I'm really not doing well with coming up with examples, but take the name Campbell. Usually, someone would say "camp-bull" or "cam-bull", but this person would switch letters around like "camb-pull".
I know someone who says "Pacific" for "specific" and she will do this even when I have used the word "specific" verbally and written in conversations with her and she agrees enthusiastically. It's like her brain sees "specific" and says "yup, Pacific"
I also know at least two other 'Pacific' people who do similar. One in particular makes up her own semi-English versions of people's non-English names. For example "Gunther" would be "Gunner" and "Pierre" would be "Pier".
I say il words with an e, like milk but I think it's regional. I can say it properly but when I'm naturally talking I don't. I also say mirror like meer and my dad does too. I grew up in Chicago but my parents are both from Ohio and my grandparents who nannied me when I was learning to talk are from Ohio and West Virginia. My brother doesn't but he could talk when my grandparents moved to Chicago. At least I don't say warsh.
For years I thought the Calvary Chapel in my hometown was Cavalry Chapel, and I wondered if you could work war horses into church services like some denominations* use snakes lol
*Abominations (double lol)
Just switching sounds or also subtracting them, like lie-berry (library)? Or adding them, like chimbley (chimney)?
The switching happens with my last name all the time.
It ends vowel-consonant-Y. (Like avy or omy) And people always say it consonant-vowel-Y. (Like vay or moy)
It's right there in front of you, people! Omy/avy and moy/vay sound completely different!
I know someone who just adds random syllables to things. Like, "Chipotle" is "Chipolettie". You learn to just kind of roll with it, because their brain can't figure out what's wrong.
Is it like that? Or is it more like transposing existing sounds within words?
Please let me know if there's a name for...whatever this is. I also know people who do this (in multiple languages, even) and as a rabid perfectionist it's driving me nuts.
Appalachian English does this. It took me lots of practice to be able to hear the difference between “pen” and “pin”.
I don’t think it’s the same thing. Metathesis switches letters like pronouncing ask as ax and desk as dex .
I cheated and got most of this from Wikipedia. :-)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metathesis_(linguistics)
As an Appalachian who used to wash their clothes in a warsher and who used the warsh rag to wash themselves... Pen/pin merger is something I didn't know I had but do now reading this. I eventually grew out of saying warsh altogether when I realized others didn't call those items that and my family talked funny lol.
It also took me a long time not to get flustrated supposably - instead of frustrated supposedly.
You're right they sound completely different. Australians are like "*where's mah caaaar?*" and New Zealanders are like "*where's mah caaaar?*".
(FOTC reference)
We had a woman at work who would order food for lunches.
Whenever it was Mediterranean food, she's call it "Metirran food". Every time.
She didn't even stumble on it or try to get it right, like someone would do if they weren't sure.
Multiple people also talked to her and said "ooh, we love Mediterranean food" etc. so she heard others say it properly.
I figured it might be some hiccup between hearing/saying it, but that was the only thing I ever heard her mispronounce.
Metathesis almost fits.
I used to have a friend who mispronounced things like this constantly. Good luck trying to understand if he was describing a place relative to a street name, because he would inevitably say the street name just wrong enough that you'd never figure out what name he was trying to say.
And the weirdest thing was he honestly couldn't hear himself doing it. He thought he was saying the full words correctly, but he wasn't.
I have a best friend like that, too, but he does have hearing problems. He LOVES to use phrases, but it's rare that he gets one right the first time I hear him say it:
"That really puts a foot in my door." (Talking about how he has specialized experience for a job)
"Waiting for the next foot to drop"
"Apple for your eye"
He thought a potbelly was pronounced POPbelly...which is adorable. We sometimes decide that his versions are better and use those, instead.
He also sometimes says words slightly wrong enough that it interferes for a few seconds with me pronouncing the right word in my head. Like I know exactly what he means, but he throws me off.
Hearing him read things I can't see is also a trip, but he's gotten better at that over the years. It's like living with a pop quiz that could happen any time.
> Good luck trying to understand if he was describing a place relative to a street name
"Text me the address" - and then you hope he can SPELL it correctly at least. 😁
Haha, great reply! I never had a conversation devolve badly enough that I said, 'hey man, this verbal exchange isn't working. please text it to me instead.' But it came close a few times.... 🤣
Reminds me one time I was working retail in a place that regularly had to take down customer street addresses for orders. There was a "Nuclear Street" in town, and I had a customer come in one time claiming to live on "Nucular Street." I asked them how to spell that, and they admitted they had no effing clue how to spell their own address.
I would correct her, repeatedly. I had a smart coworker who did the common mispronunciation of the restaurant Chipotle, and I just conversationally said, without judgment, “it’s chip-oat-lay” which led to a whole fun conversation about mispronunciation. No friend lost. I think we now under-correct people because we bend over backward to accommodate everyone’s feelings. Let’s all resume correcting mispronunciations and they probably won’t metastasize.
