It Is Pronounced "Tro-PAY": Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:How do you pronounce Gyrfalcon - bird and moon.jpg|thumb|400px|[http://www.birdandmoon.com/ ''bird and moon''] shows us how it's done]]
{{quote|'''Data:''' ''(Doctor Pulaski has just mispronounced his name)'' Data.
'''Pulaski:''' What?
'''Data:''' My name. It is pronounced "Dayta". You called me "Dahta".
'''Pulaski:''' What's the difference?
'''Data:''' One is my name. The other is not.
'''[[SF Debris]]:''' And really, if you were to say the ship was called the "USS Enterprisay" and the ship computer corrected you, would you start arguing with it? Even if you do not see Data as a person but as a machine, do you think the machine does not know what its own name is?"|''[[SF Debris]]'' review of the the ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'' episode "The Child"}}
Someone tries to class up something by "pronouncing it poshly". Most commonly this is done as response to other people pronouncing the word in such a way that it sounds much sillier. Whether the fancy pronunciation or the obvious yet silly one is "correct" is usually besides the point. The point is, that for some people, keeping a name filled with aristocratic airs is [[Serious Business]].
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Usually the "high-class pronunciation" uses French pronunciation. Today this is probably because [[Everything Sounds Sexier in French]] and as we all know sexy people can't be made fun of. The original reason for this is likely because since the [[The House of Normandy|the Norman invasion]], English-speakers have tended to instinctively recognize French morphemes as being upper class, what with the country being essentially occupied and ruled by Frenchman for about two centuries. However, the actual French pronunciation may be different from the claimed one.
This trope is related to the linguistic phenomenon known as [
''May'' overlap with [[My Nayme Is]] but not every name that's pronounced differently than its spelling would indicate is this trope. Compare also with [[AcCENT Upon the Wrong SylLABle]] and [[Insistent Terminology]], with which it sometimes overlaps.
Contrast [[No Pronunciation Guide]]. See Also: [[Uranus Is Showing]].
{{examples}}
== AdvERtising ==
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMe3WDmxBEI One A&W rootbeer commercial] features a particularly clueless job candidate repeatedly referring to his interviewer as Mr. "Dumbass". Eventually, the interviewer states that his name (clearly visible on a nameplate as "Mr. DuMass") is actually pronounced "DOO-Mahss". Then he says behind the candidate's back, "What a dumbass."
* In one commercial for Glade scented candles, a woman tries to pass off her new candles as fancy foreign candles. She removes the label and attempts to throw it away, but struggles with the adhesive and it ends up sticking to her skirt in the vicinity of her rear end. After she responds to questioning about whether it was a Glade candle with, "No, it's, uh, French. [[Shaped Like Itself|From France.]]", one of her friends pulls the label off of her and sarcastically asks, "Haven't you ever heard of glah-DAY?"
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKfU_5jgupo This ad for the Hyundai Genesis luxury sedan] ends with "Win one little award, and everyone gets your name right. It's pronounced "HOHN-day", like Sunday." In the UK, the adverts actually pronounce it "High-OON-die". In Korean, it's "HYUN-dae." ("Hyun" being one syllable, kind of like "Fun" but actually a vowel sound that's halfway between "ah" and "oh", and the "dae" being pronounced the same as "day", though Koreans have heard foreigners used to Japanese names say it as "die" so often, they occasionally say it that way, too, at least when speaking English).
* McDonald's is running a couple of [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1cXI1CXpS8 commercials] for their McCafé coffee drink which has random words getting an "é" pronounced "a" stuck on the end, with whispering voices humming "a, a, a, a" in the background. For example: They show a man hosing down his car in his driveway. He looks bored. The voiceover says "Rinse." But when the guy takes a sip of his McCafé, he feels much livelier, and the voiceover says "Rin-SAY."
* A series of ads several years ago for the everything-shop Argos featured a ([[No Celebrities Were Harmed|mysteriously Laurence Llewellyn-Bowen-esque]]) rock star (played by [[Richard E. Grant]]) making "helpful" suggestions to his PA (played by Julia Sawalha) about how to have his flat decorated. As soon as he leaves, she calls up the store and they soon deliver furniture, wall hangings and so on. When he returns, he's impressed and inquires as to who she hired to decorate the place. She casually says "Argos", but then backpedals, trying to impress him, saying that of course she was referring to a Lithuanian designer called "Argús" (AHR-goos).
* Lampshaded in a Kiwibank advert where an Australian banker tries to say the town-name Whakatane (properly "fah-cah-tah-neigh") as "whack-a-tain"
* Subverted by [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqYvCc-0i1w this] commercial for Labatt Blue Light.
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* Target department stores did an ad that co-opted the commonly-used facetious pronunciation of "Tar-ZHAY" to jokingly act posh.
* The blaxploitation-satire movie ''[[I'm Gonna Git You Sucka]]'' had a TV ad with classical music and a PBS-grade announcer presenting it as a highbrow art film with the title "I Am Going to Get You, Sucker".
* A recent{{when}} UK advert for Tesco featured a Mrs. Belcher, who insisted "It's pronounced 'Bell-SHARE', actually," though no one seemed to believe her.
* Recently{{when}} on loaves of Bimbo's bread, the new slogan "Say beem-bo!" is displayed prominently, because the original name is Italian, where 'Bimbo' is the diminutive of 'bambino', or child.
* An advert in Sweden for Swedish clothes manufacturer Blåkläder (pronounced "Bloh-klay-der") featured an American who consistently mispronounced it as "Black-lah-der". After about 30 seconds of this, a Swedish guy approaches him and says "Say after me: Blåkläder!" The guy responds "That's what I said. Black-lah-der!"
* Italian-American restauranteur Ettore Boiardi opted to market his canned food line under the name "Chef Boy-Ar-Dee", later Boyardee, specifically to avert this trope's confusing aspects.
* The new{{when}}
* In a Walmart StraightTalk commercial, a woman insists a certain vegetable is "absolutely pronounced ''ahn-deev''" because of her [[Mock Millionaire|supposed new riches]] after cutting her cell phone bill in half.
== AnIMe (E is silent) and MangA ==
* In ''[[Haibane Renmei]]'', one character corrects the fact that Rakka refers to him as Hiyoko, pointing out it's "Hyohko", with exaggerated emphasis on the "oh" sound to make the pronunciation difference clear.
* In the first few chapters of the ''[[Sakura Wars]]'' manga, Sumire mispronounces Ogami's name every time she speaks to him. When he mispronounces her name as "tsumire" in response, she flies into a rage. (But she had cause; what woman would want to be called a meatball instead of a flower?)
* ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! GX]]''; Edo's card "Destiny Hero Bloo-D" is pronounced "blue-dee", not "bloody", despite the monster having a blood-theme.
==
* Writer Christopher Priest added a recurring character named Dr. Vilain during his run on ''[[Steel]]''. The doctor wasn't really evil, just ruthless, and would constantly remind people. "It's French, it's pronounced 'will-HAYN'". Of course, it's not pronounced like that in French. For the record, "vilain" does exist in French, but an accurate translation would be something like "naughty", not exactly fitting for an evil alias.
