Who started this whole thing?
This sweet, innocent...
... and now totally badass Hogwarts student.
Many of us pronounced her name as...
Her-MOINE
Her-MEE-un
Her-MEE-own
Her-mee-OWN-ee
Her-MEE-on
But of course, thanks to a phonetic spelling on book four to Viktor Krum (and of course, all the movies), we now know her as Her-MY-oh-nee.
Here are the others that we added to the mispronunciation list:
French Failures
hors d'oeurves (or-DURVES)
- whores d'VORES
 |
| "Have you ever met a person, you say, 'Let's get some parfait,' they say, 'Hell no, I don't like no parfait'? Parfaits are delicious." |
lingerie (lawn-jah-RAY)
- lin-GEAR-ee
- linger-EE
suites (sweets)
- sweeties
queue (cue)
- kway
parfait (par-FAY)
- par-FATE
- para-FAT
bouquet (boo-KAY)
- boo-KET
What's in a name?
Aislinn (from the Wicked Lovely series) (ASH-lynn)
- ASS-lynn
 |
| It was my favorite blue crayon! |
Maire (from Circle of Friends) (MOY-ra)
- Muh-REE
- Mare
cerulean (the Crayola color) (sir-OO-le-in)
- sir-U-lean
Persephone (per-SEPH-oh-nee)
- Per-SEH-phone
Sean (Shawn)
- seen
- SEE-un
Location, Location, Location
Illinois (ill-uh-NOY)
- ill-uh-NOISE
 |
| "Chicago, Chicago, that toddlin' town..." |
Gateshead (from Jane Eyre) (GATES-head)
- Gate-SHEAD
Pompeii (pom-PAY)
- pom-PEE-eye
Connecticut (kun-NET-ih-kit)
- kun-NECKED-ih-cut
Chicago (shi-CAH-go)
- CHICK-ago
Random wrongdoings.
poignant (poin-YINT)
- po-IG-nant
epitome (eh-PIT-uh-me)
- ep-EE-tome
- ep-IH-tome
misled (MISS-led)
 |
| Let's admire the admiral! |
stoic (STOW-ick)
- stoyk
kiosk (KEY-osk)
- koysk
elite (ee-LEET)
- ee-LIGHT
deny (dee-NIGH)
- DEN-ee
admiral (ADD-mur-ull)
- ad-MY-rull
macabre (muh-COB)
- muh-CAY-burr
- muh-CAH-burr
mischief (MISS-chiff)
- MISS-chief
monotony (muh-NOT-oh-nee)
- moe-no-TONY
chic (sheek)
- chick
gyoza (gee-YO-za)
- GOY-za
geography (gee-OG-ruh-fee)
- gee-oh-GRAF-ee
indict (in-DITE)
- in-DICKED
Ahem. And on that note...
This is a pretty extensive list of mispronunciations! But we have a whole new crop of followers since the first post went live, and I know there are plenty more words to add to the list.
Also, I'm wondering -- who of you have first and/or last names CONSTANTLY mispronounced? Like, my last name - Gambale - is pronounced "gam-BAH-lee" and I always get "gam-BULL" or "gam-BALE." And, funny enough, it's an Italian name, so it technically SHOULD be pronounced "gum-BAH-lay" and my family's Philadelphia accent switched it to "gam" and "lee"!
Alright, leave it in the comments!
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It took me an embarrassingly long time to realize that the word 'adjacent' was not pronounced AD-juh-kent. I'd heard it spoken, sure, but I never realized the word I was hearing was the same one I was reading.
ReplyDeleteHeehee! From Stasia Kehoe (pronounced KEY-oh, not KEE-HOE-EE (though I am often asked if I am Hawaiian)). Oh, yeah, and STAY-SHUH, not STAH-SEE-UH and not Stacy either). Such a fun name to haul through life!
ReplyDeleteMy married name is also the victim of the Italian-name-gone-American syndrome. Me (and everyone in my husband's family) pronounce DeSabato as: dee-SA-buh-toe, but I often receive calls for Sara Dee-suh-BAH-toe.
ReplyDeleteARE YOU SERIOUS? How do you get Shawn from Sean? ( I was prononcing it seen.) So random :)
ReplyDeleteIn Irish (Gaelic), when "s" is next to an "i" or "e," it is pronounced "sh." also, "a" gets an "aw" sound when it is accented: "á." actually, in Irish, sean means "old" and is pronounced "shan," whereas Seán is a name (pron. "shawn"). strangely enough, séan in Irish is pronounced "shane" and means fortune, with no connection to Shane, which is an anglicization of Seán.
DeleteI love all the Celtic spellings - my fave at the moment is Caiomhin, which is the original spelling of Kevin. Also Niamh (Neve). Sean (original-ish celtic spelling) isn't so bad in comparison... a bit like asian - there's a kind of sh in there. I always have trouble with gesture (hard or soft g?)
ReplyDeleteHa HA. I recognize some of my mispronunciations in there. Great post, Donna.
ReplyDeleteMy name is pretty straightforward. But I still get called "Joan" all the time. Go figure.
Reading through this incredible list of yours reminds me I had a college professor who mispronounced Orion (o RYE in) as OR ee un. I giggled every time. Wouldn't you think a college prof would know better?
Yes, I grew up with macabre as mac-a-bree. Never understood why I never heard anyone say it.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of names, my last name is Wenner (like winner but with an e). I have been Weiner just about my whole life.
I have most definitely pronounced many of those words/names wrong. I have not read Circle of Friends, but now that you say you pronounce Maire (Moy-ra) I guess I must. Moyra (spelled like that- just how it sounds - what a relief) is my grandma's name! It is such an uncommon name I was surprised when I saw it on your list! Thanks for the post. I was laughing. Hard.
ReplyDelete-Meredith (Mare-dith)
Mint Tea and A Good Book
Funny. I probably create some words that are easy to mispronounce in my book too.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, my name is always pronounced wrong.
My last name is Morrill ... and I always get More-ILL or More-ELL (that one gets me ... there's no E!). It's really pronounced like "moral." So I'm the author who walks around going "My name is Lauren Morrill, like moral of the story!"
ReplyDeleteAnonymous - "AD-juh-kent" makes total sense! I was the same way with epitome. I thought they were two separate words!
ReplyDeleteStasia - Yeah, that's a tough name!!
Sara - hahaha I FINALLY broke myself of saying "Dee-suh-BAH-toe." And my last name should really even be "Gum-BAH-lay" -- not "lee."
Bethany - See Anonymous's answer below yours!
Anonymous - Celtic spellings are pretty, but so tough to read and say!
Joanne - Or should I say Joan?
Anonymous - Another person stumped by "macabre"! And "Wenner" is so easy!!!
Meredith - I spent all of Circle of Friends saying "Mare"! I literally looked up how to say it before typing this post!
Natalie - It's "Ah-GEAR-ray"!
Lauren - At least you have a cute phrase to go with it! I'd be like, "Gambale, like gamble with an A." Definitely not as catchy!
ReplyDeleteWhat about "misled?"
ReplyDeleteMis-led (well, duh) but a friend and I discovered we always read it as MY-zuld!
I have a character in a short story named Felicia who pronounces it with a short i, rather than eesha. A lifetime of correcting people has given her a prickly personality (hope not true for Stasia.)
In Italian, Donna your last name is Gahm-BA-lay. Bellissimo.
Ann - Oh, misled's definitely in the post list! I like the idea of using character name mispronunciation as a personality factor. And I actually did correct myself with the Italian pronunciation of my last name in my reply to Sara's comment, but I should probably fix it in the original post! Silly me with four years of Spanish.
ReplyDelete