this post was submitted on 29 Jan 2024
261 points (96.4% liked)

Showerthoughts

29612 readers
943 users here now

A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The best ones are thoughts that many people can relate to and they find something funny or interesting in regular stuff.

Rules

  1. All posts must be showerthoughts
  2. The entire showerthought must be in the title
  3. Avoid politics (NEW RULE as of 5 Nov 2024, trying it out)
  4. Posts must be original/unique
  5. Adhere to Lemmy's Code of Conduct

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

Just based on how often I notice someone mispronounce a word without realizing it (or have done so myself and realized it later). Statistically I'm probably still doing it with some word.

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] GombeenSysadmin@lemmy.world 51 points 9 months ago (5 children)

Welcome to the world of Irish names!

We got:

  • Dearbhla (Derv-la, f)
  • caoilfhionn (kee-lin, f)
  • Meadhbh (Maeve, f)
  • Saoirse (seer-shuh, f)
  • Seoirse (shor-shuh, m)
  • Caoimhín (kee-veen, m)
  • Sadhbh (sive, f)

And many more!

[–] WhiteOakBayou@lemmy.world 13 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Hope do you pronounce Siobhan?

[–] GombeenSysadmin@lemmy.world 25 points 9 months ago (5 children)
load more comments (5 replies)
load more comments (4 replies)
[–] Bagel5941@aussie.zone 42 points 9 months ago (13 children)
[–] pruwybn@discuss.tchncs.de 33 points 9 months ago (2 children)

I believe it's pronounced "wstr"

[–] IndiBrony@lemmy.world 17 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Close, that's Worcester. Worcestershire is "wstrshr"!

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] circuitfarmer@lemmy.sdf.org 14 points 9 months ago (2 children)
load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments (11 replies)
[–] TheBiscuitLout@lemmy.world 27 points 9 months ago (2 children)

One of my friends once called me pedantic, and I got to correct his pronunciation of it - he stressed the first syllable. One of the high points of my life.

[–] Zoomboingding@lemmy.world 12 points 9 months ago (3 children)

Someone is peDANTic, but they themselves are a PEdant. Probably why they made that mistake

load more comments (3 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Yantantethera@lemmy.world 26 points 9 months ago (13 children)
load more comments (13 replies)
[–] tiredofsametab@kbin.social 24 points 9 months ago (3 children)

A "niche" is not a "nitch"

[–] JamesBean@kbin.social 17 points 9 months ago (11 children)

You're a bit too late for trying to complain about that one.

The latter has been the dominant American pronunciation of the word for so long that it now appears as the primary pronunciation guide in American dictionaries.

[–] oktux@lemmy.world 10 points 9 months ago

Both Oxford English Dictionary and Merriam-Webster agree that "nitch" was the correct pronunciation in both British and American English until very recently. You already linked Merriam-Webster, so here's O.E.D:

N.E.D. (1907) gives only the pronunciation (nitʃ) /nɪtʃ/ and the pronunciation /niːʃ/ is apparently not recorded before this date. H. Michaelis & D. Jones Phonetic Dict. Eng. Lang. (1913), and all editions of D. Jones Eng. Pronouncing Dict. up to and including the fourteenth edition (1977) give /nɪtʃ/ as the typical pronunciation and /niːʃ/ as an alternative pronunciation. The fifteenth edition (1991) gives /niːʃ/ in British English and /nɪtʃ/ in U.S. English.

(N.E.D is the original name of the O.E.D. "/nɪtʃ/" is pronounced "nitch" and /niːʃ/ is pronounced "neesh".)

load more comments (10 replies)
load more comments (2 replies)
[–] agent_flounder@lemmy.world 24 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (9 children)

For me it isn't "some" word it is "many, many" words.

charcuterie (shar-KOO-terr-ee) (TIL)

potable (POH-tah-bull)

prerogative (preh-ROG-ah-tiv) -- wait, wat? Damn. I say it (pur-OHG-ah-tiv)

preternatural (pree-ter-NAT-chur-al)

remuneration (reh-myoo-ner-AY-shun) -- I'm not admitting how I say it lol

surprise - let's just say I spelled it suprise for ages. sigh

victual (vittle) - wait, that's how you spell it??

Indefatigable (IN-dih-FA-tih-gə-bl) not in-dee-fa-TEEG-able

Primer: \PRIMM-er\ -- small book / short informative piece of writing. (Brits can use long-i for both the paint undercoat and the book).

Mischievous: \MISS-chuh-vuss\ though mis-CHEE-vee-us is a non standard alternate pronunciation.

Interlocutor: \in tuhr LOCK you tore. I had no idea how to pronounce this so I never said it.

I think some "mispronunciations" are down to regional pronunciation. Like, I say miniature as MIN-ih-chure by habit though I'm well aware of how it's spelled and "should" be pronounced. I swear that's how I heard it growing up.

Maybe it isn't regional and it is just me. That would explain some things lol.

