94
votes

Quite a few words are mispronounced by under-educated people, or people learning English as a second language. Some words are often mispronounced by quite educated people who read, and began reading high-level literature before they heard the vocabulary spoken.

This can lead to a vocabulary dissonance, occasionally leading to the belief that there are two words (the known spelling of one, and the verbal hearing of the same) where only one exists. Epitome is a common example that springs to mind.

Answer with a word and its proper pronunciation (and potentially, the commonly mistaken punctuation).

7
  • Can we have sources for all answers. Cuz this is SERRIIOOUUSSS business we are dealing with there
    – Midhat
    Commented Sep 14, 2010 at 12:41
  • @Midhat ~ You mean like SRS BSNS
    – jcolebrand
    Commented Nov 19, 2010 at 2:56
  • Pretty much every third word in any Harry Potter book.
    – Bill the Lizard
    Commented Nov 22, 2010 at 23:00
  • As pronunciations vary between British English and American "English", which should the answers reflect?
    – Orbling
    Commented Nov 25, 2010 at 0:12
  • @Orbling: Where the pronunciations differ, the difference should be noted.
    – Kosmonaut
    Commented Jan 10, 2011 at 21:00

124 Answers 124

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100
votes

hyperbole /haɪˈpɜrbəli/

(Evidently it's not the next step after the Super Bowl.)

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  • 54
    The mispronunciation is HY-per-BOWL, and the correct pronunciation is hy-PER-bo-LEE.
    – andyvn22
    Commented Aug 24, 2010 at 16:23
  • 3
    OK, it's a greek word (ὑπερβολή) so its pronounciation is close to the greek pronounciation; what I find funny is, me being Greek but never having heard the english word spoken out loud, I also thought it rhymed with “superbowl” :)
    – ΤΖΩΤΖΙΟΥ
    Commented Oct 13, 2010 at 8:23
  • 24
    I'm going to start calling it the Su-PER-bol-EE
    – Seamus
    Commented Nov 30, 2010 at 12:02
  • 2
    Actually, I think it's a Greek word. And then I realized I'm on the internet, so, yes, it is Greek, says Wikipedia. :)
    – andyvn22
    Commented Jan 18, 2011 at 18:13
  • 5
    @smirkingman -- Seriously?
    – Michael Lorton
    Commented Mar 30, 2011 at 6:41
75
votes

I had quite a few of these growing up. The one I think is most common is segue. Did you know it's pronounced "segway"? I didn't for a very very long time.

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  • 2
    Actually, I think I got that one straight before I ever tried to use it myself, but I did say "tongoo" instead of "tongue."...For the record though, I was, like, six. :)
    – kitukwfyer
    Commented Aug 19, 2010 at 21:58
  • 4
    "Segway" isn't quite the correct pronunciation (seg - WEH is closer), but it's definitely better than seg - goo.
    – Noldorin
    Commented Aug 29, 2010 at 12:19
  • 4
    I always thought it was "seeg" or "seyg" in the same way "The Hague" is pronounced "hayg".
    – DisgruntledGoat
    Commented Sep 8, 2010 at 12:37
  • 3
    @Noldorin: I used to think it was seg-yoo, like "argue", "continue", etc. Don't ask me what I thought about "fugue".
    – ShreevatsaR
    Commented Nov 23, 2010 at 14:34
  • 9
    @Noldorin: I think it’s pretty fair to say that in English the pronunciation of segue is \seg-way\. The general rule is that borrowed words get their closest approximation within the native phonetic stock; and word final \-eh\ is fairly foreign to English, so approximating it to \-ay\ seems quite reasonable (compare English pronunciations of café, forte, cum laude, which all have slightly different vowels in the original but become \-ay\ in English).
    – PLL
    Commented Jan 12, 2011 at 16:29
68
votes

colonel /ˈkərnl/

This has to be the worst word for me - I know that is pronounced ker-nil, but EVERY time I read it the pronunication in my head is col-o-nel. How is colonel "ker-nil" anyway?! :)

