Can You Say These Difficult English Words

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hi everybody my name is Alisha and today

we’re gonna be talking about ten of the

hardest words to pronounce according to

you guys so we collected some

information from you on Facebook thanks

very much for sending in your ideas and

these were the top 10 most difficult

words for you to pronounce so let’s get

started

absolutely absolutely absolutely might

be tough to pronounce absolutely means

100 percent absolutely is an agreement

phrase are you going to that music event

next week absolutely yes 100% definitely

absolutely loot like a loot Lu te big

rhyme the grime apparently means dirty

I’ve never heard nor used this word

before but perhaps it’s difficult to

pronounce the grime the door to my

apartment was big rhymed in the storm

last week breakfast the next word is

breakfast breakfast is hard to pronounce

but that is the meaning of breakfast

you’re breaking the fast so fast is a

period of time without eating and to

break means to just well in this case

breaking something it doesn’t refer to

like crushing a thing but stopping

something to break the fast of the night

in other words so you’re fasting during

the night you’re not eating so you wake

up in the morning you break the fast but

we don’t say break fast we say breakfast

in a sentence this morning for breakfast

I ate a bowl of cereal with grapes and I

had a coffee too colleague colleague

yes colleague many of my students

struggle with this they say colleague or

they say colleague you or something cuz

the spelling of this word is really

really strange there’s that gue at the

end or more commonly I feel it’s just

co-worker colleague sounds slightly more

formal to me than co-worker somebody who

you work with or somebody who you have a

business relationship with in some sense

could be a person from another company

could be somebody from your own company

anyone who you do business dealings with

is your colleague can be your colleague

in a sentence I’m going to a networking

event with my colleagues next week

miscellaneous that Mis see missus

Alania so just as the spelling I think

maybe it’s confusing for this word

miscellaneous miscellaneous just means

other stuff or just other uncatted

Erised stuff I keep a lot of

miscellaneous items in a drawer in my

house maybe they don’t they don’t really

fit into one category like it’s not

kitchen things it’s not clothing it’s

just sort of a mixture of things

miscellaneous things negotiation the

next word is negotiation negotiation

yeah there are two T’s in this but

neither T is a hard T they’re both very

soft that [ __ ] sound because they’re

followed by the eye and another vowel

that she a negotiation negotiation

refers to a compromise between two

people you’re trying to make a decision

and you negotiate in this case that’s a

noun form negotiation business

negotiations continued for more than a

month with this important deal realm

realm I see why this one’s hard it’s

that role part that’ll roam it’s a weird

word isn’t it it’s used to talk about

just like the kind of a fantasy world is

sort of the nuance of this phrase the

realm in a sentence lets us go to the

realm where the elves live and eat their

bread unfortunately the next word is

unfortunately unfortunately

unfortunately just means too bad you can

use this to to start bad news for

example like unfortunately I can’t come

to work today because I’m sick or

unfortunately I broke my arm at the

basketball game last week or

unfortunately my haircut is bad

vocabu-larry vocabu-larry vocabu-larry

vocabu-larry vocabu-larry vocabu-larry

just refers to the words in a language

my vocabulary in my second language is

really really low I need a bigger

vocabulary so that I can express myself

more clearly world world oh I see why

this one’s hard world world hard to

pronounce that rld I think together is

tough Plus that W at the beginning as

well it’s such a short word but you have

to say so many weird things at the same

time world

your tongue is going yeah Wow like this

in a sentence I have traveled all over

the world and the best food is in my

stomach that’s in so those were ten hard

to pronounce words give them a try

slowly at first and just kind of try to

work up to saying it at a more natural

speed if you like thank you so much for

sharing your opinions with us on

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today and we’ll see you again next time

