I find it quite ridiculous too, but so many do it that I try not to get into it. It was discussed here endlessly before, but the old threads are messed up because KIR or someone had a code put in that made any variation into "Khmer". Anyway for example JM from 2008:
It is however something you will often hear Cambodians saying when speaking English, so there's that - although the pronunciation is likely different. Between two foreigners I don't understand.jm wrote:This annoys me to no end. If you are speaking English the word is Khmer, end of story. To me it sounds ridiculous to hear Khmei, Khmer, Khmie in an English sentence....you don't say "here's my friend Gunther, he's a Deutsch speaker..." so what's with this Khmer nonsense. Pretentious, especially when one foreigner uses it with another.
Ok, mine is "Nom Pen". Like what the fuck is that? What makes people drop the "P" sound which, to my ears anyway, seems quite clear. Is it something to do with a "PH" usually being pronounced like "F" in English? Even the BBC do it so maybe it's just the pronunciation that is used in some countries?