* Make no mistake, Victor Fries' last name is pronounced "Freeze" (off-topic, but just like Charles Fries of Fries Entertainment).
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* In the Marvel Mangaverse, Benjamin Grimm's first name is pronounced as it is in Hebrew: "Ben-ya-MEEN". Johnatha goes out of her way to emphasize the unusual (to English speakers) pronunciation every time she talks about him, as an insult.
* ''[[Ghost Rider]]: Heaven's On Fire'' features an [[Anti Christ]] who actually goes by ''Anton Satan'', pronouncing it [ʃatan] ("Shuh-TAN") like Miroslav Šatan of the Boston Bruins and Slovakia.
{{quote|
* ''[[
* Mi-Tse (villain from German comic ''[[Nick Knatterton]]'') is not pronounced "Mieze" (typical name for cats in Germany).
== Feelm ==
* [[Megamind]] seems to have this as something of a [[Verbal Tic]]. Most notably, he pronounces Metro City as "Metrocity" (rhymes with atrocity) and School as [[Bilingual Bonus|Shool]].
* ''[[Better Off Dead]]''. When Lane Meyer (John Cusack) invites the French foreign exchange student from across the street to dinner, his mother, seeking to impress, serves exotic dishes like "Frahnch fries" and salad with "Frahnch dressing". And to drink: Peru!
* Coincidentally in another Cusack film, [[Serendipity]], his character continues to pronounce mignon as "minion" despite a Frenchman's protests to the contrary.
* For the first third or so of [[Mel Brooks]]'s ''[[Young Frankenstein]]'', Frederick Frankenstein consistently corrects people's pronounciation of his surname: "''Fraun''-kon-shteen." This causes [[The Igor|his assistant Igor]] to insist on "Eye-gor", and calling him "Froderick" instead of Frederick. Ultimately Frankenstein accepts the traditional way of pronouncing his name when he takes up the family trade.
* in ''[[The Bank Dick]]'', W.C. Fields
*
*
*
* ''[[Small Time Crooks]]''. Low class Frenchy ([[Tracey Ullman]]) calls crudites "crudd-iytes".
* Another [[Mel Brooks]] example: the protagonist of ''[[High Anxiety]]'' addresses his mentor as Professor Little Old Man (accent on Man), and is corrected: Little-Oldman (accent on Old).
* Yet ''another'' Mel Brooks example: Count DeMonet DEE-Moe-NAY, not, The Money) in ''[[History of the World Part One]]''.
* Apparently, Mel Brooks ''really'' liked having fun with this one. Reversed in ''[[The Producers]]'': "Jacques Lepideux... Jacques Lepideux... Jack Lapidus?"
*
* Heather Horney in ''[[
* In ''[[The Comedy Of Terrors]]'', the central characters had several exchanges along these lines:
{{quote|
'''Trumbull:''' ''Trumbull!''
'''Gillie:''' But that's what I said. }}
* In ''[[Corky Romano]]'', the title character's FBI alias changes his surname to "Pissant" after a bumbling hacker misinterprets an insult as the answer to his question of what the name should be. It then becomes a running gag as Corky tries to convince people that it's pronounced "Pis-AHNT... it's y'know... French."
* ''[[Joe Dirt]]''
{{quote|
'''KXLA Security Guard:''' Don't try and church it up son. Don't you mean Joe Dirt? }}
* ''[[The Abominable Dr. Phibes]]'': "How do you pronounces this name? Phy-bees?"
* ''[[School of Rock]]'': "Actually, it's 'Schnay-blay'."
* In the comedic slasher film ''[[Bad Santa|Santa's Slay]]'', when checking in at an airport, the attendant reads Santa's name as, "Mr. Satan", to which she is corrected. "Actually, it's pronounced Shuh-TAN."
* [[Inverted Trope|Inverted]] in ''[[
* ''[[
* In ''[[Harry Potter (
* In ''The Comebacks'', George Johnson insists his name is pronounced "Jorge Juanson" in a feeble attempt to accentuate his Latin heritage
* ''[[The Specials]]'': Minute Man is constantly correcting people that it's "[[Berserk Button|My-noot Man!]] Do I look like a soldier from the Revolutionary War? I don't think so! Am I wearing a three-cornered hat? No! I turn small. Think!"
* ''[[Night
* ''[[A Christmas Story]]'': "Fra-gee-lay...that must be Italian." "Uh, I think that says 'fragile'."
* ''[[True Grit]]'': La Boeuf insists his last name is pronounced "La Beef," though that wouldn't be the French pronunciation.
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* ''[[Pirates of the Caribbean]]'': "It is pronounced [[Egregious|'eh-GREE-gius.']]"
* ''[[Freedom Writers]]'':
{{quote|
* In ''[[The Third Man]]'', Dr. Winkle has to keep reminding Martins that his name is actually pronounced 'Vinkle'. Of course, Martins seems prone to these [[My Name Is Not Durwood]] moments as he keeps refering to Major Calloway as 'Callahan'.
{{quote|
== Li-TER-ature ==
* [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] in in [[Terry Pratchett]]'s ''[[Discworld]]'' novel ''[[Hogfather]]'': [[Psycho for Hire]] Mr. Teatime keeps telling people that his name is pronounced "Te-ah-ti-meh". Fortunately, he only considers it ''slightly'' annoying when they get it wrong.
** Amusingly, many of the cast in Sky One's ''Hogfather'' miniseries find more than one way to pronounce Te-ah-ti-meh" each, including Marc Warren (Mr. Teatime himself).
** This is brilliantly translated in French: Mr. Teatime is called M. Lheureduthé (which means exactly ''Teatime'') but wants people to pronounce it like "Le Redouté" -- ''The Feared''.
* Another ''[[Discworld]]'' one, from the ''[[
** Also from the ''Tiffany Aching'' subseries: Roland de Chumsfanleigh, pronounced "Chuffley". Usually footnoted with, "It wasn't his fault."
* One more ''[[Discworld]]'' example: Edward d'Eath. This is a [[Real Life]] surname, though.
** And originally almost always spelled "Death". The surname derives from men who played the character of Death in the medieval mystery plays each English town put on
*
** In ''Murder Must Advertise'' (and in at least one other story: "A Matter of Taste" perhaps?){{verify}} he uses the pseudonym Death Bredon and remarks, more or less, "It's usually rhymed with teeth but I find it so much more fun to rhyme it with breath."
* Perhaps inspiring the Count de Money mentioned above, the novel ''[[The Red and The Black]]'' has a character named the Comte de Thaler (thaler as in [[Meaningful Name|the German word that became "dollar"]]) who is a [[Lawyer
* Christopher Chant from the ''[[Chrestomanci|Chrestomanci Chronicles]]'' is a very lavish, high-class English gentleman, obviously having this trope as a ''very'' noticeable characteristic. (He pronounces it 'shahnt'.) It's so noticeable, in fact, that the author [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] it in the book ''Conrad's Fate'' where most of the characters found it more annoying than charming, to the point where one character yelled at Christopher to not call out his name with "posh voices like that," to which Christopher (not understanding at all how infuriating he sounds) unamusingly retorted that was just how he normally speaks.
