words, instead (ummm, PRONUNCIATE??).
My kids do seem to think “wop-sided” isn’t the “right” word…they rather say “lop-sided”. I can’t seem to find anyone who agrees with me ;).
i mumble. but i KNOW how to say the words if I am put to the test.
it bugs me when people say aMbercrombie instead of abercrombie.
or westminIster instead of westminster.
my mom says EYE-talian for Italian.
it has become rather endearing.
love you, mrs. manz. i vote for gram as in the cracker. this definitely amused me.
and, eve, i might NEVER say “married” again. i heart “murred”.
My daughter would introduce her brother to peoples as “Cracker” because she could not remember Graham.
I speak with a non-regional dialect (like them CNN folk) and therefore pronounce every word perfectly.
I personally can’t get with Aks vs. Ask.
Jennapants – It bugs me when people say Abercrombie at all :-)
And Chelsea, you’ve got to be kidding me!!! I’ve never met anyone else who says measure “May-zhur”! Do your parents? Mine don’t so I can’t figure out where in the world I got it.
I can’t say mosques or grasps or masks or wasps, etc…. I can say them in singular form, but not plural. :( lol
I say all words perfectly, but I thought you might like to hear about my late step-grandmother:
As I was making chocolate chip zucchini cookies today, I remembered that she said “zja-KEE-nee” for zucchini.
Also:
SAN-rich for sandwich
sper-GET-ti for spaghetti
And my personal favorite… she always called my mom, whose name is Darleen, “Darl.” Like Carl. To this day my mom has no idea how that one got started.
The days of the humble zjakeenee
Are over, they’re gone, they are feenee
For here’s what I bet:
That we stick with “courgette” -
Its as dead as old Ben Mussolini.
Oh dear, that last “its” was a typo
I ask that you’ll all just please wypo
It out of your gaze
For I’m all of a daze…
My goodness! what was in that hypo?
Myrddin and Chelsea,
I just bought a kitchen from a Home Depot guy who said may-sure.
I’m another Southerner… my husband laughs at me for saying “theater” with a long ‘a’ in the middle, instead of a short ‘a’, which is a pronunciation reserved only for the fancy shows, like plays, as opposed to movies.
Speaking of names… my son’s name is Benjamin and people are forever calling him BenjERmin. I want to ask, “Where is the “R” coming from?”
My brother (and now it has spread to others) often calls him Benjammin’. Cute.
I used to say “nur-sh-ry” insead of nursery until I got tired of being made fun of. My mom is t be held responsible for this. She still says it wrong.
I like to tease my husband for saying:
“pool” instead of “pull”
“fool” instead of “full”
I think its a NW PA things. My best friend growing up said them the same way.
sorry for the 3rd post. Just thought of another.
I say “chree” instead of “tree” and
“chry” instead of “try”
Please tell me I’m not alone.
Ahhh-ha-ha! Thank you Nato!
Cracker instead of Graham… too funny!
mahlbrandt, you’re not alone. and there’s a good reason for why you do it, too. :]
Well, this is pretty embarrasing to admit, but when I was a kid, I learned “fly swatter” as “flice water.” It never occured to me that it was a fly-swatter until I was much… much… older. So even though I technically pronounce it correctly, I think I still say it like I did as a kid sometimes!
Also, my kids say lots of words like “mahlbrandt” above: “chree,” and “chry” and also words that start with “dr” as a “j” like “jrawer,” “jrums” etc. And one of my favorites of my son is, “sunnedly” instead of “suddenly.”
I’m from the hills and I try to pronounce everything as hillbilly as I can…sometimes. My friend had a grandaddy that that loved the Chicago Cubs…he’d sit in his chair and holler for the “Clubs”
I don’t know, but I just said that word 50 times and I don’t know how I say it now.
a contractor i met in the great nation of texas gave me a bid to remodel my “gurge”. (garage). and my wife always says re-la-tor for realtor. it bugs.
I say “woof” instead of “wolf.” My wife gets a kick out of it, but I usually remind her that she says “samwich” instead of “sandwich.” Fortunately for my pride, she has to say “sandwich” more often than I have to say “wolf.”