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  • 20
    Was bothering me so I found out why: straightdope.com/columns/read/752/…
    – bryan
    Commented Aug 27, 2010 at 16:13
  • 3
    I think we should give up the joke and go back to spelling it "coronel". :P
    – Jon Purdy
    Commented Oct 12, 2010 at 19:18
  • 7
    I knew I was at the point of dropping off in one of my maths lectures when I started writing about the colonel of a function.
    – Rawling
    Commented Nov 2, 2010 at 14:12
  • 13
    A colonel of truth? The Linux colonel?
    – Stein G. Strindhaug
    Commented Dec 15, 2010 at 10:46
  • 19
    @Stein, the Linux colonel is lower ranked than the MS-DOS General Failure.
    – Thorbjørn Ravn Andersen
    Commented Jan 31, 2011 at 9:46
65
votes

victuals

I always thought it was VICK-chew-als, while it is actually VITT-les.

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  • 3
    Another case of "colonelisation", where the orthography was changed from the original French loan (vittaylle) to reflect its origin in Latin (victualia) despite no change in pronunciation. Sigh.
    – Jon Purdy
    Commented Oct 19, 2010 at 14:57
  • 54
    Wait, those are the same word‽
    – eswald
    Commented Nov 1, 2010 at 20:51
  • 1
    More on victuals and other latinised French-loans: english.stackexchange.com/questions/34568/…
    – Hugo
    Commented Jul 17, 2011 at 9:30
  • Oh. My. God. I feel dumb.
    – anon
    Commented Nov 8, 2011 at 23:14
  • I always thought vittles was just Granny Clampet's way of saying it, and that "vick-tu-als" was the correct way. I very recently heard or saw some reference otherwise that I didn't take to be authoritative, but apparently it's correct.
    – TecBrat
    Commented Jul 29, 2014 at 3:41
61
votes

epitome /ɪˈpɪtəmi/

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  • 1
    An epi"tome" would be the tome-length epilogue at the end of a book.
    – Jared Updike
    Commented Aug 23, 2010 at 1:55
  • 15
    This is really the epitome of these words. I had an epiphany when I realized my error.
    – Joshua Karstendick
    Commented Nov 4, 2010 at 15:53
  • 5
    Why do the English language insist on keeping the spelling of loanwords? If you mean "epittomy" can't you just write it that way? ;)
    – Stein G. Strindhaug
    Commented Dec 15, 2010 at 10:37
  • 1
    Incidentally, in Italian it is written exactly the same, but pronounced in a different way.
    – o0'.
    Commented Jan 31, 2011 at 13:03
  • For years I thought this was EPPY-tome.
    – njd
    Commented Jul 5, 2011 at 10:16
46
votes

Uggh, as one of the over-literates you mentioned, I have a lot of these. However, I have no idea as to how common mine are or may have been.

Facade should be pronounced "fuh-SAHD" (/fəˈsɑːd/). At first, I pronounced it "fack-AID."

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  • 18
    +1 funny. I'm going to say FACK-AID from now on, especially when talking to the DESIGN PATTERN evangelists.
    – Ed Guiness
    Commented Aug 24, 2010 at 8:15
  • 14
    French: façade.
    – niXar
    Commented Aug 24, 2010 at 12:53
  • 3
    is that an ant-eye-pattern?
    – Taldaugion
    Commented Aug 24, 2010 at 20:19
  • 6
    This is why English words should keep the accents (and cedilla in this case) of foreign words.
    – Noldorin
    Commented Aug 27, 2010 at 15:17
  • 3
    @Noldorin: That really wouldn't help, IMO. I'd seen a cedilla on the place-name "Caracau" and I still thought that was "Carah-cow." Accents don't help unless you know what they mean....kind of like the whole "ueber-" thing a while ago. If you aren't familiar with German, you won't know what the umlaut means. If you haven't heard "facade" before, you won't know how to pronounce it if you read it. Sometimes "c"s sound like "s" in English. Facade is just one of those words to most people, and you learn it by hearing it. Same way you learn "face" or "incise."
    – kitukwfyer
    Commented Aug 27, 2010 at 20:01
45
votes

Greenwich is "grenitch", not "green-witch".

