Antipodes. Literally means the opposite point of a location, like the farthest point on the planet from where you're standing. I want to weave it into a piece someday, but never have. And I've certainly never said. Why bother? I would have to explain the word anyways, which would just make me sound like I'm trying to be self-important.
Yes, I think that's the way we used to say it back in Michigan ...although I've been here in Scotland so long I've kinda forgotten how I used to say things. It was never 'door,' but 'dow-er' sounds familiar.
Thanks, all! I've always thought I had these problems because English is my second language. It's refreshing to read that this is not the case.
Draconian is a word I've read but never said. And a word I can't say is synonym. I can spell it. I can read it. But it always comes out sounding like cinnamon.
its said cops... but its more like a small woodland than just a stand of trees. just to confuse the issue coppice (which you'll also see used a synonym for copse) refers to the woodland management technique coppicing, where certain species of tree are cut to the ground and allowed to regrow in multi-stemmed 'stools' in order to get wood for spars, and charcoal and so forth... in a woodland when an area is cut for copicing it is known as a coupe which although its spelled like 'coop pay' but without the accent.. is said coop - like something you'd keep chickens in
hyperbole was one that confused me for a long time - I thought that it was said 'high per bowl' instead of the correct pronunciation of hy per ber lee
If I had one I would never take it off. I remember egregious from League of Gentleman (UK comedy TV show) where it played a major role in one episode foe the very fact it was "one of those words", which I think makes it a golden example. Thought of fey last night too. Might try and put them all in a story and then put it on the forum for critique and see what happens.
Ok, I had to get to the bottom of this whole Dour debacle, so I looked up the pronunciation. Here's the first thing I saw: do͝or That's why I thought it was pronounced like Door. I had no idea why there's a little amazon smile over the Os or how that affects pronunciation. Then I listened to the audio and it rhymes with Sour or Hour. Well crap—that's the way I originally pronounced it! These weird marks in the pronunciation don't really help, they just make it even more mysterious!
This isn't a word but a phrase. At work I once said "I wouldn't presume to know what she's thinking". And let's just say I worked with some very—street level people. They all started laughing like crazy and every time one of them spoke to me for like a week they always found a way to fit in "I wouldn't presume to know this, but..."
Bespoke. It's a custom bike, or custom built bike, not fucking bespoke bike, you pretentious douchebag.... Maybe I'm too angry about such a trivial thing.
Wreak, as in 'wreak havoc'. I've heard it pronounced 'reek' and also 'reck'. Also our old friend gyro, about which even Greek restaurant people seem to be unable to reach a consensus.
Goethe. I was well-read by the time I was in community college and even more so, once in University. I had read Goethe's Faust several times, along with everyone else's Faust. It was a phase. So when I was discussing...idk, some random unimportant and likely pompous topic with our local philosophy and debate roundtable(humbly nicknamed The Socratic Society), I casually threw out his name. "Go-thuh" Everyone looked at me funny. Then their Community College professor eyes swelled with pity. "You mean: "Gerta," they all said. Well, naturally. That's how it's spelled, after all... For over four years, I thought the man's surname was just: "Goth" with a bit of an extra "Th" at the end and a long "O". -SIN
The "oe" is (in this case) the umlaut "ö", pronunciationwise. We Germans know native English-speakers have trouble with the pronunciation, so don't obsess with it too much (however, one should know there's no "th" sound in German.) There's this Billy Wilder movie from 1961, "One-Two-Three". James Cagney as the Coca-Cola-representative in Berlin. In one scene, he storms out his office proclaiming "I'm late for my umlaut-training!"
my father was an English teacher so we had many books like this around the house when I was a kid... when I was very young I thought that book was called "Go the Faust" which confused me because I didn't know what a faust was or how one would go there
