History Main / PretentiousPronunciation

** In "How the Griffin Stole Christmas" Brian says he was dating a cool girl named "Cow-ooch" but Stewie says he was just saying "couch" in a cool way.

* ''Series/KeyAndPeele'' inverts this in the substitute teacher sketch - a black InnerCitySchool teacher subs in for a class full of suburban white kids, and when taking attendance pronounces every kid's name in overstyled GhettoName fashion, because those are the kinds of names he's used to. For example, "Jacqueline" becomes "JayKwellen", and "Aaron" becomes "A. A. Ron". He becomes angered when the kids fail to recognize their names being called, and even more so when they correct his pronunciation, thinking they must be pranking him because [[YourNormalIsOurTaboo nobody could ever have such ridiculous sounding names]]. The exception is [[TokenMinority the only black student in the class]], who is the only one shown to understand him and respond when called (Timothy, pronounced by the sub "Ti-MO-thy").

* An ad campaign for Bubly sparkling water has featured singer Music/MichaelBuble, with a running gag of him insisting they've [[ItsAllAboutMe spelled his name wrong]], and correcting others who contrarily refer to him as "Michael Bubly".

''May'' overlap with MyNaymeIs but not every name that's pronounced differently than its spelling would indicate is this trope. Compare also with AccentUponTheWrongSyllable, TechnicalEuphemism, YouSayTomato (where people argue about how to say a word) and InsistentTerminology, with which it sometimes overlaps.

[[folder:Pro Wrestling]]
* Old-school announcer Wrestling/GordonSolie, trying to class things up, would pronounce "Suplex" as "Souplay". (It's pronounced "souplay" in amateur wrestling, partly because of the sport's European origins.)

* Leon's Furniture in Canada had commercials from 2019-20 where two people insist they bought from "Lé Ons" (lay-OHNS).

* On the Sprint "Framily" commercials, the older son has a weird friend named Gordon who insists that his name is pronounced 'Gor-DAWN.'

* In a Walmart [=StraightTalk=] commercial, a woman insists a certain vegetable is "absolutely pronounced ''ahn-deev''" because of her [[MockMillionaire supposed new riches]] after cutting her cell phone bill in half.

** Rad Thibodeaux, a "self-proclaimed genius", pronounces his last name as "Thib-ah-day-oks-ss" (Yes, he adds an extra "ss" sound that you wouldn't even get from reading the name phonetically in English). This leads to Hank attempting to correct him (Thibodeaux is French -- a very common Cajun name pronounced like Hank says):
--->'''Hank:''' Isn't that pronounced "Tib-ah-doh"?\\

** There's also Krabappel which is pronounced "Cruh-BAW-pull". Despite coming up with numerous insulting nicknames for her, none of her students ever think to call her "crab-apple" until season 15. In one episode, there's a set-up where Homer is surprised at hearing the correct pronunciation of her name, only for him to cry "I've been calling her 'Krandall'!"

* Parodied on ''WesternAnimation/DrawnTogether'', during one of their finales when Captain Hero corrected the host saying "It's pronounced Kah-Pee-Tawn. The Hero is silent." This is also a reference to Captain Hero's behavior after his last name, Shero, is revealed. It's pronounced "Hero", the "S" is silent.

* ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooMysteryIncorporated'' has George Avocados who always corrects the pronunciation to "ah-VAW-ca-dos". It doesn't stick.

* In ''Film/{{Infamous}}'', Arielle was named after the character in ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid''. However, she hates this fact and insists that everyone pronounce her name "Ar-ee-AHL".

* Jay from ''WesternAnimation/TheCritic'' st one point runs into a pimply SqueakyVoicedTeenager counter jockey whose name tag reads "Pizzaface", which is indignantly corrected as "Pizza-FAH-chay!" when Jay pronounces it phonetically.

* Jay from ''WesternAnimation/TheCritic'' st one point runs into a pimply SqueakyVoicedTeen counter jockey whose name tag reads "Pizzaface", which is indignantly corrected as "Pizza-FAH-chay!" when Jay pronounces it phonetically.

** {{Inverted}} when during a rainstorm, Josh's dad tells off one of a myriad houseguests for pronouncing "touché" with the correct French pronunciation (or at least the English approximation).

** Subverted when during a rainstorm, Josh's dad tells off one of a myriad houseguests for pronouncing "touché" with the correct French pronunciation (or at least the English approximation).

** Subverted when during a rainstorm, Josh's dad tells off one of a myriad houseguests for pronouncing "touché" with the correct French accent.

* A series of ads in 2002 for the everything-shop Argos featured a ([[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed mysteriously Laurence Llewellyn-Bowen-esque]]) rock star (played by Creator/RichardEGrant) making "helpful" suggestions to his PA (played by Julia Sawalha) about how to have his flat decorated. As soon as he leaves, she calls up the store and they soon deliver furniture, wall hangings and so on. When he returns, he's impressed and inquires as to who she hired to decorate the place. She casually says "Argos", but then backpedals, trying to impress him, saying that of course she was referring to a Lithuanian designer called "Argús" (AHR-goos).

