mispronunciations of the written word

[Calud]

The thing that drove me crazy was a friend of mine saying "Compedium" all the time. It's Compendium for crying out loud!

[Pagan]

Er, I think you're going to need to break this one down more. How is it pronounced? Because I've only ever heard "Mahk-e-ah-toe," which would be another way of spelling your first "wrong" pronunciation.

I think it's using "ch" as in "church"

Here in the Borderland (El Paso, TX for me) we will often deliberately mispronounce Spanish words, speaking them as if we were reading English words. Think about how you would say "jalapenos", for instance...

Hey, I was born and raised just up the road from you in Las Cruces!

Some of the newbies have problems with fajitas, or the last name Vigil, or To'hajallie. My mom moved out here when she was 16 and had some problems with Calle de Suenos (Calee day Soons) in particular. Actually, "Cay-yay day Swenyos"

That's almost the correct pronunciation for French... which would be Fatty-gway, if I remember correctly, and, if I don't, I took German in high school...

"Fa-tee-gay" actually. BA in French.

Okay....I'm ashamed to admit this both as a New Englander and a Bay Stater, but...I cannot pronounce "quahog" for the life of me.

Is it wrong that I learned to pronounce this from "Family Guy"?

Try Gaelic spelling.

St. Paddy got hwalloped upside the head with a shillelagh a few too many times.

sidhe dubh anybody?

Then you have to decide if you're using Scots Gaelic or Irish Gaelic!

http://www.rampantscotland.com/features/pronounce.htm

[dalesys]

Then you have to decide if you're using Scots Gaelic or Irish Gaelic!

Or Welsh, Manx, Cornish or Breton.
(I've got known ancestry in the first four of those six)

[Green_Fairy]

Er, I think you're going to need to break this one down more. How is it pronounced? Because I've only ever heard "Mahk-e-ah-toe," which would be another way of spelling your first "wrong" pronunciation.

I think it's using "ch" as in "church"

yeah. some people pronounce it "match-e-ah-to." i should have put "match" instead of "mach"...which is actually the correct way of pronouncing the first syllable of machiato.

[Broomjockey]

" i should have put "match" instead of "mach"...which is actually the correct way of pronouncing the first syllable of machiato.

Ah, k. I think I get it now. I was thinking "mach" like "supersonic," so I was thinking a different syllable blah I've managed to foncuse mysylf now. I'm gonna go away.

[EricKei]

If you wanna sprain yer brain a bit more, you could always try to figure out how certain street names in New Orleans are spelled (or worse, figure out the spelling from the bizarre pronunciation) >_> ...

If yer bored enough for the latter, try these

see-el-ten (if you get this one on the first guess, either you're from here or you cheated )

KAH-lee-ohp (nasal a as in "at")

CHAP-uh-TOO-luss/CHOP-ih-TOO-luss

OH-ree-AWN

Swerving back closer to the current actual topic...I would like to learn at least some Celts Gaelic. I like the sound of it ^_^

[Shalom]

see-el-ten (if you get this one on the first guess, either you're from here or you cheated )

highlight for my guesses:CL-10 ?

KAH-lee-ohp (nasal a as in "at")

I'd guess Calliope, but that's not how I'd pronounce it.

CHAP-uh-TOO-luss/CHOP-ih-TOO-luss

OK, I remember seeing this one in print. "Tchoupitoulas" or something similar.

OH-ree-AWN

Orient?

[EricKei]

2 and 3, yes. Kudos! ^_^

1, not even close. Think about how street names commonly look on street signs (this is NOT a highway marker)...also, it's really, really stupid. 4 - about half of those letters are correct ^_^

[Pagan]

Swerving back closer to the current actual topic...I would like to learn at least some Celts Gaelic. I like the sound of it ^_^

Ok, now I'm going to confuse you.

All Gaelic speakers are Celts, not all Celts are Gaelic speakers.

There's four groups of Celtic languages:

Goidelic - Scots Gaelic, Irish Gaelic, and Manx Gaelic

Brythonic - Welsh, Breton, Cornish, and Cumbric (and possibly Pictish, but there's not enough of it left to really tell where it came from)

Gaulish - along with the related Lepontic, Noric, and Galatian; these are all extinct

Celtiberian - mostly spoken in the Iberian Peninsula; also extinct

And then we could go down the P-Celtic, Q-Celtic path, or the Continental vs. Insular Celtic journey.

It's very confusing because it can't be agreed on when Proto-Celtic became a separate language. There's some estimations of 6100-4100 BCE, +/- 1500 years. Then there's the Paleolithic Continuity Theory....

[Ironclad Alibi]

Highlight for my answers.

see-el-ten Carrollton? (I looked at a map)

OH-ree-AWN Orleans (my wife got this one)

[Flying Grype]

If you think 'quahog' is bad, try 'geoduck' (pronounced gooey-duck)!

[Sunflash]

For years (about till my mid-teens, the word didn't come into use by me alot), I would say 'Chaos' as "Cha-chos' for some unknown reason.

I still can't figure out how my brain translated it like that, but oh well!

[Chanlin]

I'm reminded of my best friend who I met back in fourth grade. We used to play Ultima: Quest of the Avatar for hours on end. Anyway, part of the game involves taking certain items and placing them on the correct Altar's in the bottoms of certain dungeons.

He would always call them At-lars.

[Food Lady]

Now, at my present job, we get a lot of geniuses who try to order a "value meal fry". We have a value MENU, and these folks are trying to order from it. Menu and meal... not the same thing. Of course, they all get pissy if an employee asks if they mean the value menu. How dare we try to get your order right? The nerve!

Get this All. The. Time. Next time, give them the size that comes in the value meal. But then they'll complain about the extra 59 cents.

[McGoddess09]

A couple of Christmas Eves ago, I was hanging out with my best friend and his family. We were watching Scarface and the movie ended. His family likes to look through the credits for porno names.

Tattoo's sister, bless her heart for this tale, is the same age as I am. She sees the words 'male patron'.

"Male Puh-trown? What is a male puh-trown?"

She pronounced the word like the alcohol. We all started laughing and Tattoo said "It's pay-tren. Male pay-tren."

Memorable Christmas Eve.