What's a word you see occasionally, but don't know how to pronounce?

[Bucky]

I'll try to help you.

[Lisa0825]

1. Ayn

[Bucky]

2. Her name starts with the long vowel sound of "I" (the pronoun was later named after her)

similar in pronunciation to Ricky Ricardo's "Ai-yai-yai, Loocy! Wha' have yooh dun?" only shorter

[sakabatou]

5. So... it's like Ein as in Einstien?

[Lisa0825]

13. Thanks :-)

[Tom Ripley]

16. Alisa \a-li-sa\ as a girl's name is pronounced ah-LEE-sah.

means "great happiness"
riiiight...

[Lionel Mandrake]

3. Superman's arch-enemy, Mr. Mxyzptlk

Just trying to pronounce that name can be hazardous to your mental health.

[Bucky]

4. it's pronounced phonetically

I was really talking about common nouns in my OP. I've heard that mixez-PITTL-ik is preferred by comic book geeks. I suspect the creators of this character picked that particular spelling in order to make his name unpronounceable (and thus the character more memorable). In my head, when I read it, I think "Mix-ul-plick" but obviously I'm leaving some consonants off--leading us to the logical conclusion that Mr. Mxyzptlk is French. Here's how the 1990s cartoon had a go at it.

Right, he might spit in Clark Kent's eye, but no way he'd try that shit with Superman.

[petronius]

6. Veraison - please help, I want to sound extra-smart next time

I go wine tasting!

[Bucky]

9. Excellent word!

If you're around Americans, just pronounce it like the phone company, but land softly on the final N. Maybe ham it up on the middle syllable. Gesture a bit while talking, as most viticulture words require. If you're around Brits, shift the emphasis to the first syllable and try very hard not to sound like it's a French word.

[pinboy3niner]

7. Favre

Watching 'There's Something About Mary' just left me more confused...

[Bucky]

10. Farv.

[orleans]

8. epitaph

but i finally figured out how to remember to pronounce it.
taff as in...
TAFFY
so...epitaphffy! lol!

[Bucky]

11. yeah, but...

Pretend there's no "PH" in there, lest you start spitting on people you're talking to.

[OakCliffDem]

12. Republican, I keep pronouncing it "Re-Puke"

[TrogL]

14. Arsenokoitai

[pokerfan]

15. methylchloroisothiazolinone

[El Supremo]

17. Boehner

If Pat Schroeder (former congresswoman and presidential candidate) pronounces her name with a long "o", why can't John?

[Liberal Veteran]

19. The proper way to say it is "Fuckhead"

[Odin2005]

21. the "oe" is an Anglicization of German umlauted O.

Which is pronounced like "ay" as in bay but with rounded lips, so how a German-American name with "oe" is pronounced is idiosyncratic, sometimes it's "ay", sometimes it's "oh".

[Bucky]

33. Danka shayn

Mr Puddingface totally blew it on that one. The [font size="4"]ö[/font] in dankeschön is pronounced more like the e in "Sherman" provided you maintain oral discipline enough to not slip into marking the r sound after it. Those German are all about that oral discipline.

[Liberal Veteran]

18. This one always gives me a bit of trouble.

??????­??????­??????­?????­??????­???????­????­???­????????­??????­??????­??????­????????­????­????­???­???????­?????­????????­?????????­????­????????­??????­??????­???ῳ?­??????­????­???????­????ύ???

[Bucky]

32. Dammit, Jim, I'm a dictionist, not a translator!

[rug]

20. Mr. Mxyzptlk

[Liberal Veteran]

22. Mix-yez-pittle-ik.

[Bucky]

31. For "herbs" the H is silent. For "Herb's" meaning possession of a self-aware Volkswagen...

...retain the H. You are saying "khaki" correctly, but only assuming you are saying "yak" correctly. If your daughter laughs at you, it is probably not your diction but because you are old and out-of-touch. Try adding the suffix "izzle" to random nouns in your discourse and the "kids" of "now-a-days" will think you are "hip" and will "hang out" with you more.

Are you sure you really want that?

[lastlib]

24. Li'l Abner character - Joe Btfsplk

the guy with the black cloud over his head....

[Bucky]

28. It should sound like a garbled obscenity. Al Capp was a notorious scoundrel.

[Liberal Veteran]

25. Ra's al Ghul

Depending on which show I watch (or video game) I see it pronounced, "Rahs", "Raze", "Raysh".

Which is correct?

[Bucky]

27. It's an Arabic name. There wouldn't be a "raysh" or "raze" sound in it.

Go with how they pronounced it in the Christopher Nolan movies--"rahs." If it helps, you can shish a little on the final S for an added authenticity, but your first choice was the best pronunciation. I was a DC fan well into my 30s, but I frequently saw them blow it when it came to transcultural awareness. Denny O'Neal and Len Wein were especially ethnocentric by 21st century standards, though pioneers for their day. Even the great George Perez as a writer had a habit of confusing "thee" and "thou" when writing for antiquarian characters.

I suspect that "Rayshe Al-Goole" is something of an in-house pronunciation, perhaps in the tradition of willful British mispronunciation of foreign names (e.g., "the Argentyne Djunta", "my personal valeT", "the monthly shed-jule" and Lord Byron's poem about "Don Joo-Uhn," whose named he rhymed with "new one." Tho the character started off named "Raysh" the more culturally faithful rendering of modern reinterpertations should be deferred to (think of how Daddy Warbucks's man Punjab is shown in more modern renderings).

[greiner3]

26. ROMNEY!

[Bucky]

29. Ah, quite a challenge.

The name "Romney" itself is not hard to render (with a pitch perfect midwestern accent, it reads like a contraction of the phrase "raw money&quot , but the right tone--that delicate balance between exasperation and seething contempt--while pulling out one's own hair--is rather hard to strike.

[pinboy3niner]

30. It's actually easier than it looks...

/ˈasˌhōl/

[REP]

34. POLISH