Product names that people mispronounce?

[MorningGlow]

And does it drive you crazy?

My mom calls Lubriderm lotion "Lubridum". Why, I have no idea. My aunt calls Tylenol "Ty-enol" and has done so for decades. Do these people not hear these names pronounced properly--on commercials, or by other people, over the years? It confounds me!

Along the same line, my aunt (same one) and uncle took me to Disney World when I was 10, which was very nice of them. That was 30 years ago (plus two). So ever since we went, 32 years ago, she has been calling Lake Buena Vista "Lake Bone-a Vista". Makes it sound like a pornographic vacation destination.

Sigh.

[WinkyDink]

1. My Mom owns a Toy-oy-ta.

[MorningGlow]

6. A bit of Yiddish?

:rofl:

[ET Awful]

66. My grandfather called his a Tieota 'til the day he died n/t

[pokerfan]

2. Bimmer/Beemer

Bimmer:


Beemer:


:banghead:

[MorningGlow]

7. I've never heard of that one!

:shrug:

[pokerfan]

12. It's a pretty common mistake in the US

http://www.boston-bmwcca.org/reference/bimmer-beemer.aspx

http://www.bmwboard.com/forum/showthread.php?t=19439

[doc03]

13. According to Consumer Reports they

are also pretty much an overpriced piece of crap. In other words (B)ig (M)oney (W)asted.

[kentauros]

14. I call them "B-Moos"

on porpoise :P

(BMW = BM "double-u" = BMUU = "B-Moo")
("bemuse" for the plural)

[Drum]

15. neat bike!

:thumbsup:

[Twillig]

3. PORSH! for Porsche

Listen to the damn commercials.

Look, someone as stupid as Otto in A Fish Called Wanda had a decent handle on how to pronounce it:
'Why did they name their daughter (Portia) after a car?'

[MorningGlow]

8. Uh oh--I'm guilty of that one

I don't mean to be--I know the correct pronunciation--but it tends to come out Porsh more often than not. :blush:

[B3Nut]

54. That's a longtime peeve of mine too

Taking 3 years of German in high school made it even worse. :D

TP

[Faygo Kid]

4. Judiciary Square on the DC Metro. Always "Judicuary Square."

Alright, so it's not a product.

Drives me nukular.

[MorningGlow]

9. That's an odd one

Is that a local twist or a straight-out mispronunciation?

OT: I love your avatar.

[Zavulon]

30. That drives me nuts, especially since I used to work at

Joo-dish-oo-air-ee Square and had to go to that stop every day.

What drives me even more nuts about the Metro, though, is when the driver tells us to "utilize" all doors. As what? As a shield? As a fulcrum? And how the hell can I use more than one door at a time?

Of course I know what the morons mean, but then again if they kept the escalators running they might not have this problem. If you're heading to Joo-dish-oo-air-ee Square in the direction that has Chinatown as your previous stop and Union Station as your next one, and you have to get off at Joo-dish-oo-air-ee Square, you use the first door of the second train from the front. It'll drop you right off at the escalator, which will be broken. If you don't use this strategy, you've just added five minutes to your trip to the office.

[NewEnglandGirl]

5. I - Bee - Pro - fen for Ibuprofen

gets on my last nerve

[MorningGlow]

10. Eh?!

Yeah, that one would be irritating!

[kentauros]

11. Any food ad that has "chipotle" peppers in it.

It's cheh-pote'lee not cheh-pol'tee!!!

The first time I heard it mispronounced was for Taco Bell. You would think that a big advertising company would hire someone that knew how to pronounce the ingredients before they put it out on national TV and radio! I have to wonder how much mail and phonecalls they got in response. And yet, the mispronunciation continued. I swear it must have been a full year of other companies continuing to get it wrong before one of them got it mostly right. There's still no accent, just Caucasian-style butchering of other languages, as usual :P

[Lorien]

61. I have a friend who insists it's cheh-pote-el

drives me a little nuts!

