100 Most Mispronounced Words in English

[2ffat]

http://www.yourdictionary.com/library/mispron.html

Think of any that you feel should be on that list?




James P. Cottingham
^{I'm number 1,229!
I'm number 1,229!}

 

[SantaMufasa]

Immediate ones that come to mind are:
[tt]
Mis-pronunciation Correct spelling/pronunciation
=================== ==============================
"opthamologist" "ophthalmologist"

"Bret Farve" "Bret Favre"

"reconnisance" "recognizance"

"chunk <a ball>" "chuck <a ball>"

"cunnan't" "couldn't"

"bub" "bulb"

"meeyun" "million"

"evasive <surgery>" "invasive <surgery>"

"brekfus" "breakfast"

"brekfusses" "breakfasts"

"comferble" "comfortable"

"ignernt" "ignorant"

"rether" "whether"

"preform(ance)" "perform(ance)"

"mou-un" "mountain"

"buh-un" "button"

"additude" "attitude"
[/tt]


...more to come !



Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[I provide low-cost, remote Database Administration services: www.dasages.com]
“Beware of those that seek to protect you from harm or risk. The cost will be your freedoms and your liberty.”

 

[SantaMufasa]

[tt]
Mis-use,
Mis-pronunciation Correct spelling/pronunciation
=================== ==============================
"crick" "creek"

"warsh" "wash"

"squarsh" "squash"

"pahk a cah" "park a car"

"Preeshaytya" "I appreciate you"

"Dern" "Darn"

"-in'" "-ing"

"gotta..." "must..."

"Hafta..." "Have to..."

"fixin' tuh..." "Getting ready to..."

"she's like..." "she said..."

"he's all..." "he said..."

[/tt]


Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[I provide low-cost, remote Database Administration services: www.dasages.com]
“Beware of those that seek to protect you from harm or risk. The cost will be your freedoms and your liberty.”

 

[SantaMufasa]

[tt]
Mis-use,
Mis-pronunciation Correct spelling/pronunciation
=================== ==============================
"mew-chal" "mutual"

"different than" "different from"

"misconscrew" "misconstrue"

"Porto Rico" "Puerto Rico"
"Porto Vallarta" "Puerto Vallarta"

"orthoscopic" "arthroscopic"

"lumbotomy" "lobotomy"

Confusions:
========================================================================================
"effect"/"affect" confusion

"continuous"/"continual" confusion

"less"/"fewer" confusion

nominative/objective pronoun confusion: when to use "I/me", "she/her", "he/him", "we/us".[/tt]



Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[I provide low-cost, remote Database Administration services: www.dasages.com]
“Beware of those that seek to protect you from harm or risk. The cost will be your freedoms and your liberty.”

 

[guitarzan]

Thanks for that post, 2ffat!

Regarding the entry for parliament:

Although some dictionaries have given up on it, there should be a [y] after [l]: [pahr-lyê-mênt]

I don't think I've EVER heard this word pronounced this way. Doesn't mean par-luh-ment is necessarily correct, but do others here pronounce it like that? Is it more a british pronunciation?

 

[GSCaupling]

Cool link, 2ffat!

e'lectoral: The accent is on the second, not the third, syllable...

Didn't they mean [blue]elec'toral[/blue]?

**************

A pet peeve of mine is "fiscal" pronounced as "physical." Grrr.

However, I must confess this: I thought any complaint about "spittin' image" was that it should be "spitting image." I don't recall ever hearing [blue]"spit and image"[/blue] before.

Well, it's prolly not the worst air I every made.

GS



[small][navy]**********************^*********************
I always know where people are going to sit. I'm chairvoyant.[/navy][/small]

 

[sha76]

Santa, I'm loving the idea of evasive surgery, just wondering which scenario it best fits? Is it when the patient puts it off (to have a holiday, because they don't want to lose weight first, etc)? When the hospital keeps pushing someone down a waiting list? Or does it get as far as the surgeons gathered round the operating table: "Well, I would make the first incision, but actually..."?

"Your rock is eroding wrong." -Dogbert

 

[SantaMufasa]

[tt]
Mis-use,
Mis-pronunciation Correct spelling/pronunciation
=================== ==============================
"pneumonic" "mnemonic"

"ammonia" "pneumonia"

"dissolution"/ "disillusion"
"disallusion"

"menstration" "menstruation"

"minuscule" "miniscule"

"unpresidented" "unprecedented"

"Idee-r" "Idea"

"puss-getty" "spaghetti"

"chimbley"/ "chimney"
"chim-a-lee"

"cren"/"cran"/ "crayon"
"crown"

"sue-ord" "sword" (pronounced "sord")

"I-run" "iron" (pronounced "I-ern")

"kwessa-dilla" "quesadilla" (pronounced "kay-sah-dee-ah")

"woulda"/"would of" "would have"

"shuda"/"should of" "should have"

"cuda"/"could of" "could have"

"enterpreter" "interpreter"

"entra-pen-ur" "entrepreneur" (pronounced "ahn-tre-pren-oor)

"Eye-rack" "Iraq" (pronounced "Ee-rock")

"Eye-ran" "Iran" (pronounced "Ee-rahn")

"prosperity" "posterity"

"ketch" "catch"

"Alls I know is" "All I know is"

"un-thaw" "thaw"

"vulva" (yikes!!!) "Volvo"

"War-sester-shire" "Worcestershire" (pronounced "Woos-ta-shur")

"insinuendo" "insinuation" + "innuendo"

"droring" "drawing"

"rectal actively" "retro actively"

"I could care less" "I couldn't care less"

"bath a baby" "bathe a baby"

"kwitch" "quiche"

"theeter"/ "theatre" (pronounced "the-uh-ter")
"the-ay-ter"
[/tt]


More later.

