Any words that you simply CANNOT speak.

[holy_secret]

Pretty much the title. Today I noticed while studying for a test that I can't say the word 'Massachusetts.' Keeps coming out as 'Massa-two-shits' for some bizzare reason.

This. Dear god this. Massachushits.
And exchange. It comes out as ekshange. Gah this word is just too damn difficult for me to pronounce.

In German, I have a prob saying Spezifisch. It's supposed to be pronounced like "shpetseefish", but I always manage to butcher it into "spetsheefish" or something similar to that display of failure.

 

[ObliviousGenius]

Stethoscope, I can never EVER say that damn word right.

I always end up saying stethethscope, and I end up stopping and trying to say it right before giving up.

That word is the devil to me.

The same, only I say, "stethsocope." Spent a whole evening driving myself crazy getting it out while my friend peed herself laughing. And usually I'm so articulate, too. (Famous last words, those are.)

But I thought that the Lit major would like to know that cinnamon and synonyms aren't synonyms. They're semi-homophones.

 

[The White Light]

Nebraska. I always pronounce it as "New Braska"

 

[soren7550]

Epitome. But that's partly just to annoy my boyfriend. I keep pronouncing it 'ep a tone'.

 

[Fiz_The_Toaster]

Stethoscope, I can never EVER say that damn word right.

I always end up saying stethethscope, and I end up stopping and trying to say it right before giving up.

That word is the devil to me.

The same, only I say, "stethsocope." Spent a whole evening driving myself crazy getting it out while my friend peed herself laughing. And usually I'm so articulate, too. (Famous last words, those are.)

But I thought that the Lit major would like to know that cinnamon and synonyms aren't synonyms. They're semi-homophones.

I know a friend of mine always tries to get me to say it because he knows I can't say it right all because one time I completely stuttered and ruined the word trying to say it right the first time.

Evil evil man.

 

[Lerasai]

I can't think of any words I'm unable to pronounce. Although I'm sure that there are some which I mispronounce due to having read them and never hearing them.

Exactly what I was going to say.

Whenever there's a word I've read but not heard I hesitate to use it since how you may think it is pronounced from what it looks like can be drastically different from how people actually say it. And then there are those words that no one seems able to agree on the pronunciation of!

Sometimes I think it would be best to just save myself the embarrassment and never speak. I shall communicate solely through interpretive dance.

 

[sarahvait]

My mom has a problem with embedded Ls, so she'll pronounce golf and wolf like woof and gohf. Apparently it hurts her throat or something to say it correctly.

 

[StarsintheBlood]

None come to mind, but I once did have insane difficulty saying "dyslexia", oddly enough. Even after fifteen desperate attempts, I could not get it right and gave up. I think I can say it now, but it was quite odd.

 

[SSoSFAGTiaCaGwaP]

I can't say domino without thinking carefully. It always comes out don-i-mo.

 

[Loves2spooge]

Oh and the classic "Aluminium", its not alooominuum, its al-u-min-ium.

Actually, it's nothing to do with pronounciation, it's spelled "Aluminum" in the US.

As for a word I can't say, I can't pronounce 'rural' for the life in me. I'm British, but I don't have any definable region to my accent, but for some reason when I say it, it just sounds like "rrrul".

 

[cthulhlu]

i sometimes think i have a speech impediment, i will literally Forget how to say a word mid sentence, other times i slur like a drunken sailor, ive started doing little tongue twisters to force myself to speak proper

 

[shrekfan246]

I have yet to find the word that I can't pronounce if we're looking at my dialect/language specifically. Naturally, there are a lot of words in foreign languages that I have difficulty with (FUCK languages with contrastive aspiration).

But if we're speaking inter-dialectally, allow me to offer some fun ones that should hold for quite a few of you:
Can you pronounce a difference between pin and pen?
Between caught and cot?
What about line and loin?
Mare and mayor?

"Caught v. Cot" and "Mare v. Mayor" sound alike in my particular New Englander dialect.

OT: Hm. I can't think of many relatively common words that I can't pronounce (Meaning words like "Hippopatomonstrosesquipedaliophobia" are out, although I can pronounce that particular one), though I'm sure all of the "proper" British people would have issues with some of my pronunciations simply based on being an American.

However, dialects abound, and so some words don't come out sounding quite as phonetic as they might in a different accent. Most words with t's in them have the t muted. Take "muted", for instance. It comes out as "mew-did". Now, I do know the proper enunciation and can speak that way, but it's simply not natural for my dialect. The muddled enunciation also makes it fun when phrases like "Deus Ex" are put into conversation - Everyone always seems to hear "Day O' Sex". I mean, really? Do I have to put a full stop between the two words just to get the proper enunciation so people don't mistake that?

 

[Joshimodo]

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch. The longest place name in the UK.

Does Cthulhu's family live there or something? Goddam you cant even pronounce that many letters together lacking vowels.

It's Welsh - Most of those letters aren't pronounced in the same way. Ll and ch, for example, are singular letters in Welsh.

 

[Hexenwolf]

A lot of people have told me I (and my brother and mother as well apparently) pronounce room funny. I don't think so but *shrug*.

On the topic though, I have a friend that always says "turrent" instead of "turret," and, it just bothers me.... so much. So much.

 

[Agayek]

I'm capable of pronouncing any word in English, Latin-based languages or Japanese.

It occasionally takes me 3-4 tries, but I ultimately get it right.

 

[joshuaayt]

Phonetically, not really- I have little difficulty sounding out any words I come across.

In practice, though? I've always been too scared to say 'Candlejack'. But, that's kinda silly- not like anything bad will come of i

 

[LetalisK]

snip

Fuck that shit.

Imagine being the scientist who discovered it and had to spend about five months trying to write down the name for the scientific journals. And something else I wonder: How does an editor or scientist know if someone misspelled that word?

snip

I almost want to say; "You're making that up."

I thought it was bullshit too when I first heard about it. Come to find out, though, it is the official name of the protein Titin.

I think the scientist who discovered it was just being a dick.

 

[Subwayeatn]

i used to pronounce linen "line-en". But i can't stand when people saying "drawring" instead of drawing, "drowring" is even worse.

 

[zehydra]

"Massa-two-shits"

lol, that's funny.

I guess I don't have any English words that I have difficulty pronouncing.

Edit: I know "breakfast" tends to be an issue with some people. My brother pronounces it breffikst.

 

[yman15]

I have a slight lisp so I can't say th sounds properly. For example I can't say "both" it comes out as "boat" or instead of "loathe" it comes out as "load." But nobody seems to notice unless I if tell them so it doesn't really matter.