Words you just can't pronounce!

[Octo_Russ]

Along the lines of the "words you hate" and "words you love" threads, it got me thinking of words i hate because i just can't say them, my tongue just can't get around certain words, and it sounds like i've got a stammer or something, here are a few words,

Veterinary i just call it the Vet or Vets, luckily i don't have a pet, so there's not a great need.

Conviviality the word should be banned!, i get it mixed up with Conniving.

Euphemism another word where i use an alternative.

Regularly it just sounds so wrong!, it's that -arly at the end, i use regular instead.

so what words trip you up?.

[Lethevich]

I am not very keen on zealot, as I constantly feel the urge to pronounce it "zeal".

My biggest issue is with February, though. I know it's February, but no matter how much I try, it emerges as Febuary.

[Sylph]

German word for estuary, Ästuar, as transcribed in Duden 6: Das Aussprachewörterbuch. It just sounds bizarre (and incorrect): [ɛsˈtu̯aːɐ̯]. The way they say it's accented makes no sense and the double a's at the end don't sound 'convincing'.

[Sylph]

Veterinary i just call it the Vet or Vets, luckily i don't have a pet, so there's not a great need.

Conviviality the word should be banned!, i get it mixed up with Conniving.

Euphemism another word where i use an alternative.

Regularly it just sounds so wrong!, it's that -arly at the end, i use regular instead.

Perhaps phonemic transcription will help?

ˈvetərɪnərɪ
kənˌvɪviˈæləti
ˈjuːfəˌmɪzəm
ˈreɡjʊləli



Or maybe you should try an online dictionary with audio pronunciation and keep playing the sound file. Until it rings overtly familiar.

[Sylph]

Regularly, BTW, reminds me of a word too many Brits seem to 'smudge':

pəˈtɪkjʊləli (American: pərˈtɪkjələrli)

[Iconito]

Euphemism another word where i use an alternative.

This is so freaking funny! 

[Grazioso]

Anything in French (words with 20 letters, 2 of them pronounced--how do I choose?) or Polish (words with 9 consonants in a row and one vowel, if you're lucky) 

[Gurn Blanston]

Kuijken

The one time I asked, some putz corrected my spelling but never offered a pronunciation. I don't care how to spell it, I want to know how to say it.

Am I the only one here who gets that cheesy feeling when, after 20 or more years of just reading a word, I finally have to pronounce it out loud and find that I don't really know what it sounds like?!  This happens to me all the time since I read continuously but I speak only occasionally.

[Brahmsian]

Vulnerability.  My wife and I had gone for some counselling, and the counsellor could not pronounce the word vulnerability.  She always said vunerability.

French having been my first language growing up, I still have a hard time with the word onion.  In French, the word is oignon.  When I try to say it in English, it always comes out as ognion.  I went decades before someone had actually pointed it out to me. 

[Florestan]

Polish (words with 9 consonants in a row and one vowel, if you're lucky) 

One of the most famous pre-WWI Bucharest caffes was "Raşca" --- pronounce Rashka. It was the easiest Romanian pronunciation of its Czech founder's name, Hrtschka. 

[Florestan]

Kuijken

I took a two-month course in Dutch while in The Netherlands. Now, Dutch has a very difficult pronunciation, but "ui" is the most difficult sound for a foreigner, methinks. And if you add "ij", which is also not easy to reproduce, it's the horror. 

[Brian]

I have low blood pressure. It's a pain, because whenever I have to explain why I'm taking ten seconds to stand up, I always say, "I have low brud pressure... uh, I mean blood pressure." Freaking l's and r's!

[Brian]

Kuijken

The one time I asked, some putz corrected my spelling but never offered a pronunciation. I don't care how to spell it, I want to know how to say it.

Am I the only one here who gets that cheesy feeling when, after 20 or more years of just reading a word, I finally have to pronounce it out loud and find that I don't really know what it sounds like?!  This happens to me all the time since I read continuously but I speak only occasionally.

Definitely happens to me all the time. For instance, I am absolutely terrified of having to say "short-lived" because I don't know if it's a "ih" sound or an "eye" sound in "lived."

[Sergeant Rock]

This is  embarrassing. I've been trying for 35 years but I still can't properly pronounce my wife's first name: Petra. I don't think I'll ever get the sound of that devilish German R right.

Sarge

[Gurn Blanston]

I took a two-month course in Dutch while in The Netherlands. Now, Dutch has a very difficult pronunciation, but "ui" is the most difficult sound for a foreigner, methinks. And if you add "ij", which is also not easy to reproduce, it's the horror. 

They're all a horror. I would say "everyone should speak English", but now I've heard a Brit try it and I realize that's no solution either...    

Anyway, I say 'kwEE-kin' in my head when I get to that word. And curse them for not being Smith's.   

[Florestan]

This is  embarrassing. I've been trying for 35 years but I still can't properly pronounce my wife's first name: Petra. I don't think I'll ever get the sound of that devilish German R right.

That's not nearly as bad as the old man who addressed his wife as "my precious soul", "my dearest treasure" and "my one and only love" --- and when asked by a guest why he doesn't simply use her name, he replied: "Hang me by the neck if I can remember it".

[Florestan]

I would say "everyone should speak English"

If you mean every Dutch, they actually do. 

[Gurn Blanston]

Definitely happens to me all the time. For instance, I am absolutely terrified of having to say "short-lived" because I don't know if it's a "ih" sound or an "eye" sound in "lived."

If it's any consolation, if you end up with the 'ih' sound, you won't be alone. I always thought the 'eye' sound was seemingly too affected so I avoid it. Even if it's right...

[Sergeant Rock]

That's not nearly as bad as the old man who addressed his wife as "my precious soul", "my dearest treasure" and "my one and only love" --- and when asked by a guest why he doesn't simply use her name, he replied: "Hang me by the neck if I can remember it".

[Gurn Blanston]

If you mean every Dutch, they actually do. 

I bet they don't say 'kwEE-kin' though...