I just love it when people mispronounce common words. And by love I mean, it irritates the crap out of me, but yet it provides hours and hours of hearty chuckling when I’m making fun of them on my blog.
My most favorite mispronounced word was one I heard last week. The lady who was speaking said, “we’ll talk about all the scenarinos.” Scenarinos. As in scenarios. I looked at the other people sitting around me to see if anyone else was trying as hard as I was not to bust a gut laughing. Nobody was visibly shaking, but there is no way I’m the only one who heard her say “scenarino.” Scene-arino. Seriously. That’s comedy GOLD.
Tate and I have made it our goal to work this new word into our everyday vocabulary. “So Tate, which scenarino works best for lunch? Ham sandwiches or leftovers?” “Hey Jennifer, after the kids go to bed later, I imagine a scenarino with us going to bed early {eyebrow wag, eyebrow wag}.”
Other words that make me laugh/want to punch someone includes:
Supposebly. Supposebly you’re an idiot.
Irregardless. Irregardless of what you say, irregardless is not a word.
Warsh. I’m going to warsh your mouth out with soap if you say this stupid word ever again. (I used to hear this all the time when I was a kid and lived in Oklahoma. I don’t know if it’s an Oklahoma “thing,” but I’ve also heard a few people from St. Louis say warsh instead of wash.)
Ideals. I have lots of ideals about how I can torture people who use the word “ideals” when they really mean “ideas.” (I hear this ALL the time in Tennessee and it makes me want to punch somebody.)
Any words that people totally botch that make you cringe or giggle with delight?
Edited to add: Your comments are reminding me of words I didn’t even think about! Kindygarten! HATE that. Also, I lose intelligence points every time someone adds a plural ending to words that don’t need plural endings. Krogers, Meijers, Walmarts…THERE IS NO “S” ON THOSE NAMES, DAMMIT.
Realtor! It’s “Reel-tor’ people!! Not “Reel-a-tor” Can’t you see how it’s spelled? Don’t even get me started on nuclear.
.-= LZ´s last blog ..Christmas, already? =-.
‘Ideals’ is one of my pet peeves too, and I’m from Tennessee. Being that my hubs is a rocket scientist, another is saying ‘Nuclear’ in 3 instead of the correct two syllables. It’s ‘Nu-clear’, not ‘Nu-cle-er.’
.-= Tara R.´s last blog ..Bill =-.
AUGH! My parents are from Oklahoma and say “warsh.” I grew up in Indiana where EVERYONE ELSE says “warsh.” HOW on earth is it that my brother and I–with this dual influence–grew up saying it correctly?????
My Sooner father also says “wraslin’.” You know–instead of “wrestling.” Seriously? YOU HAVE LIVED IN INDIANA FOR 2/3 OF YOUR LIFE!
I am embarrassed to admit that I’m one of the ones who used to say “supposebly” wrong. I didn’t even notice until I was 19 and my future husband corrected me. I blame Indiana/Oklahoma.
.-= Carrie´s last blog ..Letter =-.
LZ, I’m so embarrassed to admit that at one time I totally mispronounced realtor. I now proudly pronounce it real-tor.
Ugh, supposebly. That’s a biggie.
But you forgot Kindygarden and nukular (instead of nuclear, which according to dictionary.com is 3 syllables
. My brother-in-law says all of those wrong. ARGH!
.-= Bill´s last blog ..Random Matthew =-.
Tara, {hides} I didn’t know that about the word “nuclear.” Mental note added!
You have two of my top three (supposebly and irregardless). The only one you’re missing is “anyways”.
I think more people say real-i-ter than real-tor. At first I thought it was a Midwest thing, but in all areas of the country we’ve lived in, that’s been true.
Carrie, I never heard anyone say that in Indiana! Maybe I just didn’t live there long enough.
Ha! “Wraslin’” Oh yes. I think it is a Missouri thing, too. I always heard that.
Bill, Grrr! Kindygarten. That one really irks me! Can’t believe I didn’t think of it.
Shelly, Anyways! Yes. Also, I hate when people pluralize un-necessarily. KrogerS, MeijerS, WalmartS…ugh.
Oh, I forgot “Libary”. It has an “r” in there, people!
The guys I listen to on the radio pointed out that an adult who says “nukular” might as well say pusghetti (instead of spaghetti, of course). Now every time my brother-in-law says something like that I laugh.
My MIL always says “am-blee-ance” instead of Ambulance and “Flusterated” instead of frustrated. DRIVES ME crazy
Oh sister, I want to make out with you right now.
All of yours and a few of my own.
“I could care less.” No, what you actually mean to say is that you COULDN’T care less.
ATM Machine/PIN Number/GPS System. The last words are built into the acronyms. No need to state it again.
Oh, and my mom is from St. Louis and they ALL say warsh and it drives me insane.