* From ''[[Harry Potter]]'': [[Word of God]] states that the entire "Her-MY-oh-nee" discussion in ''Goblet Of Fire'' came about after J. K. Rowling learned that fans were having trouble pronouncing Hermione's name.
** And people still call her "Her-my-nee", probably because its smoother (and because of the films).
*** Actually, that's (mostly) correct, the pronunciation being challenged was "Herm-my-own/Her-mi-own."
* In ''Anne of Avonlea'', the second ''[[
* In the Victorian novel ''Barchester Towers'' by [[
* Inverted by Chris Cwej in the ''[[
* In ''Don Juan'' by [[Lord Byron]]: In order to rhyme with such phrases as "new one" and "true one", the name Don Juan has to be pronounced "don-DZHU-an". It ''was'' pronounced that way in England during Byron's time.
* Sneaking onto Imperial Center as a battered, partly cybernetic Imperial pilot, [[X Wing Series|Wedge Antilles]] goes by Colonel Antar Roat, and has to tell a customs official that it's pronounced Ro-at. The buzz of the voice
* In M.L.N. Hanover's ''Black Sun's Daughter'' series, the main character, Jayné, is used to people mispronouncing her name as "Jane" when it is actually supposed to be pronounced "Zha-nay" in the French manner.
* [[
* Achilles from the ''Shadow'' series of the [[Ender's Game|Enderverse]] is indeed pronounced as the French "A-sheel".
* Hubertus Bigend of the [[Bigend Books]] by [[William Gibson]] is another inversion. Bigend is Belgian, and the proper pronunciation is therefore closer to "bayh-jhan", but [[Eccentric Millionaire|he seems to prefer to go by]] [[Meaningful Name|"big end" anyway.]]
* [[Robert Heinlein]] included an involved discussion of the real life surnames of Tolliver and Talliafero in ''[[
* Slightly different version in [[John Brunner]]'s "Coincidence Day" with Madam Senior-Jones. That is her NAME. Her father insisted that HIS family was the ORIGINAL Joneses, and she finally added the "Senior-" to make sure everyone got the point. He also named his daughter "Madam" because it is used to address queens... being unaware of the [[Unfortunate Name|unfortunate implications]] of the other sense of the word.
* [[Our Vampires Are Different|Thomas]] [[Horny Devils|Raith]] in ''[[The Dresden Files]]'' goes by (as [[Snark Knight|Harry]] puts it) "toe-MOSS" while posing as a [[Camp Gay|gay]] [[Chatty Hairdresser|hairdresser]].
==
* Mrs Bucket from ''[[Keeping Up Appearances]]'' insists that it's pronounced Boo-KAY.
** "The '''Bouquet''' residence! The lady of the house speaking!!"
***
*** Well, the sisters are all named after flowers...
*** Apparently inspired by a real-life acquaintance of Roy Clarke who insisted their surname ("Bottom") was pronounced "Bo-TOME".
* In an episode of ''[[Frasier]]'', after a family embarrassment, Niles Crane's wife Maris tries to save face by adding an accent to the "e" of her name on her memos, so that her name is read as Maris Crah-NAY.
* ''[[The Colbert Report]]'' (Cole-BARE RE-pore).
** In one of the [[Real Trailer, Fake Movie|early]] [[Defictionalized|adverts]] for the show, Colbert tries to justify it by saying that "It's French, bitch!". Colbert himself has said that the pronunciation is a way for us to tell the difference between his real personality (by pronouncing the T) and his stage personality (not pronouncing it).
* ''[[
{{quote|
'''Lister:''' Well, what do you want me to call you? "Rim-MAIR"!? }}
* In ''[[Scrubs]]'', a common [[Running Gag]] involves the particularly hirsute background character "Dr. Beardface". It seems like a nickname until Dr. ''Beardfacé'' corrects them that it's "Beard-FA-SAY!"
** Keith Dudemeister's last name is from German, properly pronounced "Doo-de-MY-ster". Keith and Elliot have both said it means "Master of Dudes".
* A ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' sketch involved a couple trying to decide on a name for their expected child; the husband ends up rejecting practically every common name because it's too prone to being mocked. It's revealed at the end of the sketch that the husband's name is "Asswipe"... pronounced "ahs-WEE-pay".
* Dr. Spaceman (who, as it turns out, is a
** Subverted later on with Jeffrey Weinerslav, a human resources sexual harassment councilor, who assures Liz that his name is not "Weiner-slahv" but "Weiner-slave", and another time, when Liz called an NBC page "Ah-mohn-daah", only to be corrected "It's... Amanda".
* Rik Mayall's character on ''[[The New Statesman]]'', Alan Bastard, spells his surname "b'Stard" just to make sure everyone pronounces it the way he prefers.
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*** [http://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Twatt Actually that's a real surname/pronunciation...]
* In the first season of ''[[Yes Minister]]'', Jim Hacker's political adviser Frank Weisel (WYE-zel) is repeatedly (deliberately) addressed by Sir Humphrey and Bernard as "Mr Weasel".
* Mr. Looney ("Loo-NAY. It's French.") in ''[[Family Matters]]''. This one actually ''would'' be pronounced like that in French,<ref>Just like [[Mickey Mouse]] is pronounced "Mee-kay"</ref>
** Steve Urkel's "cool" transformation, Stefan Urquelle.
* Guy Secretan from ''[[Green Wing]]'' went to Whiteleaf Public School, but call it that and face his wrath: it's pronounced Wit-lehf.
* ''[[
* In ''[[
* Warren Buffett has appeared several times on ''[[All My Children]]'' since the early 90's. Opal always pronounces it Warren BOO-fay.
* ''[[Are You Afraid of the Dark?]]'' has two recurring characters who play to this trope. The first (and definitely the most memorable) was Doctor Vink ("with a ''vvvuh'', ''vvvuh''!") who was constantly referred to as "Doctor Fink". The other (and more in line with the trope) was <s>Mister</s> Sardo, who would constantly berate people for emphasizing his name's first syllable, as well as adding the honorific ("It's Sar''do''! No "mister", accent on the ''do''!"). The two actually met in one episode (and were [[Ho Yay|surprisingly slashy]]...).
* Manservant Neville from ''[[The Middleman]]'' (pronounced "m'nSERvant").
* Shaun Micallef played with this once in a sketch about Dracula: ''(heavy Romanian accent)'' "It is actually pronounced, Dra-coo-la."
* Bertram Wooster, from ''[[Jeeves and Wooster (TV series)|Jeeves and Wooster]]'', always has his name pronounced like Birdie Wooster (rhyming with rooster) by the American characters on the show. (Usually British actors pretending to be American.)
* Parodied on an episode of ''[[QI]]''. After Rich Hall suggested the existence of a town called "Satanismymaster-on-Rye", Bill Bailey claimed that the correct pronunciation was "Simster".
