A thread full of words Americans don't pronounce properly

[The Antikythera Mechanism]

basil - bay zill

 

[Nottseagull]

but then they generally call English people 'British' as a rule, too.

Most don't, although I've noticed "the UK" is at last being more commonly used. Many Americans talk eg about England going to war with Germany - as ignorant as us calling the USA California.

 

[Cian]

That is odd! I was listening to the radio this morning and the Aloo-min-um thing was discussed, turns out on that one they are using the correct pronunciation the metal was named Aluminum by the geologist that first identified it and the Brits, for some reason, added an "I"

Correct, but the IUPAC name also added the I, so its now the correct way.

 

[CHAPPERS]

Dentist - dennis

 

[Nottseagull]

Renasance instead of Renaissance , cross-ant and Point-setta are all favourites of mine. Not only do they ignore certain letters they occasionally randomly throw in ones that aren't there. I engage in this sort of banter at work every day and have yet to tire of it. My all time favourite moment was when I pronounced croissant correctly over breakfast one morning. After the guffaws subsided the memorable line was rolled out .... wait for it..... I kid you not. "The way you say it makes it sound French!".

Yes, the French language is not very rich. Did you know they have no word for baguette?

 

[User removed 4]

vase, they pronounce it vayse instead of varse ,

 

[Nottseagull]

And perhaps the most annoying: Math!

 

[Jahooli]

Specialty instead of speciality.

I think the lieu - leff argument is a lost cause cos it's french, you never get a day off in leff - maybe Leffe.

The aluminium thing is explained by Bill Bryson Short History of Nearly Everything...something to do with sounding the same as Lithium, Chromium etc

 

[haardman]

Solder (as in the molten metal stuff) they pronounce it sodder.

solder: Definition from Answers.com

 

[User removed 4]

And perhaps the most annoying: Math!

yeah, go figure !

 

[clapham_gull]

As I found a number of times when giving directions

"Lye-Sester Square"

A friend of mine parents used to run a tea shop in Lamberhurst, Kent.

Americans were overheard ringing home telling ma and pa they were in a "quant little town called Lamberville"

Lude Chadwick confuses them too..

 

[Nottseagull]

I wonder how they cope with Lewes - the locals up here appear to have grasped it only since joining them in the Blue Square!

 

[jcdenton08]

Graham - Graaam

 

[Superphil]

but then they generally call English people 'British' as a rule, too.

To be fair, English people are British.

Oh, and for me the Americans don't pronounce any English words properly. Have you heard them talk?

 

[Superphil]

Yes, the French language is not very rich. Did you know they have no word for baguette?

And I understand that the Italians have no word for Ciabatta

 

[Lyndhurst 14]

rout / route
zee / zed
joisy / jersey – mainly New Yorkers
erectile dysfunction / brewer’s droop – about 20 ads a night for this (including BBC America cashing in) on America’s greatest insecurity !

 

[Smythe]

They use the word burglarized or burglarize instead of burglary.

 

[goldstone]

And many of their pronunciations are much better than ours.

Not to mention words.

I mean ... lorry?? Lorry is a laughable word. Fit only for toddlers. A bloody great thing with eight wheels is a TRUCK for chrissake.

TRUCK is a big manly word to match a big manly vehicle.

 

[Seagull over NZ]

USe f the phrase "to dive" in the past tense. "I dived into the pool". The Yanks say "I dove into the pool".

 

[vitusvivi]

aluminium they call it aluuuuuuminum