Also? “I had to get up at 6 a.m. in the morning.” Really? that sucks. I much prefer 6 a.m. in the evening.
And let’s not forget “reply back.” Again, the “back” is pretty much covered in the word reply.
I could go on, but my blood pressure is rising.
Thanks for the opportunity to vent my grammatical frustrations.
A guy I work with says ‘Pacifically’ instead of ‘Specifically’.
Drives.Me.Nuts.
Also? When people say the ‘S’ at the end of Illinois! GAH!
Donna, My husband says “I could care less” all the time. It makes me want to punch him even more than I normally do.
Joaaaana, Yes! The “S” at the end of Illinois is silent. I heard that alot living in Alabama.
This also reminds me that so many people from Missouri say Missour-ah. It makes my home state sound like it’s filled with a bunch of idiots.
kristchal for Krystal (as in the gut-bomb burgers famous here in the South)
oxygijen for oxygen
Interestingly my dad is guilty of both of these mispronunciations.
My late mother-in-law (rest her English teacher soul) actually pronounced BOTH u’s in vacuum. as in vakyoo-uhm.
Mitchigan for Michigan. My mom just said this. I kid you not.
HI-wah-yuh for Hawaii. Again, my mom’s.
Me? I pronounce everything wonderfully. Just ask me.
Kindygarten- that struck a nerver, I hate it too! I met a friend who’s twins were in Bradley’s kindERgarten class- I am EVER so glad they are no longer in kindergarten for that reason alone. I don’t like when people say Lou-ee-vil. It’s Lou- i- vuhl. I also hate “I seen…” I think that’s a Kentucky thing.
Didn’t mean to write “nerver!” Bad post to make a typo huh?
I used to work with a woman who would always use “supposebly”. She was the HR person and also could not pronounce “beneficiaries”, it always came out as something like “benerferceraries”
ha ha ha I love this!
My inlaws are transplants from St. Louis to Oklahoma and they say “warsh”, as well as sharts. You may know them as SHORTS. haha!
You’re right. Comedy gold.
Ha! I love this post. “Lieberry” instead of library always drives me mad. As does “the person that”, instead of “the person who” (Don’t even get me started on the commonly confused words I see in my UNIVERSITY students’ writing – including there, their, and they’re. You’re 20 years old people! You should know this by now!! Populous/populace…its/it’s, oh must stop now before I lose it!)
And my husband goes off the rails whenever people say “this begs the question” because they almost NEVER use the phrase properly. Begging the question is meant for poor logic in argumentation when the conclusion is presupposed by the argument itself. But people always say it when what they really mean is “raises the question”.
Honorable mentions include: “chester drawers”. It’s chest of drawers people! And “for all intensive purposes”. No. Nicht. Nein. It’s “for all intents and purposes”.
My mother always uses waint (rhymes with paint), instead of wait. ARGH!
My grandmother who was from Missourah (that’s how she said it), also used to say puhdaydahs instead of potatoes. The rest of the time she didn’t sound like a hillbilly.
My cousin uses cheft for chef and it makes me want to punch her.
.-= mommyknows´s last blog ..She’ll Grow Out of it … I Hope (or Not)! =-.
The one that drives me crazy is perilous from the national anthem. Why do people feel the need to say “per-o-lus”….I can tell you from my son’s leapfrog alphabet toy, the letter I says “I” and “ih”.
Two that always make me giggle:
My grandmother says torlit instead of toilet. Strangely, she does not say “warsh.” As far as I know this is her only extra r. She insists she does not say it that way.
And my MIL’s favorite wine is apparently Peenoit Nor instead of Pinot Noir. We all sink behind our menus when she orders this at nice restaurants.
Luckily, these are not wide-spread mistakes so I can just laugh.
Big GRRRR at suposebly though. *Cringe*
Gracie, Sharts!! Ha! I’m adding that gem to my vocabulary right now!
Those so irritate me! I heard a new one recently that left me equal parts stunned and disgusted. This man (in TN) repeatedly calls the Cul-de-sac he lives on a ‘culturesac’!!!! And he honestly believes that is what its called.
I live in Illinois and it drives me nuts when people pronounce the s on the end. It’s silent, people!
Jade, when we were moving, our movers wrote on some of our boxes…”Clothes from Chester Drawers.” I took a picture and made fun of it right here on the ol’ blog. Will have to find the link!
Mommyknows, the word cheft reminds me that I can’t stand when people say “herb” with the h sound. Even Martha Stewart says it wrong.
These are very funny (in a bothersome sort of way), ladies. My addition is idear instead of idea.
My friend and I are scrabble freaks so we are always making up words to incorporate into our daily conversations. Our longest running word is ‘switty’ …as in, I’m all hot and switty. Enjoy!
