What words can Americans not say?

Here are the top 30 words Americans struggle to pronounce
  • affidavit [af-i-dey-vit]
  • almond [ah-muh nd, am-uh nd]
  • beget [bih-get]
  • cache [kash]
  • caramel [kar-uh-muh l, -mel, kahr-muh l]
  • coupon [koo-pon, kyoo-]
  • croissant [French krwah-sahn; English kruh-sahnt]
  • epitome [ih-pit-uh-mee]
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What is the hardest American word to say?

The word onomatopoeia is a jumble of vowels and is probably the most difficult English word to pronounce. It is pronounced [on-uh-mat-uh–pee–uh], and it defines a word that imitates a sound.
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What words can English people not say?

The Most Difficult English Words
  • Pronounced: Ono-mato-pee-ah.
  • British pronunciation: thur-er. American pronunciation: ther-ow.
  • Pronounced: eks-akt-lee.
  • Pronounced: mer-der-rer.
  • Pronounced: wuster-sher.
  • Pronounced: luff-ber-er.
  • Pronunciation: Det.
  • Pronounced: however you like.
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Why can't Americans say squirrel?

'Her answer is that it is because the word 'squirrel' contains only one syllable. ' Len Clarke says that the Americans 'are simply copying posh English, in which syllables are discreetly halved in number.
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What are the 10 hardest words to pronounce?

20 Most Difficult Words to Pronounce in the English Language
  • Colonel.
  • Worcestershire.
  • Mischievous.
  • Draught.
  • Quinoa.
  • Onomatopoeia.
  • Scissors.
  • Anemone.
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7 Things Americans Don't Really Say



What is the hardest R word to say?

murderer. As we noted earlier, the R sound in English can be tricky. That's what makes murderer, with its three R sounds particularly difficult to pronounce. The word is pronounced [ mur-der-er ].
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What is the longest weirdest word?

10 Longest Words in the English Language
  1. Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis (45 letters) ...
  2. Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia (36 letters) ...
  3. Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (34 letters) ...
  4. Pseudopseudohypoparathyroidism (30 letters) ...
  5. Floccinaucinihilipilification (29 letters)
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Why can't Americans Say caramel?

You see, the word caramel is derived from the 18th-century Spanish turned French word caramelo, which is pronounced as car-a-mello. So, North American English speakers adopted the "car" pronunciation from the original word, whereas British speakers tend to pronounce caramel as "care-a-muhl."
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Why can't Americans say herbs?

Answer. Answer: The Americans have picked this up from Norman- French. "Herb" is a word that would have been very commonly used by the French, so that is why it would have stuck, as oppose to other words in the American dialect such as "helicopter."
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What is the hardest state to pronounce?

Oregon. We bet you've fallen for Oregon's tricky pronunciation. Originally, the state in the Pacific Northwest was most likely pronounced as "Ore-uh-GONE." However over time, that changed to "ORE-uh-gun" and today's most common pronunciation: "ORE-uh-gin," with the last syllable rhyming with "sin."
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What do Brits call drunk?

Pissed / Pished

Strictly speaking, “pissed” (or “pished” in Scotland) is a swear word and you shouldn't use it in a formal, professional or school context. However it is probably the most commonly used word in the UK to describe being drunk. If you spend any time in the UK, you will hear it all the time.
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What English has no accent?

The name of this accentless accent varies; sometimes it's called Standard American, or Broadcast English, or Network English, or, as it was created by two independent linguists in the 1920s and 1930s, General American. It is a neutral accent, one without distinguishing features.
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What is America's oldest word?

Mother, bark and spit are some of the oldest known words, say researchers. Continue reading → Mother, bark and spit are just three of 23 words that researchers believe date back 15,000 years, making them the oldest known words.
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What is America's longest word?

pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis

It's a technical word referring to the lung disease more commonly known as silicosis. Despite being in the dictionary, the word was originally made up by the president of the National Puzzlers' League.
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What words do Americans say weird?

Here are the top 30 words Americans struggle to pronounce
  • affidavit [af-i-dey-vit]
  • almond [ah-muh nd, am-uh nd]
  • beget [bih-get]
  • cache [kash]
  • caramel [kar-uh-muh l, -mel, kahr-muh l]
  • coupon [koo-pon, kyoo-]
  • croissant [French krwah-sahn; English kruh-sahnt]
  • epitome [ih-pit-uh-mee]
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Why do Americans say Mom?

Mom and Mommy are old-English words, words that are stilled used in Birmingham and most parts of the West Midlands. It is said that when people from the West Midlands went to America many years ago they took the spelling with them, hence Americans use Mom and Mommy.
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Why do Americans say period?

In 19th-century texts, both British English and American English were consistent in their usage of the terms period and full stop. The word period was used as a name for what printers often called the "full point", the punctuation mark that was a dot on the baseline and used in several situations.
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Why do Americans say Zee?

Zee became the standard way to pronounce Z in the United States in the 19th century. It's said that zee most likely came about because it rhymes with other letter pronunciations in the English alphabet (e.g., e, d, c, b, g, and p).
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Why do Americans say Bologna weird?

Linguist Mark Liberman's theory is that our bizarre pronunciation follows the pattern of Italian words ending in -ia (Italia, Sicilia, and Lombardia), which took on -y endings in English (Italy, Sicily and Lombardy). "My hypothesis would be that it's an instance of the old pattern," Liberman told HuffPost.
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What is the longest P word?

Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis is a New Latin word made up of five parts. The combining form pneumono- means “lung.” The word ultramicroscopic refers to something so small that it can't be seen by normal microscopes.
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What is the 3 hour word?

The longest English word

The longest word in English has 189,819 letters and takes 3 hours to pronounce. This is a technical term for the chemical composition of titin. Titin is the largest known protein responsible for maintaining the passive elasticity of the muscles.
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What starts with P and ends with E?

Q: What starts with "P", ends with "E", and has millions of letters? A: The "Post Office"!
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