what's a really simple word you first read in a book and mispronounced in your head for years? nothing sesquipedalian, something short and sweet.

I thought "eh" was pronounced like the italian short vowel sound "e" rather than "ay" which made many english children's books weird.

like, I was going around until maybe my early teens thinking that instead of saying "ay" at the end of a sentence, british people (I read a lot of enid blyton and the like) were going around punctuating their sentences with the italian vowel sound "e" (I was studying italian).

so, "nice weather today, eh?" and similar sentences read extremely strangely to me because everyone I knew in person would say "nice weather today, ay?"

I legit just thought it was different in britain/the olden days/both

can I just say: the answers to this thread are a) all incredibly charming, every last one, and b) so interesting! I think my favourites are the ones who were actually pronouncing words correctly, but in a different accent (in some accents, you *do* say the b in subtle!).

I think about half the answers have been pronunciations that are correct in some regional accents or dialects. english is such a widely-spoken language with so much variation between speakers and that's part of what makes it fun!

my other favourite thing about this thread is how many people are voracious bookworms who had outsized vocabularies at very young ages because of it. y'all are my people! I've been reading (and mispronouncing words) since I was two.

this thread is also destroying my mentions and I need to mute it, but if you enjoy my musings about language, you can encourage me to stay on my bullshit by supporting me on patreon! http://patreon.com/jaythenerdkid