bye you don’t need new shoes you need

new feet hi everybody welcome back my

name is Alisha and today we’re going to

be talking about some English tongue

twisters I’m joined again by Michael hey

everybody so today we’re gonna be

talking about some things in English

that are difficult to say that might be

difficult for you and they’re probably

gonna be difficult for us to explain so

let’s get right into it Michael what is

your first tongue twister my first

tongue twister is how much wood would a

woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could

chuck wood one more time a little bit

faster how much wood would a woodchuck

chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood

excellent and there is a traditional

response to this one you’re familiar

with the response so once you tell me

it’s a question write this this is it

ends in a question there’s a question

mark on your car and the traditional

response is it would chuck all the wood

that a woodchuck could if a woodchuck

could chuck wood

oh yeah I have it on one of my cards

actually I think too this was totally

unplanned I would like to point out yeah

here it is it wood chuck all the wood

that a woodchuck could if a woodchuck

could chuck wood so you can you can use

this with your friends if you want all

right let’s do it real quick ready okay

how much wood would a woodchuck chuck if

a woodchuck could chuck wood

it would chuck all the wood that a

woodchuck could if a woodchuck could

chuck wood hey all right

there’s one down okay uh let’s see we’ve

talked about that one already so I guess

I’ll go with another classic one that

I’ve known since I was little this one

used the P sound a lot Peter Piper

picked a pack of pickled peppers

lots of P sounds in this

can you speed it up for us well I don’t

know if I can say it in the first place

Peter Piper picked up [ __ ] jiminy

manemma do you mean even you mean in

Menominee have you not heard this one

before I have it okay Peter Piper picked

a pack of pickled peppers hold on one

more time Peter Piper picked a peck of

pickled peppers for me it helps if you

snap okay Peter Piper picked a peck of

pickled peppers Peter Piper picked a

peck oh my god I can’t do it maybe it’s

better if you don’t read it those Oh

Peter no no I can’t do it Peter Piper

picked a peck of pickled peppers that

wasn’t very good I wasn’t one more time

one more time Peter Piper picked a peck

of pickled peppers what three more times

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled

peppers Peter Piper picked

I did I can’t do it Peter Piper picked a

peck of pickled peppers there we go

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled

peppers Peter Piper picked a peck of

pink

oh man that’s tough the peas man I can’t

do the piece oh wow peas can’t do you

either okay go to your next one what’s

your not good uh no I’m my brain is

frazzled now okay uh oh I just like this

one I’ve actually never heard this

before but I like it because there’s a

lot of th’s in it and a lot of foreign

people who are learning English let me

say that a lot of non-native English

speakers have trouble with th that’s

been true for a lot of my students

regardless of where they’re from with

their native languages so the 33 thieves

thought that they thrilled the throne

throughout Thursday well I’ve never seen

this one yeah I’m either but I just

thought it was good because they

remember th so the 33 thieves thought

that they thrilled the throne throughout

Thursday better want to give it a try

yeah I’m gonna try the 33 thieves

thought that they thrilled the throne

throughout Thursday hmm that’s a good

one that’s a really good one for th

sounds I think it’s not it’s I think the

consonant sounds like the hard consonant

sounds like the P sound or the well

maybe even the W sound a little bit like

it’s easy to say that quickly but this

one’s really tough to say quickly I

think and clearly the 33 thought that

they throw this out as smoothly may be

spitting a lot maybe okay I guess I’ll

go to my next one I really have no faith

that I’m gonna be able to say this at

all this is like the hardest thing that

I think

I was able to find I don’t have to read

it slowly the sixth sick sheiks sixth

sheeps sick yeah okay yeah the sixth

sick sheiks

six sheeps sick yeah the sixth 600 like

the second word you can’t even say it

it’s really hard one more time right

this the sixth sick sheiks sixth cheap

sick the sixth oh that was good that’s

good that’s way better yeah we’ll just

leave it on that one that I did it was

the sixth six chic six sheeps sick

that’s really hard it’s really I don’t

think I can say it any faster than that

the sixth sick sheiks sixth oh okay I’m

the loss of words okay one more time

okay the sixth sick sheiks sixth sheeps

sick the sixth sick what it once is okay

what’s your next one my next one is the

soldiers shoulder surely hurts another

one I’ve actually never heard but I