Jennifer – I just read the post before this one and nearly wet my pants (no pun intended).
.-= Leighann´s last blog ..Weekend Report =-.
I hate when people say “Cue-pon” instead of “coupon”. It drives me crazy!
.-= all things BD´s last blog ..Worse Than Drunk Blogging =-.
toofies….look he’s getting another toofy – instead of toothy. I CAN’T STAND this baby talk word.
PREACH. IT.
I’m a bit of a grammar snob so I’ll admit to hating all of these but one of my pet peeves is creek – it is not pronounced “crick”! You get a crick in your neck – you swim in a creek.
.-= Michelle Smiles´s last blog ..“White” Pizza =-.
I HATE SUPPOSEBLY! I work with a woman who says it all the time, and says it wrong EVERY TIME! Drives me freaking crazy…
Oh, and my dad and in-laws all say “warsh” and “torlet” (toilet) too. My dad also calls green peppers “mangos.” It’s an Indiana thing…
.-= Katie´s last blog ..Promise… =-.
I can’t think of any mispronounced words off the top of my head… except I find myself saying brefax a lot instead of breakfast… drive myself crazy with that one.
BUT what does make me a little batshitty is when people use completely ridiculous accents (not even real or correct accents!) on words that are used commonly here but also in other countries.
My mother and best friend are the WORST offenders… the ones that make me want to beat them senseless? When mom says cappuccino? She pronounces it COP-oo-cheeeno. When the best friend says ricotta? She pronounces it REE-gotta. AWFUL AWFUL stuff that makes my ears bleed.
.-= MommyNamedApril´s last blog ..Manic Monday… Snippets. =-.
Oh, all these are so funny! I hate supposably as well. One of my good friends says it that way. She and my husband also both say LABtop instead of laptop, as in the computer that rests on your LAP.
One of my biggest peeves is when people use “sell” instead of “sale” and “loose” instead of “lose”.
I also agree about Hoosiers saying really screwy things. What is it about this state?
The two that drive me crazy are anywayS. So Anyways I was walking around the other day…
And soph-o-more- like tilt-a-whirl with an o. I know it is spelled with 3 os, but you only really pronounce 2 of them!
.-= Shannon´s last blog ..Working Mom =-.
I want to axe you a question. Do you gots a labtop, or does your computer go on deskes?
grrrrr……
And then there is bolth instead of both.
The one I am guilty of butchering is the word ‘crayon’. I have always said ‘cran’.
.-= Shelli´s last blog ..Real Friends Don’t Let Friends Get Homemade Tattoos From Other Friends, And Other Random Thoughts =-.
I am super picky about things like this. Pretty much everything you listed, along with everything everyone else listed, plus when people say “welp” instead of “well.” Or say that they have “welps” instead of “welts.”
I could go on for days. I’ll just leave it at that for now…
.-= valerie @ Robots and Candy´s last blog ..Little Tiny Robots and Candy =-.
These are all great — I agree with every one of them. Since most of mine have been covered, I’ll just comment on my son’s name, Benjamin. He has some relatives that say BenjaRmin (we’re from Tennessee). He’s 5 and one of my cousins just asked me, a few days ago, how to spell it. We then had a conversation about how she thought there was an R in it.
“Yes, I’d like some EYE-talian dressing on my salad. I first sampled that dressing in IT-lee.”
Hilarious post.
.-= mep´s last blog ..Can’t make this crap up. =-.
*ducks head and slowly raises hand*
I’m guilty of the “s” thing – but only with one store: Aldi. Even though I am a stickler for proper pronunciation and all things grammatical, I honestly didn’t realize the store did not have an apostrophe and an “s” on the end!
.-= Mary @ Giving Up on Perfect´s last blog ..This is my associate, Jazz Hands. =-.
Scenearinos is a new one to me – hilarious!
.-= amy2boys´s last blog ..Texas Sheet Cake =-.
all things BD, Uh oh. I think I use cue-pon and coo-pon interchangeably. I’ll be more cognizant in the future!
Hey, I say cue-pon and it drives me crazy when people say coo-pon!
One that I hate is when someone says “heigth” instead of height. The h comes BEFORE the t – it is not pronounced the same as width!
.-= ragtopday´s last blog ..Another Call from Camp =-.
Michelle! Yes! Crick! I remember hearing that word as a kid and being so confused, I mean, the word was obviously “CREEK,” why would someone pronounce it “crick?????”
This post and its comments are CRACKING ME UP.
One mispronounced word I DO love comes directly from my 7 year old: LO-grit instead of Yogurt. I confess that I perpetuate this mispronunciation as it is too adorable and he is MY BABY dammit.
EYE-talian, “ax you a question” and “pin” for “pen” are my pet peeves.
.-= tracey´s last blog ..What I COULD be writing about…. =-.