WATCH YOUR LANGUAGE!

Don't add letters in 'pronounciation'

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette WATCH YOUR LANGUAGE! Illustration
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette WATCH YOUR LANGUAGE! Illustration

People from all over the country speak with different accents, and that's good. Arkansans don't need to speak like Virginians. Boston natives don't need to sound like they're from the Bronx. (I'm not sure what they should do while visiting Yankee Stadium, though.)

A few people have asked me to write about words that are often mispronounced. This isn't about different accents, but about words that speakers confuse because they add or remove a letter or two or put letters in the wrong place.

Kids often say "liberry" instead of "library." Liberry does sound like it would be fun. Some people also say, "lie-bree" simply because repeating the "r" is difficult.

Some people say "draw-ring" instead of a drawing that you sketch.

More troublesome "r" words: The first "r" in "prerogative" often gets left out, as does the first "r" in "February." And it's "barbiturate," not "barbituate."

Ideology comes from ideas and should be pronounced with an "eye" at the beginning, not an "id."

"Often" has a "t" in it that need not be pronounced. In looking up this one in Merriam-Webster, I noticed that a division sign, ÷, which doesn't even live on my regular keyboard, preceded one pronunciation. It came before the pronunciation that included the "t."

I learned from Joshua S. Guenter, Merriam-Webster's editor of pronunciation, that this indicates "a pronunciation variant that occurs in educated speech but that is considered by some to be questionable or unacceptable."

Do you want to speak questionably?

It's "Arctic" and "Antarctic." Each word has more than one "c."

"Mischievous" has no fourth syllable. It's MIS-chuh-vus, not mis-CHEE-vee-us. Don't add an "i" before the "ous."

"Bobwire" is not something invented by a guy named Bob. It's "barbed wire."

Similarly, "duck tape" contains no ducks. It's "duct tape" (unless you're using the Duck brand).

Many people are loose with the letter "x." Neither espresso, nor et cetera nor escape begin with an "ex" sound.

Word people disagree on whether the "e" in "forte," one's strong point, should be pronounced. Is it fort or for-tay? My mom always said it without with "e," which well may be why I pronounce the "e."

It's "jew-el-ry," not "jewl-er-y."

"An other" is OK. "Another" is OK. "A nother" is not. Something is never "a whole nother thing.''

It's not "irregardless," it's "regardless." This is a lesson I did accept from my mom.

We don't "prespire." We "perspire." Make it easy on yourself and just say "sweat.''

The gland in a man is a "prostate." Add another "r" and you are "prostrate," lying face down on the ground.

I probably have never said "imprimatur," official approval, correctly. I'm not even certain I have said it at all. It's im-pri-MAT-er.

A person who doesn't follow the rules of card games is a "cardsharp," not a "card shark."

If your argument is not working, take a different "tack," or direction, not a different "tact."

Let us not forget the animals with the sensitive feelings. "Zoology" starts with a "zoh" sound, not a "zoo" sound.

George W. Bush, Jimmy Carter and other U.S. presidents often said "noo-kyoo-lar" for "nuclear."

You "percolate" coffee, you don't "PERK-yoo-late" it.

It's "sherbet" instead of "sherbert." But give me gelato any day.

"Electoral" is pronounced with the accent on the second syllable, not the third, e-LEC-tor-al.

The ubiquitous, high-protein South American seed "quinoa" is pronounced "keen-wa," not "kin-OH-a."

My confession of the week: I pronounced mascarpone incorrectly for years. I use the sweet Italian cream cheese for tiramisu, one of the best desserts on Earth. But I always pronounced it "mar-sca-pone" by mistake.

Sources: yourdictionary.com, english.stackexchange.com, m-w.com

Reach Bernadette at

bkwordmonger@gmail.com

ActiveStyle on 09/25/2017

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