[Bill McBlueState]

65. I don't get this at all

People need to just read the letters in the order they're printed. Even if you're not quite sure how to say the vowels, the t *clearly* comes before the l.

[ironflange]

16. My dear departed mom liked to add an "S"

So it was "Safeway's," "Taco Bell's" and "A & W's." Oh, and "Costco's." It was rather annoying.

My MIL pronounces "mall" to rhyme with "gal." That's even more grating.

While I'm here, let me add Worcestershire to the list. Nearly everybody gets that one wrong.

[kentauros]

17. I use the vegetarian kind of Worcestershire

so I'm exempt from pronouncing it "correctly" :P

[jobycom]

24. Which brand?

Annie's, or the Wizard?

[kentauros]

32. Annie's

and I pretty much only use it for Chex Mix ;)

[jobycom]

34. I grew up on the Mississippi Coast watching Justin Wilson

I use it on everything I can think of (if you never watched Justin Wilson, you won't understand that). Veggie burgers, portabellos, bean dishes, stir frys, gravy, tofu, grits... okay, not on grits. I sometimes put a teaspoon or more in water as a sub for veggie broth.

Can't decide which brand I like, so far, but I'm glad someone took out the little fishies.

[kentauros]

37. I'll have to remember that

These days, my spice-mix of choice is paprika, sumac (another ingredient most don't pronounce right as it should be "suh-mac'" not "su'mac" :)) and cinnamon. Use in stir-fries and stews :9

[jobycom]

25. How do you say Worcestershire?

There are two accepted pronunciations, and then there's the Justin Wilson way.

[Runcible Spoon]

63. "wooster-sher" is how I was raised to say it. Family of language elitists too :P

:shrug:

[jobycom]

64. Hm

I think I've always said it sort of "wuste-sheer." Family of New Orleans cajuns who moved to redneck Mississippi, so what chance did I have? :rofl:

Just looked it up on Merriam-Webster. They have two audios http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/worcestershire%20sauce
(one which sounds like mine, so maybe my parents aren't so screwed up), and a pronunciation key with at least six interpretations, depending on whether you say the 'r' in wuster.

(on edit: Tried to copy the pronunciation key but it simulated too many smilies. You'll have to click the link to see what I mean.)

[Runcible Spoon]

68. haha that's cute!

I chalk it up to regionalisms...

[Number23]

35. Oh my Lord....

My husband does that EXACT SAME THING. He says "Targets," "K-Marts" and "Red Lobsters." I feel like screaming and killing people when he does that.

My mom is absolutely incapable of saying "Law and Order: SVU." It always comes out "SUV." Come to think of it, she says "Targets" too. I hate my life.... :)

[jobycom]

47. It's possessive. Like the French "chez"

The possessive in some areas of the US is used the way the French use "chez," to describe "the place of," or "the home of." I'm going to Bill's, instead of I'm going to Bill's house. They even name businesses that way sometimes. Bill's, instead of Bill's Cafe or Bill's Bar.

But the 's is part of a lost dialect. Target's, meaning Target's place. I think part of it is a leftover from yonder days, when businesses were named after the owners, instead of random catchy words. My mother's father owned a hardware store in New Orleans long ago. At one time it was on Prytania St, and he moved it to Magazine St, but kept the old name, Prytania's. Everyone assumed his name was Prytania, because they expected businesses to be named after owners.

[MorningGlow]

38. LOL a friend of the family does that "S" thing

Rochester is the headquarters for Eastman Kodak Company, and this woman has been calling it "Kodak's" for more than 80 years! We're also home to Xerox, so Mr. MG and I will (in private) call it "Xerock" in honor of Ida.