* On the Sprint "Framily" commercials, the older son has a weird friend named Gordon who insists that his name is pronounced 'Gor-DAWN.'

Contrast NoPronunciationGuide. See also UranusIsShowing.

* A series of ads several years ago for the everything-shop Argos featured a ([[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed mysteriously Laurence Llewellyn-Bowen-esque]]) rock star (played by Creator/RichardEGrant) making "helpful" suggestions to his PA (played by Julia Sawalha) about how to have his flat decorated. As soon as he leaves, she calls up the store and they soon deliver furniture, wall hangings and so on. When he returns, he's impressed and inquires as to who she hired to decorate the place. She casually says "Argos", but then backpedals, trying to impress him, saying that of course she was referring to a Lithuanian designer called "Argús" (AHR-goos).

* Inverted in a sketch on ''Series/TheTwoRonnies'' where one character very carefully pronounces a newcomer's name as 'de Ath' ([[AluminumChristmasTrees a real name]]), only to be cheerfully told that it is, in fact, pronounced 'Death'.

* Lord Faucet from ''The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place'' insists his name is pronounced ''Fausay".

* Inverted by Sergeant Thibodeaux in Peter Benchley's ''Q Clearance''. The protagonist pronounces it Tee-boe-doe the first time they meet, only to be corrected: "It's Tibby-doo. Pappy used to say, "'tain't my fault some Frog got into granny's jammies."

* [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Thomas]] [[HornyDevils Raith]] in ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' goes by (as [[SnarkKnight Harry]] puts it) "toe-MOSS" while posing as a [[CampGay gay]] French [[ChattyHairdresser hairdresser]].

** The show's title is pronounced "Cole-BARE re-PORE." In one of the [[RealTrailerFakeMovie early]] [[{{Defictionalization}} ads]] for the show, Colbert tries to justify it by saying, [[ThisIsForEmphasisBitch "It's French, bitch!"]] Colbert himself has said that the pronunciation is a way for us to tell the difference between his real personality (by pronouncing the T) and his stage personality (not pronouncing it). However, in reality, his family used both pronunciations.[[note]]The name is originally French, but it's also very old. Stephen Colbert's family is Irish and probably got the name from a Norman who came to Ireland in the 12th-13th centuries. In Ireland, "Colbert" is consistently pronounced "COLE-burt."[[/note]] Colbert had started using the alternative (T-less) pronunciation in college, using it before, during, and after the show's run.

** The show's title is pronounced "Cole-BARE re-PORE." In one of the [[RealTrailerFakeMovie early]] [[{{Defictionalization}} ads]] for the show, Colbert tries to justify it by saying, [[ThisIsForEmphasisBitch "It's French, bitch!"]] Colbert himself has said that the pronunciation is a way for us to tell the difference between his real personality (by pronouncing the T) and his stage personality (not pronouncing it). However, in reality, his family used both pronunciations. Colbert had started using the alternative (T-less) pronunciation in college, using it before, during, and after the show's run.

* ''Literature/TheNameJar'': When [[TheProtagonist Unhei]] tells some kids on the bus her name, they start messing it up. Unhei tries telling them her name is pronounced "Yoon-hye".

** Ed Helms' character Jack Danger, who insists that it's pronounced "donger".

** The show's title is pronounced "Cole-BARE RE-pore." In one of the [[RealTrailerFakeMovie early]] [[{{Defictionalization}} ads]] for the show, Colbert tries to justify it by saying, [[ThisIsForEmphasisBitch "It's French, bitch!"]] Colbert himself has said that the pronunciation is a way for us to tell the difference between his real personality (by pronouncing the T) and his stage personality (not pronouncing it). However, in reality, his family used both pronunciations. Colbert had started using the alternative (T-less) pronunciation in college, using it before, during, and after the show's run.

* An episode of ''Series/HarryEnfieldAndChums'' had unintelligent regular characters Wayne and Waynetta Slob discussing whether or not to name their baby daughter "Spudulike" (after a UK fast food chain that sells baked potatoes). Waynetta said "It's Spu-DULIE-ke - it's exotic".

** "Dear Ted; It's 'encycloPEdia,' not 'encycloPAYdia.' Why must you always pronounce things in the most pretentious way possible? It makes you sound douchey, and that's 'douchey', not 'douCHAY.'" (Ted's actual mistake there is thinking "ae" is pronounced "ay". "ae" is actually a printers' shortcut for the letter ash, æ, which in English is usually an "eeh" sound, as in æether, dæmon, archæology, encyclopædia, mediæval...)

* ''Series/TheITCrowd'': In "The Haunting of Bill Crouse", Moss, on Spanish-themed small-plate dining: "It's pronounced, 'TAPE-ass'."

