Mispronunciations

KungPao · 21-10-2010 03:41PM

Furhouse in Dublin.

It's FEAR - HOUSE. What a badass name!, why change it to something so wimpy?

Cat Melodeon · 21-10-2010 03:44PM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3y0CD2CoCs

Da Bounca · 21-10-2010 03:44PM

Third is not turd.

hubba · 21-10-2010 03:45PM

Ever notice how the brits pronounce 'sixth'? It drives me INSANE. They say 'SIK-TH'. Check it out.

Unfortunately I noticed it a couple of years ago on Sky News so have been listening out for it in other places and its EVERYWHERE in Britain, documentaries, soaps. No idea why it drives me mental. Maybe I need to get out more.

Another commonly mispronounced word is etcetera. Should be ET-SET-era but commonly pronounced EK-SET-era.

Also some people say 'on tender hooks' when it should be TENTERhooks.

Malari · 21-10-2010 03:45PM

It's the central median, not medium. One is the divider in the middle of a dual carriageway, the other is a psychic sitting in a dangerous position. Similarly Belgium instead of Belgian! I saw someone say this on QI recently!

I know a few people who say joint instead of giant. And voylence instead of violence. Maybe that's just an accent thing.

And nougat. My friend told me she bought "nougar" in the duty-free....

hubba · 21-10-2010 03:51PM

Of course we all pronounce Ireland incorrectly. Everyone skips the first syllable and says ARE-LUND, or worse OY-ER-LUND. We have become lazy about the first syllable AYE: AYE-UR-LUND.

Promac · 21-10-2010 03:54PM

hubba wrote: »

Of course we all pronounce Ireland incorrectly. Everyone skips the first syllable and says ARE-LUND, or worse OY-ER-LUND. We have become lazy about the first syllable AYE: AYE-UR-LUND.

Speak for yourself chief!

pickarooney · 21-10-2010 03:56PM

hubba wrote: »

Of course we all pronounce Ireland incorrectly. Everyone skips the first syllable and says ARE-LUND, or worse OY-ER-LUND. We have become lazy about the first syllable AYE: AYE-UR-LUND.

What are you rambling about? There are only two syllables in the work: "ire" and "land".

seamus · 21-10-2010 04:01PM

KungPao wrote: »

Furhouse in Dublin.

It's FEAR - HOUSE. What a badass name!, why change it to something so wimpy?

If you're going to go making up new pronunciations just because they're badass, why not call it "DEATH-ZONE" instead?

gizmo555 · 21-10-2010 04:02PM

Amazed no-one has mentioned my extremely frequently heard pet peeve yet: "exasperate" for "exacerbate".

knird evol · 21-10-2010 04:06PM

KungPao wrote: »

Furhouse in Dublin.

It's FEAR - HOUSE. What a badass name!, why change it to something so wimpy?

and some people say 'Jobstown' when its clearly pronounced 'No Jobstown'

Fittle · 21-10-2010 04:07PM

Fizz-boro.

It's Phibs-borough:rolleyes:

herbieflowers · 21-10-2010 04:13PM

Lackadaisical. Whenever I've heard this word pronounced people utter it as lax-adaisical. Baffling and irritating.

KungPao · 21-10-2010 04:15PM

knird evol wrote: »

and some people say 'Jobstown' when its clearly pronounced 'No Jobstown'

Some say Joblesstown!

KungPao · 21-10-2010 04:18PM

seamus wrote: »

If you're going to go making up new pronunciations just because they're badass, why not call it "DEATH-ZONE" instead?

But I didn't make it up.

Firhouse is pronounced fearhouse.

21-10-2010 04:20PM

KungPao wrote: »

But I didn't make it up.

Firhouse is pronounced fearhouse.

They are fir trees, not fear trees

Pinturicchio · 21-10-2010 04:20PM

My history teacher in school (who also taught English) pronounced the t in "depot" and pronounced "Nazi" so that it rhymed with snazzy.

hubba · 21-10-2010 04:23PM

pickarooney wrote: »

What are you rambling about? There are only two syllables in the work: "ire" and "land".

There is no way IRE is only one syllable. Unless you have a very posh English accent and skim over the R which would be bad pronounciation in itself.

