Here are some words you probably pronounce incorrectly.
Beijing
You probably say: “bay-ZHING”
You should be saying: “bay-JING”
Seriously… it’s just “jing” like in “Jingle Bells.” To be completely correct, raise the pitch of your voice one octave for the “jing.”
Gyros (sometimes spelled “Gyro”)
You probably say: “GUY-roh” “HEE-roh” “GEE-roh” “ZHEE-roh” or any number of variations
You should be saying “YEE-roh”
This one varies so much that even people who sell them won’t recognize the correct pronunciation. “Gyros” is the correct word. The “S” is silent, and does not designate a plural.
Bruschetta
You probably say: “Bru-SHEH-ta”
You should be saying: “Bru-SKEY-ta”
Americanized Italian restaurant chains will argue against this until your food gets cold. They’re wrong.
Niche
You probably say: “Nitch”
You should be saying: “Neesh”
Do you say “Kitch” for “Quiche” ? Then you shouldn’t say “Nitch” for “Niche.” I expect to receive much protestation against this one.
Espresso
You probably say: “ex-PRESS-o”
You should be saying: “es-PRESS-o”
Especially
You probably say: “ex-PESH-uh-lee”
You should be saying: “es-PESH-uh-lee”
“Especially” is a cousin of “espresso” in that they are both similarly mispronounced.
Et Cetera/Etc
You probably say: “eck-SET-era”
You should be saying: “et-SET-era”
February
You probably say: “FEB-yoo-ary”
You should be saying: “FEB-roo-ary”
Like “Et Cetera” above, this is a pandemic of selective dyslexia.
Tract
You probably say: “track”
You should be saying: “tract”
Digestive tract. A tract of land. A track runner. Track a fugitive. Different words, but both pronounced exactly as they are spelled.
Zoology
You probably say: “zoo-AH-luh-gee”
You should be saying: “zoh-AH-luh-gee”
Count the Os in the first grouping. It it were pronounced “zoo-AH-luh-gee,” there would be three Os.
Pundit
You probably say: “PUN-dint”
You shoulud be saying: “PUN-dit”
What makes this worse is that it is primarily pundits on television who mispronounce their own occupation!
Your turn!
What are some of your pet peeve mispronunciations? Did any of you make it all the way through the list without finding one word you were mispronouncing?
Supposedly
You hear: “Suh-pose-sub-blee”
It should be: “Suh-pose-sed-lee”
Chaise longue
You say: “Chase lounge” (and spell it “chaise lounge” or “chase lounge”)
It should be: “Shez long” (and spelled “chaise longue”; the phrase is literally French for “long chair”)
Okay, judgemental. Question for you. If you drove roughly 26 miles south from here on 75, what town would you be in?
WTF? It’s expresso in Brussels and many parts of France, not espresso.
foyer. In Canada people usually pronounce it properly (foyay) because of the french influence but since moving to the states I’ve only heard it called a FOY-er
Asterisk
Normally pronounced [a-strick]
Should be pronounced as [as-tuh-risk]
I object to your use of the word “probably”.
You probably say: “PROB-lee”
You should be saying: “PRAW-bub-lee”
See what I mean? 🙂
I was JUST having this conversation with my roommate this morning about Beijing. We were listening to NPR, and the person kept saying “buh-JING.” (Seriously? BUH-jing?)
well, it’s bei3 which means north. your voice needs to go down and then back up. and then jing1 is pronounced with your voice at a higher pitch and it stays at that pitch throughout the sound. very difficult to explain if you don’t know any chinese.
I’ve heard it pronounced correctly, and your explanation makes sense.
My pet peeve is “orientated” as opposed to “oriented.”
!
You probably say: “Ex-cluh-MAY-shun POINT”
You should be saying: “BANG”
😀
Sorry to be British about this, but it really bugs me when Americans say “een” instead of “ing” at the end of words. “Watcheen. Waiteen. Anticipateen” Argh!
mmmm.. where do i start:
Aluminium – Al-OOO-min-eeyum NOT ah-LOO-min-um
Tomato – Toe-MAH-toe NOT toh-MAY-toe
hehehe.. sorry british joke.
Next you’ll tell Americans to stop silencing terminal “g”s!
AUNT
You probably say: “Ant”
You should be saying: “ahnt/ont”
I have an aunt, you step on ants.(It’s a New England thing)
The whole “een” thing is informal. We (well most of us) know that we should say “ing”.
Also Aluminium was originally spelt aluminum but was changed from “um” to “ium” because a British literary journal thought it had a more classical sound. Now both are acceptable.