[pagandem4justice]

18. Drives me crazy!

My mother: "cundum" instead of "condom" (always made me laugh; sounded raunchy)
My uncle: "al-oon-i-mum foil" instead of aluminum foil (and he worked for Easco Aluminum Company!)
My brother: "pas-getti" instead of spaghetti (fortunately, he grew out of it)

Then there were out-of-date names for things (my dad was born in the '30s, me in the 70s, so quite a difference): "oleo" instead of margarine, "merchurochrome" instead of merthiolate (don't think they have either any more!), "icebox" instead of freezer. I'm sure I'll think of 1,000 more once I stop typing, but you get the idea. :)

But the all-time cray-zeeeeeee product name mispronunciation? Worchestershire sauce. WOR-chester-shyre, WOR-ch-stir, Wurst-ir... it just goes on and on......... (I THINK it's suppsed to be something like "Woostershir")

[Kat45]

26. Oh yeah, I remember merchurochrome from when I was a kid ('60s)

I never heard the word "merthiolate."

[MorningGlow]

44. Gasp!

Your mom actually acknowledged there were such things as condoms?! (er, cundums?) I don't think I've ever heard my mother utter the word--and she probably never will.

However, she also refers to products by long-forgotten names. To her, furniture polish will always be "Pride", not Pledge. And she still refers to Fels Naptha soap, but I think they still make that (too lazy to look it up right now). And my grandmother always used to say "icebox" for freezer because, well, that's what she had for a good chunk of her life--an icebox. Of course, with her Sicilian accent, it was pronounced "ice-uh-bock-uh-suh"--yep, three extra syllables.

I went to grad school in Boston for two years and tried valiantly to get my family to pronounce Worcester correctly--and failed. IIRC, it's supposed to be "wuster" (soft "O"). The closest they got was "WOOster", hard "O", rhymes with rooster.

[FloridaJudy]

19. Okay, so how DO you pronounce that hybrid car?

I've heard it as Pree'-us and Pry'-us. And that cute little thing - is that a Sky-on or a Sigh-on? Either way it sounds like something out of "Holy Blood, Holy Grail". But I guess it beats those hideously militaristically named SUV's - the "Armada"?!!? What next: the Chrysler Inquisition? The Plymouth Jihad?

[volstork]

20. Chrysler Inquisition

LOL!!:rofl:

[kentauros]

40. Noooooo-body

expects a Chrysler Inquisition!

:P

[volstork]

21. I have a friend that

calls forcithia "forcynthia"

Another that boggles my mind: "chester drawers" instead of chest of drawers. Who the hell is Chester?!

[SeattleGirl]

33. Why, Chester is the owner of the drawers!

:P

[kentauros]

41. That might stem from

"Chesterfield" which some folks mean for "sofa" :)

(from wikipedia: "Chesterfield, a type of sofa or couch, named after the Earl of Chesterfield")

[Lydia Leftcoast]

22. Sometimes the manufacturer or importer tells you to pronounce it wrong

It bugged me when the importer of Gekkeikan saké told customers to pronounce it "Gay-kee-kahn." It's actually "Geck-kay-kahn."

"Volkswagen" is actually "Folks-vah-gen."

But then, there used to be an ad on Japanese TV that drove me crazy. It was an ad for Kraft Mayonnaise, and it ended with a little boy saying, "K-R-A-F-T, Koo-rah-foo-toh."

[kentauros]

57. How about the brand name "Braun"?

In proper German is should be just like "Brown", yet their ads pronounce it "brawn". I don't get that at all.

[Connonym]

23. really bugs me, my ex can't prounced Reese's (as in peanut butter cups)

and now our youngest says it wrong too. He pronounces it Reesies. I told him it's supposed to rhyme with pieces and 20 years later he still fucks it up. He also mispronounces bagel. :Sigh: the youngest also says that wrong now too.

[MorningGlow]

42. You mean "baggle"?

A friend in college used to pronounce "bagel" that way--we used to tease her mercilessly about it, and she used to laugh too, but she couldn't pronounce it properly to save her life.