Oh, that brings me on to another peeve, Irish people saying Gibralta.
GRR. The brits only say it cos they have a phobia about pronouncing R's at ends of words. No reason on earth for an Irish person to drop the R.

seamus · 21-10-2010 04:25PM

KungPao wrote: »

But I didn't make it up.

Firhouse is pronounced fearhouse.

Fir-house as in "The house with the fir trees" - Teach na Giúise.

Fir (Fear) is the Irish for "Men", but is completely unrelated to the "Fir" (Fur) in Firhouse.

KungPao · 21-10-2010 04:25PM

bluewolf wrote: »

They are fir trees, not fear trees

They are indeed.

knird evol · 21-10-2010 04:27PM

Fittle wrote: »

Fizz-boro.

It's Phibs-borough:rolleyes:

Some people if they had to ask for directios from Philipsburgh Avenue to Phibsboro, their head explodes

21-10-2010 04:27PM

KungPao wrote: »

They are indeed.

I'm glad we have settled this matter on firhouse and not "fear"house now.

pickarooney · 21-10-2010 04:28PM

hubba wrote: »

There is no way IRE is only one syllable. Unless you have a very posh English accent and skim over the R which would be bad pronounciation in itself.

Unless you're some sort of drooling slackjaw, ire, like fire, pyre, mire and dire are all monosyllabic words. OK, that's a little unfair, as a great many people do pronounce these as two syllables, but having a posh English accent has nothing to do with this.

The Irish word 'fir' is not pronounced 'fear' as it has no fada.

KungPao · 21-10-2010 04:29PM

seamus wrote: »

Fir-house as in "The house with the fir trees" - Teach na Giúise.

Fir (Fear) is the Irish for "Men", but is completely unrelated to the "Fir" (Fur) in Firhouse.

The pronunciation of a single word can change when part of a name. E.g. Silverstone. Is it Silver Stone or Silverston?

A lot of English people say the latter.

Calibos · 21-10-2010 04:40PM

English Newsreaders who say the Republic of Island.

My biggest peeve is with the overwhelming majority of customers from the trackie wearing skanger to the besuited professionals who all ask for Refuge bags instead of Refuse bags. "What? Are you going to hide in it?? Do you think there is a silent S and an invisible G in the word??"

Funniest ever were the confused teenagers scratching their heads and arguing over the meaning of the sign in our window.

Refuse Bags Sold Here

Don't buy any bags sold in this shop???

I had to explain the difference between Re-Fuse and Ref-use. I could understand a bunch of foreigners being perplexed but not native English speakers.

My own mispronounciation examples are plegum and qway, ie. Phlegm and Quay

Mr Marston · 21-10-2010 04:44PM

I'm from Firhouse. A much debated subject up here alright. I tend to argue the "Fir tree" side.

LordSutch · 21-10-2010 04:46PM

Recently, I overheard a car salesman in a Renault dealership saying RenaulT

Pupito · 21-10-2010 04:47PM

My good lady drops the 'l' from 'almond'. Is she correct, or should I sit her down and point out the error of her ways as I am keen to do, one of these fine long evenings?

Shenshen · 21-10-2010 04:53PM

liah wrote: »

Words with v's being turned into words with w's, e.g. "witamin."

Then again that's from people who have English as a second language.. doesn't make it any more logical, though. In German, the letter "v" makes an "f" sound, how they keep replacing "v" with "w" is well beyond me.

Back to native English-speakers, changing the "ing" sound to an "een" sound. "What's happeneen?" "What's go-een on?" I don't know why, but that one bugs me more than almost any other mispronunciation.

I can shed some light on the... in German, "w" is pronounced "v", while "w" as a sound doesn't exist. So it's easy for a native-German speaker to confuse the English "w" and "v" sounds.... many never learn the "w" sounds, but those that do can get confused about where to use them and where not.

I'm fine most of the time, as long as nobody asks me to say "white van".

Pherekydes · 21-10-2010 04:57PM

Pupito wrote: »

My good lady drops the 'l' from 'almond'. Is she correct, or should I sit her down and point out the error of her ways as I am keen to do, one of these fine long evenings?

Like the 'L' in almond, I'd keep quiet about it.

Mispronunciations

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