Seems I get the hankering to do this in March - here are some more words pronounced incorrectly by me. I have been saving these up on a sticky note for the past year, so let's bust them out.
(Of course I know I can look them up in a dictionary to find out how they are actually pronounced. But on the fly, I don't always have that option. Besides, I'm just as interested in how we DO say these words as I am in how we SHOULD say them.)
deleterious. I absolutely know what this word means and how to use it effectively in print. I am less sure about its pronunciation. Something about all those e's gets me every time.
Reuters, as in the news service. For the longest time (never mind how long) I thought it was pronounced "Rooters."
knell, like a death knell. Is the k pronounced or what? I know it usually isn't when paired with an n, but something about pronouncing it 'nell' seems so anticlimactic.
biopic. Just yesterday, I found out this is pronounced "bio-pic" (think "biography picture"), not "bi-opic."
valet. Downton Abbey taught me this one. I understand that "val-AY" is traditionally accepted in America, but apparently the "real" pronunciation is "VAL-et." Who knew? Besides the British, I mean?
disparate. An awkward word if ever there was one. Dis-PAR-ate? DIS-par-ate? Let's just use "different" from now on, mmmkay?
ornery. Is it, or is it not, pronounced "awnery"? Or is that a different word, like how I thought "awry" was pronounced "AW-ry" and "aw-RIE" was a totally separate word?
excoriate. I always end up adding an extra c in there, like "excorCiate." It would sound better that way.
disconsolate. You wouldn't believe how often this comes up. Dis-CON-so-late? Dis-con-SO-late? I can't even remember which one I say anymore.
untoward. I was listening to WWDTM once, minding my own business, when Peter Sagal himself pronounced this "un-TOW-ard" and my world was shattered. Has anyone else besides me been saying it "un-to-WARD" all this time?
On a similar note, incomparable. Look, I know we all want to give a nod to the word's obvious derivation from "com-PARE," but I do believe it's "in-COM-par-able." No?
Join in the fun and add your own, won't you? I just know I'm not the only one making an occasional fool out of myself in this manner.