liked it because everyone knows Sally

sells seashells down by the seashore the

s and the SH is confusing and many times

in English like surely there’s no SH but

it makes that that SH sound so it’s a

fun one the soldiers shoulder surely

hurts

the soldiers shoulder surely hurts wanna

give it a try the soldiers shoulder

surely hurts this is the tough part here

for me anyway is this the soldiers

shoulder making that sound really

clearly a step the soldiers shoulder

surely hurts yeah you make it sound so

easy

well professional not really okay on to

the last one this one is really short

actually it’s only two words but it’s

tricky it’s really tricky I can’t say

this fast

Irish Risch okay Irish by itself is fine

wristwatch is fine but together they’re

really hard to say

Irish rich Irish wristwatch really hard

Irish wristwatch yeah they’re slow okay

Irish oh wow

really hard doesn’t it seems easier than

it is yeah I risked watch Irish with

Irish wristwatch Irish wristwatch Irish

wristwatch nice there we go

Irish Irish I can’t try it this one’s

hard this is really hard but yeah only

two words it’s just it’s just that

combination of the shin the roof it’s

just I can’t I got nothing on that one

alright do you have any more no I think

that’s it oh wow that was a good one no

it’s really tough it’s really tough okay

we’ll give them a try please give them a

try and if you have any tongue twisters

preferably in English please share them

with us in the comments there are great

ways to practice their pronunciation and

you can impress your friends if you can

do them quickly thank you again for

joining us and we’ll see you again soon

bye

top sa oh hi sorry I forgot to say hi

again hi everybody and welcome back to

weekly words this week the topic is

going to be SAT words words that

students who are studying for the SAT

the SAT is a kind of college preparatory

test or a test that students take

usually to apply for colleges the words

are typically fairly challenging for

high school students and these are some

of the words that might cause trouble

for some people so let’s begin the first

word is assiduous assiduous is a word

that means somebody who is a persistent

or who is always trying to do their best

to work really really hard you might

have a co-worker who is assiduous I

suppose you could also use it if you’re

just describing anything that’s

hardworking like ants for example you

might say answer very assiduous

creatures they work hard they can lift

more than their own bodyweight okay

that’s pretty good next intuitive

intuitive someone who is intuitive is

someone who has a good instinct or

they’re able to sense what the right

thing is to do without you know having

to be taught what the right thing is so

let’s say maybe you’re going surfing for

the first time and it comes to you

really really easily

after just your first couple tries your

friends might say wow you’re really

intuitive you know how to do this

without you know having to take a lesson

or anything great job a good trait to be

intuitive precocious precocious is

another usually a positive word

precocious is usually used for children

children who are kind of strangely

talented at something even when they’re

very very little so maybe you’ve seen on

YouTube a kid who can play the piano

extremely well even though he or she is

5 years old we might say he’s precocious

oh she’s a precocious child she can do

so much but she’s so young it’s usually

a very impressive thing that the kids

are able to do alright the next one is

evanescent evanescent evanescent

evanescent is another adjective which

means something that fades away rather

quickly or something that’s very

short-lived oh to be very romantic about

it you might say the scent of her

perfume was very evanescent you could

smell it for a brief moment and then it

faded away yeah kind of nice the next

word is anecdote an anecdote is usually

some kind of a short funny story that’s

a retelling of an event that happened to

you

it might be a written story or a spoken

story oh want to hear an anecdote about

my last trip to Bali it was hilarious

ever say that though it’s not something

you’d use so much in casual conversation

I feel like a critic might write this

word about someone else’s writing the

anecdotes she chooses to include in her

writing are very humorous for example

okay well we’ve learned a few SAT words

that students might have trouble with

when they’re studying for the test in

their high school years I hope that you

find some of these where it’s useful and

can use them in your daily life as well

thanks for joining us this week and I

will see you again next time bye bye

okay welcome back to weekly words

weekly words I’m Alicia and today we’re

going to talk about words that make you

sound smart oh I’m all over this one

first word is esoteric when something is

esoteric it’s alright so the word

esoteric refers to something that