* A one-shot character on ''[[
** The Jack Black character in ''iStart a Fan War'', absent the long-final-e pronunciation, would have been called "Aspartame".
* One episode of ''[[The Nanny]]'' had Maxwell Sheffield pronouncing Fran Fine's surname as "fee-NAY" in an attempt to impress his grandmother.
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* The title of the New Orleans-set HBO series ''[[Treme]]'' is pronounced "Tre-MAY", and is based on a real place in [[The Big Easy]].
* An ad for the TV show ''[[Psych]]'' had Gus find a number for "Dr. Kissyface" on Shawn's cel phone. "It's Dr. Kissy-FAH-chay," Shawn insists. At the end of the ad, Gus has called the number in disbelief, only to hang up in embarrassment when he gets a receptionist cheerfully answer, "Dr. Kissy-FAH-chay's office."
** Most likely a [[Shout
*** Actually, it's a self referential gag, Shawn frequently pronounces names and uncommon words wrong, leading to someone correcting him in line with this trope, and Shawn countering with one of his [[Catch Phrase|catchphrases]].
* Grunchlk, a character in two episodes of ''[[
* In ''[[Monty Python's Flying Circus]]'', there is a sketch about a man whose name is spelt "Raymond Luxury Yacht", but is actually pronounced "Throat Wobbler Mangrove". In typical Python style, this is a parody, and the man is subsequently mocked and humiliated by the frustrated interviewer.
* On ''[[Arrested Development (TV series)|Arrested Development]]'', Maeby convinces her prospective boyfriend, Steve Holt, that her mom is actually a man. She then buys her mother a shirt, with "Shemale" emblazoned across the chest. As her mom sees it, Maeby responds, "It's a she-mah-lay!"
* An example on the earlier ''[[Star Trek:
** Which is a [[Development Gag]], since in the original series bible, the "correct" pronunciation was the other way around.
* One of the jokes on ''[[Kath and Kim]]'' involved the "correct" pronunciation of "Chardonnay" as "CAR-d'nay", because "it's French: the H is silent".
* In ''[[Wizards of Waverly Place]]'':
{{quote|
"Paul": Paul (pronounces it as Pao-ul)
"Alex": Oh, that's a cool name! How do you spell it?
Paul: P-A-U-L.
Alex: *confused* ...Isn't that just Paul?
Paul: It's Pao-ul! }}
** Looks like the German pronunciation.
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** In actual fact, Nestlé is a German name rendered in French (the firm is based in a French-speaking part of Switzerland and was founded by a man born in Frankfurt on the Main, Germany (as Heinrich Nestlé 1814, Henri Nestlé after 1839). Phoebe's pronunciation of "Nestlé" is almost correct, the "t" should not be silent though.
** In a different episode, Joey pretends to own the Porsche parked right outside their apartment building, and everytime someone says Porche, he corrects them "It's por-SHUH!".
* In ''[[
* In a story from ''[[Winnie the Pooh|The Book of Pooh]]'' called "Chez Piglet," Rabbit convinces Piglet to open a restaurant called Chez Piglet, pronounced "Chay Piglay." He sings a song about all of the dishes being served at the restaurant, ending with "peanut butter and jel-lay."
* In the ''[[In Living Color]]'' skit "Spike's Joint", Spike Lee (Tommy Davidson) tells his sister Joie (T'Keyah Crystal Keymah) that now that they're back in Brooklyn, her name is pronounced "Joy", not "Jwah".
{{quote|
* Captain George Mainwaring in the British Sitcom ''[[
** As does Mainwaring's rival Captain Square, much to Mainwaring's frustration. The snobbish, upper-class Square may be doing this deliberately to emphasise Mainwaring's lower-middle-class background.
* Dippe from ''[[PJ
* In the third and final episode of the prequel ''[[Only Fools and Horses]]'' ''[[Rock And Chips]]'', "The Frog and the Pussycat", Freddie Robdal manages to allay Joannie Trotter's (perfectly correct) suspicion that a diamond ring in a box from "Margate Jewellers" is [[Fell Off the Back of
* Inverted in a sketch on ''[[The Two Ronnies]]'' where one character very carefully pronounces a newcomer's name as 'de Ath', only to be cheerfully told that it is, in fact, pronounced 'Death'.
* The miniseries adaptation of ''[[Tales of the City]]'' includes dialog about the social embarrassment caused by not knowing the traditional correct pronunciation of Beauchamp's name ("beecham").
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* In ''[[Bones]]'', episode "Mayhem on a Cross", crime evidence was found in the possession of a Norwegian black metal band named Skalle (Norwegian for skull). Dr. Brennan keeps correcting co-workers, she insists on "Skall-eh" pronounciation, up to the point where Cam avoids using "skalle" in her sentence, she uses pronoun "they" rather. Hilarious.
* The ''[[Stargate]]'' franchise is a serial offender, while there are many accepted pronunciations of the name Daedalus, "Dead-alus" is not one of them. Only once in the series did anyone ever pronounce it right and that guest character never appeared again. Obviously he didn't get the wrong pronunciation key with his script like the rest of the cast.
* In the ''[[
* Subverted in ''[[
{{quote|
* ''[[Married...
== MusIc ==
* Sade is pronounced "shah-DAY", or /ʃɑːˈdeɪ/ in IPA. [[I Am Not Shazam|And it was only supposed to be the name of her band, not the singer herself.]] [[Sure Why Not|Although she did change her name to Sade.]]
** Made worse in (most of) North America, as the first Sade album featured the pronunciation guide "Pronounced SHAR-DAY," assuming a [[British Accents|British pronunciation]]. The result: many DJs and television hosts articulated the nonexistent "R" sound.
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* Kerli's name is pronounced "carely", not "curly".
== New MedIa ==
* [[The Other Wiki]] has an [[wikipedia:List of names in English with counterintuitive pronunciations|article]] about names like these.
* Pretty much the entire point of [http://www.youtube.com/user/pronunciationbook Pronunciation Book]
== Pro Wrestling ==
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** This is fairly common in Japanese wrestling, and generally only done by heels.
== REcorded and Stand-up ComÉdy ==
* Brian Regan has a comedy routine in which he has trouble remembering names, and he stresses the difficulty of making a mistake when somebody else's name is similar to another.
{{quote|
"It's Caroline. It's Caroline, Brian."
"It's Bri-awnh! Yes, my name is ''Brauaaagh!'' It's very hard to say my name correctly, because my name is ''Brynamengenjah!'' Can you say that? Very few can." }}
* Dawn French had a bit where she would show off her new dress saying "It's by Pinay -- J.C. Pinay"
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* Jimmy Carr had a joke where he mentioned how he read the word "chav" before actually hearing it, and thought it was pronounced "shav".
== TabLETop GaMES ==
* ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'' has the bulette, whose name is "pronounced Boo-lay." If it were really a French word, that is exactly how it ''wouldn't'' be pronounced. Apparently, it's now back to being the "bullet", as the person who wrote the 2nd Edition caption was being pretentious. In his last [[Podcast]] before he left [[Wizards of the Coast]], Dave Noonan joked that he pronounces it "land shark."