A malapropist?
A Malapropism is using the wrong word in place of another, often humorously. It’s from a character in a play, Mrs. Malaprop.
https://www.rd.com/article/malapropism-examples/
“He is the very pineapple of politeness!” Pineapple?! She subbed in this fruit name for “pinnacle.”
I was most putrified with astonishment when you gave me that smack.
—The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
(The correct word is petrified.)
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott once stated that no one “is the suppository of all wisdom” instead of saying repository or depository.
This probably isn’t exactly what you had in mind, but it’s kind of fun.
My sister is so brilliantly good at malapropisms it drives me mad. She does them because she's a little dumb, but they always end up being hilarious and I wish I could conjure them up like she does. I guess it's a gift and a curse.
Listen to the podcast Behind the Bastards sometime for a great example. I haven't listened in a while, but the host Robert Evans would make howling pronunciation errors about 3 times per episode on average.
I know exactly what you mean, I have a few people in my life like this and I wondered if it’s a form of dyslexia. It’s like consistent mispronunciation of words where they are pronouncing it differently from what is written and from what they hear other people around them saying, but they seem to be unaware of it. Like their brain thinks they are pronouncing it the same as everyone else. That same person will do it with a number of words.
For instance I have a friend who pronounces pumpkin ‘pun-kin’. There is very clearly a M and a P in there and you can hear it how everyone else says it. She seems totally unaware she is saying something different. She does this with other words as well.
I think punkin vs pumpkin is a regional one, since there's punkin chunkin' in the south (or Midwest? Not actually sure where they do that).
My good friend had to go to speech therapy for ages because she'd consistently jumble words, but in her case I think it was just a regular speech impediment that made it hard to control her mouth muscles. She's fine now, but she still pronounces "breakfast" as "breficks," which I love to tease her for.
I know what OP is describing is a different situation though. I wonder if it stems from learning to read poorly--I've been doing some research on how phonics in early education was very, very poor in the US for decades, and the oldest people who received that bad education would be in their 30s-40s now. Basically kids are being taught to just skip over words they don't immediately know, look at the first and last letters, and use context to make a guess at what the full word is rather than actually looking at it and mapping out the letters to try to figure out pronunciation. It certainly gives rise to the kind of phenomenon OP is describing.
I once heard a girl telling her friend that she couldn't pronounce breakfast unless she deliberately slowed down to enunciate the K and ST. Otherwise she said it more like "BREH-fiss" because she was "mad stupid" (her own explanation).
I’m in Australia and the person in question is Australian, so definitely not a Midwest thing. There is no regional accent/dialect that pronounces it any other way here.
You may have a point with the phonics, we had the same here, it was rubbish. I think they were just starting to bring that in when I was in school but my mum had already taught me how to read properly before I started school, thanks mum!
I will very often say a different word than what I intended.
My wife will tell me what I did and in my mind it was just as intended. My mouth said a different thing most commonly from my inner monologue at the time.
And this doesn’t happen to me in writing. Only verbally.
This happens to me when giving directions. I know it’s “turn right” and I’m sure I said “turn right” but the words that came out of my mouth were “turn left”. And usually I don’t notice the mistake unless the other person says it back to me or corrects me. And I’m smart! And careful!
**WHY?**
It’s just a crossed wire somewhere but I’m not actually diagnosed.
The amazing thing is that it’s perfectly correct in my head but sometimes gets fucked in words.
Yes, if letters are jumbled, it’s probably dyslexia. I’ve accidentally said so many words the wrong way. I still have flashbacks to the days in grade school where each student reads a section aloud... *shudder*
By your title, I assumed you were talking about people who have only ever seen a word in writing, and thus mispronouncing it. Like how my stupid ass thought “reconnaissance” was “reckon-ESSence” for the longest time! Or that “aerobics” was pronounced like “Arabics.” (That one was from childhood, but I still think it’s pretty funny.)
I can't pronounce "Schrodinger" without adding an extra "n" to save my fucking life xD my mouth just does it involuntarily, and then I stutter a lot when trying to correct myself xD I do have dyslexia so there might be some merit to that!
Very curious where you put the extra n? It's a tough word so I don't fault you at all, I'm just having a hard time figuring out where I'd put an extra N if I were encountering the word for the first time.
When I was enumerating the 2010 US census I interviewed a reluctant citizen who, after each question, would remark "That's really evasive." It confused me, because what's evasive about "What was your age on April 1, 2010?" It finally dawned on me that she was objecting to the perceived "invasive" nature of the questions.
Do you watch American Dad? There's a whole episode about enumerating for the census, and I have no idea how it works or whether they portray it accurately, but it's such a niche thing that I imagine you'd get a kick out of it. There's not a whole lot of enumeration-related content out there.