* Discussed in an episode of ''Series/PhuaChuKang'', a Singaporean comedy series (which often pokes fun at the English standards of modern-day Singaporeans), when Margaret, who often considers herself an aficionado of the English language, finds out she's been mispronouncing the name of her son, Aloysius, for ''his entire life'' (that it should be read as "''A-lo-ee-sius''" instead of "''A-loy-sius''"). Cue Margaret enforcing the entire family to call Aloysius using the former pronunciation for the rest of the episode, even telling Aloysius to "correct" his college mates until a frustrated Aloysius decide to do an impromptu survey by calling twenty different Aloysiuses all over Singapore via a phonebook to get their opinions on how their names should be pronounced.

* Inverted in a sketch on ''Series/TheTwoRonnies'' where one character very carefully pronounces a newcomer's name as 'de Ath', only to be cheerfully told that it is, in fact, pronounced 'Death'.

* ''Radio/TheUnbelievableTruth:'' When Henning Wehn (who is German) mispronounces "Flinstones" as "Flin-stuhns", the other panellists remark that he sounds like he's talking about an incredibly posh version of the show. Discussion moves on to whether Barney Rubble's name would therefore be "Rue-bleh" (Henning gets back at them by providing Barney's actual name in German translations).

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Doug}}'' was trying to impress Patty by trying to look sophisticated and play classical music, only to be shot down by Judy when she corrected him on the pronunciation of the name, Chopin (pronounced SHO-pan).

* In ''WesternAnimation/AllHailKingJulien'', everyone mispronounces "fossa" as "foosa". It's understandable for King Julien, as his syntax is notably convoluted, but the other lemurs have no excuse.

* Parodied in a sketch on ''Series/ABitOfFryAndLaurie'', featuring a man whose last name is [[https://www.youtube.com/

-->-- '''Hyacinth''' '''''Bucket''''', ''Series/KeepingUpAppearances''. It's "bo-kay".

** In ''Literature/{{Hogfather}}'' the main villain, the assassin Mr. Teatime, insists that his name is pronounced "te-ah-tim-eh".