** There are also the evil fish-men called the sahuagin, which is frequently pronounced "sa-HWA-gin" but is officially (according to the sourcebook ''The Sea Devils'') supposed to be "sa-HOO-a-gin".
** Also in the ''Monstrous Manual'' are the tabaxi, panther-like humanoids who are pronounced "ta-BAX-ee" or "tah-BAHSH-ee" depending on the clan.
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* In the future setting of ''[[The Chronicles of Fate|Chaos]]'', the pronunciation of the word [[Memetic Mutation|"meme"]] (memes have become an even much more important concept in the future than they are today) has changed to "mem" (rhymes with "gem"), as opposed to today's "meem" (rhymes with "dream").
* ''[[Rifts]]'' has an alien race called the Xiticix. The books state it is meant to be pronounced "zeye-TICK-icks," but gaming groups (as well as many staff members at Palladium Books) almost never get the pronunciation right. As an example, Kevin Siembieda mentioned that his father called them "City Chicks." Siembieda has said that he dislikes the name himself, but they were named by the artist who did the concept art for them, so he kept it.
* As very little guidance (save various video games) exists to the pronunciation of a variety of ''[[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]]'' and ''[[Warhammer
** As far as Tzeentch goes, it's explicitly said in various fluff sources that (in both fantasy and 40K) different cults and cultures have different pronunciations - indeed often different ''names'' - for the different Chaos gods. Which, makes sense, given that they're the gods of [[Exactly What It Says
** Apparently it is Catachan is cat-a-can, no idea why.
== TheAter ==
* William Barfée ("it's Bar-FAY") from the musical ''[[The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee]]''.
**
* ''[[Wicked (
* In ''[[
* In ''[[Ruddigore]]'', Robin Oakapple's real first name is always pronounced "Rivven" except once, in the second act opening song:
{{quote|
(Without the elision),
Sir ''Ruthven'' Murgatroyd--ha! ha! }}
* In "Sonatina" from ''1600 Pennsylvania Avenue'', Admiral Cockburn corrects the pronunciation of his name:
{{quote|
Though for that you are excused.
'Tis spelled c-o-c-k
But only half the cock is used. }}
== VidÉo GaMES ==
* Derby [pronounced "DAR-bee"] in ''[[Bully (video game)|Bully]]''. Which is how you pronounce the horse race, the city, or half of the county Derbyshire (DAR-bee-shur) in England.
* Charmles in ''[[Dragon Quest VIII]]'' refers to himself as "Sharm-LAY". He's the only one who does—everyone calls him "CHARM-ulz", or [[Prince Charmless|Charmless]] when he's not looking.
* The character of Dudley Cholmondely in ''[[Broken Sword]]: The Sleeping Dragon''. His name is pronounced "Chumley"; justified in that "Cholmondely" is actually pronounced that way (see the ''Discworld'' example above).
* [[Qix]] = "Kicks"
** On the other hand, Japan pronounces it "Quicks" when written in katakana
** Taito (the company that released) is pronounced "TIE-to", and not "tay-to".
* ''[[
* ''[[Faxanadu]]'' is pronounced "fah-ZAN-uh-doo", not "faks-AN-uh-doo", being short for Famicom Xanadu.
* The obscure adventure ''[[Gene Machine]]'' features the main character Pierce Featherstonehaugh, pronounced {{spoiler|Fanshaw}}. The phonetic variant is used for most of the game. The name is [[Truth in Television]], though.
* [[Galaga]] (GAL-a-ga), similarly to how you would pronounce "Gallagher" (the comedian best known for his "Sledge-O-Matic" routine)
* Because of Japanese double consonants, [[Tekken]] is pronounced "Tek-KEN", and not "TEK-ken".
* [[Metroid]]: It's not "Zeebs", or "Zeebees", or even "Zeebus", it's
* In ''[[
* The villain of the third season of [[Telltale Games]] ''[[Sam and Max]]'' is an albino gorilla from space named General Skun-ka'pe (skoon-KAH-pay), so naturally our heroes call him "Skunk Ape". However, everyone understands who they mean, and no one corrects them.
* Not mentioned in the games themselves, but Pokémon is pronounced po-kay-mon. Not po-kee-mon, not po-kee-man, and not po-kay-man. See the little notes about the title at the bottom of the page? Yeah, the accent over the e makes all the difference. And
**
** And then there are some of the Pokémon themselves whom people from the games and anime have trouble deciding pronunciation on. For example, Bonsly alternated on being called "bonz-lee" or "bonz-lie", before it seemed settled on the latter. Then there are other glaring mistakes, such as how the announcer in Stadium can call Ekans "Ee-kenz" when the mini-game featuring Ekans in Stadium 1 and the characters in the anime referred to it as "eh-kanz". ([[Wild Mass Guessing|Or perhaps there's an in-universe potayto-potahto dialect difference]].)
* ''[[Drakengard]]'' has several:
Line 292 ⟶ 280:
** "Furiae" is "furry-eye", which is the actual Latin pronunciation, but most English-speakers are probably inclined to think "Fury, eh?".
** The name of the protagonist of [[Drakengard]] 2 (Nowe) is pronounced "No-Way".
* ''[[
* In the ''[[Monkey Island]]'' series there's a running joke about the pronunciation of Guybrush Threepwood's name.
** Also, in ''[[Tales of Monkey Island]]'' the Marquis De Singe (and Joaquin D'Oro) pronounces his own name as "''deh SANJ''" (with the short "a" sound in "apple"), and the Voodoo Lady and Hemlock McGee pronounce the name as "''day SAHNJ''" (with the "a" pronunciation in "father"). Guybrush and Morgan LeFlay, on the other hand, pronounce De Singe's name poorly, coming out only as "''deh SIHNJ''", like the word "''SIHN-jee''" without the "ee", or like the English word "singe". It's possible this may have been them pulling a [[My Name Is Not Durwood]] with him, though. The correct pronunciation, incidentally, is how he says it himself, and it means "of Monkey" (not "of the Monkey", that would be "du Singe") in French.
** ''Tales'' also has every single character pronounce "La Esponja Grande" with "esponja" pronounced with a J sound (es-pon-JA). Not until the ''very end of the final episode'' does Elaine FINALLY say "Actually, it's pronounced 'es-pon-HA' with an 'H' sound at the end?"
** And of those who pronounce the word "Caribbean" as "''CA-ri-BEE-an''", only Morgan pronounces it as "''cuh-RIH-bee-an''".
**
{{quote|
'''Guybrush:''' Oh, come on, that doesn't even sound like "Threepwood." }}
* It's a good thing ''[[Persona 4]]'' has voice acting, otherwise everyone would be pronouncing the store name "Junes" as "Joonz". The correct pronunciation is "Joo-NESS".