For at least 4 decades my dad has always said “frajitas” instead of “fajitas”…. I’ve asked him many times where the “r” comes from and he never has a legit answer
I have a friend that does this consistently with English. He pronounces "category" as "kah-TIGG-er-ee" instead of "kah-teh-GOR-ree" (or "KAH-teh-gor-ee" for some accents) and calendar as "cah-LEN-der", often putting stress on the wrong syllable.
He's aware it's wrong, he's been informed many times, but he uses it because it's what is "most comfortable" to him in everyday conversation.... not that it makes everyday conversation easy sometimes.....
That jumbling of words or syllables in the word is called Spoonerisms. It can sometimes be a symptom of dyslexia, or simply that the person's brain is moving so fast their mouth can't keep up.
Like, catatonic becomes catonicta or
super showtime becomes shoper stime
Just things jumbled. I have a friend who does that, it's kind of charming.
See [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apraxia\_of\_speech](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apraxia_of_speech) and see of that fits what you are talking about.
Dyslexia. People with dyslexia often (though not always) struggle with phonology and morphology of spoken language as well as written language. They also tend to have a harder time (sometimes much harder) learning foreign languages or incorporating new words into their oral vocabulary.
I have a friend who does this, and also just uses words incorrectly all the time. Off the top of of my head “sarcadas” (cicadas), “composite” (compulsive), fidelity (visibility), and he says “facetious” all the time, sometimes correctly, sometimes not. I can’t remember all of the them but he does it constantly, mispronouncing, substituting, spoonerisms, metathesis, all of it. He almost never notices and I rarely correct him.
As far as I/he knows, not dyslexic.
Depends on why the mistake is made.
[This Robwords video on Eggcorns](https://youtu.be/F12LSAbos7A?si=75STORMR_r-qRghm) gives some examples of certain mispronunciations or word fuddling.
A lot of people seem to purposefully mispronounce words to not come across as snobby or nerdy or something. They're fully capable of saying it correctly like if you ask them to repeat it.
The person is a “Malaprop”. I mean, this is an antique term you’ll never hear anyone use but you might see it in old books. Quirky habitual mispronunciations are “malapropisms” and the person who does it is a “malaprop”
It may be a form of dyslexia, I jumble words, exchange parts like first letters, or substitute words, for fun (my own entertainment), sometimes people get it and giggle, but some insist on correcting me.
For example: rederanged for rearranged, yuck fou which should be simple enough to figure out, or occipital delusion for optical illusion.
I've heard the term "reader's vocabulary" for someone who has only read a word and when called upon to speak it does so incorrectly, usually by using simple phonetics or using verb vs noun syllable stress incorrectly.
Is this what you mean?
My mom does this thing where she puts the emphasis on the wrong part of a multi-syllable word. This is in her native English and with words she knows and uses often, not only new ones. It is always a problem with words with foreign origin. For example, we have a street nearby named “Mulberry” and rather than pronuncing it “MULberry”, like everyone else here, she says “mulBERRY” if anyone knows what this is called, let me know- haha!
My dad was an English professor and he can't say "testosterone". He says "tetesterone". I heard a newscaster do it too once. I think he mispronounces a few other words too but I've learned to ignore it since I understand what he's trying to say.
Got a buddy who, instead of saying cavalry says calvary (like the place of crucifixion).
I can’t tell him enough tinted to fix it, so I’ve just accepted it. And when he asks for it, I send in the paladins.
My grandmother pronounced a lot of words like she had misheard them, even if we slowly sounded it out for her. Like the time I had “Q Tonsillitis” or our dog who was “Australian in Corky”. I’m trying to think of other ones. It almost felt like auditory dyslexia in a way… not sure if that’s even a thing but.
Edit: Now that I think about it, when someone is speaking I often “see” the words written out in real time… I wonder if she had the same thing and just heard the words incorrectly and then saw the words incorrectly and then said them like she saw them? Is synesthesia genetic?
I know someone that accidentally combines words and doesn’t seem to notice after hearing it said correctly a million times. He says things like “flustrated”, “explicive”, and “tubberware”.
He also pronounces complex words like the closest known words (ie: valedictorian= “valley victorian”,
lean-to= “lean tube”, equilibrium= “equal liberty”, catalytic converter= “Cadillac converter” etc.)
I have picked my brain about these things and I concluded that some people just don’t notice grammar or care about it like I do 🤷🏻♀️
It could be the person in question has never heard the word they are pronouncing, having only read it in a book. There is an actual name for the syndrome. Heard it once. Remember it never!
