Words you should be carefull pronouncing

Niles Standish   Wed Jun 28, 2006 11:22 pm GMT
I say, can any of you chaps give me a hand on this? I found that the Engrish language has some words that can change meaning through pronounciation. I know analize and annalize; and Uranus for Ur-anus.

Can anyone give me examples of other words that, by changing pronounciation, turn into completely and perhaps not-recomendable words?...

Thank you all wonderfull people, cheers!
Mick   Thu Jun 29, 2006 5:05 pm GMT
Please forgive me, but I can't let this go:

Can I just point out that the word is 'pronunciation,' not 'pronounciation,' even though we do say that a word is 'pronounced' a certain way.

Sorry for being an ass, but 'pronounciation' is one of my pet hates. I have a feeling I was corrected in class by a sarcastic teacher years ago and it left some kind of mental scar which leads me to do exactly the same to others these days in a public forum!

In any case the root of the word, for what it's worth, is the Latin 'nuncupare' - 'to pronounce formally.'

Watch your double 'L's on the end of words too. Although the stem word is 'full,' compound words that use it as an ending generally drop the second 'L,' giving words like 'wonderful,' 'careful,' 'spoonful,' etc.


Getting back on topic:
My current favourite changes of meaning due to changes in pronunciation are:

Sundried - Miscellaneous / Sun-dried (dried in the sun)
Sundried tomatoes; Miscellaneous tomatoes? Heh heh!

Moped - A small powered bike / To be depressed.
When I read 'He moped about the house all morning' I think of someone tearing around the house on a little motorscooter. Gives me a giggle.
Uriel   Thu Jun 29, 2006 5:10 pm GMT
I've never heard of sundried, as in miscellaneous. I've only heard it as "sundry".
Mick   Thu Jun 29, 2006 5:18 pm GMT
You're absolutely right: 'Sundried' to mean miscellaneous is a complete fabrication; the correct word is indeed 'sundry,' but never grammar or spelling stand in the way of a good pun!
Jim   Tue Jul 04, 2006 4:37 am GMT
No but if the grammar and/or spelling is too far off then it's no longer a good pun, just nonsense.
Guest   Tue Jul 04, 2006 8:26 am GMT
One word that got the confusion in me running at 110% is the pronunciation of 'Route' and 'Router'. I suppose the second pronunciation is different due to it being an American invention?
Guest   Tue Jul 04, 2006 8:43 am GMT
Well, at least in Computing, it wouldn't be right to pronounce it 'rooter'. I couldn't imagine it being pronounced that way in IT departments.
Gabriel   Tue Jul 04, 2006 10:48 pm GMT
I think I read this one in a short story by Isaac Asimov:

polish ["pQl. IS] : as in furniture or nail polish
Polish ["p@Ul. IS] : someone from Poland
"Rub polish lightly with your finger." :)
Graham   Wed Jul 05, 2006 8:59 am GMT
<<Well, at least in Computing, it wouldn't be right to pronounce it 'rooter'. I couldn't imagine it being pronounced that way in IT departments.>>

Sorry to contradict you, Guest, but in my UK-based IT department, at least, and in every other UK IT context that I've heard it used, it IS pronounced "rooter".

The association with the word "route", which is pronounced "root" in the Uk, and "rowt" in the US, is the cause of the difference.

The UK pronunciation is closer to the French, which is also "root", which is where the word originally came into the English language from, I suspect.

However, "router" when applied to the groove-making tool, IS pronounced "rowter" in the UK. I'm not sure what that context's derivation is, though...
Guest   Wed Jul 05, 2006 10:29 am GMT
This might explain our differences:

Router
A router is used to connect one network to another, for example to join two LANs together. In the US and Australia the pronunciation of router rhymes with outer, whilst in the UK the pronunciation is ‘rooter’.
http://www.thefutureplace.com/OnlineGlossary/Online_Glossary.htm
Graham   Wed Jul 05, 2006 5:53 pm GMT
Indeed.

Vive la difference ;-)