Learn English – British pronunciation of “plait”

The argument over the US/UK pronunciation of “risotto” stems from how the first “o” is pronounced in Italian.

It is a sound we don't really make in English, lying almost exactly between our short and long “o” sounds. To the US ear, it sounds more like a long “o”; shorter in duration, but essentially the same vowel sound. To the UK ear, it sounds more like a short “o” rhyming with “pot”. For the US speaker the second syllable rhymes with the Italian word for eight, “otto” (oh-toh). For the UK speaker, who's long “o” sound is more flexed and drawn out, this would sound a bit strange (oe-toe)—and no doubt he‘s been told as much—so he rhymes it with "motto" or the name “Otto” to get a bit closer.

The same phenomenon arises around the pronunciation of the Spanish “Rioja”, with the US speaker saying “Ree-ò-ha” (approximating the Mexican Spanish pronunciation of the “j” as an “h”), and the UK speaker saying “Ree-ock-ka” (and doing something strange and interesting with that “j”, turning it into a “k” in an attempt to mimic an aspirated “kh” sound).

Its all a bit baroque (US: rhymes with “joke”; UK: rhymes with “rock”), the native pronunciation lying almost exactly in between the two.

According to the section labelled "pronunciation" on Wikipedia, the musical instrument is pronounced /ˈkæli.oʊp/ and the Greek Muse is /kəˈlaɪ.əpiː/.

Oxford disagrees, listing only the latter pronunciation (or something approximating it). Merriam Webster lists both pronunciations for the musical instrument.