QOTW: A Problem Of Pronunciation
October 5, 2008 | Filed under Q.O.T.W.
I have a problem.
I have a broad vocabulary (if not extensive, certainly broad) when in print. I can write multi-syllabic words like no one else, even if I don’t do so when blogging (don’t want to be pretentious now do I?). However, by virtue of the fact that I’ve never had the opportunity to be party to certain words being used in conversation, I simply don’t know how they’re pronounced, though I certainly understand the meaning and the contexts in which it can be used.
For instance, the word soporific (when used in the context of speech). I would probably substitute a similar word like “monotonous” or “droning” in its place when speaking aloud, though I wouldn’t hesitate to use it in print. The problem lies in the potential pronunciation. I’d naturally gravitate towards soap-ah-riff-ik as the correct pronunciation, though I realise this choice is probably coloured by my life experiences (e.g. Asian accent, Australian accent).
Then, the time my dude fella gave me shit (i.e. mocked/teased me for those unfamiliar with Aussie slang) for pronouncing “deterrent” as de-de-rent instead of the Australian norm of der-ter-rent. My pronunciation was affected by some old sitcom I had once watched, with a character who spoke in short. sharp. static. bursts. Deterrent in his manner of speaking became de-de-rent. Toronto would become te-ron-oh.
Question of the Week: Do you have the same problem pronouncing certain words? If so, which ones trip you up?
27 Responses to QOTW: A Problem Of Pronunciation
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I loved vocabulary in my English class in high school. After hearing words pronounced, I always was able to remember how to do so. It is pretty funny trying to say words before you hear them pronounced, though. Two I remember clearly because I pronounced them so badly were epitome and sophomoric!
Caitlin on October 5, 2008 #
I have a problem with a lot of words that have “R” in them. X_X;; For an example: I have a hard time pronouncing my own name with English pronunciation. However, when I pronounce my name in Korean, the “R” becomes an “L” so it’s a lot easier for me to say.
I’m the same like you: I come upon many vocabulary words that I am unsure on how it’s supposed to be pronounced. Living in a foreign country and being on the military base where many people rarely use higher level vocabulary do not help me much either.
One word that bothers me right now is “euphemism”. I keep thinking the first “M” is an “N” and even pronounce it like that. X_X;;
Anyway, I notice that a lot of the words that trip me up are French based words. Words like genre, que sera sera, and coup d’etat. I pronounce them the way they are written . . . which turns out to be the wrong!
Another word that threw me out of the loop was “segue”. I thought it would be pronounced “segyuuuuu” but when I heard it as “seq-way” I was like, WTF?!
Tara on October 5, 2008 #
as a pure Asian living in Indonesia, these stuff are always… THERE.
I used to go to this Australian based school, and then I moved to an American based school, my best friend likes to tease me with the way I say “aluminum”, its spelled differently in Australian (if I’m not mistaken of course :P)
and with the way I say “acid”.
gah, confuses me sometimes, but I have to learn these things.
Yos on October 6, 2008 #
“Underworld” and “than that” are two things I avoid saying as much as possible. The first one makes me tumble down and it results in something like “un-duh-wod”, while the latter reminds me quite harshly that there is no “th” sound in French.
Julie on October 6, 2008 #
“statistics”
I cannot say that word to save my life. It comes out like ‘sadistics’.
Yes, part of my maths a-level was made up of two modules of sadistics.
Rachael on October 6, 2008 #
Yes I have the same thing with certain words too. Sometimes it’s not that I don’t pronounce them correctly, it’s just I don’t say them like other Americans…it ends up sounding British or some European sounding thing. Why, I don’t really know. And especially in the sciences…I come across a lot of terms that are difficult to spell let alone pronounce. Like “actinopterigii”…it was such a long word, I didn’t know how to break up the syllables. Also, we have a lot of foreign professors so sometimes the first time I hear a word is from them, so I say it like them. My friends always look at me funny when I say “mesoderm” (ME-ZO-derm), thanks to my English professor, because they all say MESS-SO-derm.
marilyn on October 6, 2008 #
This is my post.
I remember in eighth grade, we had a “weighty words” assignment and my word was soporific. My wonderful line was… “Wouldn’t it be super if I could sleep all day long?”
I still don’t know how to pronounce it, but I know what it means!
The last word I got called out on was slueth.
I used to pronounce it as “Slueth”
Rafia on October 6, 2008 #
Oh and Toronto IS Ter-on-oh!
I find it so so cute when the Americans say To-rohn-to!
Rafia on October 6, 2008 #
Apparently, fish and chips should be feesh and cheeps. :P
I can’t think of anything else I have trouble pronouncing off the top of my head though. I used to have trouble with ‘specific’ but now it’s second nature… because I use it a lot.
Nellie on October 6, 2008 #
Specific. Not that I can’t say it… I can say it fine right now. Specific, specific, specific. But if someone were to come along and say spe-fi-cic, I’d be screwed for the rest of the day. SPE-CI-FIC. Dammit.
Apparently I say syrup weird too. I’ve been arguing it with my coworkers for so long that I can’t even remember how I originally said it. I think I said it “sair-ip”… and everyone down here in the south says “sir-up”.
My boss says “dall” (almost sounding like “dowel”) instead of DOLL. Drives me nuts.
And words I read/use all the time but have no idea how to say them? Reconnaissance, for one.
Actually (gee, Amanda, you caught me in a rambly mood), after moving from the northern states to the southern, the thing that bugs me most is people putting the emphasis on the WRONG SYLLABLE. Okay, insurance. Up north, it’s in-SURE-ance. Down here it’s IN-sure-ance. Another is cement. Up north? Ce-MENT. South? CE-ment.
Damn hicks.
