Does any sane person call mashed potatoes "mashed pots"?
YES, not speaking of my self as I am a bit odd at times.
Gets to be a habit for the adults that mimic the youngsters trying to speak English. Some of our fondest memory's are of the little ones mispronouncing words and we get a flash back years later hearing these words from another toddler.
Lots of words the baby's say get encased into us a good time a fun time and we use the pronunciation as a way to hang on to the past.
I still think of one of my sons when hearing Subgeti , meat bulls, and Hoppital for Hospital.
Odd that the words out of baby's mouth were mostly about food. An over flying plane was a pain,
a girl was a Goy, and ETC.
Mashed potatoes were known as smashed, and a baked ham as an IAM.
So these long in the past things that made one laugh stick with one, I remember being fed Kidney beans and enjoying the juice and asked for more kidney water. Both grandparents never again referred to the juice as anything but Kidney water. I so young had no idea why they both laughed with tears running down their face.
So some things cannot change, the link of the child to the adult and the embedded memories of years ago are still in place.
Sorry you all fuddy duds, these pronouncing may come from those that want to , need onto their memories and it is a joy to do so.