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If English wasn't your first language, maybe if you learned English later in life, were there any words that you had a really hard time learning how to pronounce? Do you think that had to do with the sounds made in your first language?

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I wouldn't say struggle, but I did wonder for a while how to pronounce "anemone".

[-] stray@pawb.social 5 points 1 month ago

Everyone has trouble with that one. There's even a joke about it in Finding Nemo. I don't imagine most English-speakers can spell it offhand.

[-] MoonMelon@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 month ago

I was listening to a best-selling author's recent audiobook, and the professional voice actress messed this one up. So you're in good company. Really, who can we blame but the Greeks?

That sounds like a universal truth if I ever heard one.

[-] Mobiuthuselah@mander.xyz 2 points 1 month ago

I'm having a whole cognitive dissonance moment because I could've sworn it was "anenome". I even studied this in college and have an ecology degree. Likely over the last twenty years I convinced myself that the common incorrect pronunciation is correct, but I immediately looked it up and then tried to rationalize that it was some sort of mandala effect. The simplest answer is that it's confabulation on my part, and I'm wrong.

this post was submitted on 13 Dec 2025
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