Material Witness

Me too! My whole college English class laughed at me. Hard way to learn.

lindyb

My friend and I often laugh over mispronunciations - she used to say bedraggled as bed-raggled, and as a child I never knew any girls named Penny, so when reading it in books I always thought it was Penny-lope, felt embarrassed as an adult to learn it was pronounced Penelope.

Suze9395

My DH is from West TX and the first time we went out to visit we were driving into town from the ranch and I told my DH I wanted to go to Beales (that is a department store there) and I pronounced it with a long E. He couldn't figure out what I meant. Come to find out, they say it with a short E, like bells. He tried to tease me, but it back fired. 20 years later I still tease him about paying the "beels" and shopping at "Bells"'.

I think one of the hardest words for me is, specifically. That one trips me up every time. I know what it should sound like, but my mouth just doesn't cooperate!

mimiof4

DH and I are from Michigan went to Boston Mass and wanted to get somewhere, finally convinced him to ask directions and the lady kept telling him it was on Pok street, he kept repeating Pok st? He didn't see Pok street on the little map he had, I finally figured it out and got quite tickled trying to keep it all together to tell him it was Park st.
Really enjoyed this thread.

Seaside gal

I can hardly keep from laughing when people talk about a mute point, say pacific when they mean specific, or the ones who write wah-la for voila.

My word I struggled with was boucle. I was calling it bu-sol and finally found out it is boo-clay. Words are fun!

Peckish

But isn't that correct?

Peckish

Ever since watching that episode of "Friends" where Joey talks about it being a "moo point", that's what my DH and I call it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iObtPBh3NXs

MimiBug123

My ex-MIL was afflicted with a hyena hernia. Every time she started telling me about her symptoms, I would collapse in laughter. Twenty years and I never did tell her it was hiatal. Still laugh at that one!

Tothill

I love all the variations of how we speak English.

My ex-MIL is from Cape Cod, my Step-mother is a New Zealander, my Step dad is Indian (from India) and my step MIL is a Brit and I live in Canada. Depending on who I am talking to a Boot could be something I wear on my feet, a vessel floating in the water or the back of my car. An invitation to Tea can mean, the evening meal if my step mum is talking, a large formal afternoon snack complete with small sandwiches and sweets if my step MIL is inviting and a cup of tea (any time of day) if my Indian Step Dad is talking.

A couple of French words that never seem to be pronounced the French way, on US TV are:
Foyer (house entry), Always pronounced Foy Yer, not Foy yeah.
Au Gratin, seems to be pronounced Oh Grat Tin, not Oh Gra Ton.

I still stumble over the emergency vehicle that takes to you to the hospital. I tend to say am Blue lance. I spell and say probly, not probably and if I had room, I would park my car in a Groge, not garage.

I love being in an airport and hearing all the accents and languages.

I remember the first time I saw the word segue in print, I could not figure out what the word was for the longest time.

JustAbitCrazy

This one has me crying, I'm laughing so hard!