Terminalcoffee discussion

How's your pronunciation? Any words you're worrying you're mispronouncing?

If you're worried about Wisconsin words (and I know are you are!) here's a guide...

http://www.misspronouncer.com/

my pronunciation (that word needs an extra o as far as i'm concerned, but i can't misspell and mispronounce at the same time, that would be too much) is british-ish.

I remember being in second grade, reading a paragraph out loud to the class. When I hit the word "chameleon" there were some chuckles. From that time forward, I've made every effort to educate myself on proper pronunciation. Thus, words like hyperbole, esophagus, Melnibone (where Michael Moorcock's "Elric" lived), and sarcophagus caused no snickers when encountered.

Cham-uh-LEE-on indeed!

In 7th grade our history teacher was British and she would say "figgah" instead of "figure" which we found silently hilarious. Later on in college I took an American poetry class and the prof pronounced "particularly" as "particalolly" , and now so do I.

I had a teacher who said particalolly, too.

Joey on Friends said, "supposably."

"Did they go to the zoo? Supposably."

My 47 year old brother still says punkin instead of pumpkin and Valentime's day. And isn't being cute (and he isn't special needs *officially anyway, snicker*)! That being said our New England accent makes almost everything else sound mispronounced :)

Mostly, I'm pretty good. Again, though the north/south thing sparks a lot of conversation for me. And I get called a "Yank" a lot.

I do say"coordinized" when I mean "coordinated" or "organized." It's a running gag from high school I incorporated into daily speech for some unremembered reason.

A guy on the school board with me always uses the word (?) "agreeance" when he means "agreement."

I like the definition of agreeance at the Urban Dictionary.

What stupid people say instead of agreement.

I love the Urban Dictionary :) . And "agreeance" is a new one for me, WOW . . . and on the school board you say hahaha.

One of my teachers call us umans. It amuses/annoys us to no end.

I'm ok with pronunciation...as much as one can be with a strong boston accent that is.

thanks OP, being a new WI resident that site will come in MUCH use lol.

Misha wrote: "Apropos of pronunciation, how to correctly pronounce author's names:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/scott/how-to-..."

i was making my way through the first column, thinking: is that really how they are to be pronounced, cha-BONE? really?, when i noticed it was the mispronounced column. i hope no one else makes that mistake and actually pronouces the names that way in public.

Tell the truth, people, did you pronounce "Proust" correctly the first time you saw it?

And what's with the golfers? When did Villegas become "vee-JAY-gus" and Olazabal turn to "ohla-THAH-bull?"

how should i pronouce proust?

janine wrote: "how should i pronouce proust?"

I've been told it's proost. Sure would be redfaced to find out otherwise at this point.

if it's proost i'm doing it right, i think, but i've never had to pronounce it somewhere other than in my head.

So a male chicken is a prooster?

Phil wrote: "Tell the truth, people, did you pronounce "Proust" correctly the first time you saw it?

And what's with the golfers? When did Villegas become "vee-JAY-gus" and Olazabal turn to "ohla-THAH-bull?""

Is vee-JAY-gus any relation to vee-JAY-sing?

Larry wrote: "So a male chicken is a prooster?"

If Proust is "proost," wouldn't the male chicken be a rouster?

Gail wrote: "
Is vee-JAY-gus any relation to vee-JAY-sing?"

Cute, Gail. Cute. :-P

And no, people, that emoticon is not boobies.

Sorry, lame, I know. When I read your comment the first time I skimmed it quickly. I read it as vee-JAY-sing. I had to re-read it a second time because he had alway pronounced his name that way and it made no sense. Hense the dumb comment.

Cambridge wrote: "My 47 year old brother still says punkin instead of pumpkin and Valentime's day. And isn't being cute (and he isn't special needs *officially anyway, snicker*)! That being said our New England ac..."

You know,some of the best of us might fall into this trap. Being a country bumpkin I had always pronounced pumpkin the same as your brother. It wasn't until I was on holidays (it Fiji) with a girlfriend of mine that I found I was pronouncing it incorrectly. She was kind enough to point it out. Very embarrassing. I was 22 at the time, I am still holding a grudge against my parents. :[ I may have to join your brother in the special needs class.

Hey Jaime I understand every word you say . . . it's music to my "ee-ahhs" :) (nothing like a girl from my own neighborhood)

And haha Gail I think it is far cuter from a girl at 22 to mispronounce pumpkin than to be totally ignorant at 47 even though you have been corrected your whole life and to continue to say VALEN-TIME with a thick boston accent ;) . . . I think he'll be alone in that special ed class hahaha.

