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Announcements Mar 27, 2026 at 6:26 PM

Words you can't pronounce?

Posted by Zealousideal_Pen_596


I can't pronounce cysts. I just end up saying "sis" or something along the lines of that. This is somewhat related. I instinctively pronounce the C in scissors like a K. When I was younger I had trouble spelling it since I always forgot the C, so to remember I just pronounced it that way. What's some words you can't pronounce?

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gothiclg Mar 27, 2026 +4
Abominable, like abominable snowman. He becomes the abdominal snowman
4
jarchack Mar 27, 2026 +5
I think that's a dialect thing, not necessarily a mispronunciation. For example, some people actually use a hard "t" in the word often and many do not. I've heard quite a few people use the "sh" sound for words that begin with s, e.g. shtreaming instead of streaming.
5
wht_8 Mar 27, 2026 +3
worcestershire
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Yunagi Mar 27, 2026 +1
Wooster-sher/Wurster-sher. Or just say wooster sauce. Words from the UK like Leicestershire, Worcestershire, you don't say the "ce" syllable. Leicester is "Lester-sher" not, "le-ces-ter-sher".
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ailish Mar 27, 2026 +1
No one can say that word. It's designed to be impossible.
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Alone-Tart4762 Mar 27, 2026 +2
I have a stutter, especially when stressed. I won’t be able to get the word out and it becomes a circular thing. I developed the strategy of “talk around it” that were words related to what I was trying to say and it made things a lot easier. As a kid, I used to say “clumb” as the past tense of climb. I had a rhyme about it - trees are clumb, fish are swum, singers have swung - and it helped me be less frustrated. I do still say skizzers when I mean scissors and also can’t pronounce parliament without calling it pard-lament.
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-ChristianTruth- Mar 27, 2026 +2
I found it hard to pronounce a lot of names from the Bible. As for my wife, she loves them, just can't name them: spistachios.
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Direct-Obligation533 Mar 27, 2026 +2
for me it’s definitely "quinoa" lol, always butcher it. and don’t even get me started on "rural," that one trips me up every time.
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Icy_Vanilla_4317 Mar 27, 2026 +1
I actually don't even now how to pronaunce that correctly lol i've only read it, and the videos I've seen about it where muted, because I had other peopke around me 😅 I struggle with: - Pizza, it always come out as Pitza. - Squirrel, who made that word? lol
1
OperationKey3399 Mar 27, 2026 +2
Pillow, and temple/tempo
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lavendar-bumblebee Mar 27, 2026 +2
Cyanocobalamin.
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Zealousideal_Pen_596 Mar 28, 2026 +1
What even is that?
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lavendar-bumblebee Mar 28, 2026 +1
Vitamin B lol
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Actual-Bid-6044 Mar 27, 2026 +2
CanNOT for the life of me say words that have 2 rs separated by a vowel. Rural. Rory. Nope. Rory would have been a great name for a kid but I thought it was better if I named her something I could say :)
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tnabrams64 Mar 27, 2026 +1
Kind of a side note but I feel like rural would be a nightmare to pronounce if you're learning English.
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Actual-Bid-6044 Mar 28, 2026 +1
Thanks for the validation. It's my first language, but that kind of word - nope!
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avemflamma Mar 27, 2026 +2
rural
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The_wanderer96 Mar 27, 2026 +1
Authoritarian
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Zealousideal_Pen_596 Mar 27, 2026 +2
That stumped me too for a sec
2
moesickle Mar 27, 2026 +1
My PWN "accent" makes it difficult for me to articulate Dawn and Don.
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AffectionateMonk5710 Mar 27, 2026 +1
Every once in a while, "cinnamon" comes out correctly and clear, but more often than not, it gets twisted around and come out more like synonym or cinnimon or something weird.
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NatureLady10 Mar 27, 2026 +1
Prevalent, absurd, poke (the Hawaiian dish). With the last, I’m just not sure how to pronounce it, like it rhymes with woke or OK?
1
Glacinea Mar 27, 2026 +1
Anything with the 'r' sound :(
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SandpaperPeople Mar 27, 2026 +1
millenium and aspartame
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pastelchannl Mar 27, 2026 +1
aluminium - I've conditioned myself to say alulumilium 'th' sounds in english. we don't really have those in dutch, so it's the sound I struggle with the most.
1
Tetizeraz Mar 27, 2026 +1
Word like "girl" are waaaay too hard to us Brazilians.
1
FourSes Mar 27, 2026 +1
I have a slight lisp that my retainer makes worse, so words with lots of the letter "S" make me sound like an idiot. Sisters.
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JoyDVeeve Mar 27, 2026 +1
Hullabaloo. It usually comes out hubbalaboo
1
TheGrumpyre Mar 27, 2026 +1
Always had trouble with the word "girlfriend".  The "rlfr" combo is awful. Fortunately she's my wife now, much easier to introduce 
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Livid_Number_ Mar 27, 2026 +1
Proprietary, I get stuck after the second syllable every time.
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moopet Mar 27, 2026 +1
"google glass" or "okay google" are tongue-twisters as far as I'm concerned.
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Narrow_Theory85311 Mar 28, 2026 +1
I used to have trouble pronouncing “preliminary” and “priority”. Now I can. However, pronouncing hippopotamus…
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LG_Psychologist Mar 28, 2026 +1
Realtor. It isn’t real-a-tor people!
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MukadeYada Mar 27, 2026
Mnemonic. People tell me "Just say nuh-maw-nick." But that sounds stupid to me, like I'm a little kid who can't make the "mn" sound. Like I'm saying "pasketti" instead of "spaghetti." So I try to make the "mn" sound. And then I fail.
0
Yunagi Mar 27, 2026 +3
But the way they're telling you to pronounce it is the way it's pronounced. You don't make an "mn" sound. It's pronounced "ne-maw-nick".
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Zealousideal_Pen_596 Mar 27, 2026 +1
What even is that? Mnemonic. I understand why it may be hard damn.
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MukadeYada Mar 27, 2026 +1
A mnemonic is any mental trick that helps you remember something. Like, it's kinda hard to remember Kingdom/Phylum/Class/Order/Family/Genus/Species, but it's a lot easier if you just remember the sentence "King Phillip Came Over For Good Sex."
1
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