People share 32 words they purposefully mispronounce to get a laugh out of others
"I used to call my dog 'furface' but I pronounced it like Versace."
A woman laughing.
One of the most amusing things about the English language is wordplay. Also known as a play on words, it involves experimenting with sounds, spellings, and meanings for the sake of wit and humor. And there are few things funnier than deliberately mispronouncing English words.
Merriam-Webster notes that English is especially ripe for wordplay because its origins are an amalgam of different languages. "It's essentially a product of Anglo-Saxon aka Old English, Latin, Old Norse, and Anglo-French," it explains.
With so many dialectal influences, English has plenty of opportunities for funny pronunciations. On Reddit, people shared 32 words they deliberately mispronounce because it makes them (and others) chuckle.
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"I used to call my dog 'furface' but I pronounced it like Versace. She always smiled." - copingcabana
"I call people casseroles instead of *ssholes." - SentimentalTaterTot
"My wife is a pharmacist, I always say drug names incorrectly to annoy her. Omee prazolee, like it's an Italian dish." - Whitchit1, marsh283
"Baby because of Moira Rose [Schitt's Creek]. RIP." - Darius2112
"Porpoise instead of purpose. My Dad said it once and I will say it forever. It's fun and silly. People usually ignore it 🤷🏼♀️" - fortheloveofgodno
"Diabeetus, RIP Wilford Brimley." - Phoenix_Rising42069
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"A-A-Ron [Key & Peele]." - TwoDrinkDave
"Quesadilla - Kay suh dil uh - mainly Napoleon Dynamite." - anix421
"AirPods, I call them Air-buds because it triggers my grandkids." - Pristine_Explorer265
"Canadian here, I say 'aboot' when I'm around Americans." - Saucefire
"Fragile, as fra-gee-lay. Thanks to A Christmas Story." - goldimom
"Ess-cap-ayyyyy! Funny, it's spelled just like the word escape?" - InfinitiveIdeals
"Scissors. Pronounced skizzers." - NarrativeScorpion
"I pronounce the K in Knife. Sharp tools deserve sharp consonants, none of this silent letter nonsense." - captain_slackbeard
"Epitome -> epi-tome. Because I learned that word by reading and now because it annoys certain family members." - Ace_W
@dadlifejason Bruh. I cant shake this no matter how hard i try. This is how it looks!!! #duet #funny #bruh
"I said Hermione (as in Granger) as her-me-own for ages before I realized." - rebekha
"Beeth-oven and So-crates. Be excellent to each other!" - NotSayingAliensBut
"I do the opposite and do testicles and molecules like they are the names of Ancient Greek heroes/philosophers." - TheOtterDecider
"Saxamaphone and trampopoline. Because Homer [Simpson]." - mr_dbini
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"I put the em-FAH-sis on the wrong syl-AH-bull [View from the Top]." - diogenes_shadow
"I like to say milestone such that it rhymes with minestrone. I also like to say ziggurat instead of cigarette. I just think it's funny, no other reason." - Tenocticatl
"Champagne. 🍾 Cham-pag-nee. Because it's Bugs Bunny style." - Necessary-Eye5319
"Trés-passing. 'There's only two of us, it doesn't say no dos-passing'." - DivineUnconvention
"Microwave as me crow wawv eh because funny. Nigella Lawson is shaking in her boots right now!" - Bubbly_Skin_8069, TheDriverEarist
"Hors d'oeuvres. Whores Dee Vours." - stedun
"Washedyoursister sauce [Worcestershire sauce]." - Mr_McGigglepants
"I used to mispronounce Persephone as Purse a phone to annoy my father. He was a fan of Greek mythology and even gave me a middle name based on one of the stories. Enough reason to want to annoy him." - metalmick