Chimley. How about that?

I desperately need some links so I can hear these various accents people keep referring to.

My brother says "nucular" instead of "nuclear". It's an easy mistake to make.

I love mispronouncing!

You love mispronouncing, but abhor misspelling?

Yes. Abhor!

And I'd never go join an online group for phenomephiles and speech majors and go mispronouncing up a storm just to be cool.

Just think if mispronouncing actually did cause storms.

Awesome! I hope I'd be the kind to cause thunder and hail.

::does not want to be standing next to Sally when she mispronounces::

A wicked one this way comes.

I loved that book.

All I ask is that people say ask, not ax.

I used to work with a woman who said srimps instead of shrimps. Personally I say shrimp, not shrimps or srimps.

I mispronounced "superlative" on purpose 93 times today. Nobody but the other teacher in the room thought it was funny.

I worked for 20 years in a studio making audio books. About 65% of my work involved researching pronunciations in English and other languages. We had to go with written sources first, and if you still couldn't find it you started making phone calls. I mean, we were very serious about it. You know that cringing that you do when somebody says something you know is wrong? I do that A LOT. I can't help it. I don't really care, unless it's a person's job to know what they're talking about, and then I think, aren't you even curious? I also care when people correct me when I'm saying it right!

Has anyone else grown up reading long-ass words from books but not knowing how to pronounce them? Sadly, I have too many examples of this. I still can't say differentiate without stumbling on my tongue.

I also grew up saying 'a-CROST' and 'prob-LEE', which I think may be from my Southern Utahn roots. My Dad still says 'EYE-talian' and 'AYE-rab' as well. I also thought for years that Col. Custer was Custard. My husband laughed for days about that one.

Lobstergirl wrote: "I used to work with a woman who said srimps instead of shrimps. Personally I say shrimp, not shrimps or srimps."

When I say shrimp it comes out sounding like prawn! I can't quite understand why?

I am always working on my pronunciation, because I sometimes slip and my family is horrendous enough not to let it pass without comment.

Let me explain:
I grew up a military brat, which means I've lived just about every where. I can do, and have picked up, a lot of accents. As I moved to each new location I had to concentrate to not speak with the "old" dialect. However, when you're talking and not being conscious of how you're saying things the old inflictions sneak out of your mouth.

I'm worst at slipping the New York/New Jersey accent. Now if you're from those areas you know there's a distinction between the two. However, for a guy from the West it just sounds as if "I married the Godfather." My hardest words are: Sure, gorgeous, with you.

I also do a pretty darn good southern accent. If you're from the South, you know there are 2 types here too (Southern & Southern Belle). I can do both. And yes, I say y'all all the time.

And I'm rambling! Point being, my pronunciation depends on the word, how fast I'm talking, the mood I'm in, and who I've been speaking to the most lately.

Bun: I said SUPER-lative.

Cosmic Sher wrote: "Has anyone else grown up reading long-ass words from books but not knowing how to pronounce them? "

Yes. I can't think of any at the moment but I know they exist. They're the type of words you've seen many times in print but have never had to utter, so God help you if you suddenly decide to throw one into a conversation at a grouping of Oxbridge professors or something.

How do we pronounced Bali, the bra brand? A friend of mine kept talking about Bally bras, BALLY BRAS and I was like, "I've never heard of those" and then suddenly I said, "BOLLY!"

I'm I never have to say "cuisine" in front of any of you.

Kristi, I'm from the south, and I think there are way more than two southern accents. There are more than two in North Carolina alone. I hate it when I'm watching a movie set in the South, and the characters have like, 5 different southern accents.

That said, I'm born and bred in the South, and along with my Eastern North Carolinian accent people have told me that I sound like I'm from California and New York (and by "New York" they mean anywhere up North), but that's because my voice changes dramatically depending on who I talk to, what words I'm using, am I trying to be persuasive, etc. My friends say I have a "blaccent" that I use with my black friends though.

My enunciation is god awful though

Oh and I hate it when people say that only certain types of people have accents. EVERYONE has an accent.

I'm with Britt on this... there are WAY more than just two Southern accents. I've lived in several southern states and within each state, different regions have different dialects. Although I've never lived there (and have only driven through there once), I've been told that I sound like I'm from Georgia - I don't believe that... I've known people from Georgia and I don't sound anything like them. I've also been told that I have an indistinguishable Southern dialect.