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  • 23
    Well, there's a million British placenames that are traps for the unwary. Leicester is another famous one, but I remember there was once a dance troupe called "The Cholmondeleys and the Featherstonehaughs" (pronounced, The Chumleys and the Fanshaws")!
    – thesunneversets
    Commented Nov 19, 2010 at 1:10
  • 1
    worcestershire is another good one
    – jk.
    Commented Jan 11, 2011 at 13:43
  • Loughborough is another. (luff-bra)
    – user774
    Commented Feb 19, 2011 at 18:26
  • 6
    Good lord people. How in the heck do you go from Featherstonehaughs to Fanshaw?!?!
    – morganpdx
    Commented Apr 1, 2011 at 23:06
  • 1
    @morganpdx - it's deliberate. It lets people know if you are really in 'our set' or if you just read the name.
    – mgb
    Commented Aug 13, 2011 at 17:30
44
votes

Awry /əˈraɪ/

Wrong: AWE-ree

Right: uh-RY

Omnipotent /ɒmˈnɪpət(ə)nt/

Wrong: Omni-Potent

Right: omNIPPOtent (think "hippo")

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  • 2
    I still do this...
    – kitukwfyer
    Commented Aug 25, 2010 at 21:12
  • 2
    common English pattern: stress goes on the antepenultimate syllable
    – moioci
    Commented Sep 1, 2010 at 3:01
  • 2
    Omnipotent comes from omni (all) and potent (from posse in latin). I understand people who say omni-potent. There's no etymologic reason to say om-nippo-tent :s
    – Elenaher
    Commented Oct 13, 2010 at 8:25
  • Nippo sounds like sushi.
    – Wok
    Commented Oct 13, 2010 at 8:27
  • good one on Awry - I still do awe-ree
    – JoseK
    Commented Nov 30, 2010 at 10:43
43
votes

I have a hard time avoiding pronouncing the word 'gaol' with a hard 'g', when it's really a homophone for 'jail'.

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  • 9
    Wait, so it's not pronounced "gowl"...? Whoopsie. Not only do I have a lot of these, I also apparently haven't discovered some of them yet...This is educational AND saving me from some possible future embarrassment. Awesome.
    – kitukwfyer
    Commented Aug 21, 2010 at 2:59
  • 22
    Anyone who reads Dickens in high school would come across this word. I always thought, "gosh, I'm glad we don't have gaols in America, they sound horrible."
    – Jared Updike
    Commented Aug 23, 2010 at 1:53
  • 4
    Fr.: geôle; like most words related to justice, a legacy of William the Conqueror.
    – niXar
    Commented Aug 24, 2010 at 12:52
  • 1
    @Konrad, the Guardian still did, last time I read a copy. But they are uncommon.
    – Brian Hooper
    Commented Nov 23, 2010 at 12:17
  • 1
    @Brian: Most amusing: site:guardian.co.uk +gaoler vs. site:guardian.co.uk +jailer
    – Konrad Rudolph
    Commented Nov 23, 2010 at 12:38
42
votes

Ennui /ɑ̃nɥi/, /ɒnˈwiː/

Imagine my surprise at learning that it's pronounced "on-wi" and not "eh-new-ee"!!

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  • 7
    Oh...I can imagine it really, really well.
    – kitukwfyer
    Commented Aug 26, 2010 at 2:21
  • 3
    You mean it's not pronounced eh-new-ee?
    – Marthaª
    Commented Oct 13, 2010 at 3:29
  • 3
    Isn't it "on-wee"?
    – MGOwen
    Commented Jan 11, 2011 at 2:32
  • 2
    I originally thought it was "in-you-eye".
    – Joey Adams
    Commented Jan 17, 2011 at 2:21
  • 2
    @MGOwen: this is the father-bother merge. For many US speakers, “ahn” and “on” represent the same vowel. For me (and presumably you) they’re completely different — so “ahn-wi” is accurate for them, though incorrect for us. Editing it to “on”, though, since that’s I believe accurate for everybody…
    – PLL
    Commented Apr 2, 2011 at 21:13
40
votes

