A facebook group I belong to recently had a very entertaining discussion of words that its members had mispronounced for a very long time because they had only ever seen them written.
The culprits:
| WORD | MISTAKEN PRONUNCIATION | CORRECT PRONUNCIATION |
| Placebo | PLACE-bo | Pluh SEE bo |
| Pinochle | Pin OACH'll | PEE nuckle |
| Epitome | EPPY tome | ip PITTA mee |
| Awry | AWEree | Uh RYE |
| Rely | RELLee | Ruh LIE |
| Asylum | ASSY lum | Uh SYE lum |
| Misled | MIZZ'ld, MIZE'ld | Miss LED |
| Underfed | Un DERFD | Under FED |
| Ascites | ASS kitties | Uh SITE eez |
| Whodunit | WODD you nit | Hoo DUNNit |
| Subunit | Soo BUNNit | SUB you nit |
| Fatigue | FATTY goo | Fuh TEEG |
| Anathema | ANNA THEEmuh | Uh NATH uh muh |
| Voila | VOYL uh | Vwah LA |
| Infrared | In FRAIRD | IN fruh RED |
| Flamingo | FLAY ming go | Fluh MING go |
| Sundried (tomatoes) | SUN dreed | SUN dried |
| Nauseating | NAW seeting | NAW zee ate ing |
| Paradigm | Para DIDGE um | PARA dime |
| Omnipotent | Omnee POTE 'nt | Om NIP uh t'nt |
| Redolent | Ree DOLE 'nt | REDDA l'nt |
| Picturesque | PICK chur skew | Pick chur ESK |
| Cesarean | Seez ur EEN | Suhz AIR ee 'n |
| Pseudo | Puh SWAYED oh | SOO do |
| Hyperbole | HIPE ur bole | Hi PURR buh lee |
| Colonel | Koe l'n ell | KER n'll |
| Bedraggled | BED ragg 'lld | Buh DRAG 'lld |
| Hitherto | HITHER toe | HITHER too |
| Indict | In DICKT | In DITE |
| Chaos | CHAY oze | KAY oss |
| Fajitas | Fuh JYE tiss, FADGY tass | Fu HEE tuhzz |
| Aspartame | A SPARTA mee | ASS purr tame |
| Inchoate | INCH oh ate | In KO uht, INKO uht |
What words have you had this experience with?
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in-uh-VITE-a-bull
ReplyDeleteAs I child, I thought I was quite advanced, having worked out the pronunciation of acetaminophen. It wasn't until I was older that I realized ace-ta-mih-NO-fen was incorrect.
ReplyDelete"Miniseries", when written unhyphenated, never fails to get me.
ReplyDeleteAs a novice horticulturist, I asked a local nurseryman for a cotton-easter only to have him burst into uncontrollable laughter. The plant cotoneaster is actually pronounced kah-toe-nee-ass-ter
ReplyDeleteTo this day I still struggle with "legacy" and have to think twice before I say it (I always thought it was "leh juss ee," rather than "leg uh see.")
ReplyDeleteNot as good as ass kitties tbh, but still...!
It's especially aggravating, when an actor in a TV program or movie, makes an egregious mispronunciation of a word they were too pig-headed, or embarrassed, to ask for the correct way to say it. Some of the words on your list have been mangled by actors, big and small, of both sexes, and sadly, this influences an already ignorant and lazy audience, into believing they've heard the "correct" way to use the word.
ReplyDelete