Words that you or others struggle to pronounce

[Supersuperleeds]

Phenomenal.

I used to always mix up soldier and shoulder, and still catch myself double checking before uttering either

 

[PeteXXX]

I used to think that emancipated women were really thin.

 

[Tribansman]

Phenomenal.

I used to always mix up soldier and shoulder, and still catch myself double checking before uttering either

Phenomenoneman must be one of the most common...

 

[yello]

I used to think that emancipated women were really thin.

oh, on the contrary. They let it all go!

 

[glasgowcyclist]

Arks or aks is a West Indian tic. Even folks with no other discernible Caribbean accident sometimes give a clue as their origin with that one.

It’s not a tic, in the sense of an involuntary action or sound over which the person has no control.

(It’s a bit harsh to categorise it that way.)

Ax (from acsian or axian) in fact long predates the modern English pronunciation and is found in literature from around a thousand years ago.

 

[Mo1959]

Phenomenal.

I used to always mix up soldier and shoulder, and still catch myself double checking before uttering either

I don’t find abdominal easy either!

 

[Kingfisher101]

I had a friend who used to call Cramond Island in Edinburgh, Cromerod which I thought was a strange one. I corrected them at first as I thought they had just forgotten what it was called. Then I realized they just couldn't say the word.

 

[Bromptonaut]

It’s not a tic, in the sense of an involuntary action or sound over which the person has no control.

(It’s a bit harsh to categorise it that way.)

Ax (from acsian or axian) in fact long predates the modern English pronunciation and is found in literature from around a thousand years ago.

I wasn't using it that way; it's a characteristic...

 

[Once a Wheeler]

This is a thread that could keep linguists going for months. As a cyclist, I have always been impressed by the number of variations which English speakers manage to find to pronounce dérailleur. This is understandable as the standard French pronunciation ([derɑjœ:r] for those familiar with IPA) actually contains four phonemes (sounds) which do not occur in English. If one anglicizes the French, one gets 'derailer' which I find retains a good linguistic resemblance to the original and gives a meaningful description of what the device actually does. Doubtless railway enthusiasts will think it is a device for causing train wrecks but, for me, a French dérailleur can find a perfectly good home in English as a derailer.

 

[yello]

I wasn't using it that way; it's a characteristic...

No worries, I got/knew what you meant. I ummed and erred before deciding on 'accent' myself. Someone mentioned 'ebonics' but I'm not sure I'd go for that description either.... but, yes, maybe, arguably... for me, ebonics is a bit broader than 'aks' (or 'ax')

Here's an interesting article on the subject from the LA Times...

https://www.latimes.com/opinion/la-...mcwhorter-black-speech-ax-20140119-story.html

I found the following reference to Old English interesting/revealing...

One answer a linguist can give is to cite history, pointing out how, in Old English, the word for “ask” swung randomly between ascian and acsian, and nobody batted an eye.

 

[gbb]

I dont have any problems with pronunciation but did have a friend that consistently said..
Ball bear-ee- uns
Didnt matter how you tried to correct him, it always came out bear ee uns.

 

[youngoldbloke]

Campagnolo

 

[Punkawallah]

Hence the large numbers who gave up and just went with Campie or Campag :-)

 

[Sharky]

If you live in Kent, the village of Trottiscliffe is a nightmare to pronounce ...

Spoiler: pronunciation

it's pronounced 'Troz-lee'.

https://www.kentlive.news/news/kent-news/trottiscliffe-kent-village-difficult-pronounce-5366548

 

[glasgowcyclist]

Hence the large numbers who gave up and just went with Campie or Campag :-)

It’s easy enough once you remember that GN in that Italian word has the same sound as we make in English when saying ‘caNYon’, for example, so it’s ‘campaNYolo’, much like the ñ sound in jalapeño.