Draught.

as in draught beer - pronounced as draft and not dr-aw-ght

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  • 7
    But you spell through T-H-R-U, and I'm with you on that; cos we spell it "thruff". -- Eddie Izzard
    – Stein G. Strindhaug
    Commented Dec 15, 2010 at 10:54
  • 1
    @Stein G. Strindhaug: Reminds me of Bernard Shaw's ghoti pronounced fish en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghoti
    – JoseK
    Commented Dec 15, 2010 at 10:57
  • Well, trough is just as bad.
    – Sky Red
    Commented Feb 4, 2011 at 17:47
  • @Stein And we say "herb", because there's a f***ing 'h' there..
    – user774
    Commented Feb 19, 2011 at 18:33
  • 2
    mind = blown ... I feel a bit embarrassed now.
    – xdumaine
    Commented Mar 30, 2011 at 3:18
36
votes

The one that always gets me is quay.

I still tend to pronounce it "kway", even though I know the correct pronunciation is "key".

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  • 3
    I've heard a professional voice actor pronounce it "kway". In fact, Merriam-Webster gives both pronunciations plus a third, "kay".
    – mmyers
    Commented Sep 17, 2010 at 15:06
  • 1
    I've never understood why it's "key". Isn't this word from French? In my French we'd say "kay".
    – Mr. Shiny and New 安宇
    Commented Nov 25, 2010 at 14:15
  • 2
    Professional voice actors make plenty of mistakes. I have a couple of science audiobooks with some shocking mispronunciations.
    – user774
    Commented Feb 6, 2011 at 19:02
  • I'm going to have to use this one in a sentence a few times to make it sink in. Good one.
    – Sister
    Commented Sep 22, 2011 at 1:18
35
votes

Late addition, but one I've just learned of: viscount. Apparently it's pronounced VYE-count. Who knew?

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  • 7
    Everyone who likes chocolate biscuits...
    – CJM
    Commented Nov 23, 2010 at 11:33
  • 22
    There goes my great joke about the viscount's discount.
    – mmyers
    Commented Jan 10, 2011 at 21:42
  • French again. To be pronounced like 'vicomte'.
    – ogerard
    Commented Apr 12, 2011 at 16:57
  • Actually, it’s /ˈvaɪkaʊnt/.
    – tchrist ♦
    Commented Feb 21, 2012 at 2:30
32
votes

Worcestershire, as in the sauce. The obvious pronunciation is "wor-chest-er-shy-er", but apparently the correct pronunciation is "werst-er-sher".

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  • 4
    Ditto Leicestershire (obvious: lie-CES-ter-SHI-er, correct: LES-ter-sher), Warwick (obvious: WAR-wick, correct: WAR-rick).
    – Gaurav
    Commented Aug 24, 2010 at 8:36
  • 14
    Place names; there's a well with no bottom. Consider also Alnwick (an-ick, but don't forget Alnmouth is al-un-mouth), Bosham (bozzum) but Cosham (cosh-um), Marylebone (mar-le-bun) and Holborn (ho-bun). And that's not counting exotica like Woolfardisworthy (woolsery) and Kirkudbright (kik-oo-bry).
    – Brian Hooper
    Commented Aug 24, 2010 at 16:19
  • 10
    “werst-er-sher”? I believe that’s wrong. It’s /ˈwʊstərˌʃɪər/ or /ˈwʊstərˌʃər/ (the first vowel is like the one in foot).
    – Timwi
    Commented Nov 7, 2010 at 16:28
  • 2
    @cindi Alas poor worick. I knew him, Horatio.
    – glenatron
    Commented Nov 24, 2010 at 15:13
  • 3
    I remember being told once that it's supposed to sound like "what's this here" mumbled and slurred together. Such as if a confused person looked at the sauce, pointed to it, and said "what's this here sauce?"
    – user502
    Commented Jan 31, 2011 at 15:50
31
votes

Biopic, which does not rhyme with myopic (stress on "o"). It's pronounced like bio-pic (primary stress on "bi"). Even after I found that out, I still don't like it.

