Omg, so many words!! I’m sure I will pop back in as I think of more: placebo Tucson paradigm (in front of my AP English class for a presentation 🤦♀️) …
Replies
Para-diggem ? As a non-American with a lot of American books at the library some of the pronunciations can be tricky. I don't recall seeing Tucson, but I certainly struggled with Arkansas until I heard it on the news and put two and two together.
sep 1, 2025, 6:37 pm • 6 0 • view
Did you think is was Ar-KANsas or arkanSASS?
sep 1, 2025, 10:33 pm • 4 0 • view
The former. Of course I had heard of Kansas from The Wizard of Oz, so I thought Arkansas was just Kansas with an Ar on the front.
sep 1, 2025, 11:06 pm • 4 0 • view
I think that’s the common one!
sep 2, 2025, 12:13 am • 2 0 • view
It makes a lot more sense than Arkan-saw
sep 2, 2025, 12:19 am • 2 0 • view
What did Tenna see? She saw what Arkan saw What did Della wear? She wore a new jersey
sep 2, 2025, 1:30 am • 3 0 • view
Is-land. Instead of “eye-land”. From Paddle To The Sea when I was a kid.
sep 1, 2025, 11:25 pm • 4 0 • view
Yes, para-diggem. And another student pronounced Sigmund Freud “frood”. So the teacher joked she was going to get a class pet and name it Paradigm Freud. Mortifying!
sep 1, 2025, 8:06 pm • 4 0 • view
But we shouldn't be mortified. English is a ridiculous language and we were doing our best with the information available to us.
sep 1, 2025, 9:02 pm • 6 0 • view
I hate when teachers do this! Depending on the student, that kid might never raise their hand again. My math teacher (who was also the football coach) would make a joke every time I asked an earnest but stupid question, eliciting laughs from all his players.
sep 1, 2025, 10:00 pm • 6 0 • view
My teachers would constantly compare students with their siblings who might be older or younger or even sometimes in the same class. The other sibling was, of course, always better.
sep 1, 2025, 11:12 pm • 4 0 • view
I'll take "How to encourage sibling rivalry" for 500! I empathize, in some ways this is worse.
sep 1, 2025, 11:28 pm • 3 0 • view
That is just awful teaching as well as unkind.
sep 1, 2025, 10:23 pm • 4 0 • view
It is now for sure. Back when I was in school it wasn't at all unusual.
sep 1, 2025, 10:31 pm • 2 0 • view
Same friend, same.
sep 1, 2025, 11:04 pm • 2 0 • view
Guess what turned out to be my worst subject? To this day, I still have math anxiety.
sep 1, 2025, 10:12 pm • 4 0 • view
Behemoth
sep 1, 2025, 2:41 pm • 1 0 • view
There’s an askMetaFillter thread called “you’re doing it wrong” that has a lot of mispronounced words entries
sep 1, 2025, 2:45 pm • 2 0 • view