Unintentionally funny mispronunciations.

[angelkirie]

We get this one guy in regularly who, when asking about the finishing on our desks, insists on saying "weiner" instead of "veneer"

"So this is real wood weiner?" .....

[Discourtesy Clerk]

our Artisan bread - artesian bread (no, dummy, it does not come from a freakin' well!!!)

Oh my god. I don't think I've ever heard a customer actually say Artisan. Even one of the guys who works in the bakery says Artesian. READ, FOOL.

That's sadly not the only problem people have with "exotic" sounding product names, though... *sigh* I've heard all of these:

"Oaxacan" pulled pork sandwich - "Awacksican"
Focaccia bread - "Fockachia" or "Fuck-ay-sha"
Starbucks Macchiato - "Muh-chaw-doh" or "Macky-addo"
Prosciutto - "Pruh-skoo-toh" or just "Pruh...prosky...pruhskoo...fancy thin ham"
Havarti - "Have-a-ratty"

It's like these people have a filter in their brains that keeps them from even trying to say anything correctly that looks like not English. These are usually the same that go to Mexican restaurants looking for "juh-LAP-uh-noes, tor-TILL-as and kew-suh-DILL-uhs". I cry for our society.

[angelkirie]

Inu-Washa??

I worked with a guy who insisted on calling it "EE You Nasha" OMGWTF. OOh, let's talk about all the interesting ways to pronounce Chocobo while we're at it! The two I hear most often are Cohobo and Cho-coke-bo.

Another one I hear a lot - Havarti cheese pronounced Harvati. Drives me nuts!

[MadMike]

"So this is real wood weiner?" .....

Only in the morning.

[BookstoreEscapee]

Thanks to Boozy in a reply to Kusanagi's "I am THE ONE" thread:

pronounced "tarot" like it rhymed with "carrot".

Where are the "tarrot" cards?


Please, tell me my four-tune

[Chanlin]

"Oaxacan" <snip>
Focaccia bread <snip>
Starbucks Macchiato <snip>
Prosciutto <snip>

For the record I don't se why anyone would get bent out of shape over these unless people hear them every day. I for one don't pronounce or hear these words pronounced on a daily basis so I honestly have no idea what the correct pronunciation is.

Now to add another of my own that I've heard recently. "Let's not argue somatics here." (semantics)

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/somatic

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/semantic

[ebonyknight]

The one that gets me the most is when people say, "The point is mute".

[ThePhoneGoddess]

"The point is mute."

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[B&NGoddess]

Don't feel bad Chan, I was gonna make a vagina mongolian joke, but figured that no one needs to know that much about my personal hygiene habits.

lmfao!

like cousin it? just hair with glasses?

on the whole barnes and nobles thing: drives me nuts. since when is there an "s" there?

also, i speak pretty good japanese, but it still bothers me when someone corrects my pronunciation.
like "baan-sai" vs. "bone-sai". i know its the long "o", but us americans have been bleating like sheep for years. get off your high horse.

[Jules Of All Trades]

Leipzig?

This Leipsic is in Ohio, although Leipzig, Germany is on my list in a few months.

My husband drives me batty with the way he pronounces a few things:

pitcher = pitcher (of tea) and picture (photograph) - he knows the difference but just refuses to say it properly.
punkin = pumpkin
being-have = behaving - as in, "Were you being-have for Mommy while I was gone?"

He's also guilty of "for all intensive purposes".

The one that cracked me up the most was when we were chatting with my mom about how informal "work-speak" has become, especially via IM. He said, "I'm not perfect or anything but at least my emails and IM's are grammarically correct!" I just about fell over laughing...

[CrazedClerk]

I heard a few of these at the games store I worked at:

"Nintendo Why"
"How much is the W-2?" (yes it took me a moment to realize they meant a Wii)

Had quite a few customers who asked "do you have any Wii games in?", but unfortunately they were looking for the SYSTEM and not the GAMES.

I've also heard "Pock-e-mon" and "Poke-e-moan"

"Cast-ul-vania"

"Nintendo dogs" (It's Nintendogs)

Then there were the folks who asked me for a "Nintendo Gameboy DS"

or how about "Original Lego Star Wars"?

(There are TWO Lego Star Wars games, one based on the first three Star Wars episodes and one based on the ORIGINAL Trilogy of movies. Therefore, the first and therefore ORIGINAL Lego Star Wars game features the more recent Star Wars movies, not the ORIGINAL Star wars movies. Damn you George Lucas for making this so difficult!)

[sunhasfallen]

About 6 or 7 years ago I had requested a couple of CD's from my mom for Christmas: Mandy Moore and Hawksley Workman. Now, my mom is a little loopy, and has a bad memory. She told me that when she went to the music store she asked for "Amanda Monde" and "Hawksberry Sledgehammer". Amazingly, the employees were able to find what she was looking for. She was very impressed. I can only imagine what they said after she left.

[PW_Elle]

Mispronouncing names.

I had a girl looking for "Eeelie" magazine. I'm sorry, I'm not familiar with that one... "It's a fashion magazine, 'Eeelie,' E-L-L-E." Um, yeah, that would be pronounced like the letter "L."

Since my nickname is Elle, I take particular offense to this one. I get Ellen, Ellie, Ella, Eel, all kinds of fun ones.

But, my real name is Moselle (pronounced mo-sell). That's even more fun. Melissa, Michelle, Moseelee, Mosel, Mosher, Mollus, ... you name it, I've been called it.

PW_Elle

[PW_Elle]

My pet peeve mispronunciations.

Working where I do, I get a lot of people calling in their street names. Now, I'm from Washington, where many of these names come from. Now that I'm in Missouri, it's funny trying to decipher what they're saying.

Kaylynn/Killin/Cheleen = Chelan
Sall-man Falls = Salmon Falls
WARshington = Washington
Poo-yallup = Puyallup

We also have cities in Missouri named after other famous places. Wouldn't be so bad, except...

Ox-vase = Auxvasse
Calow= Callao (Calleeo)
Kost-ko-nognog = Koshkonong
Ver-sales = Versailles (Ver-sigh)

And the list goes on. Want to go to Paris, Amsterdam, California, or Mexico? You can go to them all, right here in Missouri. Dumb state.

-Elle

[AFpheonix]

Working where I do, I get a lot of people calling in their street names. Now, I'm from Washington, where many of these names come from. Now that I'm in Missouri, it's funny trying to decipher what they're saying.

There's a town here in Oregon called Gervais. Now reading it, you'd assume that it's a french name, and would be pronounced "ghervey". Nope, it's pronounced "jervis". Yay for little hick towns.

No one from outside the pacific northwest can seem to handle Couch street (pronounced "cooch"), Willamette, Yamhill, etc. Heck, most people can't even say Oregon right. Accent on the first syllable, not the last!