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  • 3
    I did not know that until just now. Good one.
    – JohnFx
    Commented Aug 19, 2010 at 22:48
  • 15
    I still don't like it! :)
    – Kosmonaut
    Commented Aug 27, 2010 at 3:13
  • 4
    Er, doesn't myopic rhyme with bio-pic? (I see there are two pronunciations for "myopic", with different vowels for the 'o', but doesn't one of them rhyme with bio-pic?)
    – ShreevatsaR
    Commented Aug 29, 2010 at 9:00
  • 5
    Myopic has stress on the second syllable, while biopic has primary stress on the first syllable and secondary stress on the final syllable.
    – Kosmonaut
    Commented Aug 30, 2010 at 2:56
  • 5
    Apparently, I've been pronouncing "myopic" wrong. :)
    – Marthaª
    Commented Oct 13, 2010 at 1:26
30
votes

Yosemite, as in the national park in California.

For the longest time I thought it was pronounced "Yo-sem-ite" instead of "Yo-sem-i-tee"

Cartoons failed me, I never made the connection to "Yosemite Sam" from the Bugs Bunny Show.

3
  • Yosemite, to rhyme with Vegemite.
    – Sam
    Commented Apr 6, 2011 at 23:19
  • 11
    @Sam: Really? When I told people how I lost my Vegemite a while back, I thought I must have mispronounced it, cause I got some weird looks.
    – intuited
    Commented Apr 9, 2011 at 4:12
  • I annoy campers who frequent that park by calling it YOSE-MIGHT
    – Oldcat
    Commented Feb 26, 2014 at 2:04
29
votes

Linux.

Many people pronounce it "LYE-nucks" (I do) but, as it's based on the Swedish name Linus (Linus Torvalds is Finnish but speaks Swedish). Thus the pronunciation should be "Leenux" or "Lihn-ucks" (/ˈlɪnəks/).

6
  • Around here I more frequently hear "LEN-icks"
    – Dan Ray
    Commented Aug 20, 2010 at 16:01
  • That is also true for many Linux distribution as well. Some people say oo-bun-too, while others say oo-boon-too, gen-too, jen-too, soo-seh, soos, etc. BTW, I used to say leenux, then heard a lot of lie-nux, so thought I was wrong, but never like lie-nux, so I still look around when I say "I use leenux" to check whether someone will correct me.
    – Umang
    Commented Aug 28, 2010 at 14:16
  • 12
    As a reference, here's the classic linux.au clip: "I'm Linus Torvalds and I pronounce Linux as /ˈlɪnəks/."
    – Jonik
    Commented Nov 22, 2010 at 21:17
  • 4
    Oh, and check out this too; a nice Youtube clip with Linus saying both his name and Linux.
    – Jonik
    Commented Nov 22, 2010 at 21:24
  • 4
    Same goes for Ubuntu, which should be pronounced /Oo'boontoo/.
    – Konrad Rudolph
    Commented Nov 23, 2010 at 7:34
28
votes

Hiccough

Apparently this is not pronounced to rhyme with cough, but in exactly the same way as "hiccup". Which fooled me for many years, for obvious reasons!

3
  • 3
    I love archaic spellings. Lets bring them back. :-) Plough, for example.
    – Sister
    Commented Sep 22, 2011 at 1:19
  • Don't forget Draught.
    – JohnFx
    Commented Sep 29, 2011 at 19:01
  • @Carole-Lynn It’s not an archaic spelling; it’s an erroneous one.
    – tchrist ♦
    Commented Feb 21, 2012 at 2:38
25
votes

Here's one I only recently learned I was saying wrong all my life.

The name of children's book author Dr. Seuss

It does NOT rhyme with Goose. It is pronounced like Soyce.

