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Names which you mispronounced for years, before eventually realising...

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Reply 660
Original post by TheDubs
Arkansas. Its actually Ark-in-saw, what the hell america?!

Try getting an American to pronounce "Gloucestershire". Usually it comes out as "Glauwz-ester-shiyer". :smile:
A guy I know's girlfriend is called Siobhan and a few of his friends had been calling her See-oh-ban :tongue:
They call her seabiscuit now (I don't know why?)
Original post by Mequa
Try getting an American to pronounce "Gloucestershire". Usually it comes out as "Glauwz-ester-shiyer". :smile:


Try getting anyone non-British to pronounce "Loughborough" :tongue:

American attempt(s): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zv4vRbwSlBI

And then there's the classic Australian "Looga-bu-rooga"...
If I saw the name Niamh written down I thought it was pronounced Niama and not like Nieve.
Eoghan I didn't know that was the irish spelling for Owen .
and Yvette.
Reply 664
Original post by Mysteriouschic
If I saw the name Niamh written down I thought it was pronounced Niama and not like Nieve.
Eoghan I didn't know that was the irish spelling for Owen .
and Yvette.


I still get called Niama D:!

Aoife - eefa
Okay, so it's not a PERSON'S name, and it's intentional as opposed to misinterpreted/mispronounced, but I always refer to Bahlsen's "Choco Liebniz" biscuits as "Choco Lesbians".
Original post by Village Whisper

I'm gonna have a guess and say "Shay-enn"?


It's pronounced 'shy ANNE' (stress on 2nd). It's Native American I think. :confused:
My name's Magdalena :wink:
People keep pronouncing it Magda-lee-na, when actually it's Magda-le-na (le as in leg). It used to annoy me very much, so now I use my nick name (Magda) rather than a full name
Reply 668
Sian, Sean, Anthony, Deriek
Original post by Village Whisper
Try getting anyone non-British to pronounce "Loughborough" :tongue:

American attempt(s): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zv4vRbwSlBI

And then there's the classic Australian "Looga-bu-rooga"...

There's an area in Edinburgh called Sciennes, pronounced "sheens". A tourist at a bus stop asked me which bus to take to get to "skinnis" and I told him I'd never heard of it, I only worked it out later :colondollar:

Still not as funny as the American who asked my boyfriend for directions to "ly-ses-ter square" :teehee:
I thought Sci-fi was was Sky-fi until about 15.
Reply 671
I used to teach a girl called Angharad, which everyone pronounced Ann-harrad. Years later, I discover that her name was actually pronounced Ang-a-rad and she was just too shy to correct us all... poor kid!
(edited 12 years ago)
Reply 672
When I was in primary, I'd address my friend, Sophia, as "soph-I-a". Until a very short time before she moved away, she finally caved and told me it was in fact pronounced "soph-ee-a".

To this day, I can never quite get the D and J in "Mahmoud Ahmedinejad" the correct way around, and I change my pronunciation of "Phnom Penh" about five times daily.

Another is the country adjacent to Vietnam, Laos. I always pronounced it "lay-os" until my brother pointed out that it's pronounced "louse". I also used to say Suriname as "surname" with an extra I, Kyrgyzstan "cargizistan", and Addis Ababa with the stress on the "bab".
(edited 12 years ago)
Original post by Lenina
When I was in primary, I'd address my friend, Sophia, as "soph-I-a". Until a very short time before she moved away, she finally caved and told me it was in fact pronounced "soph-ee-a".

To this day, I can never quite get the D and J in "Mahmoud Ahmedinejad" the correct way around, and I change my pronunciation of "Phnom Penh" about five times daily.

Another is the country adjacent to Vietnam, Laos. I always pronounced it "lay-os" until my brother pointed out that it's pronounced "louse". I also used to say Suriname as "surname" with an extra I, Kyrgyzstan "cargizistan", and Addis Ababa with the stress on the "bab".


I still say Layos, Louse creeps me out as it makes me think of head lice
Most people mispronounce 'Dylan' - its 'Duh-lahn', not 'Dillon' ... :smile:
Also heard Thailand as 'Thigh-land' a few times
Reply 676
gaughan

used to think it was pronounced go-fan
cringeeee
Original post by moregano
Still not as funny as the American who asked my boyfriend for directions to "ly-ses-ter square" :teehee:



There's a lot in English placenames that aren't pronounced and that is mind-boggling for me and I'm only from ROI. We pronounce everything! I was dumbfounded when I couldn't get a London taxi driver to recognise Chiswick until I showed him the booking details. Seriously? Why not get rid of the w then!

Also Leicester and Gloucester are problems for me. I kind of get it now but I wouldn't be too confident with them. Before I would have guessed them as being Leh-sester and glow-sester. So many unncessary letters!


Also, not you, but what is wrong with Dylan and Thailand? I know plenty of Dylan's pronounced as Dillon and everyone I know says Thigh-land...
Original post by StarsAreFixed


Also, not you, but what is wrong with Dylan and Thailand? I know plenty of Dylan's pronounced as Dillon and everyone I know says Thigh-land...


Dylan is a Welsh name, and it's pronounced 'Duh-lahn'.
Reply 679
Original post by StarsAreFixed
There's a lot in English placenames that aren't pronounced and that is mind-boggling for me and I'm only from ROI. We pronounce everything! I was dumbfounded when I couldn't get a London taxi driver to recognise Chiswick until I showed him the booking details. Seriously? Why not get rid of the w then!

Also Leicester and Gloucester are problems for me. I kind of get it now but I wouldn't be too confident with them. Before I would have guessed them as being Leh-sester and glow-sester. So many unncessary letters!


Also, not you, but what is wrong with Dylan and Thailand? I know plenty of Dylan's pronounced as Dillon and everyone I know says Thigh-land...


The irony is overwhelming. The Irish and their superfluous letters are like Tango and Cash, Tintin and Snowy, and Batman and Robin. :ahee:

As for Thailand, well, I think I stopped stepping on that syncopated landmine when I was about five. I can see the underside of that metal Corgi car now...

I still find myself these days, despite being very comfortable with the French language, mispronouncing certain names that, despite being quite obvious if one were to look at them within the ball park of French pronunciation, still muddle me due to my long acquaintance with my novice mistakes.

Here's a few I had trouble with at some point or other:

Albert Camus is Al-bear Ca-moo
Theophile Gautier is Tay-o-fee Go-tchay
Arthur Rimbaud is Ah-tuhr Ram-bo

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