20 Embarrassing Mispronunciations
In a previous article I shared my Top 40 Pronunciation Pet Peeves. As I am currently hard at work writing a comprehensive 4-8th grade spelling program, I have been constantly reminded about how inaccurate pronunciation contributes to inaccurate spelling. In the spirit of full disclosure, I now am admitting my own embarrassing pronunciation gaffes. See if you have mangled a “sill-ab-bull” or two, as George Bush used to say, on the ones that I have mispronounced. This list of 20 Embarrassing Mispronunciations is sure to bring snooty literary folks like me down to size.
- Barbiturate is pronounced “bar-bich-ur-it,” not “bar-bit-u-et.” [When did they sneak that r in?]
- Barbed wire is pronounced “barbd wire,” not “bob wire.” [I thought Bob must have been a fencer.]
- Hierarchy is pronounced “hi-er-ark-ee,” not “hi-ark-ee.” [I'm used to the ie as one sound, I guess.]
- Jewelry is pronounced “jewl-ree,” not “jew-ler-ee.” [Obviously, my wife buys her own.]
- Liable is pronounced “lie-uh-bul,” not “lie-bul.” [One is liable for libel, however.]
- Nuptial is pronounced “nup-shul,” not “nup-chew-ul.” [I've never heard this pronounced correctly.]
- Ophthalmology is pronounced “off-thuh-maw-lah-ge,” not “op-tho-maw-lo-ge.” [Better clean your eyeglasses on this one.]
- Orient is pronounced “or-e-ent,” not “or-e-en-tate.” [No, it’s not interpretate either.]
- Ostensibly is pronounced “os-ten-si-blee,” not “ob-ten-sive-lee.” [I bet I've looked this one up 20 times.]
- Potable is pronounced “po-tuh-bul,” not “pot-uh-bul.” [And I am an avid backpacker with my own water filter]
- Prerogative is pronounced “pre-rog-uh-tive,” not “per-rog-uh-tiv.” [If you ask me to pronounce this one tomorrow, I might get it wrong.]
- Prescription is pronounced “pre-scrip-shun,” not “per-scrip-shun.” [Both would make sense in the Latin, I think.]
- Peremptory is pronounced “puh-rem-tor-ee,” not “pre-emt-or-ee.” [You don't believe this one, do you? Bet you'll look it up.]
- Prostate is pronounced “prah-state,” not “pros-strate.” [Unless you meaning lying down-guess you know my age now...]
- Realtor® is pronounced “reel-tor,” not “reel-uh-tor.” [It sounds horrible the right way.]
- Recur is pronounced “re-cur,” not “re-o-cur.” [Means to run again, not happen again]
- Supremacist is pronounced “su-prem-uh-sist,” not “su-prem-ist.” [Guess I just don't want to give these folks another syllable]
- Verbiage is pronounced “ver-be-ij,” not “ver-bij.” [We never changed this one from our British cousins.]
- Voluptuous is pronounced “vo-lup-chew-us,” not “vo-lump-chew-us.” [The lump just sounds more full-figured.]
- Zoology is pronounced “zo-ah-lo-ge,” not “zoo-ah-lo-ge.” [Think I'll just go on mispronouncing this one because it just makes better sense]
Many of the pronunciation errors described above are made by people with poor decoding or syllabication skills. Mark Pennington’s comprehensive curricula: Teaching Reading Strategiesand Teaching Spelling and Vocabulary are wonderful resources to teach reading, spelling, vocabulary, and proper pronunciation.
