Words that on first seeing their actual spelling blew your mind.

Miss Olenska

Blisterman wrote: »

Meme is pronounced phonetically!

I can't see how pronouncing it like 'cream' is phonetic!

HeidiHeidi

The surnames Featherstonehaugh and Beaulieu. How on earth did they get from those to Fanshaw and Bewley???

mojesius

The surname 'Cockburn'

The word rhythm. Why the y? Why oh y

Jimoslimos

dxhound2005 wrote: »

Sadhbh, Tadhg, Terpsichore, Beaulieu

Yeah its pronounced like 'Bewley', visited the town a few years back. Nice place.

I actually had the opposite problem, I started reading before fully talking and words on the page 'sounded' different in my head. Demense being one example.

Miss Olenska

Miss Olenska wrote: »

I can't see how pronouncing it like 'cream' is phonetic!

If a word ends in vowel-consonant-"e", the vowel is pronounced hard, so "e" is pronounced "ee" as in "bee", and the end "e" isn't pronounced. So "meme" is pronounced like "cream" minus the "cr" and beginning with "m".

Beauchamp. It's pronounced Beechum. Mad.

Miss Olenska

true-or-false wrote: »

If a word ends in vowel-consonant-"e", the vowel is pronounced hard, so "e" is pronounced "ee" as in "bee", and the end "e" isn't pronounced. So "meme" is pronounced like "cream" minus the "cr" and beginning with "m".

Beauchamp. It's pronounced Beechum. Mad.

"ee" doesn't seem like the hard pronunciation of 'e'.

Jimoslimos

Blisterman wrote: »

Meme is pronounced phonetically!

Surely then it would be spelled meem

Blisterman

It's mime with an e sound.

wnolan1992

Blisterman wrote: »

It's mime with an e sound.

Before I heard someone pronounce it right, I was pronouncing it may-may or meh-me.

Miss Olenska

Miss Olenska wrote: »

"ee" doesn't seem like the hard pronunciation of 'e'.

Apologies, I meant long, not hard.

ImpossibleDuck

Paradigm.

Isolt

Aloysius. :eek:

Miss Olenska

true-or-false wrote: »

Apologies, I meant long, not hard.

Durty.

missbelle

Sky King wrote: »

Everyone in Ireland calls Maryland Mary-Land but it's pronouncified Maryl-and.

But Chicken Maryland would be pronounced that way?

tayto lover

NUN I thought there was more to them.

Frank Black

Worked with a guy call Seosamh -pronounced like Joseph with an 's' instead of a 'j'.

We used to have callers from the uk looking for a See-o-Sam-ah.
They thought he was Japanese.

Fran1985

Mantlepiece. Only ever saw it written down once. always facinated by it

ejmaztec

Dotrel wrote: »

Aspergers

They sell arse-burgers in McDonalds.

Giselle

Youghal and also picturesque.

keano_afc

Delft. As is cups and saucers. Always thought is was spelt delph. The name Ralph. Once you become a movie star, its pronounced Rayf apparently.

SEPT 23 1989

Gateaux Cakes

pickarooney

Sky King wrote: »

Heard someone on the radio say Ek-Cetera this evening, and thought of this thread.

Firstly, I want to know how these people get radio jobs when there are plenty of people who can speak properly out of work.

Secondly, it's ET Cetera.

And you see this bad boy? *

That's an asterisk, not an Astrix.

How come you can't just read the thread and post on topic instead of dragging this tired old crap into yet another thread?

Catarrh and Phoebe just didn't compute for me.

I can't understand why 'meme' would throw anyone. 'Theme' and 'supreme' are spelled the same way.

Miss Olenska

pickarooney wrote: »

I can't understand why 'meme' would throw anyone. 'Theme' and 'supreme' are spelled the same way.

Hmmm, well when you put it that way...

scoobymunster

Not sure if it's been said before but realising the word bed kinda looks like a bed was pretty mind blowin':pac:

silvervixen84

Giselle wrote: »

Youghal and also picturesque.

When I worked in a petrol station years ago, American tourists used to ask me for directions to Yo-gul and Cob-v

How so Joe

scoobymunster wrote: »

Not sure if it's been said before but realising the word bed kinda looks like a bed was pretty mind blowin':pac:

the word shark looks like a shark too!

Feeona

Pneumonia
Cousin
Seeing any prayers written down also blew me away :
womb (not woom)
hallowed (not hallo)
it is (not i tis)
trespasses
apostle

oh and Amen (not Eamon):pac:

Davidson2k9

Whore

Hallelujah

Honour

portumnadaz

http://www.stoopidfunny.com/image/3399

Teddy_Picker

For me, it's usually the other way round, that is, seeing the word in print and being surprised by the pronunciation. It's place names mostly, like Norwich, Greenwich, and oh, who would have thought Southwark in London would be pronounced "Suth-ark"

some random drunk

JuliusCaesar wrote: »

Quire is a measure of paper derived from old French meaning a set of four folded pages.
Choir is a group of people singing, derived from the Latin word chorus.
Etymology can be very useful!

Yeah what you've said is true, but the word "quire" did have a second unrelated meaning of "choir".

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/quire

It was in the lyrics of the Christmas carol "The Holly and the Ivy" that I first saw "quire". Years later seeing "choir" written down, I took it to mean "chore":o

alabandical

manoeuvre

ozzy78

Pneumonia & the other one when I was young..... I thought the king of dinosaurs was spellt tyrannosaurus wrecks

ardinn

Moist


All word threads need it. Regardless of if it's relevant or not.








Moist

Star Bingo

Necasarry? Neceserry. Necaaa....

Ficheall

ardinn wrote: »

Moist

I've never understood the massive aversion some people have to that word.

wexie

Mailcoachinn

llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch

Jimmy.

Mildly wet moist

AllForIt

Seeing the start date of this thread blew my mind.

Hector Bellend

Schism wrote: »

Yeah I've always heard people talking about the hydroxypropyltrimonium chloride in shampoo but seeing it written is a real eye opener. Who knew there was a h in chloride?

What's this holy poxy pandemonium sh1t?

Hector Bellend

Mailcoachinn wrote: »

llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch

Or rhyl?

bodhrandude

Bodhran, my Scots mates say boadran, I try to get them to lose the D bow-ran or bow-run.

Mailcoachinn

Hector Bellend wrote: »

Or rhyl?

Dear god don’t remind me of that