Hello, and welcome again to SMART GIRLS READ ROMANCE. Mispronouncing words is more common than you think. I found several lists of the most mispronounced words in the English language and you might be surprised by those at the top. See if you know how to pronounce the following.
GIF
A computer graphic image; an acronym for Graphics Interchange Format.
How you pronounce it: Is it “giff” with a hard g or “jiff” with a soft one? Steve Wilhite says it’s “jiff” ... and he should know, since he developed GIFs for Compuserve. He chose to pronounce it that way because it sounded like Jif, the peanut butter brand. Now when you see the word, think of peanut butter and you'll recall how to pronounce it.
Mischievous
Correct Pronounciation [MIS-chuh-vus]
Incorrect Pronounciation [.Mmis-CHEE-vee-us]
Literary scholars discovered many people still say it incorrectly. They all fell prey to the “let’s add an i in there and make it four syllables” syndrome, making the word “mis-CHEE-vee-us.” This mispronunciation also lends itself to spelling errors. When people add the extra syllable, they often also add that i when they spell it, writing it “mischievious.”
Niche: A shallow recess in wall for a sculpture or other decorative object; a place or position suitable or appropriate for a person or thing; a market segment.
Correct: The preferred pronunciation was the one used since the seventeenth century ― a soft, long e “Neesh” like the 14-century French word meaning recess for a dog, or kennel. Incorrect "Nitch". Most people super-anglicize it and say “nitch.”
Here's a few more common mispronounced words:
Do say: affidavit | Don't say: affidavid
Even if your lawyer's name is David, he issues affidavits.
Do say: cardsharp | Don't say: card shark
You may be surprised to hear that card shark isn’t a phrase. Its mispronunciation from cardsharp over the years, however, has led to card shark being more popular in America than the original phrase.
Do say: espresso | Don't say: expresso
While I can't express my love for espresso enough, this word was borrowed from Italian well after the Latin prefix ex- had developed into the es- prefix.
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Hope you learned how to pronounce some of the most commonly mispronounced words in the English language. Course, there are hundreds more!
Let us know you visited! In the comment section tell us one of the commonly mispronounced words you've come across. We'd love to hear from you.
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About the Book:
Nominated for Bookie Award by Authors After Dark. Nominated for Best Romance of the Year.
The time travelers chant:
"I walk alone on the edge of time, traveling far and near.
Born of the sun, kissed by the wind, the call of the raven screams in my ear."
A
decadent-looking savage has captured Francesca DuVall and her brother
Marsh. These days, she spends every waking moment planning escape from
the brutal Dog Soldiers' camp.
Ethan Gray is a curator at a
national museum . . . until he travels through time to help his beloved
People. In the Cheyenne world he’s known as Meko, leader of the most
revered and fearsome tribe of the plains.
Two cultures and two
hearts battle. Violence and death haunt their troubled roads, but when
kindred souls collide, love prevails against the greatest odds. From the
windswept plains of Colorado to the placid life of a curator, their
love is fueled by passion and kindled by destiny.
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Thanks so much for stopping by today! Please drop by again to see either This Week's Word or more mispronounced words.
Have a great week!
