why do Americans pronounce Ts like Ds?  As in Wadder (Water) Wader (Waiter) and Lidder (Litter)?
912332
It probably was a product of laziness at first but now, pronouncing your Ts sounds...like...cultured, and almost condescending. Only the most educated people will pronounce their Ts. I know, it's weird, but it's become culturally acceptable for the average American not to pronounce them.
301157
Taken\n\nThe "TH" is pronounced like the "Th" in Thomas, the "EIGH" like the "eigh" in weigh, the "CH" like the "ch" in school, the "OU" like the "a" in "gla.." and the "ND" like the "nd" in handsome.
694525
Wittles is the character's mispronunciation of vittles (food). Vittles is itself derived from a mispronunciation of victuals.
132048
Yes, I say WASH.\n\nDo you say W-A-T-E-R or W-A-R-D-E-R?
505401
"comf'terbul" has a perfectly logical explanation and is an acceptable pronunciation (as is "comf'tebul")\n\nAnd why don't pronounce it "the way it's written"?  Because language simply doesn't always work that way.  And so I don't say "I-run" for "iron"; and the "t" that I pronounce in "soft" I do NOT pronounce in the form "soften" (even though it is written that way and even COMES from "soft").\n\n--------------------\n\nThis sort of re-ordering of the sounds of a word --called "METATHESIS"--  is very common in language.  It may come about by confusion, but often it happens simply because the expected form is more difficult to pronounce.    In some cases the change is considered ignorant or at least non-standard, in other instances it is the (or a) ACCEPTED pronounciation.\n\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metathesis_(linguistics)\n\n\nExamples in English:\n1) incorrect/nonstandard:\n  "nuclear" -- pronounced as "nucular" (by educated people as well... including THREE Presidents in recent times --not just GW but Carter & Eisenhower)\n  "ax" for "ask"  (though actually BOTH forms are found in the Middle English of Chaucer)\n\n2) correct:\n  "iron" -- pronounced "i-urn"  In fact, does ANYONE say "i-ron"?  On the other hand, we DO keep the sounds in their written order in the suffixed form "ironic".  (We do the same with "irony", though it's acceptable, or at least permitted, to say "i-urnee" --as we do with "ironing".   Thus, the most important factor seems to be where the word is ACCENTED.)\n\n3) debated but probably correct\nThe example of "iron" vs. "ironic" --that is, changing the pronounciation based on where the accent falls (often related to whether there is a suffix or not)--  helps explain why we SAY "comfort"  but "comfturble".    There are two conflicting "laws" at work here. In our spelling, we do not change the base when we add the suffix "able".   But the change in the PHONOLOGY (sound pattern) pushes us to SAY the word in a way that is much easier to pronounce.  \n\nHere's how it happens.  Note that the syllable in question --"fort"--  has a slight accent in "comfort" but almost NO accent when we add the "able" suffix.  In English, adding suffixes frequently shifts or reduces accent of certain syllables.  When a syllable loses accent, the vowel typically is shortened; in an UN-accented syllable it may end up as the 'swallowed', unaccented "schwa" sound, or even completely disappear.  But this leaves us with the unaccented combination "frt" which is more difficult or at least less natural to pronounce.    The natural solution is to simplify the pronounciation, either by skipping the "r" sound (which leads some to say "comf'-tubly") or to reverse sounds ("metathesis") and say "comf'turbly".\n\n------------------\n\n(Frankly, I suspect the pronunciation "com-four-tab-ly" is  a hypercorrection.   Some people say it that way BECAUSE of the spelling, whereas the SPOKEN language long ago changed the pronounciation.  But spelling is NOT always a sure guide to the spoken language.  Based on SPELLING, some people improperly pronounce the t in "often", not recognizing that the "t" is from the short form "oft" and is LOST when -en is added . . . as in soft > soften, compare list > listen; haste > hasten, etc.)\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypercorrection\n\n-----------------------------------------------\n\nIncidentally, this process or metathesis explains the origins of some modern English words.   Old English had "brid", now it is "bird";  Old English &quo
424674
Bill\nEnglish: altered short form of William, not used before the 19th century. The reason for the change in the initial consonant is not clear, but it conforms to the pattern regularly found when English words beginning with w- are borrowed into Gaelic; the nickname “King Billy” for William of Orange is an early example from Ireland which may have influenced English usage. Pet forms: English: Billy, Billie. Gaelic: Builidh.\n\nJim\nEnglish and Irish: short form of James, already common in the Middle Ages.
53277
Because "To" and "Go" are pronounced differently.\n;)
432282
It's pronounced [/ˌwɪkiˈpiːdi.ə/] or [/ˌwiki-/] (IPA format).\n\nI pronounce wiki to rhyme with quicky, but I've heard others say "wicker-pedia", where the wicker part which sort of rhymes with snicker.\n\nWiktionary has an audio file showing the UK and US ways of pronouncing it. You can listen to them at http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Wikipedia
305140
Because the english, (plural) pronunciation of house is houses. and the plural pronunciation of mouse is mice.