* Parodied in a sketch on ''Series/ABitOfFryAndLaurie'', featuring a man whose last name is [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNoS2BU6bbQ pronounced by dropping an object onto a desk]]. "It's as it sounds." [[spoiler:It's spelled Nippl-hyphen-e. He's very offended when called "Mr. Nipple."]] Worse, his address (22 ..., King's Lynn) "..." is pronounced by [[spoiler:doing a soft-shoe dance step and [[{{Slapstick}} slapping you in the face]]]].
* ''Series/BrooklynNineNine'':
** Ed Helms' character Jack Danger, who insists that it's pronounced "donger".
** "Skyfire Cycle":
--->'''Gina:''' Why is it in Butt-Thumb, Iowa?\\
'''Boyle:''' It's pronounced Boot-Hume.
* ''Series/{{CSI}}'': The lawyer appearing in "Two and a Half Death" was called Literature/StuartLittle. He insisted his last name was pronounced as [[StealthPun LIE-Tell]].
* ''Series/{{CNNNN}}'' has Simon Target, pronounced "Tar-JAY".
* ''Series/TheColbertReport''
** The show's title is pronounced "Cole-BARE RE-pore." In one of the [[RealTrailerFakeMovie early]] [[{{Defictionalization}} ads]] for the show, Colbert tries to justify it by saying, [[ThisIsForEmphasisBitch "It's French, bitch!"]] Colbert himself has said that the pronunciation is a way for us to tell the difference between his real personality (by pronouncing the T) and his stage personality (not pronouncing it). However, in reality, his family used both pronunciations. Colbert had started using the alternative (T-less) pronunciation in college, using it before, during, and after the show's run.
** Inverted when one segment included Stephen's intern, Ja-Mès. ("It's pronounced 'James'.")
* In the second "Comics Come Home" stand-up special, Eddie Brill was talking about hockey player Patrick Roy, which is pronounced "Patrick Rwa".
--> '''Eddie''': Your name is "Roy", pal, cut the crap.
* In ''Series/{{Community}}'', Britta insists the proper pronunciation for bagel is "BAG-uhl". This is in a Minnesota accent. Shirley had a tendency to emphasize the second syllable when saying her name ("Bri-TAH").
* ''Series/DeathInParadise'': In "The Perfect Murder", the snooty governor-elect of the neighbouring island Anton Burrage insists that his surname is pronounced "Bur-RAJ". The commissioner, who has known and despised Burrage for decades, says it is pronounced "Borridge" (rhyming with porridge).
* ''Series/DrakeAndJosh''
** Subverted when during a rainstorm, Josh's dad tells off one of a myriad houseguests for pronouncing "touché" with the correct French accent.
--->"It's pronounced TOOSH!"
** In yet another episode he is unable to pronounce the word "fuselage" read from a manual, coming as close as saying "Fu-sell-ah-gee". In this same episode he keeps pronouncing "cone" as "con".
* ''Series/FamilyMatters'':
** Mr. Looney ("Loo-NAY. It's French."). This one actually ''would'' be pronounced like that in French, though the French dub simply uses the US pronunciation for all names anyway.
** Steve Urkel's "cool" transformation, Stefan Urquelle.
** Remember the episode where the whole family goes to Disneyland? Eddie and Waldo get lost along the way and wind up in Canada, which Waldo claims is called "Kin-a-dah".
* In an episode of ''Series/{{Frasier}}'', after a family embarrassment, Niles Crane's wife Maris tries to save face by adding an accent to the "e" of her name on her memos, so that her name is read as Maris Crah-NAY.
* One ''Series/TheGoldenGirls'' episode had a character who insisted his name, Pfeiffer, was actually "Puh-Feiffer" with the P pronounced.
* A police officer in ''Series/GoodLuckCharlie'' claims that his name is pronounced "[=SNOO=]-[=TAY=]".
* ''Series/GoodnessGraciousMe''
** In the "Going out for an English" sketch, British mangling of foreign names is parodied by their insistence on calling the waiter "Jam-ess".
** Conversely, a recurring sketch features two couples, the Kapoors and Rabindranaths, who are trying to be terribly, terribly British, and insist their names are pronounced "Cooper" and "Robinson".
* In an episode of ''Series/HappyEndings'', the gang meets their old friend Shershow's fiance, and this exchange occurs.
-->'''Melinda:''' I am so happy that you guys were able to make it on such short notice. I'm leaving next week to deliver solar ovens to Hondooras.\\
'''Max:''' Wow, Shershow, you hit it out of the park. She's both beautiful and says Honduras the fancy way.
* An episode of ''Series/HarryEnfieldAndChums'' had unintelligent regular characters Wayne and Waynetta Slob discussing whether or not to name their baby daughter "Spudulike" (after a UK fast food chain that sells baked potatoes). Waynetta said "It's Spu-DULIE-ke - it's exotic".
* ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'':