** Similarly, Rise is pronounced "Ree-Say" rather than rhyming with "Size".
* ''[[
* It's [[Ninja Gaiden|Ninja GUY-den]] not Ninja GAY-den.
** This is explained by [[
* ''[[Final Fantasy]]'': It's pronounced [[Final Fantasy X|Tee-dus]]. Also, [[Final Fantasy IV|Seh-sul]].
* The title of the [[Toaplan]] shmup ''V-V'' is pronounced "V five" according to the furigana.
* In ''[[Fallout: New Vegas]]'', Caesar is pronounced in the Latin form "Kai-Sarr" by members of Caesar's Legion while most other characters simply call him See-Zer.
== Web Animation ==
Line 314 ⟶ 301:
** "Eel-ee-nwah" is pretty much how it's pronounced in French, though. It's a French adaptation of an Algonquin word. The silent 's' was definitely added by the French. It was probably pronounced something like "Eel-ee-nee-weh".
** He also (at least once) pronounced Ohio "OH-HEE-OH". This could be a subtle, running gag about him making just as many goofs as he corrects in his SB-Emails or a part of his oft-childish personality and his accent.
** In another episode he read "Kelly, USA" as "Kelly Usa" and referred to her as an "exotic lady from [[
* In the last episodes of the ''[[Strangerhood]]'' it's revealed that Nikki's name is actually pronounced Nik-kay.
* In ''[[Red vs. Blue]] Reconstruction'', a soldier sent to retrieve Caboose is named Jones, however, his commander pronounces it "Jo-ah-nes", annoying Jones ("It's a really common name!"). Later in ''Recreation'', CT tells one of his mooks "Great shot Jones!"; the mook responds "Thanks, but it's actually pronounced Jo-ah-nes, Sir!".
* [[Irate Gamer]] goes by the name Chris Bores (he typically pronounces it "boar-es" rather than the expected pronunciation).
== Web Comics ==
* ''[
* From ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'', we have Dr Hot-Chick: "It's pronounced HAUGHT-SHEIK!"
* ''[[Sam and Fuzzy]]'': "[http://samandfuzzy.com/1062 It's Too-che-sto-nay instead of Touch Stone.]"
Line 331 ⟶ 317:
** Calle = Kal-ay not Cal
** Syrys = Sigh-russ or Cyrus not Sir-iss
* ''[[Meat Shield (
* ''[[The Last Days of Foxhound]]'' had the [http://gigaville.com/comic.php?id=155 pronounced as "Byoot-fick", Tennessee] (they ain't foolin' nobody).
* [[Turn Signals
* In ''[[Avalon (webcomic)|Avalon]]'', the main character is from Scotland and moves to Canada. Her name is spelled Ceilidh, but pronounced Kay-lee. Hilarity ensues.
* In ''[[The Wotch]]'', we have big bad Lord Xaos, pronounced Chaos.
* In ''[[The Order of the Stick]]'''s prequel book ''[[Start of Darkness]]'', [[Big Bad]] Xykon repeatedly corrects people who spell his name "Zykon"... even in their speech balloons.
== Web OriGInal ==
* A running joke in the "Jack and Dean" videos involves Dean pronouncing [[Facebook]] "Fack-ee-book" for the sole purpose of annoying Jack.
== WesTERN
* In the ''[[Looney Tunes]]'' short "To Hare Is Human", Wile E. Coyote introduces himself to [[Bugs Bunny/Characters|Bugs Bunny]] as "Wile E. Coy-OH-Tay".
* In ''[[Hercules (
* Used in ''[[Kim Possible]]'', when Kim meets her brothers' guidance counselor.
{{quote|
'''Miss Guide:''' "Guh-DAY", dear.
'''Kim:''' Uh, g'day to you too. }}
* On ''[[King of the Hill]]'', Rad Thibodeaux, a "self-proclaimed genius", pronounces his last name as "Thi-ba-DAY-oks." This leads to Hank attempting to correct him (Thibodeaux is
{{quote|
'''Rad:''' Well, you know, sometimes, by mistake. }}
* Newscaster Brian Pinhead (pih-NAYD) on ''[[The Tick (animation)]]''.
* On ''[[Bobby's World]]'', Bobby's family name is Generic, pronounced JEN-eh-rik and mispronounced by everyone else in the world.
* ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'':
** Inverted when Moe makes fun of Homer for Frenchly pronouncing garage as "ga-RAJ" (the correct way in America). Moe prefers the term "car hole".
** Also, Marge's country club friends Karen, Gillian, Elizabeth, Patricia, and Susan all pronounced their names differently than the norm.
** There's also Krabappel which is pronounced "Cruh-BAW-pull". Despite coming up with numerous insulting nicknames for her, none of her students ever think to call her "crab-apple". In one episode, there's a set-up where Homer is surprised at hearing the correct pronunciation of her name, only for him to cry "I've been calling her 'Krandall'!"
** And again when Bart corrects Homer on the pronounciation of "party", insisting that it's "par-TAY".
** An early episode had an argument between Freddy Quimby and a waiter over whether "chowder" was pronounced "CHOW-dah" or "shau-DAIR".
** An episode when Homer joined the naval reserve.
{{quote|
'''Homer:''' Nu-cue-lar. It's pronounced nu-cue-lar. }}
{{quote|
'''Lisa:''' It's not "foilage," mom, it's "foliage."
'''Marge:''' That's what I said, foilage. It doesn't take a nucular scientist to pronounce foilage. }}
* Zapp Brannigan from ''[[
{{quote|
'''Leela:''' ''(sarcastically)'' I didn't realize you were such a coin-a-sewer. }}
{{quote|
'''Lrr:''' Stop eating our young! [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|And it's pronounced "gwah-kah-moh-lay"]]! }}
* Parodied on ''[[Drawn Together]]'', during one of their finale's when Captain Hero corrected the host saying "It's pronounced Kah-Pee-Tawn. The Hero is silent." This is also a reference to Captain Hero's behavior after his last name, Shero, is revealed. It's pronounced "Hero", the "S" is silent.
* When Peter from ''[[Family Guy]]'' goes to an ultra-posh auction house surrounded of the wealthiest elite, he says "It would look really good in Lois's crapper... I mean, krah-pee-AY." This pronunciation is immediately corroborated. "Oh yes, I would simply love that in ''my crapier''!"
** Another ''[[Family Guy]]'' example:
{{quote|
'''Brian:''' ... Peter, that says "audit".
'''Peter:''' No, Brian, it's a foreign car. The "T" is silent. }}
{{quote|
* Done in an episode of ''[[The Proud Family]]'', where Penny gains a case of [[Acquired Situational Narcissism]] and insists on "Penn-AY".
* This was done in ''[[The Critic]]'', too. Jay goes to a fast food restaurant and addresses the clerk by the name on his nametag, "Pizzaface." The clerk of course responds with, "Hey, that's Pizza-fah-CHAY!"
* An episode of ''[[
** Eventually, this annoys him so much that he refuses to do anymore work for his boss "until you call me by my correct name." His boss, mind you, is the most feared and ruthless crime lord in the city, and has probably killed people for less than that. Clearly, Weezelle's name is ''important'' to him.
