View Full Version : Which word has the weirdest pronunciation?
ALobpreis
10-04-12, 04:55 PM
What is the English word that has the weirdest pronunciation, compared to how it's written?
This means that if you didn't know this word and you had to pronounce it, you would probably do it wrong.
I can think of a few, and one of them is extremely common and worldwide known. :D
howard stern
10-04-12, 05:47 PM
Pneumonia, I have it now so the word sucks even more to me!
ALobpreis
10-04-12, 10:13 PM
IMHO that word sounds quite like it's written. :)
I'm thinking more in something like this:
-though
-thought
Just adding the ending 't' the pronunciation changes completely. How would you pronounce each of these if they were new words for you?
sytaylor
10-05-12, 05:52 AM
Ghoti.
According to an old English teacher, that spells fish.
ALobpreis
10-05-12, 10:59 AM
Wow, but that's not an actual word, but more like a game.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghoti
http://www.alphadictionary.com/articles/ling006.html
Nice contribution. :)
ALobpreis
10-10-12, 11:15 AM
What about "one"? How would you pronounce it if it was a new word for you? I think I would pronounce it something like "on" or "own". Check how different it sounds in "done"/"gone" or "tone"/"bone".
sytaylor
10-12-12, 08:29 AM
Prologue
Looks like it should be "pro-la-goo"
Starscream
10-12-12, 06:56 PM
Gloucester is a weird one.
I always liked words like 'physics' and 'pneumatic' in this respect. I also like 'clothes' just for the number of letters and mouth movements you can fit in one syllable :p
sytaylor
10-31-12, 08:39 AM
Special mention for Onomatopoeia
ALobpreis
12-19-12, 10:46 AM
Another case of similar words with different pronunciation:
should
shoulder
wabbitslayer
12-24-12, 07:41 AM
Worcestershire (of sauce fame)
ALobpreis
12-26-12, 04:12 PM
Worcestershire (of sauce fame)
Seems to be a similar case to this other one:
Gloucester is a weird one.
I was actually looking for more normal words rather than proper nouns.
sytaylor
01-01-13, 07:19 AM
thoroughly
ALobpreis
02-01-13, 01:28 PM
What about "does" (from the verb "do")? It even has another pronunciation when it's the plural of "doe".
BTW, today I saw a t-shirt saying "ADI DOES". :D
DiscipleDOC
02-04-13, 09:39 AM
mood and wood. I had a hard time pronouncing these when I was growing up..
FlyVomit
02-08-13, 07:26 AM
Fjord
vBulletin® v3.7.1, Copyright ©2000-2013, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.