** Barney's obvious alias of "Jack Package" when he visits the matchmaker's is given a paper-thin disguise by pronouncing it "pack-aahj".
** "Dear Ted; It's 'encycloPEdia,' not 'encycloPAYdia.' Why must you always pronounce things in the most pretentious way possible? It makes you sound douchey, and that's 'douchey', not 'douCHAY.'" (Ted's actual mistake there is thinking "ae" is pronounced "ay". "ae" is actually a printers' shortcut for the letter ash, æ, which in English is usually an "eeh" sound, as in æether, dæmon, archæology, encyclopædia, mediæval...)
* In the ''Series/InLivingColor'' skit "Spike's Joint", Spike Lee (Tommy Davidson) tells his sister Joie (T'Keyah Crystal Keymah) that now that they're back in Brooklyn, her name is pronounced "Joy", not "Jwah".
--> "It's not Jac-KAY (Jackée), all right? It's JACKIE. It's not Shah-DAY (Sade), all right? It's SADIE! What you gonna call me next, Spi-kay?"
* On [[UsefulNotes/{{Baseball}} MLB Network's]] show ''Intentional Talk'', a running gag arises from the multiple ways to pronounce the "Got Heeeeem!"[[note]]an imitation of an excited broadcaster announcing an out[[/note]] segment. Variations have included "Got Him", "Goatem", "Got Hema", "Gotta Himma", and many more especially that the segment is now usually preceded by a fan or [=MLB=] player saying the segment's title.
* ''Series/TheITCrowd'': In "The Haunting of Bill Crouse", Moss, on Spanish-themed small-plate dining: "It's pronounced, 'TAPE-ass'."
* One of the jokes on ''Series/KathAndKim'' involved the "correct" pronunciation of "Chardonnay" as "CAR-d'nay", because "it's French: the H is silent".
* Hyacinth Bucket from ''Series/KeepingUpAppearances'', who insists that her surname is pronounced 'Bouquet' (as in flowers). Her husband Richard--whose family name it actually is--is fine with being called 'Bucket' ([[HenpeckedHusband provided that Hyacinth isn't around, that is]]).
* ''Series/KeyAndPeele'' inverts this in the substitute teacher sketch - a black InnerCitySchool teacher subs in for a class full of suburban white kids, and when taking attendance pronounces every kid's name in overstyled GhettoName fashion, because those are the kinds of names he's used to. For example, "Jacqueline" becomes "JayKwellen", and "Aaron" becomes "A. A. Ron". He becomes angered when the kids fail to recognize their names being called, and even more so when they correct his pronunciation, thinking they must be pranking him because [[YourNormalIsOurTaboo nobody could ever have such ridiculous sounding names]]. The exception is [[TokenMinority the only black student in the class]], who is the only one shown to understand him and respond when called (Timothy, pronounced by the sub "Ti-MO-thy").
* ''Series/MarriedWithChildren'': Kelly meets the man who made her parents' couch. His name is "Mary" but he corrected her, insisting it's "Mar-AY". She then comments about being Bus-AY.
* ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' tends to have a field day with this.
** In ''Film/ThePumaman'', Creator/DonaldPleasence's character keeps pronouncing the hero's name as "Pyew-ma" Man, leading to Mike and the Bots to launching into various mocking riffs.
** The ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'' episode has Tom renaming himself "Htom Serveaux", leading Crow to reply in frustration, "Hey, Htom, why don't you hlick me?"
** On a short dealing with winter sports, the announcer says that skiing is correctly pronounced "she-ing" - Joel replies "Yeah? Well, you're full of skit!" Tom reads the title card "Cross Country Sheing Amid Skenes of Winter Magnifishence in Sanada's Shnow-Sovered Playgroundshs!"
* One episode of ''Series/TheNanny'' had Maxwell Sheffield pronouncing Fran Fine's surname as "fee-NAY" in an attempt to impress his grandmother.
* ''Series/NannyAndTheProfessor'': Following the custom mentioned atop this page, Nanny's old friend "Mr. Cholmondeley Featherstonehaugh" pronounces his name "Chumly Fenshaw".
* Rik Mayall's character on ''Series/TheNewStatesman'', Alan Bastard, spells his surname "b'Stard" just to make sure everyone pronounces it the way he prefers.
* On the Singaporean parody TV show ''The Noose'', news correspondent Jacques Ooi subverts this by insisting that his first name be pronounced "Jackass".
* Oliver Trask uses this to woo Marissa Cooper in ''Series/TheOC'', pronouncing mojito and crudités with a Spanish and French inflection, respectively.
* Discussed in an episode of ''Series/PhuaChuKang'', a Singaporean comedy series (which often pokes fun at the English standards of modern-day Singaporeans), when Margaret, who often considers herself an aficionado of the English language, finds out she's been mispronouncing the name of her son, Aloysius, for ''his entire life'' (that it should be read as "''A-lo-ee-sius''" instead of "''A-loy-sius''"). Cue Margaret enforcing the entire family to call Aloysius using the former pronunciation for the rest of the episode, even telling Aloysius to "correct" his college mates until a frustrated Aloysius decide to do an impromptu survey by calling twenty different Aloysiuses all over Singapore via a phonebook to get their opinions on how their names should be pronounced.