* The '88 ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'' also has a one-shot villain with that name (although he was not a literal
* [[Timon and Pumbaa]] once meet a suspicious-looking raccoon named Thief who insists that his name is pronounced "thife" (rhymes with "life").
* ''[[Lilo
** Of course, the actual way to pronounce it in German would be "Hame-ster-feel". The umlaut works in the same way the silent "e" does in English, and in German "v" makes an "f" sound and "w" makes what is in English a "v" sound.
** In the first ''[[Lilo and Stitch]]'' movie, the Grandcouncilwoman pronounces Earth's name as "Ee-Arth."
* ''[[
* ''[[Metalocalypse]]'' has a band therapist called "Jonathan Twinkletits" pronounced "Twink-LET-its" instead.
* In ''[[The Boondocks]]'' it's not "Uncle Ruckus," it's "Uncle Ruckuu." [[Blatant Lies|Because it's French.]] Also an inversion, Robert is pulled over by one Officer Douche. Despite being high, Robert has the presence of mind to call him "Doo-shay." Except the officer's name is pronounced the way it looks.
Line 397 ⟶ 383:
* On ''[[Clifford the Big Red Dog]]'', there was a story in which Jetta read Emily Elizabeth's private journal and was led to believe that Emily Elizabeth was going to Hawaii by reading one of her made-up stories. She kept dropping all sorts of hints about Hawaii to Emily Elizabeth, but kept pronouncing it in a really pompous way, with the accent heavily on the second syllable.
* In an episode of ''[[Doug]]'', Doug was trying to impress Patty by trying to look sophisticated and play classical music, only to be shot down by Judy when she corrected him on the pronunciation of the name, Chopin (pronounced SHO-pan).
* In the ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
{{quote|
== Real
* Allegedly actress Jean Harlow was at dinner with Margot Asquith (wife of the UK Prime Minister at the time) and kept pronouncing her name with the "t". Eventually Asquith told her "No, Jean, the 'T' is silent, [[Stealth
* In England, the surname Berkley is pronounced B'''ar'''kley.
** Similarly, Derby is "Darby" (surname and <s> county</s> city. The county is Derbyshire (DAR-bee-shur)). And the word 'clerk' is "clark". There's something going on there.
*** A [
*** And "Berkshire" is pronounced "Bark-shire". But the abbreviated form "berk" (rhyming slang: berk = Berkshire Hunt = cunt; usage: insult) is still pronounced "berk", not "bark".
**** The rhyming slang takes its name from the Berkeley Hunt. Which is, of course, pronounced "BARK-lee".
* Possible case: Nicholas Cage pronounces his son [[Superman|Kal-El's]] name as ka-LELL, despite the hyphen making the correct pronunciation perfectly obvious. More likely he simply pronounces it the same way as Brando did in Superman.
* Ralph ("Rafe") Fiennes ("Fines") definitely falls into this category.
** Also the composer Ralph Vaughan Williams.
* Scottish actor Gerard (JAYR-id) Butler played King Leonidas in ''[[300]]'', whereas [[Joisey]]-born Gerard (juh-RAWRD) Way is the lead singer of [[My Chemical Romance]].
* John Boehner, the Republican Speaker of the House. His last name is pronounced BAY-ner, not [[Unfortunate Names|"boner"]].
* [
* After winning the Heisman Trophy, Tony Dorsett announced that his last name should be pronounced "Dor-SETT" rather than "DOR-set". The next year, Earl Campbell won the award and joked that his last name was "Cam-BELL".
** In his senior season, Joe Theismann (originally pronounced THEES-man) changed the pronunciation of his name so that it'd rhyme with Heisman, thinking he'd get more votes that way. He failed; Jim Plunkett won that year.
Line 433 ⟶ 416:
* Arab is supposed to be pronounced "Air-rib," not "A-RAB" like the way [[Huckleberry Finn]] pronounces it.
** Or Elvis Costello.
{{quote|
London is full of Arabs..." }}
* Stephen J. Cannell (rhymes with "channel")
* [[The Simpsons (animation)|Matt Groening]] (rhymes with "raining")
* There is an actress named Karen Cliche ("kleesh")
* George Dzundza ("zoonza")
* "Deborah Kerr is the star."
* The "Seuss" in Dr. Seuss is pronounced Soyce (rhymes with voice). Dr. Seuss himself has stated this, but nobody seems to remember or care.
** A collaborator of Seuss's [
{{quote|
And you shouldn't rejoice
If you're calling him Seuss
He pronounces it Soice }}
* Scandinavian tongues have weird pronunciation rules, for example the Norwegian name Kjerstine is pronounced "cher-steen-uh".
Line 458 ⟶ 441:
* [[Cillian Murphy|Cillian]] (KIL-ian, [[Berserk Button|not SIL-ian]]) Murphy definitely qualifies.
* Major League Baseball outfielder Matt Diaz, who has gone on record to state that yes, it's pronounced "DIE-az".
* Actor [[Sports Night|Peter]] [[Six Feet Under|Krause]] pronounces his surname "KRAU-zuh," rather than the more-common-in-America single-syllable pronunciation.
== Real Life - PlacES (S is silent) ==
=== Australia===
* The Canberra suburb of Manuka is pronounced 'mahn-NAH-ka', not 'mah-NU-ka' like the plant.
===
* Newfoundland is not, in fact, New-Found-Land, it's Newfin-LAND.
** It's not to be pronounced as "New Finland" either. Many a tourist have made that mistake.
** To add to the confusion, Leif Ericsson discovered "Vinland" (Wineland), which is thought to be the southern tip of Newfoundland.
** Though some people pronounce it more like Newfun-land.
* People who live in or near [[Toronto]] tend to pronounce the city's name as something rather like "Tronno". Sportscaster Don Cherry tends to pronounce Toronto as "trah-na".
* A university in Halifax and a road in Ottawa are both named Dalhousie. The school's name is pronounced "dal-haw-sie", the road's is "dal-hoo-sie".
=== Japan ===
* Many people pronounce Tokyo with three syllables (toh-kee-oh); it's more accurately pronounced toh-kyo, with the "kyo" one syllable (its name translates to "Eastern Capital")
** Both characters are pronounced with long vowels, so by Japanese reckoning it's actually four beats, or ''on'': to-o-kyo-o.
* People like to pronounce the city of Kobe (written in Japanese as "Koube"), Japan, and the steak that takes its name from the city, like Kobe Bryant ("koh-bee"), when it's actually "kohh-beh." In Japanese, "Koubi" (交尾) means "animal mating," and when applied to human intercourse means "very rough sex."
=== New Zealand ===
* The working class suburb Mangere in Auckland, New Zealand (pronounced MAH-NGE-RE according to the Maori or MAN-gerry in common use), is sometimes fondly referred to as "Mon-ZHER" by its inhabitants.
=== UK ===
* The (somewhat fairy-tale) name of the village of Appletreewick in North Yorkshire, UK is pronounced "Ap-trick" by locals.