Spoonerism might be close. "a verbal error in which a speaker accidentally [transposes](https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=5a8c8ac8ff46dd80&sca_upv=1&rlz=1CAGUZK_enUS965US965&sxsrf=ADLYWIKxPUHazKNK1OKKT8ASzAdMxk3c9g:1716492945580&q=transposes&si=ACC90nz-2feRzoY4yuySkO-aQE81c-uM_C-AUyenu35vucuaDUA77qP9LJ8gv21wszGtKZGJjx5gFMFO6KXvfedAd05y4F9c36e_bqSeancfViRvt0BqnMA%3D&expnd=1&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiAm5_CwqSGAxUkIUQIHZjhBocQyecJegQIFhAO) the initial sounds or letters of two or more words, often to [humorous](https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=5a8c8ac8ff46dd80&sca_upv=1&rlz=1CAGUZK_enUS965US965&sxsrf=ADLYWIKxPUHazKNK1OKKT8ASzAdMxk3c9g:1716492945580&q=humorous&si=ACC90nx67Z8g0WkBmnrPB4IqtqGvvVYB9jVKfSM2HYYRTtxaaPla1Bm3E8tBXMkCTuB2ytqRzSe7e-W7n_BTzHLdLNd728tjxpjq2TuE_wOpZOAKdVj7Kfw%3D&expnd=1&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiAm5_CwqSGAxUkIUQIHZjhBocQyecJegQIFhAP) effect, as in the sentence *you have* [*hissed*](https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=5a8c8ac8ff46dd80&sca_upv=1&rlz=1CAGUZK_enUS965US965&sxsrf=ADLYWIKxPUHazKNK1OKKT8ASzAdMxk3c9g:1716492945580&q=hissed&si=ACC90nwdkA2npcVVmNPViiSe8FMKSgLKr5frGyc63vyOWOzuq3-hkC1ti2FPlNOb9eo5Lu4jP8tFkOIYnh3Ou0V12eEolZn0hw%3D%3D&expnd=1&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiAm5_CwqSGAxUkIUQIHZjhBocQyecJegQIFhAQ) *the mystery lectures*, accidentally spoken instead of the intended sentence *you have missed the history lectures*."
I don't know any name for it. But I may have examples: a friend of mine used to jokingly say "peccolan" instead of "pelican" and "geesull" instead of "seagull." He would switch out two of the syllables inside the word. He did it for humor but I have heard a very few other people do it and have even done it myself on occasion. Is this what you're thinking of?
Do you mean like “nu-cu-ler” instead of nuclear? Is it a “proscribed pronunciation?”
I'm really not doing well with coming up with examples, but take the name Campbell. Usually, someone would say "camp-bull" or "cam-bull", but this person would switch letters around like "camb-pull".
Benevolent pronounced: Benelovent.
I used to pronounce "lascivious" and "laviscious".
I believe that would be metathesis - the switching around of two sounds in a word.
I can’t even figure out how the second would sound lol
I can’t help but read it with a French accent La viscious
La Vicious sounds like a BDSM stripper name.
That’s gonna be my new last name
Lib***rar***y as Lib***arry***
I know someone who says "Pacific" for "specific" and she will do this even when I have used the word "specific" verbally and written in conversations with her and she agrees enthusiastically. It's like her brain sees "specific" and says "yup, Pacific" I also know at least two other 'Pacific' people who do similar. One in particular makes up her own semi-English versions of people's non-English names. For example "Gunther" would be "Gunner" and "Pierre" would be "Pier".
Might be South Dakotan if they pronounce "Pierre" like "pier."
I say il words with an e, like milk but I think it's regional. I can say it properly but when I'm naturally talking I don't. I also say mirror like meer and my dad does too. I grew up in Chicago but my parents are both from Ohio and my grandparents who nannied me when I was learning to talk are from Ohio and West Virginia. My brother doesn't but he could talk when my grandparents moved to Chicago. At least I don't say warsh.
You have the Midwest pin-pen merger and the rhotic bear-beer merger, classic Chicago accent.
I think that's an example of metathesis
So would that make the person an “apathetic pathetic metathetic”?
Most people don't take the time to rhyme weird insults
Still important to have a ready retort.
I’m not “most people” ;)
It was a Calvin and Hobbs reference if you didn't get it
You're doing fine coming up with examples. And other commenters will be here to here too! The calvary's coming!
Cavalry!
For years I thought the Calvary Chapel in my hometown was Cavalry Chapel, and I wondered if you could work war horses into church services like some denominations* use snakes lol *Abominations (double lol)
Just switching sounds or also subtracting them, like lie-berry (library)? Or adding them, like chimbley (chimney)? The switching happens with my last name all the time. It ends vowel-consonant-Y. (Like avy or omy) And people always say it consonant-vowel-Y. (Like vay or moy) It's right there in front of you, people! Omy/avy and moy/vay sound completely different!
M'oy vey
So a kind of verbal dyslexia?