requires specialized knowledge so in a

conversation somebody might use this

word too

sorry to be esoteric and then they’ll

continue talking about some subject or

some concept that requires a certain

level of knowledge in the given field

next word superfluous superfluous just

means extra really does what can a

person be superfluous so superfluous

yeah just just refers to stuff that’s

maybe not necessary or the X the extra

just stuff for extra extra things in a

given context so maybe you know oh I

have so much superfluous stuff in my

kitchen of course using superfluous in

such a casual way like that is very

unnatural but you could do it if you

really wanted to sound smart aqueous

aqueous means to like you might have a

like can’t say like Pirates of the

Caribbean something like he will not

acquiesce to your request or she will

not acquiesce to your request

it just means she won’t obey or listen

or do as told

but that’s it’s it’s the same exact

meaning to acquiesce to accept something

yet to go along with angst angst refers

to just kind of this like that that

unhappy feeling this sort of angry or

maybe melancholy are just feeling like

you know you’re misunderstood so a

teenager or I suppose a teenager

themselves might not use this word but

the parents of the teenager might say oh

my teenager is so filled with angst

hitch hitch kitsch refers to in my mind

anyway just junk

honestly it’s the little things that you

know might crowd your house like a snow

globe or special little ornaments or

just you know decorative knickknacks you

might say oh my aunts apartment is

really kitschy it means she has maybe

like a lot of knickknacks or the style

is just kind of alright that is the end

so those were a few words to make you

sound smart I hope that you learned

something I certainly did and I’ll see

you again next time thank you bye

alright welcome back to weekly words I

am Alicia and this week

we’re gonna talk about commonly

mispronounced mispronounced Wow

this week we’re going to talk about

commonly mispronounced words words that

are often pronounced incorrectly funny I

enjoy mispronouncing this first word the

first word is hyperbole hyperbole it’s

not hyperbole though it does sound very

funny to say that hyperbole just means

to exaggerate something or to make to

blow something up make it really extreme

my friend uses a lot of hyperbole when

she talks about her life stories I

really don’t think some of those things

happen to her

hyperbole not hyperbole next Antarctic

not ah oh I see

Antarctic is the correct pronunciation

of this word some people say and and

tart and tart ick

really oh I guess when you’re saying

this word quickly you might leave out

that first see in the Antarctic so don’t

say that don’t do that say Antarctic the

the very very cold region the Arctic is

the North cold region on the planet

Earth the south is the Antarctic there’s

sort of like almost a hiccup in the word

there Antarctic Oh in a sentence

I’m thinking about taking a cruise to

the Antarctic what do you think I need a

penguin suit etc not etc oh yeah okay

I’ve heard I hear this ech ech thing a

lot etcetera is just used at the end of

a list to imply that you mean other

things so the list is not exclusive to

the things that you’ve listed other

things can also be included in it so in

a sample sentence types of fruits are

apples oranges peaches etc there are

others as well so don’t say etc that’s

not correct

etc it’s good the next word is jewelry

what not money’s the next word is

jewelry jewelry I think I’m probably

guilty of this mispronunciation I can’t

say that word mispronunciation where the

word kind of gets a little bit smushed

together and we say jewelry instead

we’ve missed

that second e sound in there it should

be jewelry in a sample sentence maybe

you would say I’m shopping for some

jewelry for my mother for her birthday

jewelry we’re too lazy prescription not

prescription okay a prescription is

something that a doctor gives you when

you’re sick and you require medicine the

doctor will write you a prescription

some people might say prescription Wow

okay

I knew notice and I was doing it while I

was telling you guys not to do it

that’s embarrassing prescription a

doctor writes you a prescription not a

prescription when you go to the doctor’s

office the doctor might say here is your

prescription and all right well we’ve

learned that I apparently can’t

pronounce some words the way that

they’re meant to be pronounced so please

work on your pronunciation I will work

on my pronunciation to thank you for

joining us on weekly words this week I

will see you next time bye-bye

want to speak real English from your

first lesson sign up for your free

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101.com

welcome back to weekly words my name is

Alisha and today we’re going to talk

about words with weird silent letters I

like the title of this one let’s get

