100 Most Often Mispronounced Words...

[mugs]

Originally posted by: everman
People pronouncing espresso as "eXpresso" *sigh*

Not to be confused with the Plymouth Neon, which actually had an "Expresso" trim.

Edit: Actually the Plymouth Voyager did too, I'm guessing other Plymouths probably did as well.

 

[HomeAppraiser]

My old boss used to and still says "irregardless" instead of "regardless".

 

[dbk]

liberry?

 

[tfcmasta97]

pronounciation an splelling aint my fort.

.... wait shouldnt it still be forte?

and im prolly sure that most of these arent even close to the most often mispronounced words since most of this crap i never say

 

[judasmachine]

these bug the @#$%ing @#$% out of me, however language is a fluid thing. it will always be changing; growing in some areas, and degenerating in others. it's always been this way and always will, might as well embrace it.

 

[Madwand1]

Originally posted by: Rebasxer
Forte is pronounced fort. I've never heard anyone, educated or not use the word fort as a strong point...

I have, and often pronounced with two syllables. This would be natural if you'd come across the musical version first (and classical musical education often precedes HR interactions).

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/forte

 

[TitanDiddly]

Old-timer's disease Alzheimer's disease

This isn't a pronunciation database, it's a political correctness database.

 

[neutralizer]

Holy crap, I realized from that article that I've been mispronounce a lot of words .

 

[DAGTA]

I see a lot of 'ebonics' on that list.

 

[BoberFett]

Saying/spelling words is a pet peeve of mine. Particularly ones like mischievous and realator. Adding syllables makes no sense, if you're going to say a word improperly save yourself syllables, don't add them.

It's the phrases that really get me though. It's very apparent people don't think about what they're actually saying, especially when it's typed out for all to see. Just on this forum alone I've seen "for all intensive purposes" many times, along with other butchered phrases.

I did learn a few things there though. I didn't realize the word was "pernickety."

 

[iamaelephant]

OMG you pronounce "often" without the T? Wow, I honestly never knew that. I think that's the only one on the list that I'm guilty of. I'm fairly articulate normally, unless I'm drinking. Many of the words on that list appear to be American-only pronounciations.

Edit -
Ostraya Australia This pronunciation particularly bothers Australians themselves, most of whom can manage the [l] quite easily, thank you.

In my experience (and I know a lot of Australians), Australian people are more guilty of this than anyone. Almost every Aussie I know misses the "L" in Australia.

 

[jagec]

Originally posted by: KillerCharlie

Originally posted by: jagec
Card shark is acceptible, "snuck" is fairly acceptible, and while "duct tape" is more common, "duck tape" is not only a brand, but also the original spelling.

One might almost say the mispronunciation of "Tijuana" is justified, since it's namesake was, after all, an Aunt Juana.

However, "acceptible" is NOT ACCEPTABLE.

D'oh!

I'm usually a pretty good speller, too...though this forum has certainly worsened things.

 

[iamaelephant]

I think the phrase that bugs me the most is "as God as my witness." Think about what you're saying!! "With God as my witness.[/b]"

 

[eits]

Originally posted by: ddviper

supposably supposedly Adding ?ly to participles is rarely possible, so some people try to avoid it altogether. You can't avoid it here.


often ofen We have mastered the spelling of this word so well, its spelling influences the pronunciation: DON'T pronounce the [t]! This is an exception to the rule that spelling helps pronunciation.

These two bug me the most.

-Got pronunciation?

heh my ex used to say "often" and i kept trying to tell her "no, babe... it's 'offen'"

 

[eits]

Originally posted by: Rebasxer
Forte is pronounced fort. I've never heard anyone, educated or not use the word fort as a strong point...

hehe i was having a discussion with this dumb girl who wanted to sound like she was smart and she said "it's not my fortay" or something. i was like "i think you mean 'fort'." i tried explaining to her, but she just thought i was wrong... dumb broad.

 

[eits]

Originally posted by: Madwand1

Originally posted by: Rebasxer
Forte is pronounced fort. I've never heard anyone, educated or not use the word fort as a strong point...

I have, and often pronounced with two syllables. This would be natural if you'd come across the musical version first (and classical musical education often precedes HR interactions).