422563
1 syllable\n\nblue's, blues, blues', boos, boose, booz, booze, brews, bruce, bruise, bruse, buse, buus, cheuse, chews, choose, chuse, clews, clues, coos, coups, crew's, crewes, crews, cruce, cruise, cruse, cruz, cruze, cues, deuce, deuss, dews, do's, doose, drewes, drews, druce, druse, druze, duce, dues, ewes, flus, foos, foose, fuoss, fuse, glues, goos, goose, groos, guse, hewes, hews, hoos, hoose, hues, hughes, hughes', hughs, huse, jews, jews', joos, juice, kloos, koos, kruse, kuse, kuze, leu's, loos, loose, lose, lou's, luce, luiz, luse, meuse, mewes, mews, moos, moose, mousse, muise, muse, news, news', noose, oohs, ooohs, ooze, pews, preuss, pru's, pruess, pughs, q's, q.'s, q.s, ques, queues, reuss, roos, roose, ruess, ruse, schmooze, screws, seuss, shoe's, shoes, shrews, skewes, skews, sluice, snooze, soos, sous, spews, spruce, stew's, stews, strews, sues, tewes, tews, theus, throughs, truce, trues, two's, twos, tyus, u's, u.'s, u.s, use, use, views, who's, whose, woo's, woos, wu's, yew's, yoos, yu's, zeus, zoo's, zoos, zue's \n\n2 syllables\nabstruse, abuse, abuse, accrues, accuse, adduce, amuse, asmus, bemuse, caboose, canoes, cebu's, confuse, damoose, deduce, defuse, derousse, diffuse, diffuse, disuse, ekeus, ensues, enthuse, eschews, excuse, excuse, induce, infuse, jammu's, labouisse, lajous, mahfouz, miscues, misuse, misuse, obtuse, peru's, peruse, primenews, produce, profuse, pursues, recluse, recuse, reduce, refuse, renews, reuse, reuse, review's, reviews, revues, seduce, shampoos, suffuse, taboos, tattoos, toulouse, transfuse, vanhoose, worldnews \n\n3 syllables\ndisabuse, disabuse, introduce, kangaroos, overuse, reproduce, santa-cruz, underuse \n\n4 syllables\noverproduce, reintroduce
855707
Rubyred is correct IF you are pronouncing it AS a German name.  But if the person with the name is an American of German descent, they will not pronounce it that way, since English lacks this vowel sound.   \n\nThere are two basic solutions -- both involve adopting the English pronunciation of ONE of the vowels as long and ignoring the other.  (In any case, the h is silent, as it is in German.)\n\n1) ignore the U and say "BEE-ner"  (This SOUNDS more like the German pronunciation)\n\n2) ignore the E and pronounce "Bue" as rhyming with "cue", thus saying "BYOO-ner"  (I suppose some might say "BOO-ner",. though I've not seen that.)\n\nI think #1 is the more common resolution.  (Compare this to the name "Boehner" [that of the current majority leader in the House of Representatives], another umlauted German name, which is pronounced "BAY-ner" in English)\n\nexample from the web:\n"Buehner, Mark (illustrator of Fanny's Dream)\n        Pronounced BEAN-er"\nhttp://mainst.monterey.k12.ca.us/library/libpg/Dictionary/dict.html
287128
Slainte!  It roughly translates to Cheers!  There is an accent (/) over the letter "a".  It is pronounced: slawn--tcha.
325971
Wow..now that you mention it. That's crazy . Yeah I get it. It should sound like "cater" not "matter". Maybe it was named after a Paterson dude with this pronounciation!
487727
When I lived in Pittsburgh, PA people pronounced Washington as Wershington and would say "yuens guys" which is suppose to be pronounced "you guys"..But that is just a regional thing.I think the funniest times I have heard mispronounced words is during numerous Bush speeches....And then there is ex Vice President Dan Quayle who spells potato as potatoe.
183710
I have no idea, but it looks like a variation of Signy, an old Germanic name was derived from Sigr (victory) and ny (new). If this is the case, then it would be pronounced with two syllables. Unfortunately a "g" is not always a "g" sound, so it could be pronounced "Siye-ne," but "sig-nee" is probably more likely.
950424
Pierre (capital of South Dakota)  is pronounced like "pier", so it is one-syllable.  All the rest have one or more syllables.\n\nThis was actually news to me because I've always thought it was pronounced "Pea-air".\n\nHere's a snippet on Pierre, SD that I found on the web:\n"Pierre is the state's capital, and the easiest way South Dakotans can spot a newcomer is by how he or she pronounces the name. French students, don't be mortified, but in South Dakota the town of Pierre is pronounced “pier.” How this hazy pronunciation arrived is a mystery; one can only speculate that the ruggedly autonomous forefathers were trying to downplay the très français beginnings of the state—funny nonetheless, because it was indeed a Frenchman who started the first permanent white settlement in the state in 1832."
621802
As a matter of fact, the "our" and "or" in these words WERE pronounced differently.\n\nIn Old English (and many other Germanic languages) adding of an ending with and i/y type vowel (in this case it was originally -ig,  now -y) caused a type of "vowel harmony" (or "metaphony")  in which the vowel of the accented syllable became more like that of the suffix.  This specific type is called "umlaut"  of "i-mutation".   It typically causes the changed vowel to become shorter and/or move toward the front of mouth ("fronting")\n\nIt is easier to see in the case of "five" vs. "fifty".   German did the same sort of thing.   One of the best examples that English speakers may know is the word "Frau" ("woman") which is pronounced "frow", but when it adds the suffix "-lein" to became "Fräulein", pronounced "froyline" (notice the i/y sound in the first syllable!)\n\nThis shift in English is also the origin of some of our unusual plural forms:  goose > geese; foot > feet; mouse > mice;  man > men.  Also a result of this change:  long > length; hale > health; old > elder.