Meli on October 6, 2008 #
@Rafia: Interesting. I always pronounced it as “tor-rahn-toh” (I am American :D).
Hehe, pretty much any word I don’t use often I get tongue-tied over. “Expletive” is one. Also when I took a music fundamentals class in my first college semester, I kept pronouncing “bass” (the clef) as “bass”, the fish. XD
Also, I used to pronounce “pillow” as “pello”. But ever since I took Spanish, I’ve been trying to switch over to “pill-oh”, since “pelo” (sounds almost exactly like “pello” without the second l) means hair in Spanish. I figured I would get confused really easily. :P
Noellium on October 6, 2008 #
I pronounced “epitome” as EPP-ih-toam for the longest time. I still say it like that in my head, I think. And I pronounce penguin was pingwin.
..Not sure if those are supposed to be intensely difficult to pronounce, though.
Shen-Shen on October 6, 2008 #
Literature. I was my 8th grade English teacher’s favourite until she found out I couldn’t pronounce that word :/
Also, words with lots of S’s and X’s and the like in them cause me trouble. Statistically, fish soup (I always say ‘fishup’ :D), crisps, inexplicable, explicit… Squirrel was a difficult word as well, but several years ago, when I was still in high school, we had an American exchange student who taught me how to pronounce it. I still pronounce it in a very American way, despite my English accent being otherwise very British.
Kaisa on October 6, 2008 #
specific. i have SOOOOOOOO much trouble with that bloody word.
nadine on October 6, 2008 #
I have major problems with words like geographical. I say it like I’m going to say geography, and it ends up coming out in a really awkward and incorrect way. I’m completely aware of the fact that I make this mistake before attempting to pronounce words like those, but I still mangle them.
Emily on October 6, 2008 #
Like you, I’m very comfortable writing words down in their correct context, but I try really hard not to pronounce them because I have a bit of trouble. My first language is mostly Spanish and sometimes that affects the way I say certain things.
Sarai on October 6, 2008 #
I have a great vocabulary, but when it comes to using those words with my mouth, it all falls apart and I sound like an utter idiot. The worst are french words — I screw them up all the time. I think it’s because of my background in spanish… every letter is pronounced and it’s completely phonetic… so the entire slew of vowels and not pronouncing things and all that weirdness really throws me off.
My boyfriend said “foo pah” the other day, meaning faux pas. I thought it was hilarious because of the irony.
Stephanie on October 6, 2008 #
I have a pretty decent vocabulary. I know words that most people would never use (“copacetic”, anyone?) and because of it, I get looks from especially my nephews. I thought they would have taught that word in school.
The words “shrimp” and “berry” are completely mistaken for something else when I say it. “Shrimp” comes out as “shrump”, and “berry” loses its second syllable. I’m not sure where that came from.
Nat Marie on October 6, 2008 #
It’s not so much that I have a trouble pronouncing words as that it’s hard for me to stick to just one uniform way of pronouncing words and one uniform accent. Sometimes, I’m just too lazy to articulate words… like probably (probly), fountain (foun’n), etc.
I have what most people might say is a standard American accent. But it’s tinged with a mix of Filipino, Southern (Deep South) and Pacific Northwest accent because I’ve lived in different places. Bag rhymes with plague. Route rhymes with out. I used to pronounce fiend as fi-end (like high end).
Felisa on October 6, 2008 #
As I don’t really get the opportunity to listen to spoken English much, quite a few words get this treatment. For instance, until I had a Skype voice chat with Rachael, I thought that Greenwich was pronounced “green witch” instead of “gran-itch”. It was mightily embarrassing.
Sometimes, I’d just get it into my head that a certain word is pronounced in a certain way, and I’ll keep pronouncing it that way, till someone corrects it. Like foreign: for 7 years of my life I was convinced that it’s pronounced “for rain”. XP
Vera on October 6, 2008 #
SInce English isn’t my mother tongue I tend to trip over an endless list of words, but if I don’t know how they are pronounced I will just look it up in the dictionary, they generally have a pronunciation sheet as well
Chans on October 6, 2008 #
Old entry, but I have to reply. Quintessential. Makes me stutter every goddamn time.
Lil on October 7, 2008 #
I don’t have trouble pronouncing words apart from one – ONE GODDAMN WORD – that annoyed me when I was a radio newsreader. ‘Statistics’.
It’s not as though it’s a hard word to say, and I can say it perfectly except for when I KNOW I’m going to say it, like in a news script. If I had to put that n the script, I dreaded it for the whole day.
Agent Elle on October 7, 2008 #
It IS te-ron-oh! The second T is only pronounced if you’re not from here. ;)
I do the same thing that you do: if I’m not sure how to pronounce a word, I substitute an easily pronounceable one.
My friend can’t say “Massachusetts”, and, no matter how slowly I make her say it or how much I break it down, she always says “Massatushits”. :P
Clem on October 7, 2008 #
TH words. For the life of me, I cannot say it properly. I had to relearn how to say “three” because apparently, it sounded like I was saying “tree.” I can’t say “thin” and “thick” and yeah. Is hard coming from a language where you have to pronounce every single letter to a language with ninja letters (letters you’re not supposed to pronounce)!
Eina on October 7, 2008 #
First time my cousin saw the word “antiques” written, she didn’t realize what the word was. We kept passing tons of antique store signs on the road and she kept asking what an-ti-kwihs was. Finally, we realized what she was referring to!
I also learned the word photosynthesis before we covered it in school so I still pronounce it my way. Drives my stepmom crazy :D :D :D
Skye on October 7, 2008 #
It’s such a simple word, but.. Tragedy! I always seem to say ‘tradegy’. Also, I have a hard time with women. It comes out sounding like either ‘wimmin’ or ‘we men’. They’re both as bad as each other!
Melinda on October 7, 2008 #