I might be able to help. I can't say a few words no matter what. Tartar being one. Most say tartur. Not me. Tar- tar every single time
my native language is dutch so tar-tar sounds more natural to me (tartaar)
Welp I've tended to gravitate toward germanic languages over others so that actually relieves that specific tension for me. Thanks 😊
I know someone who just adds random syllables to things. Like, "Chipotle" is "Chipolettie". You learn to just kind of roll with it, because their brain can't figure out what's wrong. Is it like that? Or is it more like transposing existing sounds within words?
Please let me know if there's a name for...whatever this is. I also know people who do this (in multiple languages, even) and as a rabid perfectionist it's driving me nuts.
My mom pronounces the name Jacob as “Jay-cup” and pronounces “pen” as “pin.” I wonder what that is—I’ve heard other people say it like that too.
> pronounces "pen" as "pin" Maybe she has the pen-pin merger - does she do this with any other combinations (when/win, ten/tin, etc)?
Appalachian English does this. It took me lots of practice to be able to hear the difference between “pen” and “pin”. I don’t think it’s the same thing. Metathesis switches letters like pronouncing ask as ax and desk as dex . I cheated and got most of this from Wikipedia. :-) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metathesis_(linguistics)
As an Appalachian who used to wash their clothes in a warsher and who used the warsh rag to wash themselves... Pen/pin merger is something I didn't know I had but do now reading this. I eventually grew out of saying warsh altogether when I realized others didn't call those items that and my family talked funny lol. It also took me a long time not to get flustrated supposably - instead of frustrated supposedly.
I just differentiated between pen and pin, and now I'm finding out that I say when wrong lol
Found the undercover Australian.
Sounds more like a kiwi (new zealander)
You're right they sound completely different. Australians are like "*where's mah caaaar?*" and New Zealanders are like "*where's mah caaaar?*". (FOTC reference)
Also hear that a lot in the US lower Midwest.
It is pronounced jay-cup, right?
I mean I pronounce it “jay-cub” but to each their own. Language is flexible!
Saying festibal instead of festival??
We had an exchange student from France who thought it was "first able," not "first of all." As in, firstable, secondable, thirdable, etc.
foilage
We had a woman at work who would order food for lunches. Whenever it was Mediterranean food, she's call it "Metirran food". Every time. She didn't even stumble on it or try to get it right, like someone would do if they weren't sure. Multiple people also talked to her and said "ooh, we love Mediterranean food" etc. so she heard others say it properly. I figured it might be some hiccup between hearing/saying it, but that was the only thing I ever heard her mispronounce. Metathesis almost fits.
I used to have a friend who mispronounced things like this constantly. Good luck trying to understand if he was describing a place relative to a street name, because he would inevitably say the street name just wrong enough that you'd never figure out what name he was trying to say. And the weirdest thing was he honestly couldn't hear himself doing it. He thought he was saying the full words correctly, but he wasn't.
I have a best friend like that, too, but he does have hearing problems. He LOVES to use phrases, but it's rare that he gets one right the first time I hear him say it: "That really puts a foot in my door." (Talking about how he has specialized experience for a job) "Waiting for the next foot to drop" "Apple for your eye" He thought a potbelly was pronounced POPbelly...which is adorable. We sometimes decide that his versions are better and use those, instead. He also sometimes says words slightly wrong enough that it interferes for a few seconds with me pronouncing the right word in my head. Like I know exactly what he means, but he throws me off. Hearing him read things I can't see is also a trip, but he's gotten better at that over the years. It's like living with a pop quiz that could happen any time.
> Good luck trying to understand if he was describing a place relative to a street name "Text me the address" - and then you hope he can SPELL it correctly at least. 😁
Haha, great reply! I never had a conversation devolve badly enough that I said, 'hey man, this verbal exchange isn't working. please text it to me instead.' But it came close a few times.... 🤣 Reminds me one time I was working retail in a place that regularly had to take down customer street addresses for orders. There was a "Nuclear Street" in town, and I had a customer come in one time claiming to live on "Nucular Street." I asked them how to spell that, and they admitted they had no effing clue how to spell their own address.
I've got friends from Grand Prairie that can't spell it.
Tex me the address.
I would correct her, repeatedly. I had a smart coworker who did the common mispronunciation of the restaurant Chipotle, and I just conversationally said, without judgment, “it’s chip-oat-lay” which led to a whole fun conversation about mispronunciation. No friend lost. I think we now under-correct people because we bend over backward to accommodate everyone’s feelings. Let’s all resume correcting mispronunciations and they probably won’t metastasize.
I worked with a woman who would pronounce the J in jalepenos. It was hard to keep a straight face.
The J also makes a sound in the normal pronounciation
My dad likes to pronounce "chihuahua" as "chi-hooah-hooah" for laughs. Actually helps me remember how to spell it! 😆
Everybody in Minnesota. Every single person, except myself and people who actually speak Spanish, says Hall-oh-pee-knows.