started the first word is pterodactyl

pterodactyl is a dinosaur this was a

flying dinosaur from the late Jurassic

period I totally knew that on my own

pterodactyl begins with a P but we don’t

say the peas just starts with a T sound

in a sentence you might say the

pterodactyl is my favorite dinosaur

the next word is mortgage my students

messed up this word mortgage like last

week in class

mortgage has a t in it but we don’t say

the T it sounds like mortgage like

there’s no T at all a mortgage is the

payment that you make on your house

every month if if you’ve had to take a

loan from a bank in a sentence my

mortgage payments are very reasonable I

hope the next word is Isle Isle is a

weird word so yes there’s an S in the

word Isle but it is not pronounced I

slay it’s pronounced Isle Isle with an A

in front is the space between rows of

seats on an airplane for example or the

space between shelves and a supermarket

any sort of pathway

is an aisle in a sentence please keep

your feet out of the aisle on the

airplane because the cart might the next

word is pho pho has an X at the end when

it’s spelled on paper but we do not say

folks Oh folks we don’t say that we say

pho pho means fake pho means something

that’s not real very commonly you’ll

hear this in terms of faux fur as in I

prefer to wear faux fur because I don’t

believe that we should kill animals all

right the next word is asthma we were

just talking about how I have asthma

asthma is spelled very weirdly there’s a

th in there but we do not say the th

it’s it sounds like Asma Asma Asma is a

respiratory condition you might have

asthma it’s very common where it might

be difficult for you to breathe

sometimes you need to take medicine in a

sentence I carry my inhaler everywhere

because I have asthma and that’s the end

of words that have weird silent letters

so be careful when you come across these

in writing because they sound a little

bit different than the way they’re

spelled thanks again for watching weekly

words this week we will be back with

more fun stuff next time take care bye I

don’t know I hi i’m remembering to

introduce the series this week my name

is alicia welcome back to weekly words

this week we’re gonna talk about really

long words that are actually used okay

and this is gonna be interesting I think

let’s start the first word is

photosynthesis photosynthesis is an

eighth grade American science school

word is an eighth grade science word

this refers to the process that plants

use to convert sunlight to oxygen the

process of photosynthesis is vitally

important to the survival of humans

right the next word is imperturbable

imperturbable means someone who can’t

really get upset or excited like it’s

hard to change the emotions of a person

so you might say I have a friend who is

imperturbable no matter what we do or

what we say he doesn’t get angry with us

onward the next is counterintuitive

counterintuitive is a good word which

means it’s the opposite of

commonsense so we talked about the word

intuitive in a previous episode of

weekly words

where intuitive means able to sense

something or able to do something

correctly without knowing having to know

much about it

counterintuitive however on the other

hand means not intuitive or it seems

like something that just doesn’t make

much sense it’s not a common sense thing

so maybe let’s see something that

doesn’t seem to make very much sense to

you maybe on your office building for

example you have to first push the door

and then pull it in order to open it you

might say uh the way the doors work in

this building is very counterintuitive

it doesn’t make much sense the next word

is presumptuously presumptuously means

failing to observe the limits of what is

permitted or appropriate this is a tough

one to use in a sentence so anytime

somebody does something that’s just

beyond the limits of what is considered

normal in your culture you can say that

they’re being presumptuous or they’re

acting presumptuously so if for example

a salesman comes to your door for some

reason but they enter the house and sit

down on your sofa you might say the

salesman presumptuously entered my house

and sat down on my sofa I couldn’t

believe it

what a sphygmomanometer sphygmomanometer

an instrument for measuring blood

pressure this is a new one for me - Spig

manometer is this word isn’t this called

really long words that are actually used

I have only been familiar with this word

in terms of the blood pressure cuff when

you go to the doctor and they need to

check your blood pressure they’ll put

this thing this figma manometer on your

arm usually and then they’ll kind of

pump it up and check your blood pressure

so it’s a very technical word the doctor

might say to a nurse or to another

doctor can you please get me the

sphygmomanometer we need to check this

patient’s blood pressure Wow okay I

learned a new word today and those are

