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Words you can never remember how to pronounce

UnherdUnherd 1,880 Posts
edited June 2007 in Strut Central
Maybe im dumb, for the life of me, there are some incorrect pronunciations i must have picked up as a kid that I cannot get out of my head. I am always slightly shook using these words, cause i can never be totally sure Im saying it right. I have even been clowned on this before, and I still cant get it down. My two main problems are:Culinary (CUE-LA-nary or CUL-in-ary) Vocoder (VOKE-oder or Va-coder)Is i retarded? Do others experience this?

  Comments

  • Terry_ClubbupTerry_Clubbup 833 Posts


    Toward[/b]

    Drawer[/b]

    Lawyer[/b]
  • DB_CooperDB_Cooper Manhatin' 7,823 Posts

    Vocoder (VOKE-oder or Va-coder)

    Is i retarded? Do others experience this?

    I wish I could relate, but the closest I've come is when, as a child, I first pronounced "chaos" aloud, after reading it in a comic book. I'd heard people say "kay-aws," but I read and pronounced it as "cha-oes," never making the connection.

    Try this: a vocoder is basically a vo[/b]cal encoder[/b].
  • dollar_bindollar_bin I heartily endorse this product and/or event 2,326 Posts
    When I was a kid I read a lot so I had a pretty big vocabulary. The problem was, many of those words I only knew from reading so I frequently mispronounced words.

    My suggestion is checking the Miriam Webster website, they have sound clips of words being pronounced.

    http://www.merriam-webster.com/

    I can't help on vocoder, but there are 3 pronunciations listed for culinary in M-W, and 2 in the Oxford English Dictionary, I say pronounce it however you feel comfortable.
  • DB_CooperDB_Cooper Manhatin' 7,823 Posts
    Drawer[/b]

    This is pronounced differently by region, no? I've heard "draw" and "droar" depending on accent.
  • Deep_SangDeep_Sang 1,081 Posts
    Misnomer
  • DB_CooperDB_Cooper Manhatin' 7,823 Posts
    In related clownage, a college friend of mine would consistently conflate the pronunciations of the verb and noun forms of "permit." In other words, he would get a parking permit, that would permit him to park.
  • bassiebassie 11,710 Posts
    I definitely know what you mean. I worked with someone who pronounced 'assuage' wrong (and used it a lot) and now I have lost all recollection of how it is said and it is not a word I ever hear so I can get back on track.

    clandestine - trips me up

    catechism - I know this word aurally, to read it, I see it as catch-ism.
  • Jonny_PaycheckJonny_Paycheck 17,825 Posts
    Awry
  • Terry_ClubbupTerry_Clubbup 833 Posts
    Awry


  • PATXPATX 2,820 Posts
    Drawer[/b]

    This is pronounced differently by region, no? I've heard "draw" and "droar" depending on accent.

    Ra-zor, Mir-ror People from Cali seem to have issues with it.

  • spivyspivy 866 Posts
    posthumous
  • kalakala 3,362 Posts
    succinct
  • batmonbatmon 27,574 Posts
    Ask = Axe
  • RAJRAJ tenacious local 7,783 Posts
    Gauge
  • HairyBelafonteHairyBelafonte 1,202 Posts



    unrequited
  • DustbusterDustbuster 278 Posts
    Worcestershire.
  • dollar_bindollar_bin I heartily endorse this product and/or event 2,326 Posts
    epitome

    I always say e-PIT-o-me, but I always read EPI-tome.
  • DB_CooperDB_Cooper Manhatin' 7,823 Posts
    Worcestershire.

    Try pronouncing Gloucester.
  • edulusedulus 421 Posts
    Nukeyular
  • Terry_ClubbupTerry_Clubbup 833 Posts
    Gauge

    I have no problems pronouncing this, but problems spelling it.
    It doesn't even look right now, just sitting there on the monitor
    like liquified light.

    Use it in a goddamn sentence.

    As the nurse-with-wound used her filthy paws to lower my silky drawers,
    I drooled and drawled, "no pause for the cause, just wrap it in gauze
    please just wrap it in gauze," so she foraged under my gaze, found
    the medical tape, applied it with tender rage, left and locked the cage,
    and left me leaking, a blind man with a tire gauge.
  • bassiebassie 11,710 Posts
    Worcestershire.

    Try pronouncing Gloucester.

    Leicester and Grosvenor too!
  • hogginthefogghogginthefogg 6,098 Posts
    I recently cold bursted a Strutter who pronounced "either" as "eye-thur" in my presence. I feel that said pronunciation is almost always a front. If that's how you really pronounce it, then you have to pronounce "neither" the same way.

    I know none of y'all are saying, "Yeah, me NIGH-thur."
  • On_the_Red_ClayOn_the_Red_Clay 1,728 Posts
    Worcestershire.

    Try pronouncing Gloucester.

    Leicester and Grosvenor too!

    Aww come on dude(ttes)!

    Wooster

    Gloster

    Lester

    Grovenor

  • DB_CooperDB_Cooper Manhatin' 7,823 Posts
    Worcestershire.

    Try pronouncing Gloucester.

    Leicester and Grosvenor too!

    Aww come on dude(ttes)!

    Wooster

    Gloster

    Lester

    Grovenor


    Not hard for Brits or New Englanders, but most other Americans struggle with them, in my experience.
  • bassiebassie 11,710 Posts
    Worcestershire.

    Try pronouncing Gloucester.

    Leicester and Grosvenor too!

    Aww come on dude(ttes)!

    Wooster

    Gloster

    Lester

    Grovenor


    I know them now, but the first time looking at those words - especially Leicester - my reaction was WTF?
  • HeddyHeddy 131 Posts
    I always have to look twice when I see "tryst"
  • Terry_ClubbupTerry_Clubbup 833 Posts
    Worcestershire.



    Wooster



    Are you talking about the British region, or the sauce?

    Because Lea & Perrins are the bosses of the sauces whose
    title inspires many cotton-tongued pronunciations, not one of which
    is "Wooster"

    Worshestishire sauce[/b]
    Worchester sauce[/b]
    Woo-sister sauce[/b]
    Woo-sister-sire sauce[/b]
    Worsheister sauce[/b]


    During a meditation, in prison, focussing on ways to get wasted-drunk
    without any alcohol, the repeated spoken incantation of "Worcestershire Sauce"
    often does the trick. Tricks your brain into thinking it's drunk, now
    breathe into this brown paper bag.
  • 8bits8bits 146 Posts
    It's not that i cant remember how to say it, it's just hard to pronounce
    refrigerator in spanish
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