Words wot you say wrong...

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yello

Guest
I've always said 'combatative' rather than the 'combative'. Possibly because you have argumentative and competitive but also because, for me, combative just sounds wrong - you have to change the stress pattern of the root (combat) and this obscures (again, for me) its meaning.

There are words I mispronounce left, right and centre but the above is a case of me just plain getting it wrong.
 

fossyant

Ride It Like You Stole It!
Location
South Manchester
Usually Welsh names. Most folk pronounce LLandudno as "landudno", not "clandudno"

Hardest is Betws-y-coed - I know it's "Betswi coid" but we all say 'co ed'
 

Globalti

Legendary Member
Noocelur. It's something to do with the Eyeranians.

Most people mispronounce Ikea (as eye-kea) and Ibiza (as eye-beetha).
 
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yello

Guest
And then there's the words I've misunderstood and use in the wrong context...

That's what interests me rather than the understandable mispronunciation of other language words.

I would say 'understandable' though, as I am constantly pronouncing French vowel sounds as English (orthographic not phonetic)
 
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yello

Guest
When I were a lad my mate would always say, when he got a flat tyre, that he had to fix a pumpture.

I do like that one! I may even use it. Your mate gets extra points for the justification too :smile:
 

Oldbloke

Guru
Location
Mayenne, France
At the boucherie in my local supermarket I asked for "un kilo de viande hache" (minced beef); got a very puzzled look & "vous est sur?" from the butcher.

He then went off and filled a bag with dropped cuttings & mis-shaped sausages, having heard my request as "viande dechets" ie meat waste.

I was too embarrassed to refuse it!
 

gbb

Legendary Member
Location
Peterborough
Old friend of ours used to have a couple...chimberley Instead of chimney and this one used to crack us up at work...hed say bearying I steady of bearing
 
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yello

Guest
At the boucherie in my local supermarket I asked for "un kilo de viande hache" (minced beef); got a very puzzled look & "vous est sur?" from the butcher.

He then went off and filled a bag with dropped cuttings & mis-shaped sausages, having heard my request as "viande dechets" ie meat waste.

:laugh: My most regular difficulty with French pronunciation is with 'un alonge' (literally, 'an elongated' but it refers to a café alongé or simply black coffee with twice the hot water)... this gets heard as 'une orange' thinking I want an orange juice. Darned annoying. Fortunately, creeping Americanism (it has some uses ;) ) means that a number of cafes now know it as an americano. They'll all being speaking English (well, American) soon I tell you, and I won't have to battle with the damned language!

Edit: I once heard a women ask for "un long café alongé" so I guess she wanted it even more diluted!
 
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Chris S

Legendary Member
Location
Birmingham
At the boucherie in my local supermarket I asked for "un kilo de viande hache" (minced beef); got a very puzzled look & "vous est sur?" from the butcher.

He then went off and filled a bag with dropped cuttings & mis-shaped sausages, having heard my request as "viande dechets" ie meat waste.

I was too embarrassed to refuse it!

I'd have been too embarrassed to accept it :smile:
 
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