Is there a word you've discovered you've been mispronouncing all your life?

[The Lurker]

Another one where seems to be little consensus is "turmeric". I pronounce the first syllable "tur" but lots of people including a fair few tv chefs pronounce it "tyu". 

[Riddles]

DECAL. Deck-al or Dee-cal? I'd always used the former but having heard so many people say dee-cal I thought I must be wrong. I recently heard a maker of this commodity say deck-al so now feel exonerated.  I'm guessing it is a transatlantic import for what we always referred to as transfers. I realise that vinyls are now commonplace and use different technology. Presumably decal can refer to either type but am happy to be corrected.

[jjb1970]

Marylebone, most people call it marleybone, I was always told it should be pronounced pretty much as per how it is written, perhaps with the 'bone' shortened to 'bun'.

[PeterStiles]

9 minutes ago, jjb1970 said:

Marylebone

We'll, it was, of course, simply

 

Mary le Bon

 

At some point...

[ikcdab]

An the joys of the English language.  I studied russian for a few years and with that words are always spoken as they are spelt.  So pronunciation is entirely predictable.

With English, there is only a loose connection between spelling and pronunciation.  And no rules either, you just have to know it.

I like how the word "mouth" is pronounced one way when it stands on its own, but is pronounced as "muff" such as Weymouth.  And just think how you would speak the sentence "I went to the shops".  The words "to the" just blur into one "tother" or something similar.

It's all done to make things as difficult as possible for foreigners.

I love it 

Ian

 

 

 

 

[toby_tl10]

1 hour ago, 45655 said:

“Maunsell rhymes with cancel and Bulleid rhymes with succeed.”

Now I'm confused. I can't understand how Bulleid can rhyme with succeed on the first syllable. Isn't it simply pronounced the same as "bullied"?

[Sidecar Racer]

 

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch , gets me every time .

[Oldddudders]

2 hours ago, 45655 said:

the ‘u’ being superfluous 

Far from superfluous, I believe a Maunsell U would be popular in any scale.......

[The Lurker]

2 hours ago, PeterStiles said:

We'll, it was, of course, simply

 

Mary le Bon

 

At some point...

Mar l'bun would be an approximation of pronunciation.

 

On another tack, the Post Office changing of spellings to avoid postal confusion probably causes some oddities. The number of times I have heard  the first syllable of Tonbridge pronounced as if it were like "tong" without the g instead "tun" or "ton" as in the weight. I suspect there are others in the same boat. (Hutton-le-hole, should the le be silent?)

[Nearholmer]

20 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

pronounced differently for no apparent reason:

There’s a perfectly good, clear, and defensible reason: it’s done to confuse Americans.

[Nearholmer]

7 hours ago, toby_tl10 said:

Now I'm confused. I can't understand how Bulleid can rhyme with succeed on the first syllable. Isn't it simply pronounced the same as "bullied"?

It was a wind-up, not a poetry contest, so it didn’t have to rhyme precisely.

[New Haven Neil]

8 hours ago, The Lurker said:

I use a long a when I say Bath, but certainly not for garage or plastic or transport or transit - all of which I have heard over the years but less so recently

 

We have a small town here named Ballasalla.  it is pronounced with all hard a's.  Bal - a - sal - a, we hear Bawll-arr-a-sar-la a lot at this time of year with lots of visitors from southern England.  Locals fall over in mirth.  For the Manx accent, put the Ass into Castletown.

[Enterprisingwestern]

2 minutes ago, New Haven Neil said:

 

We have a small town here named Ballasalla.  it is pronounced with all hard a's.  Bal - a - sal - a, we hear Bawll-arr-a-sar-la a lot at this time of year with lots of visitors from southern England.  Locals fall over in mirth.  For the Manx accent, put the Ass into Castletown.

 

Whilst we're on Fraggle Rock, is it Isle of Man, 3 distinct words, or Ilerman?

 

Mike.

[Nearholmer]

Three areas locally, formerly separate villages, about two miles apart, all with names ending ‘…oughton’, pronounced respectively:

 

- …..awt’n;

 

- …..ooft’n; and,

 

- …..owt’n.

 

Just to spite passing travellers, I assume.

[Ozexpatriate]

9 hours ago, The Lurker said:

Another one where seems to be little consensus is "turmeric". I pronounce the first syllable "tur" but lots of people including a fair few tv chefs pronounce it "tyu". 

I grew up with "Tu" like Tuesday. Both are acceptable.

[Oldddudders]

4 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

I grew up with "Tu" like Tuesday. Both are acceptable.

That spice being from another continent, the spelling varies - tumeric or turmeric - as it does for a number of imported cuisine words brought by multiple incomers. Here in France it is curcuma, and I use it every time I cook rice. Apparently it has health benefits, too. 

[Steamport Southport]

I don't think I've ever had the need to pronounce turmeric....

 

But doesn't it have the same origins as turban as they often used it as a dye to colour the turbans as it was cheaper than saffron.

 

No idea where that came from just something I recall reading.

[57xx]

Azure

 

I've always pronounced it Az-Ure. As part of my job I'm watching lots of videos about Microsoft's cloud services, hence being relentlessly presented with Americans (and a few Brits wholey sucked up into the MS world) pronouncing it Ashoor. I want to keep saying bless you.

[Flying Pig]

1 hour ago, Steamport Southport said:

But doesn't it have the same origins as turban as they often used it as a dye to colour the turbans as it was cheaper than saffron.

 

 

Not according to the Web, for what that's worth, though turmeric is mentioned as a dye.  Various derivations pop up if you search "turmeric etymology", but they all seem to be more like turmeric than tumeric.

 

 

[BR60103]

I think I have been wrong much of my life reading (I never had to say it) Burntisland as Burn tis land.

 

 

Now where is my BBC pronouncing dictionary of British proper names?

 

[jjb1970]

8 hours ago, New Haven Neil said:

 

We have a small town here named Ballasalla.  it is pronounced with all hard a's.  Bal - a - sal - a, we hear Bawll-arr-a-sar-la a lot at this time of year with lots of visitors from southern England.  Locals fall over in mirth.  For the Manx accent, put the Ass into Castletown.

 

The only times I ever visited the IoM were to go to Ballasalla, it used to be the home of Maersk IoM.

[Welly]

There is a village called Kingston Blount near Chinnor - is it pronounced "Blount" or "Blunt"?

[melmoth]

10 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

It was a wind-up, not a poetry contest, so it didn’t have to rhyme precisely.

 

Precise rhyming appears to be frowned upon in poetry competitions these days

[45655]

20 hours ago, toby_tl10 said:

Now I'm confused. I can't understand how Bulleid can rhyme with succeed on the first syllable. Isn't it simply pronounced the same as "bullied"?

I think he was referring to the second syllable.

 

Keith

Alton.

[Steamport Southport]

7 hours ago, BR60103 said:

I think I have been wrong much of my life reading (I never had to say it) Burntisland as Burn tis land.

 

 

Now where is my BBC pronouncing dictionary of British proper names?

 

 

I think it's Burnt is land although I have also heard Burnt Island on a TV programme before today.