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/forte

based on what you're talking about, it's either fortay or fort. to be better at something is a fort and the musical term is fortay.

 

[eits]

my pet peeves are:

irregardless
nucular

 

[iamaelephant]

The "forte" one is just plain wrong, sorry to dissappoint.

From Merriam Webster:

Main Entry: forte
Pronunciation: 'fOrt, 'fort; 2 is often 'for-"tA or for-'tA or 'for-tE
Function: noun
Etymology: French fort, from fort, adjective, strong
1 : the part of a sword or foil blade that is between the middle and the hilt and that is the strongest part of the blade
2 : one's strong point
usage In forte we have a word derived from French that in its "strong point" sense has no entirely satisfactory pronunciation. Usage writers have denigrated \'for-"tA\ and \'for-tE\ because they reflect the influence of the Italian-derived forte. Their recommended pronunciation \'fort\, however, does not exactly reflect French either: the French would write the word le fort and would rhyme it with English for. So you can take your choice, knowing that someone somewhere will dislike whichever variant you choose. All are standard, however. In British English \'fo-"tA\ and \'fot\ predominate; \'for-"tA\ and \for-'tA\ are probably the most frequent pronunciations in American English.

 

[sandorski]

Originally posted by: iamaelephant
The "forte" one is just plain wrong, sorry to dissappoint.

From Merriam Webster:

Main Entry: forte
Pronunciation: 'fOrt, 'fort; 2 is often 'for-"tA or for-'tA or 'for-tE
Function: noun
Etymology: French fort, from fort, adjective, strong
1 : the part of a sword or foil blade that is between the middle and the hilt and that is the strongest part of the blade
2 : one's strong point
usage In forte we have a word derived from French that in its "strong point" sense has no entirely satisfactory pronunciation. Usage writers have denigrated \'for-"tA\ and \'for-tE\ because they reflect the influence of the Italian-derived forte. Their recommended pronunciation \'fort\, however, does not exactly reflect French either: the French would write the word le fort and would rhyme it with English for. So you can take your choice, knowing that someone somewhere will dislike whichever variant you choose. All are standard, however. In British English \'fo-"tA\ and \'fot\ predominate; \'for-"tA\ and \for-'tA\ are probably the most frequent pronunciations in American English.

Thanks. I was pretty sure that "forte" was correct, I mean "Not my fort" sounds stupid.

 

[grrl]

Originally posted by: judasmachine
these bug the @#$%ing @#$% out of me, however language is a fluid thing. it will always be changing; growing in some areas, and degenerating in others. it's always been this way and always will, might as well embrace it.

How do you judge degenerating?

 

[rockyct]

I've seen people use the phrase "I could care less" for "I couldn't care less."

 

[imported_Phil]

Originally posted by: eits

Originally posted by: Rebasxer
Forte is pronounced fort. I've never heard anyone, educated or not use the word fort as a strong point...

hehe i was having a discussion with this dumb girl who wanted to sound like she was smart and she said "it's not my fortay" or something. i was like "i think you mean 'fort'." i tried explaining to her, but she just thought i was wrong... dumb broad.

You are wrong. It's fort-ay.

 

[DanTMWTMP]

they don't have development! ggrrr! I can't seem to get myself to initially prounounce it "Dee-veh-lop-ment." I've always pronounced it from "DEV." I've always used "devs" for short for developers. So, since I was young, I've always pronounced it "DEH-VEH-LOPE-ERS" or "DEH-VEH-LOPE-MENT." Of course, nowadays, I realize what i sound like, and I have to make a concerted effort to say it the common way "Dee-Veh-Lope-Ment." I oftentimes miss, and my mouth spits out "DEH-VEH..." etc..


I've seen people prounounce "Harassment" like "Hair-ress-ment." wtf? Shouldn't it be "Hur-Ass-Ment?"

 

[ForumMaster]

who aks around here? who the hell says aks instead of asks? this is kind of stupid. not a lot of people speak like that who know the english language.

 

[imported_Phil]

Originally posted by: Rebasxer

And Parliament. Spelled with an I and pronouned that way it refers to the British body, not the term in general. Thats spelled with an I but pronouned without it IIRC

Actually, we pronounce it "par-la-ment", as does the BBC.