* Dippe from ''Series/PJKatiesFarm''. It's pronounced DEE-PAY.
* ''Series/{{QI}}'':
** Parodied in one episode; after Rich Hall suggested the existence of a town called "Satanismymaster-on-Rye", Bill Bailey claimed that the correct pronunciation was "Simster".
** Another episode had Lee Mack genuinely mispronouncing Creator/JKRowling's surname to rhyme with howling, with Stephen correcting him by saying "It's 'Rowling' like 'bowling'." Lee turns this into a running gag, suggesting that he and Adam should go "boweling" later.
* In the third and final episode of ''Series/RockAndChips'', prequel to ''Series/OnlyFoolsAndHorses'', "The Frog and the Pussycat", Freddie Robdal manages to allay Joannie Trotter's (perfectly correct) suspicion that a diamond ring in a box from "Margate Jewellers" is [[FellOffTheBackOfATruck stolen from a jeweller's shop in Margate]] by claiming it is the work of a French jeweler pronounced "Mar-jay".
* Russel Berger on ''Series/RoyalPains'' pronounces his last name "Ber-jay" in a very posh French accent. Except for [[spoiler:when he gets fired from his job as an interior designer]], in which case he pronounces it like "burger" [[spoiler:until he's given a freelance job, in which case he goes back to the French]].
* ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' One sketch involved a couple trying to decide on a name for their expected child; the husband ends up rejecting practically every common name because it's too prone to being mocked. It's revealed at the end of the sketch that the husband's name is "Asswipe"... pronounced "ahs-WEE-pay".
* ''Series/{{Scorpion}}'': In "Rogue Element", Happy [[ImpersonatingAnOfficer uses Cabe Gallow's ID to gain access to crime scene]]. When the cop on duty asks her what kind of name Cabe is, Happy (who is Asian) claims that it's pronounced "Kar-Be" and that it's Korean.
* ''Series/TheSecretDiaryOfDesmondPfeiffer'': The title character's surname is pronounced "puh-fifer" because "the ''p'' isn't silent."
* ''Series/SummerHeightsHigh'' Jamie Louise King adds an apostrophe to her name “in year 8”, and becomes Ja’mie. Pronounced “Juh-May”.
* As seen on an episode of ''Tennessee Crossroads'', the proprietor of Richard's Café, a creole restaurant in Nashville, pronounces his name "Ri-SHARD", as in the French.
* ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'' mentions the "estate agent pronunciation" of the Cardiff district of Splott. "Splowe" is a reasonable approximation of the estate agent pronunciation.
* Inverted in a sketch on ''Series/TheTwoRonnies'' where one character very carefully pronounces a newcomer's name as 'de Ath', only to be cheerfully told that it is, in fact, pronounced 'Death'.
* PlayedForLaughs (of course) on ''Series/WhoseLineIsItAnyway'' when they act out a scene like an ancient Greek drama--Greg immediately addresses Ryan as "Testicles" (pronounced "Test-i-clees").
* In a 2020 episode of her cooking show, Creator/NigellaLawson [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KrUxLBHVu8&ab_channel=ComedyCentre pronounced]] the word "microwave" as "mee-kro-wah-vay". This led to many on social media thinking that she was either being excessively posh or legitimately didn't know how the word was pronounced, but she insisted it was PlayedForLaughs.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Music]]
* The classic novelty song "Yes, We Have No Bananas" is built around this trope:
-->''Yes, we have no bananas\\
We have no bananas today\\
We have string beans and HUN-ions[[note]]onions[[/note]]\\
Ca-BAH-jess[[note]]Cabbages[[/note]] and scallions\\
And all kinds of fruit to say\\
We have an old-fashioned to-MAH-to[[note]]tomato[[/note]]\\
A Long Island po-TAH-to[[note]]potato[[/note]]\\
But yes! We have no bananas\\
We have no bananas today!''
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Pro Wrestling]]
* Old-school announcer Wrestling/GordonSolie, trying to class things up, would pronounce "Suplex" as "Souplay". (It's pronounced "souplay" in amateur wrestling, partly because of the sport's European origins.)
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Puppet Shows]]
* In a story from ''Series/TheBookOfPooh'' called "Chez Piglet," Rabbit convinces Piglet to open a restaurant called Chez Piglet, pronounced "Chay Piglay." He sings a song about all of the dishes being served at the restaurant, ending with "peanut butter and jel-lay."
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Radio]]
* ''Radio/TheUnbelievableTruth:'' When Henning Wehn (who is German) mispronounces "Flinstones" as "Flin-stuhns", the other panellists remark that he sounds like he's talking about an incredibly posh version of the show. Discussion moves on to whether Barney Rubble's name would therefore be "Rue-bleh" (Henning gets back at them by providing Barney's actual name in German translations).

