Unintentionally funny mispronunciations.

[Knightmare]

I am guilty of this.

I say 'Indiana-Polis' mostly. I can't get it the right way x.x I learned to read it before I knew how it sounded like to my credit, and I /am/ trying to fix it.

Just do what most people do.. say "Indy" instead of Indianapolis. I've used it ever since I went to my first Indy 500 over 20 years ago. Most people will know what city you mean.

[repsac]

Well, it will show my nerdiness to say this but...

My biggest peeve was at an Anime store, hearing other customers ask for things like:

Gundame

Lordost wars,

and my all time favorite:

Ramen 1/2.

[Jules Of All Trades]

I was on a conference call the other day with my boss and some people from Leipsic, OH. Leipsic is pronounced Lip-sick (according to the people there). At least twice my boss called it Lip-shit. I had to mute the phone to keep them from hearing my giggles. It was fun giving him some "Lipshit" about it after the call.

[ArenaBoy]

The new lot we have at Whiskeyclone is named after a company in the area. The company is called Musa and I've had people pronounce it with Musala, Mufasa, and my personal favorite; Musta.

[Anakah]

Well, it will show my nerdiness to say this but...

My biggest peeve was at an Anime store, hearing other customers ask for things like:

Gundame

Lordost wars,

and my all time favorite:

Ramen 1/2.

You're not a nerd. In fact The Ramen 1/2 made my day. I don't know if I could keep a straight face if someone asked me for that. Though I may be a nerd too, I Love Anime.

[Millahtyme1983]

In my store we carry a brand of bologna called deutschmacher (sp) and I will at least a couple times a week hear someone misprounounce it "douche master" and I can tell just from they way they say it that it wasn't some lame attempt at a joke.

[B&NGoddess]

Well, it will show my nerdiness to say this but...

My biggest peeve was at an Anime store, hearing other customers ask for things like... (snip snip)

on a similar note, i had someone ask for magma books. piping hot, fresh off mt. fuji.

just yesterday, someone came and asked for the "coma sutra". i just pictured someone in a vegetative state being manipulated into all these outrageous positions. damn near laughed in his face.

vagina mongolians is my personal favorite, though.

[jnd4rusty]

I work in a mexican resturant and customers mis pronounce things all the time:

Quesadillas: supposed to sound like KASA-DEE-AHH people instead say things like-

KWASA-DILLO, CASA-DILILO, (my favorite) CASA-DILDO

Churro: sounds exactly how it is spelled but customers have called it: Cherrio and Churlo.
That is just a few mispronounced words there are several more and they just make me laugh each time. Another thing they do is name off menu items from our competition and I have to remind them that we are not the Bell.

[ThePhoneGoddess]

Vagina Mongolians!

OMG. I knew this thread would be freakin' hilarious.

Come on, I wanna hear some more, people!


Vagina Mongolians. Priceless.

Deep announcer voice: Yes, the Vagina Mongolians are a savage race, emerging from their caves smeared in blood, taking unwary men hostage and forcing them to listen to long readings of Simone De Beauvior's works while tied to anthills...

[HawaiianShirts]

The one that's been bothering me lately is having people ask for Microsoft's new operating system. It's called "Windows Vista." That's "vista," pronounced with a short i sound just like you'd hear in words like "kid" and "hippo." It is not a long i sound like you'd hear in "rice" and "fight," nor is it a long e sound like you'd hear in "green" and "feel." Some people have pronounced "vista" with an extra long e, as if it was spelled "veeeeeeeeeesta."

Incidentally, it is "Windows Vista." It is not "Microsoft XP Vista," "Vista XP," "WinVeesta," or "XP Home with Veesta." And it is especially not "XP Home Vista Windows 2007."

And a few others I think I may have posted elsewhere:
Compact = Compaq
ComQuest = ComCast
Cue-West = Qwest
Verba-trim = Verbatim
Anthalom = Athlon
Clarion = Celeron
Centretrinion = Centrino
Log Flat Iron = LG Flatron
Didder-too = DDR2
(with a French accent) Cann-oh = Canon
Esspin = Epson
Sub Porter = USB port
Lin-ski Wahrliss Rooter = Linksys Wireless Router
DVD-Read-Writes = DVD ReWritable discs
Toe-beesha gigga-beets = Toshiba gigabeat

And second-hand from my namesake in video games...
Customer: "Hi. I'm looking for the Intendo Why."

[Kilamon]

Quesadillas: supposed to sound like KASA-DEE-AHH people instead say things like-
KWASA-DILLO, CASA-DILILO, (my favorite) CASA-DILDO

While waiting or some yummy goodness in the form of buffalo chicken wraps at the local restaurant here, the woman ahead of me ordered nachos with jalapenos, only she pronounced it ja-(as in jag)la-(as in lug)pee-no and that last part was more like pennies without the n and e.

My co-irker consistantly mispronounces everything. Too many to list, but the one that gets me most is how he calls the Global Address List the gall, like a stone, instead of the GAL like a girl. *sigh*

[BookstoreEscapee]

Verba-trim = Verbatim

Verba-trim, for when your writing gets a bit on the wordy side, use new Verba-trim...the editing supplement to make all your communications concice and to the point.

My favorite is "Barnes & Nobles," especially since there are signs ALL over the place with the name staring you in the face. (As one coworker once put it, "2 Barnes, 1 Noble." ) I also like when people write their checks to "Barns & Nobels."

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."

[Exfabriclady]

Oh my, I had to register for just this ocassion! I've been wondering where I could use the following story...

This actually happened to my old boss. A customer came into the fabric store looking for a particular fabric that had the brand name Palencia. What she asked for was "some of that Placenta fabric."

As my boss had recently given birth, she said she always wished she could've said "Too bad you weren't in a couple of months ago, I could've gotten you some."

..............

My favorite family mispronunciation was a great-aunt who got a new fridge during the 70's. She went around telling everyone about how it was such a pretty Ah-voo-ka-doo green.....

[Chanlin]

I had a girl looking for "Eeelie" magazine. I'm sorry, I'm not familiar with that one...

You mean you haven't heard of that hip new fishing magazine?

"It's a fashion magazine" (snip)

You mean fishing...??

Ok i'm done now, I know i'm terrible.

[zzapp the witch]

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.