Pronunciation that makes you cringe

[Legs]

We recently watched The Piano on C4 - perhaps I can let him off the hook because of his cosmopolitan upbringing, but Mika's pronunciation of various words had me cringing several times per episode.  Obviously I can't think of any particular examples atm.

[Kim]

Detritus is a word I learned by reading, and consequently have no idea how to say, but would probably go for debt-tri-tuss.

[rafletcher]

Detritus is a word I learned by reading, and consequently have no idea how to say, but would probably go for debt-tri-tuss.

De-TRY-tuss, stress on the caps.

[T42]

A basic rule of English pronunciation appears to be that if a multisyllabic word looks foreign put the stress on the second syllable, make it sound as un-foreign as possible and get the rest of it out of the way as quickly as possible.

[ian]

If you're not sure how to pronounce a word, do it a bit foreign and with indubitable panache. Generally, people will then start to believe they're the ones pronouncing it wrong. This only works on middle-class people, of course. This kind of thing is also the MO of typical toffs, for whom deliberate mispronunciation is a way to put educated plebs in their place. Bally place went to pot when they started calling polytechnics universities.

[spesh]

Detritus is pronounced "Sarge" or "Sir". Especially when he is carrying what he calls The Piecemaker.

[Kim]

Detritus is pronounced "Sarge" or "Sir". Especially when he is carrying what he calls The Piecemaker.

 

[hubner]

/dɪˈtraɪ.təs/

dee TRY tas

[cygnet]

Detritus is pronounced "Sarge" or "Sir". Especially when he is carrying what he calls The Piecemaker.

That is wonderful pterry wordplay.

[T42]

Detritus is pronounced "Sarge" or "Sir". Especially when he is carrying what he calls The Piecemaker.

That is wonderful pterry wordplay.

Gotcha. I was searching in Gaul.

[T42]

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/may/26/its-new-territory-why-is-betelgeuse-is-glowing-so-brightly-and-behaving-so-strangely

In Greek astronomy, Betelgeuse (pronounced “beetlejuice”, like the Tim Burton film character) marks one of the shoulders in the constellation Orion...

Ignorant sods.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Absolutely, should be Yadalgeuse!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betelgeuse#Nomenclature

[T42]

Absolutely, should be Yadalgeuse!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betelgeuse#Nomenclature

  I like that. Yada yada yada...

[Cudzoziemiec]

A windy, wet, cold and miserable day.
"My daughter lives on the next street, she'll give us a cup of tea. And I've got lebushkins."
"What are they?"
A produces a packet of Lebkuchen. B salivates and henceforth adopts the term lebushkins. It has a softness to it that is missing from the original name.

[T42]

Sounds Russian.  Didn't he write Tolstoy's War and Potatoes?

[Ham]

A windy, wet, cold and miserable day.
"My daughter lives on the next street, she'll give us a cup of tea. And I've got lebushkins."
"What are they?"
A produces a packet of Lebkuchen. B salivates and henceforth adopts the term lebushkins. It has a softness to it that is missing from the original name.

The original has more body 

[hubner]

OK it's not specific words, but creaky voice (vocal fry) and rising intonation (upspeak).

[Legs]

MarshmAllow.  FFS.

[Mr Larrington]

Miss von Brandenburg brought me a packet of Lebushkins back from That Germany the other day but – mirabile dictu – I et 'em all inside three days.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Miss von Brandenburg brought me a packet of Lebushkins back from That Germany the other day but – mirabile dictu – I et 'em all inside three days.

Would have been gone in two here. 

[T42]

Magnetometer as magneto meter in a YT documentary. Forget which but accent wasn't American.

[Morat]

OK it's not specific words, but creaky voice (vocal fry) and rising intonation (upspeak).

Yes! Upspeak is irritating, but the amount of vocal fry I've encountered on video calls recently make me grumpy as it can be really hard to understand.

[hellymedic]

Miss von Brandenburg brought me a packet of Lebushkins back from That Germany the other day but – mirabile dictu – I et 'em all inside three days.

D hates Lebkuchen. I have to hide them away and eat them when he's not looking.
(We both pronounce this correctly, being offsprung from German mother-tongued women.)

[PhilO]

OK it's not specific words, but creaky voice (vocal fry) and rising intonation (upspeak).

Yes! Upspeak is irritating, but the amount of vocal fry I've encountered on video calls recently make me grumpy as it can be really hard to understand.

I'd never heard the term 'fry' in this context until a few weeks ago, when I listened to this podcast: https://open.spotify.com/episode/04gfq0V1ipFk8kP1TNKfSf  It seems it's fashionable to use 'sexy baby'* voice at the moment - here's hoping it's a short lived fashion!

* Just the name sounds problematic enough! 

[Rod Marton]

Sounds Russian.  Didn't he write Tolstoy's War and Potatoes?

The Russian version of Lebkuchen are called pryaniki. Though the German ones are nicer.