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InevitableSwing [none/use name]@hexbear.net to askchapo@hexbear.netEnglish · 2 years ago

What is a word you realized you were pronouncing wrong until you heard someone else say it?

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What is a word you realized you were pronouncing wrong until you heard someone else say it?

hexbear.net

InevitableSwing [none/use name]@hexbear.net to askchapo@hexbear.netEnglish · 2 years ago
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  • RoomAndBored@hexbear.net
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    deleted by creator

    • RoomAndBored@hexbear.net
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      deleted by creator

      • keepcarrot [she/her]@hexbear.net
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        I think I’m sort of getting the same thing with sentences learning a second language. I know a word is supposed to be in there, but I can’t remember exactly where, so it goes somewhere in the middle at a guess.

        • RoomAndBored@hexbear.net
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    • keepcarrot [she/her]@hexbear.net
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      2 years ago

      One of the oddities in English is the tendency to insert extra "n"s into words. Ravager turns into Ravanger (or more commonly Ravenger), turret turns into turrent.

    • InevitableSwing [none/use name]@hexbear.netOP
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      I love the word trebuchet because…

      • It’s a siege engine and even though it was horrible in real life - I love it in movies.
      • My favorite font is Trebuchet MS. It’s easier to read for dyslexics.
      • It’s a symmetrical chess situation where the player who must move loses. Oh, man - it’s too hard to explain so it’s Wikipedia to the rescue. It’s a kind of zugzwang.
    • Umechan [he/him]@hexbear.net
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      2 years ago

      Trench-a-butt sounds like carving a hole in someone’s ass. Maybe it would work for obtaining military secrets from enemy captives, but it probably wouldn’t be effective as a siege weapon.

      • Findom_DeLuise [she/her, they/them]@hexbear.net
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        2 years ago

        More like a horrible World War I-era disease commonly caught by infantry troops.

        • RoomAndBored@hexbear.net
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      • RoomAndBored@hexbear.net
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    • 2Password2Remember [he/him]@hexbear.net
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      2 years ago

      tribucket

      Death to America

  • NoLeftLeftWhereILive@hexbear.net
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    2 years ago

    So many, but the funniest has been “meme” (English is not my first language). My online friends who are English speakers were eternally amused by it, sadly my audhd brain has forgotten how I pronounced it.

    • InevitableSwing [none/use name]@hexbear.netOP
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      my audhd brain has forgotten how I pronounced it.

      Maybe “mehmeh” or “meemee”?

      • HerbalGamer@lemm.ee
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        2 years ago

        I used to go meh meh

    • And009@reddthat.com
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      2 years ago

      Me me

      • NoLeftLeftWhereILive@hexbear.net
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        2 years ago

        Something like this probably.:D

    • keepcarrot [she/her]@hexbear.net
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      2 years ago

      My first encounter with it was from the Selfish Gene, where Dawkins describes it as a “mind version of a gene”, so he thought meme sounded fine. Hearing Maymay was bonkers to me.

    • alexandra_kollontai [she/her]@hexbear.net
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      I had a similar thing where I learned the pronunciation of meme and then proceeded to say the name of Pepe the Frog in the same way, like “peep”. I still do this, but I’ve been informed it’s wrong.

  • Rom [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    While we’re on the subject who the fuck decided lingerie should be pronounced lawn-jer-ay? Petition to stop letting the French decide how words are spelled because if I have to try to correctly spell burgiouisey one more time I’m going to flip.

    • Dolores [love/loves]@hexbear.net
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      if the english were managing their language so well why did they lose the battle of Hastings? berdly-smug

    • NoLeftLeftWhereILive@hexbear.net
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      I gave up and have started to just opt for calling them bourge. Can’t pronounce it either.

      • OrganicIndependence@lemm.ee
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        Not trying to troll or creep. I didn’t realize what instance I was on at first. But I read your spelling and my head immediately jumped to the Borgs from Star Trek. Got a solid cackle from me. It’s been a long disappointing day so genuinely, thank you for my laughter. I’ve seen too much RISA maybe. Have a great one

        • commiewithoutorgans [he/him, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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          Come for the misinterpretation, stay for the cozy love of our comrades and desire to improve the world

          Howdy hoe partner deng-cowboy

    • Abraxiel@hexbear.net
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      It’s “lɛ̃ʒ.ʁi” in French with the “ee” instead of “ay”

    • HumanBehaviorByBjork [any, undecided]@hexbear.net
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      france-cool is a theme in the etymology of the words in this thread.

  • President_Obama [they/them, she/her]@hexbear.net
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    All of them (technically)

    I’m ESL

  • PeepinGoodArgs@reddthat.com
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    • InevitableSwing [none/use name]@hexbear.netOP
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      To me that makes it sound like an insect - It’s kinda like a no see em but bigger with a worse bite.

      No see em is another name for biting midges

    • averagedrunk@lemmy.ml
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      2 years ago

      I like that one. It was one of mine. Two others were macabre and segue.

      There were a LOT more. I read a lot so I saw a lot more words in print than I heard growing up.

  • Awoo [she/her]@hexbear.net
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    Segue, how the fuck are you supposed to guess the pronounciation of that when there’s hardly any other english words like it? I pretty much didn’t learn the actual way to say it until university. I always said it “SEGG” and just assumed the rest was silent because it’s ridiculous.

