Words you pronounced wrong for a long time (or others do)

[Borodog]

[ QUOTE ]
Gnocchi (no-key) - thought it was no-chee; this might fall under the catagory of rio grand vs rio gran-day, but there is no real way to englishize gnocchi. also, if no-key is wrong, someone elighten me, since i just learned this.

[/ QUOTE ]

Gnocchi is closer to nyo-key than no-key.

[spamuell]

Well, Borodog, they're obviously different. I also still don't know if the letter "g" in both tautologous and hegemony should be pronounced as a "g" or "j". I was pretty sure that hegemony was a "j" but then I heard this respected politics professor say it with a "g" and now I have no idea.

[LuckOfTheDraw]

Oh yeah. I used to pronounced sycophant PSYCHO-PHANT. I actually got called out on this one several years ago after using it in a sentence and was thoroughly embarrassed.

[El Diablo]

million: nyo-key

Boro: cAHnt

[Borodog]

[ QUOTE ]
Well, Borodog, they're obviously different. I also still don't know if the letter "g" in both tautologous and hegemony should be pronounced as a "g" or "j". I was pretty sure that hegemony was a "j" but then I heard this respected politics professor say it with a "g" and now I have no idea.

[/ QUOTE ]

Hard g in tautologous, soft in hegemony.

And rant, can't, pant all rhyme in most American dialects (there are some Thurston Howell types that I suppose would pronounce can't as though it rhymes with want, but it is not the norm).

Edit to make clear: I am NOT saying the English pronunciation is wrong, just that it was funny to read the sentence, since to me all 3 words rhyme.

[Cancer Merchant]

[ QUOTE ]
I don't know if this is going to work if you don't have a London accent, but I pronounce "rant" as if it rhymes with "can't" rather than with "pant". Everyone I know tells me this is wrong but I refuse to accept their views. It's quite good at stopping any argument though, I just say "look you don't need to rant about it" and the conversation immediately turns away from the heated discussed and towards making fun of me.

[/ QUOTE ]

So, what's the difference between the pronunciations of these three words, for the benefit of those of us who pronounce all three the same?

[LuckOfTheDraw]

One more I just remembered. In 5th grade, I mispronounced Niger. My teacher thought I was just trying to be cute and sent me to the office. I seriously figured that's where the derogatory term came from.

[spamuell]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I don't know if this is going to work if you don't have a London accent, but I pronounce "rant" as if it rhymes with "can't" rather than with "pant". Everyone I know tells me this is wrong but I refuse to accept their views. It's quite good at stopping any argument though, I just say "look you don't need to rant about it" and the conversation immediately turns away from the heated discussed and towards making fun of me.

[/ QUOTE ]

So, what's the difference between the pronunciations of these three words, for the benefit of those of us who pronounce all three the same?

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, can't is accepted as being pronounced cahn't whereas pant is how it appears.

[ddubois]

I thought eschew was "eh-SHOO" for many years.

[LuckOfTheDraw]

[ QUOTE ]
I thought eschew was "eh-SHOO" for many years.

[/ QUOTE ]

Eh-Shoo is the more common (and correct) way to pronounce this word.