** Similarly, the locals pronounce the town of Worcester, Massachusetts, "WUH-ster".
Line 486 ⟶ 478:
** Cholmondeley is pronounced like "Chumley" (/ˈtʃʌmli/).
** The town of Hednesford in the West Midlands, pronounced "Hens-fud", in a similar manner to Wednesday - not Head-Nes-Ford.
** [
** In any place name ending in 'wick' or 'wich', such as Chiswick and Greenwich, the 'W' is silent. So Chiswick is 'chiz-ick' not 'chiz-wick', Greenwich is 'gren-itch' not 'green-witch'. Also Southwark is 'Suthuk'
** And Norwich is pronounced "Norrich"
** Towcester. As in the thing you use to make toast.
* People who aren't British seem to have trouble pronouncing Worcestershire Sauce (WORCE-stershire). Even though most Brits know how to say it correctly it mostly tends to get referred to as Lea and Perrins.
* Depending on where you are in the U.K own seems to turn into aarn. For example Town turns into Taarn, Down turns into Daarn and Brown turns to Braarn while 'own' turns into 'who-wen'. Similarly round turns into Raarned and found turns into Faarned. This is mostly faarned raarned the Yorkshire area or more specifically the Barnsley area. The pronunciations can make it very confusing to people not familiar with the area. The other wiki covers more of this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yorkshire_dialect_and_accent
* UK place names again: Edinburgh, Middlesbrough and Loughborough are in wildly different parts of the country (Scotland, North Yorkshire and Leicestershire respectively) and all pronounce the section of their names after the B as Borough despite the different spelling. Even weirder is the town of Brough which doesn't pronounce it like the similarly spelt Middlesbrough, but pronounces it as Bruff.
=== USA ===
* ESPN guys love to pronounce Detroit as if it were still a French word ("Day-twa"), just for a joke.
** And you're free to fight amongst yourselves as to whether it's pronounced "Duh-TROIT" or "DEE-troit."
*** Or "De-TROH-wit", if you're [[Hockey Night in Canada|Bob Cole]].
* Louisville: If you live in Louisville you pronounce it as lul-vul. If you are from anywhere else you may pronounce it as Lou-is-ville, Lou-ie-ville or Low-ville.
** Kentucky, at least. The other Louisvilles are pretty straightforward in their "Lewie-vill" pronunciation.
*** Except for Ohio (Lew-is-ville). But then, Ohio is sort of wonky with its place names: Lima = LIE-ma; Rio Grande = RYE-o Grand; Bellefontaine = Bell Fountain; etc.
* Nevada: If you live either there or in [[California]], chances are you say "neh-VA-duh" with the vowel in the middle syllable pronounced like the vowel in "flat." If you don't live in either state, you probably say "neh-VAH-duh" with the "a" pronounced like the "o" in "bother."
** It's a bit of a [[Berserk Button]] for them, actually. Michelle Obama pronounced it wrong at a rally for her [[Barack Obama|husband]], back when he was running for president. She [[Serious Business|was lucky to correct herself in time.]]
*** Again, Ohio, and Iowa as well, are backward on this. Their little towns of the same name are pronounced "Ne-VAY-da".
* The city in central Massachusetts is WUSS-tuh, not “Worcester.”
* It's illegal in Arkansas to pronounce the final "s".
* Downtown [[New York City|Manhattan]] has Houston (HOW-sten) Street. It is not pronounced the same as the city of Houston (HYOO-stin), Texas.
* Several small towns in the Midwest United States are named for more famous world cities and pronounced differently, such as Cairo, Illinois and Cairo, Ohio (both pronounced "CARE-oh") and Milan, Indiana, Milan, Illinois, and Milan, Ohio (all pronounced "MY-lun").
Line 514 ⟶ 516:
* Head north from Houston towards Dallas, head west when you're a couple hours away, and you'll come to Mexia. Pronounced "Muh-HEY-uh"
* The city of Beaufort, South Carolina is pronounced "Buew-fert", while Beaufort, North Carolina is pronounced "Bow-fert". NC also has the town of Bahama (Ba-HAY-ma).
* Missourians are slightly divided on this issue. Most of us pronounce it "Missour-EE", but a small number of people, primarily from the souther part of the state, pronounce it "Missour-AH".
* The town of Florida, Colorado pronounces its name the Spanish way: fla - REE - da.
* The Couch in Couch St. in Portland, OR is pronounced "Cooch," not "Couch."
* The correct pronunciation of the state is OR-uh-gun, OR-uh-gin, OR-ih-gun, or Or-ih-gin (not Orry-gone, Orry-gun, Or-gone, or Or-ray-gone).
Line 529 ⟶ 525:
* The Aloha in Aloha, OR is pronounced "A-LO-wah," not "A-LO-ha."
* Boise, Idaho. Newscasters call it Boy-ZEE, but its Boy-SEE, to the irritation of its residents and repeated corrections.
* Spokane, Washington. It is not spo-KAYN (as in cane), it is spo-KAN (as in can you do the can-can). The musical ''Love Life'' got this wrong.
* Schuylerville, New York is pronounced (SKY-ler-ville) while the Schuylkill River in Pennsylvania is pronounced (SKOO-kull).
Line 539 ⟶ 533:
* People from Illinois will jump down your throat if you make the mistake of pronouncing the "S".
* In an instance that takes this trope [[Up to Eleven]], the old Southern name "Enroughty" is pronounced "Darby." No, seriously. A newspaper clipping from [[Older Than Radio|''The Nation'' in 1887]] offers a more detailed explanation:
{{quote|
* The Virginia cities Portsmouth, Norfolk, and Suffolk get this too.
** Portsmouth: Port-smith or Port-smuhth, but not Ports-mouth
Line 545 ⟶ 539:
** Suffolk: Suf-fick or Suf-fuhk, but not Suf-fohlk
** Another strange variation: Norfolk, Nebraska is frequently pronounced NOR-fork
== Real Life -
* "Tahr-ZHAY" (Target), normally as a humorous jab at the store.
** Some people think that the company is French, despite Target being [[Did Not Do the Research|headquartered in Minneapolis]].
Line 565 ⟶ 556:
* "Karaoke" (kah-rah-O-keh) is perhaps the most mispronounced word of all time.
* "Ouija" is pronounced just as it looks like, yet many still refer to them as "Wee-gee" boards.
* Americans (and possibly more of the Western world?) tend to pronounce sake, the Japanese rice wine, as "sah-kee" (as if it's spelled "[[saki]]"). However, the actual pronunciation is more like "sah-kay".
** Or even "sah-KEH".
* The word "meme" mentioned above is typically pronounced "meem"
* [[Studio Ghibli]]'s name is pronounced with a soft G, which is as it would not be in Italian.
* The Navy: it's not Boatswain, it's Bosun. It's not Forecastle, it's Fo'c'sle.
Line 579 ⟶ 570:
[[Category:Language Tropes]]
[[Category:This Trope Name References Itself]]
[[Category:It Is Pronounced "Tro-PAY"]]
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