all the long words that are actually

used sometimes give them a try work on

your pronunciation for these they’re

kind of interesting ones I think thanks

again for joining us for weekly words I

will see you next time

Big Mama not under welcome back to

weekly words my name is Alisha and this

week we are going to talk about words

that end with X first is Equinox there

are two equinoxes per year there is a

Fall Equinox and a spring equinox and

it’s the days where the daytime and the

nighttime are of equal length in a

sentence you having a party for the

equinox this year

today is the spring equinox did you know

that ok onward next is jinx we can use

this as a noun or as a verb a jinx is

something it’s a curse really

something that brings somebody bad luck

in North America maybe in your country

as well when kids say something at

exactly the same time in exactly the

same words one or both of them will

often yell jinx and then they’ll

sometimes say you can’t talk until I say

your name - jinx can also be used as a

verb to curse somebody the witch jinxed

me and now I am a werewolf no no more

you know okay Fox Fox is another word

great Fox Fox is a mammal usually a

reddish-brown color lives in forests in

some cultures it’s associated with

trickery has a big bushy tail often very

cute has a red belly sometimes Fox packs

Fox in a sentence my favorite animal is

the Fox what does the Fox say climax is

common in movies or in books it’s

whatever the most intense scene in the

movie is the most intense scene in the

book is something where everything comes

to a peak and it’s the like has the most

action and most drama in the movie

whatever the most intense point of

something is the climax in a sentence

the climax of the movie was the most

exciting part he’s the best climax I

remember obviously Lord of the Rings

yeah it was last one in The Return of

the King is like that scene where

Legolas rides the elephants you know

Hugh wax

life’s most important substance I’m

imagining surfboard surfers we’ll put it

on a surfboard to help their board glide

through water you can put it on your car

to make your car look a lot shinier

there’s also ear wax a little bit gross

it’s the

kind of I don’t even know stuff gross

stuff that gets inside your ears if you

don’t clean them well enough wax yeah in

a sentence wax your car to make it shiny

and that’s the end of words that end

with X give them a try they’re

interesting thanks very much for joining

us this week we will see you again soon

for more fun stuff bye

excellent we learned something hi and

welcome back to weekly words I’m Alicia

and I don’t know what I’m gonna talk to

you about yet

but let’s start today’s topic is words

that vary by region Creek I say Creek

you might hear the word Creek Creek the

word Creek means a small River

essentially there’s a creek in my

backyard

for example sure the next word is coyote

I say coyote how do other people say

this word kite coyote oh yeah

coyote I don’t say that coyote is kind

of a doglike animal it’s a wild animal

about the size of a dog with a howl at

night we have them in Oregon where I’m

from I definitely heard them at my house

last night I heard the Coyotes out in my

pasture okay the next word is root ro

ute root is how I say it

you might also hear the word pronounced

route root ro ute means the way through

a city or a town or some kind of path in

other words

ro ot which this word sounds like is the

system that’s at the bottom of a plant

that plant uses to get nutrients you

know with the little Terry fibers I’m so

good at explaining plant biology oh I

know a good route to get from school to

the park later let’s take that on our

bicycles that was oddly specific the

next word is apricot or you might hear

apricot as well it’s a fruit so you

might say hey did you bring any apricots

to the picket pick it to the biggest

apricots no I pick it on the other hand

is a word that means protest there’s a

freebie in there for example you might

say hey

really like those apricots you brought

me the other day they were delicious

okay the next ooh the next word is

caramel I say I think I say caramel oh

this is making me doubt myself there’s

caramel and there’s caramel they both

refer to sugary sweet substance that’s

often a type of candy or often inside a

type of candy it’s really really

delicious so you might say oh my

favorite kind of candy is caramel or my

favorite kind of candy is caramel just

depends on where you’re from apparently

in the east the East Coast they say

caramel on the west coast it seems we

say caramel that sounds about right to

me hmm

you can choose end ray what was this one

called ah this has been words that vary

by region you can choose which region

you’re from perhaps but it’s probably

best for you to be consistent when

you’re speaking so that you don’t

confuse the person listening to you hope

you enjoyed and I will see you again

next time

a bye

[Music]