Melissa's English Lessons...

How To Say Kool-Aid

It has recently come to the attention of my husband, much to his annoyance, that I have a pronunciation problem with the words Kool-Aid and Cooler, like for holding ice to put drinks and food in when you go camping. I can say the stand alone word COOL like other people, with the oo making the proper sound.

But every time I make Kool-Aid and ask Damien if he wants some, he makes fun of me! I never noticed it until he pointed it out, but I pronounce the Kool in Kool-Aid like coo, as in cooing at a baby. It's almost like a 'qu' sound instead of 'oo'. So instead of saying KOOL-Aid, like a normal person, I say KOO-Laid. like a freak.

Then a few days ago, recently after the Kool-Aid vs. Koo-Laid conversation, we were talking about going camping. It had been a really warm weekend for October and we were thinking about going out somewhere to camp for a day or two. I mentioned that we would need a cooler, and Damien just gave me this strange look for a few seconds. I had no idea what his problem was until he said "Say that again." So I repeated myself, we would need a cooler. He shook his head and said "COOL-er, not COO-ler. You say that weird too." Then we had a long moment of him trying to get me to pronounce it properly, in which I finally succeeded, but every time I say Kool-Aid or Cooler now, I always have to think about it first. I don't know why I say those two words so strangely, but it's something I never noticed or had pointed out before. It makes me wonder what else I might be saying differently from everyone else...