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Theatre]]
* Pop/Buddy does this all throughout ''Theatre/WeWillRockYou'', most memorably with "Harley-Davidson" and "video tape".
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* Clone from ''VideoGame/AtelierEschaAndLogyAlchemistsOfTheDuskSky'' is pronounced clo-ney. An accent on the e would've helped there.
* ''VideoGame/BravelyDefault'': when the party reaches Florem, Edea talks about keeping up with the latest trends and what it means to be "fashionaaaabluh", insistently correcting her allies every time they say "fashionable" instead.
* Charmles in ''VideoGame/DragonQuestVIII'' refers to himself as "Sharm-LAY". He's the only one who does -- everyone calls him "CHARM-ulz", or [[PrinceCharmless Charmless]] when he's not looking. Even his own father.
* ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'': The main villains of the game are Caesar's Legion, led by the eponymous Caesar. He and his Legion use the Latin pronunciation of Kai-Sar, while his enemies (and most people who don't speak Latin) use the standard modern See-Zur pronunciation.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Skullgirls}}'', Big Band may claim that his name is pronounced with a silent D, as in “Big BAN”, if his [[SillinessSwitch Saxploitation]] voice pack is equipped.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Animation]]
* ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner''
** Strong Bad does this constantly when reading his e-mails. He did this for Illinois ("Eel-ee-nwah"). He also calls Texas "Tejas", pronounces "California" the Spanish way, etc. "Eel-ee-nwah" is pretty much how it's pronounced in French, though. It's a French adaptation of an Algonquin word. The silent 's' was definitely added by the French. It was probably pronounced something like "Eel-ee-nee-weh".
** He also (at least once) pronounced Ohio "OH-HEE-OH". This could be a subtle, running gag about him making just as many goofs as he corrects in his SB-Emails or a part of his oft-childish personality and his accent.
** In another episode he read "Kelly, USA" as "Kelly Usa" and referred to her as an "exotic lady from [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usa,_%C5%8Cita the far east]]".
** Strong Bad has also poked fun at this, noting that pronouncing "garbage" as "gar-BAGHE" is like, the one joke moms have.
** In "Donut Unto Others", Bubs deliberately invokes this trope by having his mass-produced doughnuts shipped from a third-world country named "Homemáde" (pronounced "Ho-muh-mah-day") just so he could legally print "From Homemade" on his boxes, allowing unsuspecting customers to make their own assumptions.
** Strong Sad is another frequent offender, such as saying "ah-NEE-may" instead of "anime" in "Trogdorcon '97" or "shah-pah-RONE" instead of "chaperone" in "senior prom". In "Fan Costumes 2020", Strong Bad even calls him out on his habit of "try-to-pronounce-foreign-words-authentically-but-not-do-a-very-good-job-of-it".
* In the first episode of ZTV News, the update series for adult website ZONE ARCHIVE, mascot ZONE-Tan insists her name is pronounced "ZONE-Tonne", much to the narrator's annoyance.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* ''Webcomic/TheLastDaysOfFOXHOUND'' has the [[http://gigaville.com/comic.php?id=155 pronounced as "Byoot-fick", Tennessee]] (they ain't foolin' nobody).
* In ''Webcomic/CucumberQuest'', [[http://cucumber.gigidigi.com/archive/page-298/ it's not Peri-DOT,]] [[http://cucumber.gigidigi.com/archive/page-299/ it's Peri-DOH!]]
* ''Webcomic/BasicInstructions'' once did a strip entitled "How to Pronounce 'Oregon'", including the statement "You can remember it by thinking 'I'll defend myself with a knife OR A GUN'" and claiming that the "OR-eh-GONE" pronunciation was wrong.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Websites]]
* Used many times by Website/SFDebris:
** Pulaski's insistence on mispronouncing "Day-ta" as "Da-tuh". Chuck notes this is akin to calling the ship the ''USS Enter-prez-say''.
** Pokes fun at the early attempts to highlight Chakotay as a Native American with an "ethnic" pronunciation of his name.
--->'''Torres:''' I've never found your twisted sense of humour funny, Cha-KOT-ay.\\
'''Chuck:''' Did she just call him "Chocolate Day"?
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Videos]]
* [[BlatantLies Pretty much]] [[ARG/PronunciationBook the entire point]] of [[https://www.youtube.com/user/pronunciationbook Pronunciation Book]].
* A running joke in the "Jack and Dean" videos involves Dean pronouncing Website/{{Facebook}} "Fack-ee-book" for the sole purpose of annoying Jack.
* In WebVideo/{{Retsupurae}}, a running gag is that Slowbeef will pronounce Mario's name "Mehrio", and has sometimes "corrected" himself when pronouncing it in the conventional manner.
* LetsPlay/NerdCubed regularly mispronounces certain words deliberately (usually). Regulars include pronouncing gym as 'gime', and refusing to learn the correct pronunciation of 'cassowary' in his ''VideoGame/FarCry3'' LetsPlay.
* When pronouncing ".GIF" ("giff" or "jiff"?), WebVideo/PBSIdeaChannel prefers "ʒɑɪf".
* During WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd's review of various ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButtHead'' games, he wonders [[WhoNamesTheirKidDude what kind of parents would ever name their child "Butt-head"]], speculating that perhaps they intended it to be pronounced "Buh-theed". Later, after finally figuring out what to do for a minor GuideDangIt moment, he sarcastically quips "Silly me! I'm such a shi-theed!".
* ''WebVideo/PlayStationAccess'': To them, the word "cliche" sounds like a snooty way someone would insist you say a last name.
* Inverted in ''WebVideo/YuGiOhTheAbridgedSeries'', where the classily named Kaiba Corp Grand Prix tournament (normally pronounced Grande Pree) is deliberately pronounced Grand Pricks. This is because when Kaiba was fishing for a tournament name, he asked [[ServileSnarker Roland]] for a name that "had the [[{{Jerkass}} Kaiba brothers]] written all over it."
* ''WebVideo/FactFiend:'' In the video about [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWZEllUeKvY Gordon Ramsey's quest to get a third Michelin star]], Karl has an aside about the pronunciation of Michelin. Everyone he knows pronounces Michelin (the tire company) as a very British "mitch-uh-lin", but pronounces Michelin (the maker of the posh restaurant guide) as a rather French "meesh-eh-leen"--even though it's the same company doing both.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* In the ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' short "To Hare Is Human", Wile E. Coyote introduces himself to WesternAnimation/BugsBunny as "Wile E. Coy-OH-Tay".
* ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'':
