I just heard this word used on a TV Talk Show - it was about all the DECALS on a vehicle - pronounced as DEE CALS, when the correct pronunciation is
DECK ULS.
Also, I cannot handle the common pronunciation of HERB as ERB, what the eck is up with that? Usually its fancy pancies that say it that way.

Yes, I've been caught by the Kiwi accent myself a few times. And that story reminds me of this one - I worked in a restaurant with a woman who had a heavy Greek accent. She was calling to me from across the room once, as we were setting up in the morning - "Have you got any lett-us?" "Letters?" I'm thinking, allowing for her accent. Leathers? Turns out, out course, that she was asking for lettuce, and saying it perfectly correctly.....

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Also, I cannot handle the common pronunciation of HERB as ERB, what the eck is up with that? Usually its fancy pancies that say it that way.

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We've always pronounced it that way and be assured - there's nothing very fancy about me. Maybe it's a regional thing.

Hiya Ren33. Nice to hear you've met a kiwi....there's only 4million of us,so we're quite rare:-) Pass on my hellos and best wishes{Kia Ora & Arohanui!} to your collegue,it can get lonely when away from home...I did a 2yr stint in the middle east and got home end of Aug/2007;Hamdullah! Ask your collegue about how kiwis and auzzies say:"fish and chips" and "six"...you'll get a giggle out of that:-)

There's a similar regional problem with 'pecan'. Americans from up north tend to say PE -can, while down in Texas [ where the things are primarily grown] we always said
puh -CAWN.
I didn't check to see which one Webster prefers. I just know that if I went around saying Pe -CAN people would snicker at me.

Great thread.

What about "pacific" for specific? Drives me mad!

When we lived in Ireland our Dublin-born pastor would teach about the "Porpoises" every week. Took some time to realise he meant "purposes".


Another Irish one would be "doze tree trees over dare" (pointing out a number of trees in the distance!)

ktstew, they have the same issue in California with almonds. Most everyone says AL-mund or AH-mund. The people that grow them (and thereabouts) say a-mund, with a short a.

The 'foreign' pronunciations reminded me of my mother's co-worker at the university, who when calling her over the loudspeaker with his Vietnamese accent, made her name sound like "Fat Hips". Fortunately, she had a great sense of humor.

My grandfather was a comedian in Vaudeville, and one of his schticks was to make fun of his own Brooklyn accent. One of the poems he recited:

Toity poiple boids sat on a coib,
boipin and choipin and eatin doity woims.
Along came Boit and his skoit Goit who woiked in a doity shoit factry in New Joisey.
Dey seen des toity poiple boids sittin on a coib,
boipin and choipin and eatin doity woims,
and boy, was dey poitoibed!

This happened at "toidy-toid an' toid", I imagine.

It reminds me of an urban poem that i've always enjoyed:

De spring is sprung,
De grass is riz.
I wonder where
dem boidies is.
"De liddle boids is on de wing" -
Ain't dat absoid!
De liddle wings
is on de boid!

I used to say fyoond for fund, and pronounce group with an ow sound (as in "now") in the middle. I was thirty before I used the word plover for the first time. Apparently it's supposed to rhyme with lover.

When the nearest letter-box was resited round the corner, my son asked what rezz'itted meant, and he read Maimonides as May'-man-ides.

And my brother said one ambulant, several ambulance.

How about this one:

Worcestershire Sauce

I've heard about 10 different ways to say this, and honestly I'm not sure myself how to say it.

Worcestershire, English version:

"Worc" is pronounced exactly the same as the famous compliment, wuss.
The "es" is ignored.
The "ter" is a slightly explosive t sound.
"Shire" is pronounced sheer.

Total: wuss t sheer.

Hope that helps!

Yes, thank you , Lesley -that does help. I have heard people stumble over this word for years.

Yes but when you go into a shop in England and want Worcestershire sauce, you never say the whole thing anyway. It's usually just woos(rhymes with 'puss' ) ter.

Ren, I am lucky to find even an average person on the street over here who knows what it is -let alone knows how to pronounce it.

Another common one is zoology, (and zoologist). It has become quite common for people to pronounce the first syllable 'zoo', rhyming with 'Sue' (sorry Sue, your name was handy:) It's not quite correct though it's an understandable mistake (due to 'zoological gardens being shortened to zoo') and fast becoming standard
even though there aren't three 'o's:)

The first syllables are actually supposed to be pronounced 'zo' (rhyming with 'go') then a short 'o' as in 'stop'. Everyone seems to get the second vowel right, I've yet to hear anyone say 'zulogist' though someone probably has or does.

It's even more amusing when people expect zoologists to know all about zoos:)

(is a student of the Zulu tribe a Zuluologist? that would confuse folk down on the South African savannah..)

How is it that 'escape' has become 'excape', for so many TV announcers? It is SO annoying.

It amazes me how many people say "I should of..." instead of "I should have..."

You're welcome, ktstew. Glad it helped.

Ren33 said

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Yes but when you go into a shop in England and want Worcestershire sauce, you never say the whole thing anyway. It's usually just woos(rhymes with 'puss' ) ter.

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and you're right that people ask for Worcester sauce - or Lea and Perrins - if they ask for anything at all. Mostly you just walk up to it and pull it off the shelf in silence.

You probably won't hear it on TV either. TV cooks are more likely to "drizzle" balsamic vinegar or raspberry coulis. Maybe next year.

"Total: wuss t sheer."

That's how I have pronounced since I was a child, we always had it in the house at my father's insistence, and I have it on hand all the time now. I think my boys were the only ones in the neighborhood that knew what it was, let alone ate it on steaks, chops, and even in macaroni and cheese occasionally. The mac and cheese I couldn't handle.
Sandy

I think macaroni cheese is improved by a bit of mustard in the cheese sauce and a layer of fresh tomato slices under the cheese topping. Apologies to purists.

Entertaining thread.
My pet peeve when it comes to mispronounced words is "mischievous." It annoys me to hear poeple add that extra syllable, saying "mischievEEous."

Negotiate pronounced negoSSSiate. Ouch.

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It amazes me how many people say "I should of..." instead of "I should have..."

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Maybe these folks are actually using
the contraction , which is 'should've' but can come out sounding like 'should of'.

That might be ktstew, but I have seen people actually type "I should of..." on other sites.