So I go into 3 or 4 bike shops today, looking for some new wheels. I was looking for a set of Mavic wheels, wanted to see and feel the different range of products they have. I go to the counter in bike shop #2, and say "What MAA-vick wheels do you have?" and one of the employees on the other side of the shop says "MAA-vee?" I'm like, wtf? And then I tried to say Ksyrium and said "Kai-seerium" like a jackass and I got looked at funny. Help a brother out: how the hell do you say these words? And are there any others people can think of? For example, I've heard "Bee-on-chee" and "Bee-on-key." Once again, wtf?

*Footnote: being a red-blooded American, I'm not down with the whole "consonants you don't actually pronounce." Silent "e"s, "gh" and "ph" combos aside, American English is pretty straight-forward.