It’s amazing that this is going to be your first post to pass the 100 comment mark.
And this is three ‘most popular posts’ in almost as few days. Soap, potty language and deviant pronunciation.
Who knew? :-)
regularly…
apparently you aren’t supposed to pronounce it “reg-you-LARE-ly”… who knew?
i won’t even start on all the “_ag” words. i’m minnesotan!
I haven’t noticed that anyone has mentioned pellow. My cousins say pellow instead of pillow.
Myrddin, it has been a big week, indeed.
Yes, Chris, and the same people say melk instead of milk. I wonder where that comes from.
IMA instead of “I’m going to” is my worst(est) violation, though it’s not just one word, I’ve made it into one.
Febewary, sketty, and other kiddish mutations are a result of being silly with my girls so much that they’ve become habit (annoyingly so).
My most despised word in recent months has be superfluous, which is hard enough to spell, but worse to actually pronounce. I get knots in my tongue trying to get it right. One day it was slooperfus.
I’m a language buff, and can’t get it right most of the time. Fatherhood has had some life-changing impact, for sure (as brains dribble out the side).
Well- I am from the great nation of Texas and I love to say “fixin’ to” as in ” I am fixin’ to (fill in the upcoming activity).” I do get picked on for the very long and solitary “I” sound in white and ice. I do not pronounce it “whi-eet” or “i-eece” nor do I say “qui-eet” for quite. As for what bothers me in others: please don’t say you have a good “ideal” when you really have a good “idea’ and don’t say “pull it taunt” when you mean pull it “taut.” :)
I’m studying Spanish in Costa Rica now, getting ready to go to Ecuador. Talk about pronunciation issues.
Anyway, I’m from RI originally, and spent the last 20 years in Maine – my wife is from there. One characteristic of Maine speech is they (we?) take the R’s from where they are, and put them where they don’t belong.
For example, it’s not “buster”, it’s “bustah.” (And of course, “lobstah.) And I’ve heard lots of messages in church from the book of “Isaier.” And we all learned about Noer’s ark.
But my favorite is when my son-in-law (from Buffalo, NY) constanly ribs my wife when she has to flip the pancakes with the “SPACH-uh-ler,” (note the “r” at the end), not the spatula.
may-zhure is definitely minnesotan, myrddin!
that and baeg for bag. taeg for tag and so forth.
you come by this honestly.
congratulations on the 100 comment mark, Abraham.
My hubby says “apostle” with a “t” sound…and “sword” with a “w” sound. I blame it on his parents having english as his second language. :)
Teresa – Me too! I say ‘fixin’ or ‘finna’ as well and I get made great fun of! Also, I cannot say ‘off’ in 1 syllable. “Turn that AW-oof” is more like it ;)
We have a friend who botches the middle syllable of “encourage”, like “en-kyarr-age” And he uses that word in prayer a lot too, which makes us giggle, which I suppose is not very encouraging to him?
Prolly nobody makes fun of me. Expecially people who read my blog.
I am always corrected by my daughter and wife when I say “new-nique” for ” unique” and
“Kel-ving” for “Kevin” and “cling’ for “clean”–
you see the problem
I say “comfterble” instead of “comfortable”, “intresting” instead of “in-ter-resting”, “beg” instead of “bag”, “begel” instead of “bagel”….darn Minnesota accent.
I’ve noticed the same people that say “melk” and “pellow” also say “swullen” instead of “swollen” (with a long o sound)
don’t know if anyone will ever read this comment, but one writer mentioned “nekkid” as his pronounciation of “naked.” I would like to point out a syntactic difference between these two words: “Naked” is what you are when you are born, bathing, changing clothes or the like. “Nekkid” is what you are when you are in bed with your friend’s spouse. It’s a fine distinction, having to do with relative naughtiness.
punkin
Maybe more of a usage issue than a pronunciation issue, but I always notice when people confuse “phenomenon” (singular) with “phenomena” (plural.)