InDefenseOfPOMO Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 A word that I must have read on pages hundreds of times over many years without knowing the pronunciation is bourgeoisie or bourgeois. Then I had an epiphany a few months ago: online dictionaries have audio recordings of pronunciations. Let's just say that what I uttered mentally each time I encountered that word was rarely the same as before; and never, I now know, was it close to the actual pronunciation. Yet, I still understood what I was reading--I think. What word or words has it been for you? Link to post Share on other sites
Ess-Kat Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 Statistical and statistics Link to post Share on other sites
Salmiakki Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 I can't pronounce the word biology. I just can't, no matter how hard I try. Link to post Share on other sites
Jinkx Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 Ottawa. Macabre. Dichotomy. Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 Misled. I don't even know how I didn't get it - it's so obvious! Link to post Share on other sites
Anthracite_Impreza Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 Technically any 'th' in the thorn/three sounding way (not they/that). I always pronounced it 'f' because I was never told any different until I was... 18? So yeah, too late now. Apparently it makes me look stupid and uneducated, so I'm fairly sure I get discriminated against in interviews cos of it. And yes, that means I pronounce my own username Anfracite. Link to post Share on other sites
Alejandrogynous Posted July 17, 2019 Share Posted July 17, 2019 Les Miserables Also, I know how to pronounce "relagate" but every single time, my mouth says "regulate." It's bothersome. Link to post Share on other sites
daveb Posted July 18, 2019 Share Posted July 18, 2019 2 hours ago, Kyon. said: Misled. I don't even know how I didn't get it - it's so obvious! Were you misled by the spelling? Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted July 18, 2019 Share Posted July 18, 2019 Acai. Quinoa. Pho. Needless to say. I felt like an idiot, realizing I was mispronouncing all three for the longest time with zero people correcting me. Link to post Share on other sites
ColeHW34 Posted July 18, 2019 Share Posted July 18, 2019 Phosphoinositide Link to post Share on other sites
InDefenseOfPOMO Posted July 18, 2019 Author Share Posted July 18, 2019 4 hours ago, InDefenseOfPOMO said: A word that I must have read on pages hundreds of times over many years without knowing the pronunciation is bourgeoisie or bourgeois. I now remember how I pronounced it (in my mind) most of the time: "burgess". Link to post Share on other sites
Gloomy Posted July 18, 2019 Share Posted July 18, 2019 For the longest time I didn't know epitome has an -ee sound at the end or that gyro somehow has the same pronunciation as euro. Also I just realized I also didn't know the correct pronunciation of bourgeois since I just checked it out of curiosity. Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted July 18, 2019 Share Posted July 18, 2019 4 hours ago, daveb said: Were you misled by the spelling? Absolutely - both pronunciations! 😖 Link to post Share on other sites
Skycaptain Posted July 18, 2019 Share Posted July 18, 2019 @InDefenseOfPOMO, reference your original post, bourgeois and bourgeoisie are different words with similar etymology. British place names often have bizarre pronunciation, Leicester is pronounced lester @ColeHW, Aluminum gets confusing because its spelt Aluminium elsewhere. As a kidlet the American pronunciation of lieutenant threw me, I was expecting it to be spelt lootenant or something similar. First time I saw Columbo I thought he would be a crime-fighting janitor in Hong-Kong Phooey style Link to post Share on other sites
daveb Posted July 18, 2019 Share Posted July 18, 2019 6 hours ago, Skycaptain said: lieutenant I was always amused by the British pronunciation. There is no f in the word. But then, we both pronounce colonel as if that first l is an r. Link to post Share on other sites
south paw Posted July 18, 2019 Share Posted July 18, 2019 17 hours ago, Perspektiv said: Acai. yup same. as well as "colonel" Link to post Share on other sites
Skycaptain Posted July 18, 2019 Share Posted July 18, 2019 5 hours ago, daveb said: I was always amused by the British pronunciation. There is no f in the word. But then, we both pronounce colonel as if that first l is an r. In Britain we pronounce colonel exactly the same as kernel Link to post Share on other sites
daveb Posted July 18, 2019 Share Posted July 18, 2019 3 minutes ago, Skycaptain said: In Britain we pronounce colonel exactly the same as kernel Same in the US Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted July 18, 2019 Share Posted July 18, 2019 19 hours ago, ColeHW said: Phosphoinositide That's that type of word after 2 attempts, you just give up and start describing it. "You know that thing that.." I know am not the only one who does this. I do this with names. Instead of butchering your name, I will recognize the region where it's from, then ask how it's pronounced in your country. That's essentially my secret to never butchering names. I had a client shocked I recognized the Polish descent in his name. I was told I was the first to pronounce it right. I got over confident and took a stab at the last name which had at least 20 characters. Post his laughter, and correction, I told myself never again. I felt like what Donald Trump's intelligent kids must feel like whenever he opens his mouth. Link to post Share on other sites
Morgan123 Posted July 18, 2019 Share Posted July 18, 2019 Mediocre (I always thought it was medi-okra like the vegetable). Onyx (I was saying oinks). Although I tend to mumble everything so no one notices. Link to post Share on other sites
Eutierria Posted July 18, 2019 Share Posted July 18, 2019 Worcester (Sauce) Link to post Share on other sites
daveb Posted July 19, 2019 Share Posted July 19, 2019 I remembered one, "hegemony" - had only encountered it in written form before I went to grad school. Still feels awkward to say it the correct way (not that it comes up much in my life these days ). Link to post Share on other sites
InDefenseOfPOMO Posted July 19, 2019 Author Share Posted July 19, 2019 3 hours ago, Eutierria said: Worcester (Sauce) That is another one. I read that one many times without knowing the pronunciation. I believe that I mentally plugged in "worster". It was probably the Food Network that saved me. Link to post Share on other sites
Sally Posted July 19, 2019 Share Posted July 19, 2019 3 hours ago, daveb said: I remembered one, "hegemony" - had only encountered it in written form before I went to grad school. Still feels awkward to say it the correct way (not that it comes up much in my life these days ). I grew up in small towns reading intellectual-ish stuff but not having anyone around me with whom to talk about it. Thus as a young adult when I moved to the big city I made a lot of embarassing mistakes in pronunciation. Link to post Share on other sites
SorryNotSorry Posted July 19, 2019 Share Posted July 19, 2019 Antimony Technetium Trisomy I used to piss my great-grandmother off by calling a piano a "pie-anna". Link to post Share on other sites
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