You’re wrong as the deuce  
And you shouldn’t rejoice  
If you’re calling him Seuss  
He pronounces it Soice  
     -Alexander Liang  (Colleague of Geisel)
3
  • Uh, where'd you hear this? I've certainly only heard it pronounced to rhyme with "goose", and I daresay that's how Mr. Geisel pronounced it, too. (The fact that the digraph "eu" is pronounced "oy" in German is largely irrelevant.)
    – Marthaª
    Commented Nov 28, 2010 at 22:53
  • 20
    Actually, he's right...sort of. The man's name should be pronounced "soyce," and that is how Seuss pronounced it. However, he adopted the "soos" pronunciation since he thought it was advantageous for a children's author's name to rhyme with Mother Goose and most people pronounced it that way anyway. I'm stealing all of this from Wikipedia btw...
    – kitukwfyer
    Commented Nov 29, 2010 at 2:47
  • libraries.ucsd.edu/about/geisel-building.html. "The University Library Building was renamed Geisel Library in honor of Audrey and Theodor Geisel (Dr. Seuss) for the generous contributions they have made to the library and their devotion to improving literacy." Interesting reasoning @kitukwfer, when I'm out visiting in the area, his name is pronounced "soos" by academics and guides.
    – Sister
    Commented Sep 22, 2011 at 1:22
22
votes

lieutenant

This is a word that is pronounced logically by Americans, but in Britain we pronounce it as "lef-tenant" which is not at all obvious.

4
  • This really sums up why English is so hard to learn!
    – user774
    Commented Feb 5, 2011 at 19:16
  • Ah, I was going to add this one if someone hadn't already. Australia follows the weird British pronunciation for this one.
    – ncoghlan
    Commented Mar 30, 2011 at 5:38
  • 3
    Because that's how it was originally pronounced in Norman French, with an 'f'. Modern French changed and the english spelling followed it - while of course keeping the old pronounciation
    – mgb
    Commented May 6, 2011 at 4:39
  • Don't even get me started on Colonel.
    – JohnFx
    Commented Jan 3, 2014 at 0:16
17
votes

'Read', as in

John is dry (read: boring).

I believe there's a fair amount of agreement that the correct pronunciation is /rid/ ("reed").

9
  • 2
    This one is great because so many people are convinced that they knew the right one all along, even when they are wrong. Crazy ask.metafilter thread from yesterday: ask.metafilter.com/162666/…
    – Kosmonaut
    Commented Aug 19, 2010 at 22:45
  • 2
    Annnd a nearly identical thread from two years ago, heh. Good times!
    – ladenedge
    Commented Aug 19, 2010 at 23:26
  • 8
    If only more people learned foreign languages, there wouldn't be so much confusion. There are identical constructions in many languages where the verb form is not a homograph and clearly imperative ("lees" in Dutch, "lies" or "sprich" in German, "читай" in Russian, to name but a few).
    – RegDwigнt
    Commented Aug 20, 2010 at 0:19
  • 2
    strange, I always thought it was pronounced "red". As in, "that last word that was just there, that should have been read 'boring'"
    – Claudiu
    Commented Oct 12, 2010 at 22:54
  • 6
    Definitely sounds like "reed". It's an instruction to the reader. "read the previous statement as meaning ____".
    – TM.
    Commented Feb 9, 2011 at 7:07
15
votes

Misled

When I was a kid I thought it was pronounced like a strange combination of "miser" and "tiled". You know, mise-uld!

5
  • 1
    Or rhyming with "bristled".
    – mmyers
    Commented Sep 1, 2010 at 15:16
  • +1, because when I was young I genuinely thought there was a verb "to misle", which rhymed with "lies'll".
    – thesunneversets
    Commented Nov 19, 2010 at 1:14
  • I'm with mmyers - I was totally mistled by this when I was young.
    – glenatron
    Commented Nov 24, 2010 at 15:31
  • 1
    My husband recounts that for the longest time, he thought it was myzled, past tense of myzle...
    – JPmiaou
    Commented Mar 30, 2011 at 4:44
  • Isn’t that what happens when you get an ICBM landed on you? :)
    – tchrist ♦
    Commented Feb 21, 2012 at 3:37
14
votes

Names are tricky too.

