Inconsistent word pronunciations

[JamesG]

Some words relating to SI Units are not pronounced in a logical way. My example is kilometer. People say kil-oh-gram and kil-oh liter etc and then say kil-om-meter instead of kil-oh-meter. It even happens in some European countries like Germany. Why? The French would never say it that way.

Anyone think of other examples?

[Ken Cheng]

There's always the classic toMAYto and toMAto (for "tomato").

Who on Earth ever really says "toMAto" anyway?

[oGaKirA]

Some words relating to SI Units are not pronounced in a logical way. My example is kilometer. People say kil-oh-gram and kil-oh liter etc and then say kil-om-meter instead of kil-oh-meter. It even happens in some European countries like Germany. Why? The French would never say it that way.

Anyone think of other examples?

Not sure if the words in question fall into this category but English do have sooo many word exceptions to rules and down rite confusing at times. Im not an expert but...after taking Spanish for 2 years in Highschool...I can see this. Spanish you don't have that problem.

You have your Latin daughter languages like Spanish, French, Italian, etc. and they are well structured and efficient. Then you have the English language which is Latin influenced but still...they seem to make up their own rules along the way.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_language

[dgfds01]

There's always the classic toMAYto and toMAto (for "tomato").

Who on Earth ever really says "toMAto" anyway?

It's called differences in accents. No one is right and no one is wrong.

[pemberly]

There's always the classic toMAYto and toMAto (for "tomato").

Who on Earth ever really says "toMAto" anyway?

ppl in england do. where they speak english as opposed to our wayward american-ese.

[yittz]

There's always the classic toMAYto and toMAto (for "tomato").

Who on Earth ever really says "toMAto" anyway?

Umm me? But I don't say poTAto, instead i say poTAYto. I find Americans say 'T' differently - like water they say wa'd'er.

[imthatlady]

omg, the english accent is SO hott<3 hence, why i wana go to london lmao. i heard the boys r pretty hott

[JamesG]

Umm me? But I don't say poTAto, instead i say poTAYto. I find Americans say 'T' differently - like water they say wa'd'er.

Americans have regional accents just like Canada and many other countries, so the pronunciation of some words is also regional.

[PJ]

Semi
Some say Semigh
Others say Semee

Varchar
Some say VwereCare
Others say VwarChar

[pemberly]

mature. i hate it when ppl pronounce it ma-toor.

[LuNaR]

nuclear (example: george bush)

[PJ]

mature. i hate it when ppl pronounce it ma-toor.

Heh.
The one that gets me is when people pronounce Interesting as Inter Resting.

[john-e]

Schedule: sked-jul and shed-jul

Caribbean: Kare-uh-bee-un and Ka-rib-ian

[yearning]

British accents annoy me for some reason. The to-MA-toe thing is weird too...sounds so American.

I had so much fun listening to Southern Carolina people talk on my trip to US 2 summers ago.

The worst one is y'all....sounds so Yankee.

Or roof (some ppl pronounce it 'ruff'') and ROUTER (roo-ter) not r'all-ter.

[JamesG]

Garage pronounced gar-ahzh and graj.

[HuangYushi]

There's always the classic toMAYto and toMAto (for "tomato").
Who on Earth ever really says "toMAto" anyway?

It's called differences in accents. No one is right and no one is wrong.

There's one way of saying "tomato" and "potato" that a lot of American and British people are not aware of. It's call the monotone way, i.e. say every syllable separately in the same tone and speed:

1. to(h)-ma(h)-to(h), without the (h) sound.
2. po(h)-tay-to(h), with the po(h) and to(h) rhyming with "oh".

[PJ]

OK, here is one that gets me every time. Why do China-educated people always pronounce method as metherd?

[HuangYushi]

Any why do a lot of people in Singapore pronounce "funny" as "faah-neee"?

[oGaKirA]

BUT.....errrr....IF we go by the "correct pronounciation"(i think we've all forgot about that) as described in the Dictionary, then JamesG's point is apparent. There is definately an inconsistancy in the rules.

ki·lom·e·ter [ ki lómmətər ]
kil·o·gram [ kíllə gràm ]

[annaaa]

Ask -> axe or axed

i always hear people say "He axed his techer why he failed"