Pronunciations you had to unlearn

[Man in Space]

One of my longest struggles is with the British spelling draught. I learned at least forty years ago that it is homophonous with draft (/dɹæft/ in my dialect), but to this day, when I first see it on the page, my instinct is to pronounce it as /dɹɔt/.

Same.

Same here as well.

I was in my 30s before I learned that /f/ was the correct pronunciation.

[Linguoboy]

I don't recall when it was that I discovered that potash is a straightforward compound of pot and ash (a calque of Dutch potas) and pronounced as such. For most of my life, I pronounced it with a long vowel in the first syllable and sometimes with final stress as well.

[foxcatdog]

now pronounce it like potato

[jal]

now pronounce it like potato

You mean potayto or potahto?


JAL

[Travis B.]

now pronounce it like potato

I have no idea what you mean here. It is /ˈpɑtˌæʃ/ in GA for the record.

[Travis B.]

I for the longest time pronounced velar as /ˈvɛlər/ [ˈvɜːɰʁ̩ˤ(ː)] instead of the correct /ˈviːlər/ [ˈviːɰʁ̩ˤ(ː)], and I have not completely unlearned the former because I still have to remind myself to use the latter.

[Darren]

I for the longest time pronounced velar as /ˈvɛlər/ [ˈvɜːɰʁ̩ˤ(ː)] instead of the correct /ˈviːlər/ [ˈviːɰʁ̩ˤ(ː)], and I have not completely unlearned the former because I still have to remind myself to use the latter.

I still do this and see no reason to stop since I never actually say it to people.

[Richard W]

I too have had the wrong vowel in this word, but in my case /eI/ (XSAMPA) through interference from Latin ve:lum.

[Darren]

I also say /ælˈvɛi̯ələ/ for no particular reason I can discern.

[Lērisama]

I had /ˌɵˈvɵwlə/¹² in my head for years. I still have to remind myself it's /ˈjɵwˌvjɵlə/³

¹ Interestingly, both varients contain a not-fully reduced vowel in the other root syllable. I'm not sure what to make of this
² Or /ʊˈvuːlə/ if you want to be archaic/more readible
³ Or /ˈjuːvjʊlə/ in the transcription above

[Travis B.]

For the sake of comparison I have /ælˈviːlər/ [ɛːɤ̯ˈviːɰʁ̩ˤ(ː)] and /ˈjuːvjələr/ [ˈjyːvjəɰʁ̩ˤ(ː)].