Today's pronunciation lesson:

Italian, Iraq, Iran - there are two ways that people say these words, depending on how they pronounce the 'I' at the beginning. The more sophisticated way to say this is to pronounce the I softly (this is like how people who don't live in Oregon say the state name "Oregon", with emphasis on the last syllable, when it's supposed to be on the first). I remember growing up hearing my aunts and uncles say the word Italian, and they always said it "Eye-talian." They sounded like dumb hillbillies everytime they said it, too.

Economic - same as above - this is common, I notice, with people in Washington - the e sound should be soft, like in pet, not hard like in wee.

Nuclear - Bush has said this word wrong so many times now, saying nuk-ular. I just looked this word up and I understand why the mistake is made - the pronunciation is supposed to be n(y)oo-clear. Be that as it may, I still think it's absurd that he has come to the end of his second term without ever once saying it correctly.

also, on that note:

it's chimney, not chimbley

ambulance not ambleance

dracula not draclea

-talian

my sociology professor says "its turrable" i think he means Terrible

on the radio I keep hearing people saying dot cum

ZombieKitten said:

paging doctor freud..cum in doctor freud.

"specific" not pacific... that's an ocean.

actually, it's eee-tah-lee-ah-no

I should sound like a hard e. Not sure about Iraq and Iran.

Words that kill me:

Dia-beet-us

Wal-marks

Iranistan

Dauphin said:

My parents and relatives side step that by calling it "sugar".

eaglebear4839 said:

Try Dictionary Dot Com. It has a pronounciation button!

http://dictionary.referen...se/Nuclear

Somtimes, I like to speckle my vocabulary with English pronunciation (English as in as those blokes from Britain).
Frinstance, instead of "sked-you-ole" for "schedule", I'll say "shed-you-ole".
Or instead of "privacy", I'll say "preh-veh-see".
Or instead of the phrase "I appreciate it", I'll say "Kiss my arse, you mutherless bastard".