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[I provide low-cost, remote Database Administration services: www.dasages.com]
“Beware of those that seek to protect you from harm or risk. The cost will be your freedoms and your liberty.”

 

[SkipVought]

[tt]
Mis-use,
Mis-pronunciation Correct spelling/pronunciation
=================== ==============================

new-kler nuclear / 'nü-klE-&r
[/tt]

Skip,
^{Don't let the Diatribe...
talk you to death!}
_{Just traded in my old subtlety...
for a NUANCE!}

 

[genomon]

"Bret Farve"

It really is pronounced like that.
Just like Le Havre is pronounced "le harve".

"Don't be irreplaceable. If you can't be replaced, you can't be promoted."

 

[SkipVought]

How about

Roy
Hebert

in Montreal or New Orleans vs Vancouvers?

Skip,
^{Don't let the Diatribe...
talk you to death!}
_{Just traded in my old subtlety...
for a NUANCE!}

 

[flapeyre]

In New Orleans, "Robért" as a last name is pronounced "row-bear."

See

http://www.robertrefrigeration.com/

(note their telephone number). They used to have the logo of the polar bear rowing a boat.

-- Francis
I'd like to change the world, but I can't find the source code.

 

[SantaMufasa]

Just like Le Havre is pronounced "le harve".

Yep...The French love it when Yanks pronounce their seaport "Le Harve". <grin>

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[I provide low-cost, remote Database Administration services: www.dasages.com]
“Beware of those that seek to protect you from harm or risk. The cost will be your freedoms and your liberty.”

 

[flapeyre]

I used to work with Brett Favre's uncle. And, yes, he pronounced it "Farve".

-- Francis
I'd like to change the world, but I can't find the source code.

 

[SantaMufasa]

I used to work with Brett Favre's uncle. And, yes, he pronounced it "Farve".

I, too, know lots of people that mispronounce words, and it doesn't make their stupidity any smarter.


Following the Favre family's lead, I suggest that we swap the third and fourth letters of the President's 5-letter name and call him President Obmaa, right?

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[I provide low-cost, remote Database Administration services: www.dasages.com]
“Beware of those that seek to protect you from harm or risk. The cost will be your freedoms and your liberty.”

 

[GSCaupling]

I, too, know lots of people that mispronounce words, and it doesn't make their stupidity any smarter.

Surely you're not suggesting that Brett Favre is mispronouncing his own name. Just as I defer to the locals on how their town's name is pronounced, I always accept a person's name as being pronounced the way they say. Seems they would know better than me how to say it, no matter how it's spelled.

GS



[small][navy]**********************^*********************
I always know where people are going to sit. I'm chairvoyant.[/navy][/small]

 

[smokeycat]

My candidates are

Misuse/mispronunciation Correct spelling/pronunciation
================ =======================
secketry secretary
vunerable vulnerable
mischevious mischievous

I know there are more but can't bring them to mind just now.

Smokey

 

[ChrisHunt]

Re: Mr Favre (whoever he is), I agree with GS. The correct way to pronounce someone's name is the way (s)he pronounces it. Even if it's wrong

Not sure I agree with all of the original list. Just because the author can't pronounce "often" doesn't mean all of us shouldn't.

The only one that occurs to me, prompted by one of Santa's choices, is the pronunciation of "shire":

On its own, talking about one of England's shire counties say, it rhymes with wire or hire.

However, when used as a suffix in the name of one of those counties: Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, etc., it rhymes with hear or beer. So my home county is pronounced "lester-shear" (and absolutely not "lye-cester-shire"!).

It's a distinction that tends to catch out non-British English speakers.

(On a vaguely related note, a local town - Loughborough ("luffbura") was once allegedly pronounced "looger burooger" by a tourist)

-- Chris Hunt
Webmaster & Tragedian
Extra Connections Ltd

 

[2ffat]

alumium...aluminium...aluminum... Ah HECK! Element Al!


James P. Cottingham
^{I'm number 1,229!
I'm number 1,229!}

 

[SantaMufasa]

Just noticed in another forum:
[tt]
Mis-use,
Mis-pronunciation Correct spelling/pronunciation
=================== ==============================
"infactuated" "infatuated"[/tt]

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[I provide low-cost, remote Database Administration services: www.dasages.com]
“Beware of those that seek to protect you from harm or risk. The cost will be your freedoms and your liberty.”