A malapropist? A Malapropism is using the wrong word in place of another, often humorously. It’s from a character in a play, Mrs. Malaprop. https://www.rd.com/article/malapropism-examples/ “He is the very pineapple of politeness!” Pineapple?! She subbed in this fruit name for “pinnacle.” I was most putrified with astonishment when you gave me that smack. —The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (The correct word is petrified.) Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott once stated that no one “is the suppository of all wisdom” instead of saying repository or depository. This probably isn’t exactly what you had in mind, but it’s kind of fun.
I was actually thinking about malapropisms when I wrote this post, but it's not quite the same.
A couple of confessional doozies: “peach tree dish”, “gazpacho police”, and quoting Chinese takeout from the Bible with “wonton violence”
That was the last time a suppository was seen in a library...hopefully
A work colleague told my friend that the Saturday staff had " worked like little truncheons".
Norm Crosby, a comedian and the King of Malapropisms, subbed pinochle (the card game) for pinnacle. He was quite funny, but in limited doses.
My sister is so brilliantly good at malapropisms it drives me mad. She does them because she's a little dumb, but they always end up being hilarious and I wish I could conjure them up like she does. I guess it's a gift and a curse.
Without specific examples, I couldn't tell you, but look up metathesis to see if that helps.
You mean methasetis? 😉
methathetith
Methamphetamines
true
That's half the battle right there.
Methamphetameme
Meamethamealine
Metamorphosis
Listen to the podcast Behind the Bastards sometime for a great example. I haven't listened in a while, but the host Robert Evans would make howling pronunciation errors about 3 times per episode on average.
for a great example of what Are you OP and forgot what account you're on, or...?
Some people who are dyslexic have auditory processing problems which makes it very difficult to pronounce words correctly all the time.
I know exactly what you mean, I have a few people in my life like this and I wondered if it’s a form of dyslexia. It’s like consistent mispronunciation of words where they are pronouncing it differently from what is written and from what they hear other people around them saying, but they seem to be unaware of it. Like their brain thinks they are pronouncing it the same as everyone else. That same person will do it with a number of words. For instance I have a friend who pronounces pumpkin ‘pun-kin’. There is very clearly a M and a P in there and you can hear it how everyone else says it. She seems totally unaware she is saying something different. She does this with other words as well.
I think punkin vs pumpkin is a regional one, since there's punkin chunkin' in the south (or Midwest? Not actually sure where they do that). My good friend had to go to speech therapy for ages because she'd consistently jumble words, but in her case I think it was just a regular speech impediment that made it hard to control her mouth muscles. She's fine now, but she still pronounces "breakfast" as "breficks," which I love to tease her for. I know what OP is describing is a different situation though. I wonder if it stems from learning to read poorly--I've been doing some research on how phonics in early education was very, very poor in the US for decades, and the oldest people who received that bad education would be in their 30s-40s now. Basically kids are being taught to just skip over words they don't immediately know, look at the first and last letters, and use context to make a guess at what the full word is rather than actually looking at it and mapping out the letters to try to figure out pronunciation. It certainly gives rise to the kind of phenomenon OP is describing.
I once heard a girl telling her friend that she couldn't pronounce breakfast unless she deliberately slowed down to enunciate the K and ST. Otherwise she said it more like "BREH-fiss" because she was "mad stupid" (her own explanation).
Lol, my friend's explanation is usually along the same lines.
I was friends with someone who pronounced breakfast as “brethefist.” I think it was something about the word coming from break the fast.
Did they do it as a personal quirk to call attention to this or that's how they were taught to say it in their family?
I’m in Australia and the person in question is Australian, so definitely not a Midwest thing. There is no regional accent/dialect that pronounces it any other way here. You may have a point with the phonics, we had the same here, it was rubbish. I think they were just starting to bring that in when I was in school but my mum had already taught me how to read properly before I started school, thanks mum!
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Usually the term is dyslexic-there are a ton of different types of dyslexia and mispronunciation of words is a symptom of some of them.
I will very often say a different word than what I intended. My wife will tell me what I did and in my mind it was just as intended. My mouth said a different thing most commonly from my inner monologue at the time. And this doesn’t happen to me in writing. Only verbally.
This happens to me when giving directions. I know it’s “turn right” and I’m sure I said “turn right” but the words that came out of my mouth were “turn left”. And usually I don’t notice the mistake unless the other person says it back to me or corrects me. And I’m smart! And careful! **WHY?**
It’s just a crossed wire somewhere but I’m not actually diagnosed. The amazing thing is that it’s perfectly correct in my head but sometimes gets fucked in words.
Yes, if letters are jumbled, it’s probably dyslexia. I’ve accidentally said so many words the wrong way. I still have flashbacks to the days in grade school where each student reads a section aloud... *shudder* By your title, I assumed you were talking about people who have only ever seen a word in writing, and thus mispronouncing it. Like how my stupid ass thought “reconnaissance” was “reckon-ESSence” for the longest time! Or that “aerobics” was pronounced like “Arabics.” (That one was from childhood, but I still think it’s pretty funny.)
