this post was submitted on 14 Jul 2025
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Before I heard it being said I kept pronouncing the surname "Mangione" as "Man-jee-own" rather than "man-jo-nee" and I'm still ashamed about it lol I'm sorry

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[–] Deestan@lemmy.world 26 points 2 months ago (7 children)

All English town names, by spite and ignorance but mostly spite.

Oh, I am not pronounching "Glouchestershire" correctly? SPELL it correctly then!

[–] flamingo_pinyata@sopuli.xyz 20 points 2 months ago

For all native English speakers, this is how the rest of us feel about any words in English

[–] spankmonkey@lemmy.world 11 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Is that the one pronounced "Wooster"?

[–] TheLeadenSea@sh.itjust.works 7 points 2 months ago (1 children)

No, Worcestershire is pronounced woostershire

[–] LovableSidekick@lemmy.world 4 points 2 months ago

And Gloucestershire sounds like Glousteshire.

[–] slazer2au@lemmy.world 8 points 2 months ago (1 children)

There was a YouTube video I watch ages ago and it explained it pretty well.

The differences depends on who settled the town. Roman, Saxon, or Viking

[–] frenchfryenjoyer@lemmings.world 6 points 2 months ago (2 children)

I have American friends who couldn't pronounce it. it was always some variant of "Glow-kester-sheer" but tbh I can't blame them, the spelling doesn't do the pronunciation justice 😂

[–] Deestan@lemmy.world 9 points 2 months ago

I think I'm supposed to say "gl" and then the vocal equivalent of "asdfasdfasdf"

[–] Skua@kbin.earth 7 points 2 months ago

Start intentionally pronouncing "Pittsburgh" with the -burgh suffix from Edinburgh or Musselburgh to get them back

[–] LovableSidekick@lemmy.world 4 points 2 months ago

In his comments on the Jeeves & Wooster series Stephen Fry talked a bit about English family names. Among others, he said Mainwaring is pronounced "Mannering", and Cholmondeley is "Chumley".

[–] klemptor@startrek.website 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)
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[–] bjoern_tantau@swg-empire.de 2 points 2 months ago

When I was on vacation with my father in Scotland we wanted to see the highland games in Glenisla. We needed directions or needed to know the exact date when they'd take place or so, so we went to some tourist information. That poor girl there had no idea what we wanted when we asked about glennis-law. But she soon figured out that we meant glen-ila.

The highland games were awesome, btw!

[–] makingStuffForFun@lemmy.ml 21 points 2 months ago (6 children)

Pronounced Siobhan as SheOhBahn for years.

Sorry SheVohn!

[–] frenchfryenjoyer@lemmings.world 6 points 2 months ago

omg I know the feeling. had someone in college named this and I pronounced it the same way until she corrected me and I was so sorry 😭 an apology to Siobhans everywhere!

[–] Etterra@discuss.online 5 points 2 months ago

Yeah, and apparently it's the Irish equivalent of fucking "Joan" or similar. JFC.

[–] selkiesidhe@sh.itjust.works 4 points 2 months ago (1 children)

For me it's, Saoirse

I have to look it up every time I see it.

[–] ouRKaoS@lemmy.today 2 points 2 months ago

If I remember this one, it's Sher-sha?

[–] garbagebagel@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago

I used to have a work friend named Siobhan and when I'd come home I'd mention her to my partner. Sometimes I would text him about her. He fully thought these were two different people for like a year.

[–] LovableSidekick@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Same here. One of my favorite bit-part actors is Siobhan Fallon, who played the wife of "Egger" in Men in Black. She absolutely stole the few scenes she was in. I didn't know I was mispronouncing her name for years.

[–] _LordMcNuggets_@feddit.org 3 points 2 months ago

came here to say literally THIS name haha, crazy

[–] leaky_shower_thought@feddit.nl 10 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Chongqing like "Chongqing Chicken". not pronounced "chonking".

"Añejo", not pronounced "ah-neh-joe"

"Hors d'oeuvre". funnily not pronounced "horse divorce".

[–] spankmonkey@lemmy.world 15 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

"Hors d’oeuvre”. funnily not pronounced “horse divorce”.

That's a new one and I love it I like calling them "hours devours" which also adds in a non-existing consonant.

[–] leaky_shower_thought@feddit.nl 4 points 2 months ago (1 children)

yeah, french (and borrowed words) is usually my hard-mode when it comes to pronunciations. this one is special because it's dessert (or so I think).

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[–] Akasazh@feddit.nl 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

How's Chongqing pronounced?

[–] leaky_shower_thought@feddit.nl 4 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Wikipedia says it is like Chóngqìng. "Chong" with long o sound, then tsin.

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[–] lol@discuss.tchncs.de 9 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (4 children)
[–] klemptor@startrek.website 4 points 2 months ago

Seer-shuh I think

[–] hansolo@lemmy.today 2 points 2 months ago

Some friends named their kid this, but we moved right before the kid was born.

It's been years, and many Zoom calls. Still no idea how to say it

[–] hddsx@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 months ago
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[–] shalafi@lemmy.world 8 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Any Chinese name beginning with X. Took me awhile to figure out Nuyen as well.

[–] Akasazh@feddit.nl 9 points 2 months ago

Nguyen

'N when did you find out?

[–] garbagebagel@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago

Isn't X just like a muted "sh"?

[–] captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 8 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I'm not convinced there is a correct pronunciation for "Kirsten."

[–] zammy95@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago

Are you combining it in your head with Kristen or Kierstin?

[–] Etterra@discuss.online 6 points 2 months ago (3 children)

Ghislaine, but I do it on purpose.

I'm still trying to get some Irish names right in my head, specifically Rhiannon and especially Siobhan.

[–] Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 2 months ago

Team Jizz Lane

[–] phoenixz@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 months ago

I did so too but that's because I knew an actual Ghislaine who pronounced her own name like "djizlaine"

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[–] blarghly@lemmy.world 6 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Apparently, any Indian names until I can see how they are spelled.

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[–] Nemo@slrpnk.net 4 points 2 months ago

Loudon Wainwright

[–] LovableSidekick@lemmy.world 4 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Just mentioned this in another thread - Kraken. I say it phonetically - "krayken - but for some reason the world says "cracken".

[–] Whitebrow@lemmy.world 4 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Gonna use this thread as inspiration to piss off people, thank you for your contributions.

Also Gyro is pronounced j-eye-roe.

[–] underline960@sh.itjust.works 8 points 2 months ago

I thought it was yee-row.

[–] hiramfromthechi@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago

I'll answer for the 99% of people in my life: Hiram

🫠

[–] EndlessNightmare@reddthat.com 3 points 2 months ago

Lancaster (as in Pennsylvania).

Pronounced it as "LAN Caster" like some sort of cyberpunk mage.

[–] hubobes@sh.itjust.works 3 points 2 months ago

I always pronounced Tolkens name as Token, apparently nobody else made that mistake.

[–] Venicon@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago

Two common names in Scotland are Aileen and Eileen but damned if I don’t say the wrong one every time.

[–] brendansimms@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago

Hasan - I feel like different people have different pronunciations of it and I can't keep track of which is for who.

[–] mysticpickle@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 months ago

Internal monologue:

Fuck. Jeremy? Germy? Jehrehmy? Jerremy?

Yo! J-dawg how's it hanging man?

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