  • Freud is pronounced froid, when it looks like frude.
  • Wagner is vagner which is different in English names pronounced whagner.
  • Euler looks like u-ler rather than oiler.
  • Job in the Bible is Johb, not job like work.
  • Sade the singer sounds like sha-day.
  • Eritrea looks like e-REE-tria rather than er-re-TREE-a.
  • All of the Spanish names and French-spelled native names in America.
  • Versailles, Kentucky is pronounced ver-sales rather than ver-sigh.

As a teacher I have heard "infrared" pronounced in-frared rather than infra-red. I heard "stomach ache" pronounced "stomatch atch" by non-native speakers rather than stomik ake.

6
  • English speakers tend to mispronounce the philosopher Immanuel Kant even if they do know the correct pronunciation of his second name.
    – user3448
    Commented Jan 10, 2011 at 23:57
  • In German, the 'eu' letter pair is pronounced 'oy', as in the English word 'boy'. That's why 'Freud' and 'Euler' are pronounced the way they are.
    – oosterwal
    Commented Jan 31, 2011 at 18:23
  • Job/Johb seems to have regional variations. Every church I've been in in the west of Scotland pronounces it Job, whereas now living in the east everyone pronounces it Johb.
    – neil
    Commented Feb 1, 2011 at 12:19
  • Illinois boasts Des Plaines, pronounced Dez Planes and Marseilles, pronounced Mar-sails; also Cairo, pronounced Kay-row.
    – ChrisO
    Commented Mar 30, 2011 at 21:54
  • In Versailles, Kentucky, they call it "nuke-ye-lar".
    – intuited
    Commented Apr 9, 2011 at 4:20
13
votes

Ironically, I find that pronunciation is frequently mispronounced.

2
  • Not to mention, frequently misspelled, lol.
    – jyc23
    Commented Feb 23, 2014 at 19:40
  • @jyc23 Or misspoken. My (Dutch) girlfriend frequently says this as, "pronounucation," which nearly always earns a raised eyebrow.
    – Kaz Dragon
    Commented Feb 24, 2014 at 7:59
13
votes

Boolean /ˈbuːlɪən/

  • Wrong: boo-LEEN
  • Right: BOO-lee-en
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  • 5
    This is easy to remember when you realise that it's named after George Boole. So it's Boolean as in Herculean.
    – user774
    Commented Feb 5, 2011 at 19:12
  • I used to say "boolian" :P
    – Kit
    Commented Mar 27, 2011 at 9:04
  • 1
    @Kit: If your "-lian" suffix sounds the same as it would in the words "mammalian", or "Mongolian", then I think you were pronouncing it correctly. Herculean is pronounced hur-kyuh-lee-uhn or hur-kyoo-lee-uhn, so Boolean is pronounced BOO-lee-uhn
    – James Eichele
    Commented Apr 2, 2011 at 0:29
  • 1
    Herculean is pronounced hur-kyuh-LEE-uhn, so it follows that boolean should be pronounced boo-LEE-uhn.
    – John Gietzen
    Commented Jun 7, 2011 at 22:06
  • What’s sad about this one is that we abbreviate Boolean as “bool” instead of “boole”.
    – Jon Purdy
    Commented Jan 1, 2014 at 19:46
13
votes

sepulcher /ˈsɛpəlkər/

Correct pronunciation is "seh-pul-ker." I first said "seh-puhl-chur."

3
  • The British spelling of this word, sepulchre, hints more at the correct pronunciation, and is closer to the French in which the ch is also hard.
    – Noldorin
    Commented Aug 24, 2010 at 16:05
  • ...I just realized that I pronounce this with a German ch sound instead of a k. I guess when in doubt I just go with something that sounds in-between...?
    – kitukwfyer
    Commented Nov 19, 2010 at 20:27
  • At thefreedictionary.com/Sepulcher you can see that the en-US is "seh-pul-ker" and en-UK is "seh-puhl-cher"
    – Jader Dias
    Commented Apr 23, 2011 at 2:24
11
votes

I have this problem with character names in novels. Example, Hermione I pronounced as "her-mee-own", Egwene from Wheel of Time as "Egg-ween", etc. I realize I just gloss over the names really and don't even fully pronounce them in my head anyway.