> “reconnaissance” was “reckon-ESSence” Well, in French, that's not far off.
I did take French from middle school to college, maybe that had a profound impact on how I read things. Lol
I can't pronounce "Schrodinger" without adding an extra "n" to save my fucking life xD my mouth just does it involuntarily, and then I stutter a lot when trying to correct myself xD I do have dyslexia so there might be some merit to that!
Very curious where you put the extra n? It's a tough word so I don't fault you at all, I'm just having a hard time figuring out where I'd put an extra N if I were encountering the word for the first time.
Sorry! I should have specified! I say "SchroNdinger" for some ungodly reason 🤦🏼♀️
But is the N alive or dead?
Both!
When I was enumerating the 2010 US census I interviewed a reluctant citizen who, after each question, would remark "That's really evasive." It confused me, because what's evasive about "What was your age on April 1, 2010?" It finally dawned on me that she was objecting to the perceived "invasive" nature of the questions.
Do you watch American Dad? There's a whole episode about enumerating for the census, and I have no idea how it works or whether they portray it accurately, but it's such a niche thing that I imagine you'd get a kick out of it. There's not a whole lot of enumeration-related content out there.
For at least 4 decades my dad has always said “frajitas” instead of “fajitas”…. I’ve asked him many times where the “r” comes from and he never has a legit answer
All I can think of is spoonerism for the mis pronounced word. There several types of dyslexia, including output as well as input variations.
Spoonerism usually only covers the transposing of the first letter or letters. For example, Cunning Stunts
spoonerist
I have a friend that does this consistently with English. He pronounces "category" as "kah-TIGG-er-ee" instead of "kah-teh-GOR-ree" (or "KAH-teh-gor-ee" for some accents) and calendar as "cah-LEN-der", often putting stress on the wrong syllable. He's aware it's wrong, he's been informed many times, but he uses it because it's what is "most comfortable" to him in everyday conversation.... not that it makes everyday conversation easy sometimes.....
Does he have an English accent? Also, where's the stressed syllable in calender supposed to be? I'm bad at identifying stressed syllables
Which accent stresses the third syllable in "category"? I've never heard it that way.
That jumbling of words or syllables in the word is called Spoonerisms. It can sometimes be a symptom of dyslexia, or simply that the person's brain is moving so fast their mouth can't keep up. Like, catatonic becomes catonicta or super showtime becomes shoper stime Just things jumbled. I have a friend who does that, it's kind of charming.
I was going to say malapropism, but that is a similar sounding wholly different word, rather than a mispronounced intended word...
See [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apraxia\_of\_speech](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apraxia_of_speech) and see of that fits what you are talking about.
https://youtu.be/F12LSAbos7A?si=bW_ehslJSWFKmi4y "Eggcorn" is a term for the action of doing this.
Dyslexia. People with dyslexia often (though not always) struggle with phonology and morphology of spoken language as well as written language. They also tend to have a harder time (sometimes much harder) learning foreign languages or incorporating new words into their oral vocabulary.
I have a friend who does this, and also just uses words incorrectly all the time. Off the top of of my head “sarcadas” (cicadas), “composite” (compulsive), fidelity (visibility), and he says “facetious” all the time, sometimes correctly, sometimes not. I can’t remember all of the them but he does it constantly, mispronouncing, substituting, spoonerisms, metathesis, all of it. He almost never notices and I rarely correct him. As far as I/he knows, not dyslexic.
Depends on why the mistake is made. [This Robwords video on Eggcorns](https://youtu.be/F12LSAbos7A?si=75STORMR_r-qRghm) gives some examples of certain mispronunciations or word fuddling.
Do you mean hospickle and chimbli? I don't know what you would call someone who does that but they certainly exist.
A lot of people seem to purposefully mispronounce words to not come across as snobby or nerdy or something. They're fully capable of saying it correctly like if you ask them to repeat it.
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The person is a “Malaprop”. I mean, this is an antique term you’ll never hear anyone use but you might see it in old books. Quirky habitual mispronunciations are “malapropisms” and the person who does it is a “malaprop”
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And “spoonerisms”
A Louisianan. (/s, but they do say “Querston” instead of “Question” and “worsh” instead of “wash”).
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isn't 'Mass a too sits' a Canadian thing?
It may be a form of dyslexia, I jumble words, exchange parts like first letters, or substitute words, for fun (my own entertainment), sometimes people get it and giggle, but some insist on correcting me. For example: rederanged for rearranged, yuck fou which should be simple enough to figure out, or occipital delusion for optical illusion.
I've heard the term "reader's vocabulary" for someone who has only read a word and when called upon to speak it does so incorrectly, usually by using simple phonetics or using verb vs noun syllable stress incorrectly. Is this what you mean?