    • keepcarrot [she/her]@hexbear.net
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      I remember mispronouncing Montague (from shakespeare) for the same reason.

  • AssortedBiscuits [they/them]@hexbear.net
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    Everyone in my elementary school pronounced zealot as zeal-lot.

    • InevitableSwing [none/use name]@hexbear.netOP
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      Now I wish that was the pronunciation.

  • cryptymythy [he/him, any]@hexbear.net
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    ennui, but really do french derived words count

  • JoeByeThen [he/him, they/them]@hexbear.net
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    Parable of the Sower… I thought it was a book about pigs (sows). I still mispronounce it in my head.😅

    • 4am@lemm.ee
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      Sower Patch Kids

  • Parsani [love/loves, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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    So many author’s names

    • rake_in_lake [comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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      You just resurfaced a horrible memory of being an awkward lit nerd who wanted to fit in but also did a lot of reading alone. I was dunked on so relentlessly first year of college when trying to discuss “Go-eth”.

      Fuck you other lit undergrads from my class. Wherever you are. Hope you all stub a toe.

  • Catradora_Stalinism [she/her, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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    2 years ago

    Melee

    I still say it wrong

    • Rom [he/him]@hexbear.net
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      There’s a significant population of 20- and 30-somethings who know the proper pronunciation of melee entirely because of Smash Bros.

      • NephewAlphaBravo [he/him]@hexbear.net
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        2 years ago

        pls no dox

      • alexandra_kollontai [she/her]@hexbear.net
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        2 years ago

        leave me be

      • HumanBehaviorByBjork [any, undecided]@hexbear.net
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        but the announcer in the game says it wrong! the emphasis is on the second syllable and the first e has a circumflex, so it rhymes with get.

  • InevitableSwing [none/use name]@hexbear.netOP
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    What is one word you realized you were pronouncing wrong until you heard someone else say it?

    Mine: affidavit

    Pronounced it a-fit-a-vit (not unlike “a Fitbit”) for about 3 months in college trying to get out of a dorm contract I wasn’t happy with.

    Nitter

    I’m dyslexic so my relationship to words like “affidavit” is a strange one. My first exposure to the word must have been via a tv series. I watched an insane amout of tv as a kid. So I heard the word many years before I ever saw the written form. With such words - there’s confusion in my mind when I see the written form. If I were to look at the word and try to pronounce it - I’d likely mispronounce it like then I was a kid coping with pretty easy words that still gave me grief.

  • 2Password2Remember [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    don’t have a good answer to OP’s question but i just want to give a shoutout to my fellow IPA literate sickos in this thread fighting the good fight

    Death to America

    • alexandra_kollontai [she/her]@hexbear.net
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      Hexbear won’t understand this coded message: /'dəþ 'tu 'ði æm'εrɪkən 'længwədʒ/

      • comrade_pibb [comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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        ə7

      • 2Password2Remember [he/him]@hexbear.net
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        stress markers on one-syllable words

        sicko-beaming

        Death to America

        • alexandra_kollontai [she/her]@hexbear.net
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          It means you say them louder hasel-fist

      • 🏳️‍⚧️ 新星 [she/they]@lemmygrad.ml
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        æ

        I have to remind myself not to pronounce /æ/ like Latin “ae”.

        Laughing at IPA /æ/ in “American” though, would be hilarious to make this the actual pronunciation

    • InevitableSwing [none/use name]@hexbear.netOP
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      IPA

      My brain interprets that as a horrible foreign language so if I want to share a pronunciation for simplicity’s sake I use dictionary.com. An example…

      Segue Definition & Meaning

      SEG-wey

      It’s not perfect but it’s the best site I know.

    • HumanBehaviorByBjork [any, undecided]@hexbear.net
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      if it’s not on my computer keyboard it’s a made up sound!

  • rjs001@lemmygrad.ml
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    deleted by creator

    • alexandra_kollontai [she/her]@hexbear.net
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      same :(

  • AbbysMuscles [she/her]@hexbear.net
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    “Calliope”. I thought it was “Kal-ee-ope”. I found out like last week it’s “Kal-I-Oh-Pee”.

    • InevitableSwing [none/use name]@hexbear.netOP
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      Kal-ee-ope

      My favorite online dictionary is usually spot on. It has two pronunciations. The only way I’ve heard it pronounced is the first pronunciation - kuh-LAHY-uh-pee. The second is KAL-ee-ohp which I don’t think I ever heard until a minute ago in that digital voice.

      • keepcarrot [she/her]@hexbear.net
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        It sounds Canadian in my head, but it’s an American rocket tank

    • GreenTeaRedFlag [any]@hexbear.net
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      tecnically, both are correct depending on context. If you’re talking about the instrument, it’s a Cal-i-Ope-EE. When discussing the muse of epic poetry, it’s cal-EE-ope-Ay

      • AbbysMuscles [she/her]@hexbear.net
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        I didn’t even know that was an instrument wtf

        • GreenTeaRedFlag [any]@hexbear.net
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          oh yeah, it’s a water organ they play at circuses

    • Dolores [love/loves]@hexbear.net
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      i think that’s closer to the greek ironically

    • HerbalGamer@lemm.ee
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      Call-whap

    • Tachanka [comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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      I only know this one because of that boomer rock song

      the calliope crashed to the ground and she was BLINDED BY THE LIGHT

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