I found your blog because I noticed that the only 2 plugins that I am using were both written by you… thank you. I just read this article and it is refreshing. I think one of the most annoying mispronounced words is Niche. It is NEESH not Nitch. Thanks for helping to put the records straight.
Love this list but disagree with etc.
It’s a direct contribution from Latin. If you’re going to say it, it’s “Et Ket-er-uh” C’s in Latin are never soft.
“Orientated” is actually correct in British English, though very wrong in American English.
Immaculate
People constantly say “Immaculent” Drives me crazy because then they start spelling it the way they pronounce it. UGHHH
Many people in Oklahoma pronounce a “SHR” sound as a “sur”. So we have “sur-imp” “sur-ink”, “sur-rub” for shrub. I have no idea why they pronounce it this way but it drives me BATTY!!!!. Also using welp for welt. Welp is a verb and a welt is a noun. UGHHH
Jenn, that’s not true. Say “flying” out loud. Do you enunciate the g? I don’t. The main difference in pronouncing flyin’ vs flying is the sound on the vowel, not the actual g sound. It’s not improper, but the usage pattern is different.
I agree that’s different from going “waiteen” with a long ‘ee’ though, that’s just weird.
(To be honest 80% of the things marked as improper in the post and those following it are accepted dictionary pronunciations. Linguists tend towards being descriptive, not prescriptive.)
You say: Somethink
You say: Nothink
You say: Anythink
This one drives me around the bend…
You should say: Something (sum-thing)
You should say: Nothing (nuh-thing)
You should say: Anything (any-thing)
Now stop pronouncing them wrong!! >.<!!
Oh, and the occasional “Sumfink” RAWRRR!! I will bite your head off!!
Button is BUTT-un.
What is with people that lose all the “T”‘s?
BUH-un? Really?
No you DIH-ent! (Did’nt)
Forte
You probably say: “for-tay”
You should be saying: “fort”
Forte is French for the strong part of a sword blade. Forte’ is Italian for loudly and is used as a musical direction.
The weather folks on television who say “temp a chur”
Complaining about people’s pronunciation is a MOOT point! Not mute…because we are speaking about something not being quiet…oh well, guess I will become mute at this point.
You probably spell it: “shoulud”
You should be spelling it: “should”
If you say it as “shoulud,” you sound like somebody with braces trying to say “salad.”
albLum instead of album
fo’ward instead of forward
uniNEted instead of united
furmiliar instead of familiar
-een instead of -ing
I’m looking at you, NPR!
I’m a tad late on this talk but what the heck.
Firstly, I hate when people say “Doc-tor’-ee-al for the word Doctoral. It’s Doc’-ter-ul.
Secondly, I hate when people say “melk” or “vanella” for milk and vanilla.
Lastly I hate when people say “pree’-zen-tay’-shun” istead of “prezz’-un-tay’-shun”.
Phew! Had to get that out of my system someplace. Thanks.
Lorraine
The word that annoys me most is the pronunciation of the word “asphalt” which is all too often pronounced “ashfalt”. The correct one is of course “asfalt”. there’s no “ash” in asphalt.
Chef pronounced as ???
Lead pronounced as “Lid” is its a verb or “Led” if its a noun
Leave pronounced as “Lee-vi” not “Liv”
Adjust pronounced as “r-just” not “Ad-just” (controversial)
Benny pronounced as “Burn-ny” or “Ber-nie” or “Burn” ????
Owl pronounced as “Ah-wel” not “O-wool”
Question pronounced as “Kwess-shen” not Kwessen
Anxiety pronounced as ???
Elite pronounced as “Eh-lit” not “Eh-light”
This is fun… help required where there are ???
Thank you, Mark Jaquith, for citing “zoology”! You’d think I didn’t have real problems, the way I’ve been tearing my hair out over that word for years. I had a conversation with two students at UC Berkeley who were majoring in “zoo-ology”. I couldn’t stop myself. They came back with, “Our professor says ‘zoo-ology!” & that was that. Q: How do you go through the education system, acquire a doctoral degree, & land tenure at a prestigious university, without knowing how to pronounce what you’re teaching? The word zoo is an abbreviation of “zoological [zoh-ological] garden”, the original term. The prefix “zo o” (“zoh-uh”, meaning animals) is shortened to “zo” (zoh) when used before a vowel, & “ology” of course means a branch of learning. So we have zoogeography (zoh-uh-geography) for the science dealing with the geographical distribution of animals, & zoology (zoh-ology) for the study & classification of animals. Et cetera. (Et ketera?)