[kentauros]

62. Be thankful we don't have "squagels" then

:P

[Kat45]

27. In high school, a friend would pronounce 'gas' as 'gaz'

That always really bugged me.

[grace0418]

28. Gyros. I cringe when people pronounce it "Gear-os" or "Jy-ros". It's pronounced

"Yee-ros" people!

[sasquatch]

29. I pronounce it "Gear-os" and really cringe when I hear "Jy-ros"

[grace0418]

45. Well, now you know. It's Yee-ros.

:)

[ashling]

31. My dad used to call Sears

Sears and Rareback ... of course he was born in 1918 on a farm where they depended on their stuff. Also, Monkey Wards.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

36. Jaguar, the car

I've always called it a Jag'-war, and sometimes hear Jag'-wire.

But recent commercials call it a Jag'-you-are. I suppose it's British-ly correct, but sounds pretentious here in the US. Since we call some of its parts "Hood" and "Trunk", not "Bonnet" and "Boot".

Never mind. I'll never be able to afford one. Call my car a "Chevy".
:hi:

[regularguy]

39. Fill-um instead of film.

WTF?

[MorningGlow]

43. Oh gods, don't get me started on common nouns!

For all his 89 years (as far as I know), my uncle called batteries "bat trees".
:rofl:

[AwakeAtLast]

46. Not a product, but Illinois has no "s" sound at the end

Even people *from* Illinois do this!

[Evoman]

48. My family ares not native english speaker so I've got lots.

My favourite hate..........they pronounce safeway SA-FEH-WAI.



Also,my brother used to get mad at me because I would say veg-ence instead of vengeance. I don't do it anymore, except when I want to piss him off.

[crim son]

49. The woman who trained me at my last job wanted us to go out

for "Thigh" food. I was like, WTF? But then she pulled out a menu: Ahhhh. Thai food!

[Sentath]

50. linski's

no no no the router was made by linksys

I won't even go into the customer that calls in for "cmpooter trublz"

[bif]

51. Bon Ami cleanser

[Tikki]

52. Up until I was about 16 years old.....

I used to call "Milk Duds"....Milk Dudes..


Tikki

[Rambis]

53. Extra Stre-N-th Tylenol

for strength
my wife's Norwegian grandmother used to say Gen-er-Rick for generic

[B3Nut]

55. Moog synthesizers

It's Moog as in "vogue", not like 'moo' as in the noise a cow makes. The late Dr. Bob Moog explained it all years ago... ;)

TP

[kentauros]

59. There's an excellent documentary on him, too.

Keith Emerson makes an appearance :D

[trof]

56. Toyola - my late Cajun father-in-law.

He drove a Toyola pickup for a while.
He also could not pronounce 't-h's.
Dorothy became Dortee.
May have had to do with his NOLA upbringing.

[hamsterjill]

58. Thanks! I've been needing to get this out!!! LOL

Thanks for providing me the "forum" to get this off my chest!!! hee hee I think I've been needing to do this!!!

I have this one friend, a very good friend, but every time she says "Petsmart", she says "Pet Mart" (without the "s"). It drives me nuts.

The whole selling point for PetSmart is: Is it Pets Mart...or it is Pet Smart...get it????!!! Either way, it has an S, damn it!!

This person also says "waRsh" when she is talking about cleaning a garment!

I feel better already...

[auntAgonist]

60. Someone I worked with

used to call FICHE, fish! It's MICRO-FICHE not microfish. FISH :shrug: .
it's FEESH

just a pet peeve.

aA

[montanto]

67. A great friend with a lot of education

and world travel calls the vinegar from Modena (and she's been there) Ba-SAL-mic, instead of Bal-SA-mic.
She believes she's correct the same way that a certain pResident believes that nu-q-lur is the same as nuclear.

Also, I know this isn't a product, but I lived in Oregon for a long time and it pisses all of us off, ALL OF US, when someone says Ore-ee-gone. Its Oregun people, Oregun, spoken quickly with a little stress on the Or, but not much.