About actual words... I generally have disagreements with people. Like I'll think "niche" should be pronounced "neesh", not "nitch," and "clique" as "cleek," not "click."

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  • 3
    I say both neesh and cleek too - perhaps I've learned too much French?
    – Richard Gadsden
    Commented Oct 15, 2010 at 16:58
  • 13
    I once lost a spelling bee on "clique", because the teacher told me to spell "click". I still think it was unfair.
    – Marthaª
    Commented Nov 4, 2010 at 22:27
  • 5
    +1 for "neesh". I hate "nitch". Grrrr, it makes me angry.
    – Skilldrick
    Commented Nov 22, 2010 at 22:19
  • 5
    Niche and clique are both correct in British English.
    – glenatron
    Commented Nov 24, 2010 at 15:25
  • 5
    ha ha - "I just gloss over the names really and don't even fully pronounce them in my head anyway" - i do that too, in novels. In my head I just look at the shape of the letters and think "them".
    – JWEnglish
    Commented Dec 21, 2010 at 11:01
11
votes

Behemoth. (OED: /bɪˈhiːməθ/, /-ɔːθ/)

I always stress the first syllable (BEE-heh-moth), even after hearing it with the stress on the second syllable (buh-HEE-muth). I just can't get seem to get past it.

8
  • 8
    The correct pronunciation is BEH-heh-moth as far as I'm concerned.
    – Noldorin
    Commented Aug 27, 2010 at 15:20
  • 5
    This is a Hebrew word, and in Hebrew, the last syllable is accented, therefore b'heh-MOTH. Yet, many Henrew words are pronounced differently in English.
    – malach
    Commented Sep 17, 2010 at 12:24
  • Indeed, a Hebrew word for a large mythological beast. Interestingly its plural form denotes great and not many. Elohim (God) is another example.
    – wilhelmtell
    Commented Nov 23, 2010 at 0:07
  • 3
    By the way, the word is pronounced beh-heh-MOT.
    – wilhelmtell
    Commented Nov 23, 2010 at 0:09
  • 1
    @wilhelmtell: Maybe in Hebrew, but not in English - dictionaries list various pronunciations, but the "th" is invariably a soft "th" not a "t".
    – psmears
    Commented Apr 1, 2011 at 20:36
11
votes

Queue /kjuː/

I've never known how to pronounce this. On the rare occasions when it comes up in conversation, I generally say "Qu... K... Line."

5
  • 14
    FYI: "Queue" is a homophone with "cue". I believe "queue" is vastly more common than "line" in British English.
    – res
    Commented Nov 23, 2010 at 14:33
  • 5
    We British do love a good queue.
    – glenatron
    Commented Nov 24, 2010 at 15:34
  • 1
    It's pronounced /kwewe/ of course, just like "through" is pronounced /throff/.... (I'm joking of course)
    – Stein G. Strindhaug
    Commented Dec 15, 2010 at 11:14
  • @Stein: It's pronounced kyuyuyuyuyu (depending how long).
    – Potatoswatter
    Commented Jan 31, 2011 at 10:38
  • I pronounce and spell it in software as "Q". So I have "MyQ" and YourQ and ThisQ variables in the code. (with descriptive names)
    – Oldcat
    Commented Feb 26, 2014 at 2:06
10
votes

I'm really going to embarrass myself, but I was in high school before I realized the word I had been reading, "subtle," was the same as the word I had been speaking: suht-l. In my mind SUBTLE and "SUDDLE" were two words that meant the same thing!

1
  • There's a suddle difference.
    – TecBrat
    Commented Jul 29, 2014 at 3:43
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