Australians are quite used to American pronunciations of words. Some of us, grrr, even use them. Mostly they flow over me and I don't notice them, bar one in particular.
It grabs me every time I hear it, rather like when I hear a news report about the World Health Organisation. Who?, I say silently to myself. (I've tried saying it out loud but R is inclined to glare at me)
The word that bothers me with its American pronunciation is missile. You know, those things that squabbling countries threaten to shoot at each other. Kaboom. North Korea hasn't had much success with them of late.
While there are rules for English, they are so many exceptions, there hardly seems any point to them. To hear grammatically perfect English without modification towards naturalness of any sort can sound very odd to the ears. But at times there is a consistency such as ile at the end of a word. It sounds like aisle, as in a supermarket, or isle as in island. Maybe I should at this point check how Americans say aisle. Press on regardless.
So how can missile possibly be pronounced like a book old Ratzinger in the Vatican might peruse, a missal? How can missile possibly be pronounced missal? Does any native speaker in the US say missile?
I suppose the answer can only be, it just is in the US.
Words, always an opportunity to mention my most disliked. If I hear any of youse say or write orientated or disorientated instead of oriented or disoriented, I will bop you on the noggin. For you foreigners, see what Google translate makes of that phrase.