Why Do We Struggle With English Pronunciation In Minnesota?

Words are so strange. So many of them are spelled differently than they are pronounced. I have heard that English is one of the toughest languages to learn. Mostly because of the slang and because of how something that is spelled the same might be pronounced differently depending on context.

SAME BUT DIFFERENT

Some of those words are object - pronounced differently depending on if you are talking about a thing or if you are talking about a way to disagree or argue a point. Or Read - if you are reading a book or if you have already read a book. Those are just a couple of examples.

We have also been on lists of towns that are extremely hard to pronounce correctly if youi are not from here. One of the most commonly mispronounced towns is Wayzata. We all know that. If you go to Wisconsin, there are so many Native American town names that you are bound to mispronounce those too if you are not a local.

GOOGLE SEARCH

Google put out analysis of words that are searched the most as to how to pronounce them. Wisconsin was Paczki. It's pronounced POONCH-kee. I never would have gotten that one correct had I not lived in 'sconnie for a few years.

Here in Minnesota, apparently we have no idea how to pronounce Thyme. It's pronounced as TIME. I learned that in elementary school. In music class we had to learn the song Parsley Sage Rosemary and Thyme. And we had the music and lyrics. Evidently not everyone did, otherwise it wouldn't be the most searched word in Minnesota. But here we are.

What word do you have a hard time pronouncing?