** Rad Thibodeaux, a "self-proclaimed genius", pronounces his last name as "Thib-ah-day-oks-ss" (Yes, he adds an extra "ss" sound that you wouldn't even get from reading the name phonetically in English). This leads to Hank attempting to correct him (Thibodeaux is French -- a very common Cajun name pronounced like Hank says):
--->'''Hank:''' Isn't that pronounced "Tib-ah-doh"?\\
'''Rad:''' Well, you know, sometimes, by mistake.
** Peggy's [[KnowNothingKnowItAll inability to speak Spanish]] is frequently shown by her pronouncing Spanish words as if they were English (such as saying ''llamo'' as "lamo" instead of "yamo") or pronouncing non-Spanish words as if they were Spanish (like pronouncing "Iwo Jima" as "Iwo He-ma").
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':
** Marge's country club friends Karen[[note]]Ka-Rin[[/note]], Gillian[[note]]Gil-Ian[[/note]], Elizabeth[[note]]Eliza-Beth[[/note]], Patricia[[note]]Pa-tree-see-a[[/note]], Roberta[[note]]Rau-berta[[/note]], and Susan[[note]]Sue-Sin[[/note]] all pronounced their names differently than the norm.
** There's also Krabappel which is pronounced "Cruh-BAW-pull". Despite coming up with numerous insulting nicknames for her, none of her students ever think to call her "crab-apple" until season 15. In one episode, there's a set-up where Homer is surprised at hearing the correct pronunciation of her name, only for him to cry "I've been calling her 'Krandall'!"
** And again when Bart corrects Homer on the pronunciation of "party", insisting that it's "par-TAY".
** "The Boy Who Knew Too Much" had an argument between Freddy Quimby and a French waiter over whether "chowder" was pronounced "CHOW-dah" or "shau-DAIR". It reached the point where Freddy apparently beat up the waiter, then ''threatened to kill the jury'' in the resulting court case.
** In the episode "The Heartbroke Kid", Bart mispronounces cottage cheese as "cotta-hey cheese" when he sees Marge has bought a tub of it. In the Quebec French dub, he mispronounces it as "crottage" for extra ToiletHumour points ("crotte" bringing to mind poop).
* Parodied on ''WesternAnimation/DrawnTogether'', during one of their finales when Captain Hero corrected the host saying "It's pronounced Kah-Pee-Tawn. The Hero is silent." This is also a reference to Captain Hero's behavior after his last name, Shero, is revealed. It's pronounced "Hero", the "S" is silent.
* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy''
** When Peter goes to an ultra-posh auction house surrounded of the wealthiest elite, he says "It would look really good in Lois's crapper... I mean, krah-pee-AY." This pronunciation is immediately corroborated. "Oh yes, I would simply love that in ''my crapier''!"
** In "How the Griffin Stole Christmas" Brian says he was dating a cool girl named "Cow-ooch" but Stewie says he was just saying "couch" in a cool way.
** While Stewie can pronounce [[Creator/WilWheaton "Wil" and "Wheaton"]] properly, when he puts them together it becomes "Hwil Hwheaton."
* Done in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheProudFamily'', where Penny gains a case of AcquiredSituationalNarcissism and insists on "Penn-AY".
* ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooMysteryIncorporated'' has George Avocados who always corrects the pronunciation to "ah-VAW-ca-dos". It doesn't stick.
* WesternAnimation/TimonAndPumbaa once met a suspicious-looking raccoon named Thief who insists that his name is pronounced "thife" (rhymes with "life").
* ''WesternAnimation/TheBoondocks''
** It's not "Uncle Ruckus", it's "Uncle Ruckuu". [[BlatantLies Because it's French.]]
** Also an inversion: Robert is pulled over by one Officer Douche. Despite being high, Robert has the presence of mind to call him "Doo-shay." Except the officer's name is pronounced the way it looks.
* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'': Lampshaded in the episode "Margaritaville," starting out with a clerk in a store called ''Sur La Table,'' which he pronounced tāb-lé, and {{running|Gag}} with it the whole episode whenever various words ending in 'able' were used by that character.
* On ''Literature/CliffordTheBigRedDog'', there was a story in which Jetta read Emily Elizabeth's private journal and was led to believe that Emily Elizabeth was going to Hawaii by reading one of her made-up stories. She kept dropping all sorts of hints about Hawaii to Emily Elizabeth, but kept pronouncing it in a really pompous way, with the accent heavily on the second syllable.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Doug}}'' was trying to impress Patty by trying to look sophisticated and play classical music, only to be shot down by Judy when she corrected him on the pronunciation of the name, Chopin (pronounced SHO-pan).
* In the ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'' episode Operation B.R.I.D.G.E. there's a clothing store that sell extremely embarrassing kids' clothing called Les Sissy (It's pronounced Sis-SAY).
* In the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' episode [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E26TheBestNightEver "The Best Night Ever"]], Pinkie Pie tries to adapt to an upper class party.
-->'''Pinkie Pie:''' Ooooh. They don't want to party. These ponies want to par-TAY!
* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/GoofTroop'' had Goofy taking a class at the local community center to learn how to be a mime. His instructor, who spoke with an affected New England-type accent, insisted on pronouncing the word "mimes" as "meems" (which, in his defense, ''is'' the correct pronunciation in French, with the exception of the ''s'' being silent.
* In ''WesternAnimation/FantasticMax'', a character is named "Fatso" but insists on his name being pronounced "Fah-ZO", as the T is silent.
* In ''WesternAnimation/AllHailKingJulien'', everyone mispronounces "fossa" as "foosa". It's understandable for King Julien, as his syntax is notably convoluted, but the other lemurs have no excuse.
* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'':
** In the episode "Squid Plus One" Squidward gets an invitation to a party where he can invite one guest. The invitation says "Squidward Tentacles plus one" which he pronounces as "Ploo-zon-ay" and figures the sender got his name wrong with extra words tacked on.
** In "Larry the Floor Manager", Bubble Bass holds up the line at the Krusty Krab by specifying the correct pronounciation of "gouda": not "goo-duh", but "how-ooh-duh".
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Real Life]]
* When UsefulNotes/JohnKerry testafied about war attrocities the United States soldiers committed in the Vietnam War, he claimed they "razed villages in a fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan," pronouncing it "jenjis".
[[/folder]]
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