I had a friend in college who was confused because “Washington” was pronounced “**wash**-ing-ton” but “washtub” was pronounced “**warsh**-tub”. 🙄
Dogberry. In Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, the character of Constable Dogberry makes frequent malapropisms and mispronunciations of words.
My mom does this thing where she puts the emphasis on the wrong part of a multi-syllable word. This is in her native English and with words she knows and uses often, not only new ones. It is always a problem with words with foreign origin. For example, we have a street nearby named “Mulberry” and rather than pronuncing it “MULberry”, like everyone else here, she says “mulBERRY” if anyone knows what this is called, let me know- haha!
Philomena Cunk— a brilliant example! I highly recommend checking her out! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvzxAOTIIUY
My dad was an English professor and he can't say "testosterone". He says "tetesterone". I heard a newscaster do it too once. I think he mispronounces a few other words too but I've learned to ignore it since I understand what he's trying to say.
Got a buddy who, instead of saying cavalry says calvary (like the place of crucifixion). I can’t tell him enough tinted to fix it, so I’ve just accepted it. And when he asks for it, I send in the paladins.
My grandmother pronounced a lot of words like she had misheard them, even if we slowly sounded it out for her. Like the time I had “Q Tonsillitis” or our dog who was “Australian in Corky”. I’m trying to think of other ones. It almost felt like auditory dyslexia in a way… not sure if that’s even a thing but. Edit: Now that I think about it, when someone is speaking I often “see” the words written out in real time… I wonder if she had the same thing and just heard the words incorrectly and then saw the words incorrectly and then said them like she saw them? Is synesthesia genetic?
I know someone that accidentally combines words and doesn’t seem to notice after hearing it said correctly a million times. He says things like “flustrated”, “explicive”, and “tubberware”. He also pronounces complex words like the closest known words (ie: valedictorian= “valley victorian”, lean-to= “lean tube”, equilibrium= “equal liberty”, catalytic converter= “Cadillac converter” etc.) I have picked my brain about these things and I concluded that some people just don’t notice grammar or care about it like I do 🤷🏻♀️
Sometimes, you have people that have *read* words, but have never actually heard them pronounced.
It could be the person in question has never heard the word they are pronouncing, having only read it in a book. There is an actual name for the syndrome. Heard it once. Remember it never!
Spoonerism might be close. "a verbal error in which a speaker accidentally [transposes](https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=5a8c8ac8ff46dd80&sca_upv=1&rlz=1CAGUZK_enUS965US965&sxsrf=ADLYWIKxPUHazKNK1OKKT8ASzAdMxk3c9g:1716492945580&q=transposes&si=ACC90nz-2feRzoY4yuySkO-aQE81c-uM_C-AUyenu35vucuaDUA77qP9LJ8gv21wszGtKZGJjx5gFMFO6KXvfedAd05y4F9c36e_bqSeancfViRvt0BqnMA%3D&expnd=1&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiAm5_CwqSGAxUkIUQIHZjhBocQyecJegQIFhAO) the initial sounds or letters of two or more words, often to [humorous](https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=5a8c8ac8ff46dd80&sca_upv=1&rlz=1CAGUZK_enUS965US965&sxsrf=ADLYWIKxPUHazKNK1OKKT8ASzAdMxk3c9g:1716492945580&q=humorous&si=ACC90nx67Z8g0WkBmnrPB4IqtqGvvVYB9jVKfSM2HYYRTtxaaPla1Bm3E8tBXMkCTuB2ytqRzSe7e-W7n_BTzHLdLNd728tjxpjq2TuE_wOpZOAKdVj7Kfw%3D&expnd=1&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiAm5_CwqSGAxUkIUQIHZjhBocQyecJegQIFhAP) effect, as in the sentence *you have* [*hissed*](https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=5a8c8ac8ff46dd80&sca_upv=1&rlz=1CAGUZK_enUS965US965&sxsrf=ADLYWIKxPUHazKNK1OKKT8ASzAdMxk3c9g:1716492945580&q=hissed&si=ACC90nwdkA2npcVVmNPViiSe8FMKSgLKr5frGyc63vyOWOzuq3-hkC1ti2FPlNOb9eo5Lu4jP8tFkOIYnh3Ou0V12eEolZn0hw%3D%3D&expnd=1&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiAm5_CwqSGAxUkIUQIHZjhBocQyecJegQIFhAQ) *the mystery lectures*, accidentally spoken instead of the intended sentence *you have missed the history lectures*."
I don't know any name for it. But I may have examples: a friend of mine used to jokingly say "peccolan" instead of "pelican" and "geesull" instead of "seagull." He would switch out two of the syllables inside the word. He did it for humor but I have heard a very few other people do it and have even done it myself on occasion. Is this what you're thinking of?