Humorously mispronounced words
Hi everyone, I thought id start a fun thread listing humorously mispronounced/misspoken words and phrases.
A few I hear more than I should are:
-"Wheel barrel"
-when people mean to say "height" but say it with a "th" at the end (phonetically "hythe") to match "length and width." I went probably 30 years and never picked up on it but now notice someone say it at least a few time a year.
-"nip it in the butt" ....actually find that one quite cute.
Any that bug you?
ConsigliereThis didn't bug me, but I heard someone say that her dog "woofed down" his food. Also cute!
Rebecka After living in different countries and hearing different accents, it bugs me that people make fun of them. ;-)
GC 
iRun 
Mark Mc. People round here pronounce the draught in Draught House like thought instead of draft.
Roywhite 
HappyTeacher 
Strangerdanger 
Calico696 Illinois, pronouncing the S
Valentimes, vs Valentines
Anyways, with an S
Supposebly, vs supposedly
Geez, there are so many...and they're all annoying
We could expand into:
to, too, two
there, their, they're
But that's another topic...
RAS 
CBGB I will admit I say "Sal-mon" and totally pronounce the "L." It drives my husband bonkers. Yet he says "Robut" instead of "Robot," so I will just claim we are even.
I had a student one year, very intelligent child, and valedictorian of his class, say to me one day "What does the word fatigue mean?" HOWEVER he pronounced "fat-i-gue." I was so confused because I had never heard of this word before and didn't put two-and-two together until after I saw the word and realized what he meant.
sunshinenj 
littlelu 
yankeefan Ruff instead of Roof
sore instead of Saw
Soder in stead of Soda, as stated before, there are many of them.
bgood105 
Tracy 
Joyful The one the other day - clerk at Weis said "Happy New Years"....it's one year. It's "Happy New YEAR".
SS2cats 
lola I had an ex that uses to say "goed" instead of "go"
Like as in i let go of it.
He would say i let goed of it.
Melissa Someone in Maine once corrected my pronunciation of Newark (the city).
I said it like "Nork".
And she said it was New Ark.
hey! I'm from Nutley. That's how we tawk.
hhz yankeefan & strangerdanger
That's certainly one case where somebody took advantage of so many people mispronouncing "duct tape", that they decided to market their own line of duct tape named after the mispronunciation. I wonder if anyone has used the NASCAR moniker "200" (or is it) "1,000" "mile per hour tape" as a tape line yet.
I always thought it was funny that an old girlfriend's Mom always pronounced "Bar Mitzvah" as "Bah Mitzver", but apparently that's a very common Long Islandism.
Then there's the ever-present "Jew-lah-ree" rather than either "Jewl-ree" or "Jew-el-ree". I mean it IS spelled "Jewelry". I even see plenty of ads on TV for Jewelry stores that mispronounce it. As someone who once tumbled semiprecious gemstones and made necklaces from them and faceted stones it always kind of "stuck in my craw" to hear it mispronounced.
"Goed" & "Idear" are both somewhat common in the Southern U.S.A., especially in Appalachia, though that does include as far North as some people in the Appalachian/Pocono Region of PA too.
I've mentioned to people at work before that with the similarity in pronunciation in the South between "pen" and "pin", they always preface it with what "variety" it is. You have your "ink peyin", "straight peyin" & "safety peyin", but then if there's no preface to it, as in just "peyin", then you've just been in the woods next to a tree relieving yourself. Of course, there's always the "ball peyin" hammer too.
Phil D. 
Happycamper My Grandma in Western PA used to always pronounce "fish" and "fishing" as "feeesh" and "feeeshing". She also would add "so it is" or "so we did" at the end of some sentences, such as "We went feeeshing yesterday, so we did". Both idiosyncrasies were somewhat cute and funny.
Phil D: Just to be clear - for a boy it's a "BaR Mitzvah" for a girl it's a "BaH Mitzvah"...so has NOTHING to do with where you are or where you were born - Bar and Bah designate if the celebration is for a girl or a boy. Just saying!
PA people, "crick" instead of "creek". Drives me nuts, but I'm sure my Jersey accent and impatience drives them even more nuts....
positive 
Eperot 
Angie 
Melodee 
Iris Will probably get some flack about this one, but how about folks who think they live on Schooley Mountain. It's Schooleys Mountain.
Ms Fishy I was going to meet a real estate agent in S. Carolina and while on the phone I asked if she knew of a good hotel down there. She asked me "did I have any pits?" and I say, "what? any what?" she starts getting aggravated and says "pits, pits, you know like a dog?" I then realized she meant pets.
boobalaa Reminds me of an old hotel, we stopped at. "all looms, five darror". "Five dollars?!, I said. Then she said "dooua(door)exta....window, exta, toirleh(toilet),exta.
Another goody... at the gas station? "Cash or kitty cat?"... haha! I'm not racist and they can speak WAY MORE of my language, than I can of theirs.
sparksjbc1964 
zentravl SS2cats
I do know the difference between a Bar Mitzvah & a BAT Mitzvah, thanks. It was during the preparations for my then GF's brother's Bar Mitzvah that I noticed the way her Mom pronounced it. Perhaps you didn't notice the way I wrote her pronunciation of it as "Bah MitzvER". She was swapping the end of both words in a way.