And uh, yeah I have a bunch more, some I know but am forgetting at the moment. Undoubtedly I mispronounce many more while having no idea. What must people think of me? Lol

[–] RvTV95XBeo@sh.itjust.works 10 points 9 months ago (5 children)

Look, I was on board until you started throwing out made up words like preternatural, victual, and indefatigable, then I knew you were pulling my leg.

load more comments (5 replies)
load more comments (8 replies)
[–] originalucifer@moist.catsweat.com 24 points 9 months ago (12 children)
[–] Phil_in_here@lemmy.ca 25 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I'll concede aluminium when the Brits adopt platinium

[–] originalucifer@moist.catsweat.com 9 points 9 months ago (1 children)

theyll adopt aluminum as soon as you wrap your lips around a fag

[–] AngryishHumanoid@lemmy.world 15 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Don't threaten ME with a good time.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (11 replies)
[–] Jimmyeatsausage@lemmy.world 19 points 9 months ago (4 children)
load more comments (4 replies)
[–] workerONE@lemmy.world 19 points 9 months ago

I was like 25 when I found out it was wheelbarrow and not wheelbarrel

[–] ramble81@lemm.ee 18 points 9 months ago (14 children)
load more comments (14 replies)
[–] Oka@lemmy.ml 15 points 9 months ago (3 children)
load more comments (3 replies)
[–] Davel23@kbin.social 15 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (8 children)
load more comments (8 replies)
[–] rbhfd@lemmy.world 14 points 9 months ago (7 children)

Not exactly related to the question, but as a non-native English speaker, whenever I read something related to weights in imperial, e.g., 150 lbs, my mind reads it as 150 lubes.

I know it's pounds, if I would read it out loud, I would say pounds cause I'm not a weirdo (well...). But still, my internal monologue has lbs = lubes

[–] Carlcarla@lemmy.world 14 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I feel you. My inner voice reads this as "libs".

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (6 replies)
[–] AlmightySnoo@lemmy.world 14 points 9 months ago (11 children)

For the C/C++ nerds: Clang. There are still many people pronouncing it "Cee-lang".

[–] djsoren19@yiffit.net 10 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Wait but...but that means I'm supposed to pronounce it like the sound of slamming metal doors? but it's for the C language!

am I seriously getting gif'd again?

load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments (10 replies)
[–] mwproductions@lemmy.world 14 points 9 months ago (9 children)

I hear so many people pronounce "cavalry" as "calvary," which is a different word altogether.

load more comments (9 replies)
[–] Kolanaki@yiffit.net 14 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (6 children)

Worcestershire.

Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiasis.

I must be pronouncing them right enough for voice to text to understand me because I certainly cannot spell those.

load more comments (6 replies)
[–] halfeatenpotato@lonestarlemmy.mooo.com 12 points 9 months ago (5 children)

Mine was "daschund". I always thought that was a separate breed from a "doxen".

Even after being educated on how the word is actually pronounced, I still purposefully pronounce it literally "daschund". Fuck 'em - should've spelled it better.

load more comments (5 replies)
[–] pruwybn@discuss.tchncs.de 12 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I made the mistake of pronouncing epitome as "ep-i-tome" for a while.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] samus12345@lemmy.world 11 points 9 months ago (3 children)

I had a roommate in college that pronounced "epitome" like "epi-tohm." He also pronounced "tome" like "toom." Drove me nuts.

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] spearz@lemmy.world 11 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Hyperbole, not ‘hyper-bowl’ (like superbowl)

[–] bfg9k@lemmy.world 11 points 9 months ago (1 children)

superbowl like su-perb-owl?

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Contramuffin@lemmy.world 10 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

You could record the times when you find out a new word that you've been pronouncing wrong. You should notice less and less new mispronounced words as your list of known mispronounced words gets longer and longer. If you graph the data out, you can extrapolate the curve out to infinity, and you can estimate how many total words you're mispronouncing.

[–] BeatTakeshi@lemmy.world 10 points 9 months ago

As a non native EN speaker, this website helped a lot. Even has regional variants

https://youglish.com/

[–] open_world@lemmy.world 9 points 9 months ago (1 children)

It took me a long time before I found out how pilates was actually pronounced

[–] davidgro@lemmy.world 20 points 9 months ago (3 children)
load more comments (3 replies)
[–] bluewing@lemm.ee 9 points 9 months ago (1 children)

So swaive vs suave or deboner vs debonair? Maybe 'fisticated vs sophisticated? You could be a swaive, deboner, 'fisticated urbane 'burban urbanite.

Personally, I blame the French for the short comings of the English language, just because I randomly can.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Maddie@sh.itjust.works 9 points 9 months ago (3 children)
[–] NounsAndWords@lemmy.world 10 points 9 months ago

Arist-ot-le

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] intensely_human@lemm.ee 8 points 9 months ago (2 children)

It’s okay guys. OP meant to write pronunciating.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] threelonmusketeers@sh.itjust.works 8 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Peregrine. It was only last week that I realized it has two r's and doesn't rhyme with penguin.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] charonn0@startrek.website 8 points 9 months ago (3 children)
load more comments (3 replies)
load more comments
view more: next ›