Pronunciations you had to unlearn

[jal]

We had this topic on the previous forum, but it seems to be lacking here; hence I created it.

To start: caveat. I always assumed the spelling pronunciation of /kəˈviːt/ - I only recently heard it spoken as /ˈkæviæt/. Also: solder. Pronounced it with GOAT and an l.


JAL

[Linguoboy]

Since I just posted about Calvados...

I had widespread overcorrection in French names from outside the Île de France and had to learn to preserve the /s/ in words like Calvados, Gigondas, Vacqueyras, Dukas, Mas, etc. and the /z/ in Berlioz.

[Ares Land]

I learned embarassingly late that final -e is supposed to be pronounced in words like adobe, catastrophe, hyperbole...

[jal]

Yeah, "hyperbole" is also a word I only recently learned wasn't pronounced [ˈhɑɪpəˌbʊəl].


JAL

[Linguoboy]

I learned embarassingly late that final -e is supposed to be pronounced in words like adobe, catastrophe, hyperbole...

I kept a list of all those words all through high school after a near miss with hyperbole. (My literature teacher asked a question about it and before I could answer he related an anecdote about a previous student saying it in three syllables because he'd never heard it pronounced before.)

[mèþru]

They confuse my parents all the time.

[akam chinjir]

I was actually quite disappointed when I learned the truth about "synecdoche" and "segue."

[Pabappa]

I was actually quite disappointed when I learned the truth about "synecdoche" and "segue."

Ah yes, segue is a good one .... I may have posted that on the old ZBB. I only heard the word out loud shortly after the announcement of the Segway motor scooter, and that may have caused a slight uptick in the popularity of the word ... but since I had only heard it out loud, I didnt know it was a separate word and just assumed she was using "segway" as a verb. Im sure I must have come across segue in print at some point before that, but I would've pronounced it as /si:g/ and paid little attention to it, since it's the type of word that is generally used in such a way that its meaning is clear from context and therefore unnecessary to pin down precisely.

[Zaarin]

I had a spelling pronunciation of albeit as [æɫˈbɐɪ̯ʔ], despite being familiar with [ɑɫˈbiɪ̯ʔ] from conversation--I just didn't realize they were the same word. No idea where that German pronunciation of ei came from...I had a similar doublet with chaos [ʧʰɑˈəʊ̯z] vs. [ˈkʰɛɪ̯ɒs].

[Ares Land]

Ah yes, segue is a good one ....

Well, you learn something everyday. I had no idea.
Oh, another good one -- it took me two years to figure out Siouxsie Sioux.

[akam chinjir]

I seem to have just learned that I've been pronouncing "deictic" wrong (with three syllables, sort of the opposite of the "albeit" issue).

[jal]

Segue - good one, I only knew this word (in its written form) from the Bowie album "Outside". Indeed pronounced it /si:g/.


JAL

[Linguoboy]

I seem to have just learned that I've been pronouncing "deictic" wrong (with three syllables, sort of the opposite of the "albeit" issue).

/ai/ is a really weird choice there. Normally Greek ει is romanised <i> and pronounced /ɪ/ in closed syllables like that. Cf. paradigmatic from the same Greek verbal root.

[jal]

I learned embarassingly late that final -e is supposed to be pronounced in words like adobe, catastrophe, hyperbole...

This just reminded me of the Dutch pronunciaton of "Nike" /naik/ (which is a wrong English spelling pronunciation, in Dutch it would be /ˈnikə/).


JAL

[Linguoboy]

A coworker gave a talk today in which he pronounced virulent [vɪˈɹʉʊ̯ɫɨnʔ]. Now I'm just waiting for a convenient opportunity to let him know.

[Raphael]

I learned embarassingly late that final -e is supposed to be pronounced in words like adobe, catastrophe, hyperbole...

This just reminded me of the Dutch pronunciaton of "Nike" /naik/ (which is a wrong English spelling pronunciation, in Dutch it would be /ˈnikə/).


JAL

A long time ago, when I still occasionally watched the European Song Contest, I once saw a woman tasked with reporting the results of the German vote pronounce "Israel" as "Ice-rael". There is, of course, nothing in the German language that would make anyone pronounce "Israel" as "Ice-rael" - she had simply learned in English class that in the English language, the letter "I" is pronounced "eye", and had concluded from this that when she was speaking English, she should pronounce "Israel" as "Ice-rael".

[Linguoboy]

A long time ago, when I still occasionally watched the European Song Contest, I once saw a woman tasked with reporting the results of the German vote pronounce "Israel" as "Ice-rael". There is, of course, nothing in the German language that would make anyone pronounce "Israel" as "Ice-rael" - she had simply learned in English class that in the English language, the letter "I" is pronounced "eye", and had concluded from this that when she was speaking English, she should pronounce "Israel" as "Ice-rael".

Ironically that is exactly the sort of mispronunciation you would attribute to an American English speaker if you wanted to stereotype him as ignorant and parochial. (Cf. "Eye-raq", "Eye-ran".)

[Pabappa]

Iraq with /ai/ can at least stand on the fact that it begins with an /ʕ/ in Arabic. I dont really have a facvorite pronunciation for that name, or for Iran ... I alternate between /ai/, /I/, and a schwa-like vowel that cant really be heard distinctly .

[Ares Land]

I learned embarassingly late that final -e is supposed to be pronounced in words like adobe, catastrophe, hyperbole...

This just reminded me of the Dutch pronunciaton of "Nike" /naik/ (which is a wrong English spelling pronunciation, in Dutch it would be /ˈnikə/).


JAL

Ah yes. We pronounce it the same way in France. I don't think a native speaker would try to pronounce it natively, because of the k, but if we did it'd be /nik/ or /nike/, and that'd be really unfortunate because that means 'to fuck' or 'to fuck up'. (And yes, countless people make the joke).

[Pabappa]

those pronuncs are just for the shoe company, right ? A bit odd since Niké the goddess is pronounced with two full vowels. I guess it's a hyperforeignism that stuck. The town of Nice is named after Nike, btw.

÷÷÷÷÷÷÷
I made the same mistake with "albeit", and I think it's easy to understand.... Arbeit is just 1letter off.