Hm, I must be a hick.
Caramel is “kar-muhl” (unless I’m reading it, then it’s care-uh-mell), coupon is “kyou-pon” or “koo-pon”, and syrup is surr-up. (Real-live people actually say “seer-up”??) Strangely enough, the dictionary says both the more “high-brow” way of pronouncing and my way of pronouncing it are correct.
It could be because my entire family is from Ohio/New Jersey/Pennsylvania, though. (Regional thing, perhaps?)
We don’t sound like hicks, though. (Okay, some of them do when they say “We was” instead of “We were”, but generally speaking, we don’t sound like hicks. In fact, most of us don’t have any accent whatsoever.)