Words, when pronounced correctly, people won't understand

[Vince Kargatis]

forte
Moebius

[Jazzzoline]

Whenever French from France is used around here (Québec)

[Nate Dorward]

conch

[Scott Dolan]

Conch?

Forte I can understand, especially since 99% of the population says "for-tay" which is incorrect. But conch?

[Squaredancecalling Steve]

truth

[stonemonkts]

ennui

[Gentle Giant]

niggard

[Pete C]

bona fide
prix fixe

[Uli]

Michellin

[Jazzzoline]

aluminium

[tippy]

Originally Posted by Pete C

prix fixe

agree about bona feeday but who in the heck is going around saying "pricks fix"

tee hee

and what's a conch and what does it do?

[Jazzzoline]

pree fix

[Nate Dorward]

Yes, a conch is a shell (or the shellfish inside). It has two possible pronunciations, to rhyme with "paunch" or "bonk". My experience has been that the "conk" pronunciation gets you funny stares, though.

[Pedantic Wretch]

Originally Posted by Vince Kargatis

forte

The OED lists 'fortei, forti, fort' as acceptable pronunciations for this word. The latter may have been the original one, but what of it (unless you were talking about syllabic stress, in which case it should be on the first)?

Isn't the very idea of 'correct' pronunciation highly specious anyway, since there is so official body (unlike in France) to regulate the English language? A word cannot be expected to retain its original etymological pronunciation when borrowed from another language, and there are thousands of regional variations across the US/Canada/Britain/Australia etc. Is someone in Mississippi incorrect for pronouncing 'more' as 'mo', or someone in Glasgow, Scotland incorrect for pronouncing 'head' as 'heed'? This thread smacks of a certain class snobbery.

A side-note: One thing I often notice in American speech is that the letter 't' is not audibly distinguished from the letter 'd' when occurring in the middle of words. Thus, some of the semi-literate teenagers who post comments on YouTube accuse each other of being 'retarted', which phonetically would read the same as 'retarded' in US speech, but seems bizarre to a British/Commonwealth reader.

[Gary Sisco]

persevere

[Nate Dorward]

Originally Posted by Scott Dolan

Forte I can understand, especially since 99% of the population says "for-tay" which is incorrect.

It's not incorrect (& in fact that's the only pronunciation you hear in Canada, in my experience; it's the only one given in the Canadian Oxford for that matter). There's a lengthy disquisition on the word here:

http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/forte

[Vince Kargatis]

Originally Posted by Pedantic Wretch

Isn't the very idea of 'correct' pronunciation highly specious anyway

Oh my god, PW has found a highly specious thread! Alert Lois! :)

Pretty sure you won't find any disagreement, PW. In fact, one of the implicit points of the thread is just to reflect on how (English) words don't "retain its original etymological pronunciation when borrowed from another language". And also, just to note the amusing result of being incomprehensible when using an original (and still deemed "preferable" by, say, dictionary usage panels) pronunciation.

[Jazzzoline]

persévère

[groover]

Originally Posted by Nate Dorward

Yes, a conch is a shell (or the shellfish inside). It has two possible pronunciations, to rhyme with "paunch" or "bonk". My experience has been that the "conk" pronunciation gets you funny stares, though.

Not terribly surprising, though, because the "kngk" pronunciation is indistinguishable from the actual word "conk", which, as a noun, means a blow, usually to the head. People might get suspicious of what you plan to do with that shell.


conk ¹

(kngk) Slang
conk definition

n. 1. a. The head.
b. A blow, especially on the head.

2. Chiefly British The human nose.

v. conked, conk·ing, conks
v.tr. To hit, especially on the head.

v.intr. 1. To stop functioning; fail: The engine conked out on the final lap.
2. To fall asleep, especially suddenly or heavily: conked out on the couch watching television.
3. To pass out; faint.
4. To die.

[groover]

Originally Posted by Pedantic Wretch

A side-note: One thing I often notice in American speech is that the letter 't' is not audibly distinguished from the letter 'd' when occurring in the middle of words. Thus, some of the semi-literate teenagers who post comments on YouTube accuse each other of being 'retarted', which phonetically would read the same as 'retarded' in US speech, but seems bizarre to a British/Commonwealth reader.

Seems retarded to me, too.

Of course, the other side of the coin is that you Brits seem to have a variant spelling or pronunciation from that used in America for about every other word in your language, which often seem like arbitrary affectations to me, though they may be perfectly natural to you, I realize (realise).

[Pete C]

That retart don't know which side his bread is budded on.

[Pete C]

Originally Posted by Jazzzoline

pree fix

Is the proper pronounciation of "fixe" feeks or feese? In France, not Quebec.

[Jazzzoline]

Originally Posted by Pete C

Is the proper pronounciation of "fixe" feeks or feese? In France, not Quebec.

feeks
(Both France and Québec)
French pronounce the "i" more like eee

[Pedantic Wretch]

Originally Posted by Vince Kargatis

In fact, one of the implicit points of the thread is just to reflect on how (English) words don't "retain its original etymological pronunciation when borrowed from another language".

Okay, I'll join the game:

Harass. The 'proper' pronunciation stresses the first syllable (like the name 'Harris').

Economics (won't cause confusion either way, but still an interesting case). It was originally spelt 'oeconomics', so it should be pronounced 'eek-', but 'ek-' seems more common (but then there is that popular book Freakonomics, suggesting the former rhyme, so I'm not sure).

Leisure. In British English rhymes with 'pleasure', but I've heard Americans say it to rhyme with 'seizure'. Is that the US standard?

[tippy]

I've never heard it pronounced other than pree feeks. (and yup I know you weren't asking me and I'm not quebecoise.)

[Scott Dolan]

Originally Posted by Nate Dorward

Yes, a conch is a shell (or the shellfish inside). It has two possible pronunciations, to rhyme with "paunch" or "bonk". My experience has been that the "conk" pronunciation gets you funny stares, though.

That's bizarre. Maybe because I lived on the Gulf Coast a majority of my life I can honestly say I have VERY rarely heard it pronounced the other way (the way that rhymes with paunch) and always assumed it was incorrect. If you walked into any raw bar in Florida and ordered "caunch" fritters, THAT'S what would get you funny stares.

[Gary Sisco]

heretic

[groover]

Originally Posted by Scott Dolan

That's bizarre. Maybe because I lived on the Gulf Coast a majority of my life I can honestly say I have VERY rarely heard it pronounced the other way (the way that rhymes with paunch) and always assumed it was incorrect. If you walked into any raw bar in Florida and ordered "caunch" fritters, THAT'S what would get you funny stares.

If you ask for "cawnch" fritters, they'll know for sure you're from Noo Yawk City!

[Gary Sisco]

Even though they can't pronounce New York?

[tippy]

Groening