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Is there a word or phrase you discovered you've been using or saying wrong all along? For years? To much eventual embarrassment?
Did you spend years mispronouncing the word "epitome"? Did you think the phrase was "all intensive purposes"?
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I've been pronouncing detritus with the accent on the first syllable for so long I don't think I'll ever fully absorb the correct reading.
I think I've previously mentioned somewhere that I used to think the word for what is left of a cone or pyramid after you cut the point off was frustrum. I had to check four reference books to convince myself that the second R didn't belong there.
I was 15 when I realized that "annihilate" (which I read as "an-hilly-ate") was pronounced "in-io-late". Prior to that, I thought it was weird that there were two very long words which meant the exact same thing.
In 7th grade, I had to write a history essay and read it in front of the class. I read two pages out loud to the whole class about the great conquerer Neopolitan.
I've already mentioned this in other WWW threads, but I'll throw it in here again since Martha is obviously trolling for examples.
In grade school I learned of the Taj Mahal via its iconic image. But to me it was always the "Tajma Hall." Wasn't until late in high school, when I saw it in print, that I realized my error. "Tajma" sounded like an appropriately Indian name, and it was obviously a "hall" of sorts.
In my PhD Dissertaton defense, I was nervous/flustered when answering one question and slipped into my Ozarkian that something was "kinda, shoulda, oughta" be such and such. One committee member who grew up as a city Mennonite in Philadelphia or Pittsburg, PA, jibed me a little for being an "educated" person using that sort of language.
Emmett
PS I passed.
martha said:
Is there a word or phrase you discovered you've been using or saying wrong all along? For years? To much eventual embarrassment?
Did you spend years mispronouncing the word "epitome"? Did you think the phrase was "all intensive purposes"?
We're collecting examples for an upcoming show. Please leave us a message ASAP on our toll-free number! 877-929-9673
porthole said:
for years I made the common error of pronouncing err as if it were a homophone of air. Many people make the same mistake, and it seems reasonable as that's how the first syllable of error is pronounced.
Umm, it is? I pronounce err just the same as the first syllable of error, neither of which sounds like "air".
Error rhymes with terror, not with bearer. At least around here.
At one time air was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as a strong contender for the word with the most homophones, including such words as ere, heir, ayer, are (the metric unit of area), ore (some obscure Scandinavian coin), and of course err.
(The challenger was rose, which brought in such partners as rows, roes, and rhos, most with multiple meanings.)
When I was a youngster I thought that "To air is human" made very little sense. I was unaware of any other pronunciation (and I've heard the word a lot) until I was into my six decade: I don't think it's an error of pronunciation, I think it's one of several correct ones. Leastways, I have no intention of changing the way I say it!
And where I come from, error, terror, and bearer rhyme in the first syllable, and sound like air; there's some disagreement in the second syllable – some say the -er and the -or the same way, others make the o more distinct.
Hard to say what's a mistake.
Martha Barnette
Grant Barrett
Grant Barrett
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