Melodee
Glad to know I'm not the only one bothered by people mispronouncing "jewelry".
boobalaa
Yep, that's just like the "pins" & "pens" thing, except worse because you can't put a qualifier behind the word as easily. I mean a "Dawg Pit" would definitely be interpreted a different way than having a dog as a pet. Obviously you didn't talk with my sister who's a realtor in SC, just over the border from Charlotte, NC. She talks with very little accent, having grown up around the U.S.A. and lastly in NJ.
yankeefan
They made fun of Jimmy Carter and George Bush, Jr. for pronouncing "nuclear" wrong. Carter's experience with early Nuclear Submarines and with Nuclear Science and cleanup efforts (a Canadian Reactor) never was able to trump his Southern (Georgia) accent.
Funniest thing I ever heard in my life............A bunch of us moms (our kids were in school together) went for an "overnight" moms night out. We stayed at a nice hotel and treated ourselves to massages, some drank, swimming in the hotel pool and of course some fine dining......
One of the moms, yes she had been drinking, was ordering something from the menu and for the life of me I can't remember what it was, but what she said to our waiter, by complete accident and very seriously..........I'll have the FELLATIO!
Well we ALL dam near fell out of our chairs laughing.........and OMG the look on the waiters face was priceless..........but the fifteen shades of red that the womans face turned would have lit up the nights sky!!!!!!!!!
THAT had to be the funniest mispronounced word moment I ever heard!
littlelu - It reminds of the time I was in a garden shop and another lady was discussing some plants with her associates. She looked a few things over, thought about it, and casually said "I really want chlamydia". She was thinking of a clemtis vine but instead said she was ready to contract an STD. A few strange looks needless to say.
skippy HeiNlich for HeiMlich. Since my parents were from Southwest Pennsylvania I got used to and embraced "crick".
Clarification As for my part, I kinda purposely mispronounce Hopatcong as HOPATCON. I find it easier on me.
Greenwitch township should be pronounced as gren-itch not green witch
Hey Delaware we're looking at you now Newark is pronounced nerik not new ark.
And New Brunswick shall always remain brumfis
Paula Ah, my favorite topic. All these are hilarious, except the mom who wanted fillatio. I don't get that one, haaaa. What WAS the proper word she mispronounced?
- A whole nother story (instead of another whole)
- My boyfriend says CY-yot instead of cy-YOT-tee
Jenny 
Love to Sing 
DannyC Hey Rebecka, my ex said Viola! once and when I figured out what they were trying to say , I died laughing.
Scottso My dad's from the south, he says "breyesh" instead of brush
My mom says "AH-kralic" instead of a-CRY-lic
People in the south seem to get the 'arthur' for arthritis and they have 'sugar' when it's diabetes. 'Axe me' I think I hear mostly from people who live or were raised on Staten Island.
Warsh cloth is another regional one
And draws or drawers
hktownie 
auntiel Jenny
Is your boyfriend from Texas, Colorado or thereabouts by any chance? Coyote is actually a Spanish word, possibly derived from a Native American one and I've heard it pronounced ko-jO-teh directly from both those sources (old friends).
Greg I remember lots of people asking for "Free-zone" when I worked at R&S Strauss years ago. That was when you could buy the little cans of R-12 refrigerant (Freon) to recharge your car's AC system. It may not have been the correct pronunciation, but it easily got the message across!
This isn't a mispronounced word but a typical misuse of a word.
I was at a pub ordering lunch and asked if the sandwiches and burgers came with a side dish. They did not come with a side dish but we were told the fries are a "SHAREABLE" size.
I assume she meant there is enough for two since there was two of us there. But one French Fry is shareable. Break it in half and we just shared a French Fry.
CBGB - I don't care how much taller you are than I am, but if I only had one french fry, and you tried to break it in half, I'd smack you up side the head so bad you'd find yourself in next Tuesday. If you think a single fry is "shareable" then you have another thing coming. ;-)
ianimal My mother was born and raised in "Nork". She calls wall art "pitchers", lunch "samwiches", and summered at "Lake Apackon".
ChrisisFake "Axe" (ask) goes back to Old English; it comes from the word "axian", meaning to demand.
https://www.google.com/amp/www.instructables.com/id/How-To-Clean-Outdoor-AC-Units/%3Famp_page%3Dtrue
Lol, CBGB! Oops. Here's the correct link...
http://rezashadmehr.blogspot.com/2013/12/ask-vs-axe.html?m=1
Really like to see the word "humorous". The right spirit of it seems to be alive on the post. ;-)
definition of humorouy according to urban dictionary - when a fool don't know that the fool hit the backspace not'n the l
and I would share a french fry with you GC , even one coated with food starch, so get off your stool, put down your dukes and pass the catsup.
CBGB - Nice to know you would share, but in all competitive seriousness, a fry is a fighting fray and I'm not giving up. Go scratch for the stool, my dukes are totally smacking you in the noggin, and the spicy catsup is all mine. ;-) All is fair in war over a fantastic fry. And it's all f*!&!^ing mine!! Love you too, but potato slices are my personal territory. ;-)
hahhah, all right GC. I am upping the offer!!
can't wait to see if ianimal has for this...lol
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