The Elvis/oyster thread inspired this random thought.
There are a lot of words in common usage in written American English that seldom are spoken aloud, for one reason or another.
My contribution is grange, although I have used it as part of a city name.
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.
But that’s simply, quite atrocious.
‘askance’.
I think its a fairly common word and I am partial to it - but I am fairly certain that I have never had the occasion to speak it aloud. It just seems to be the kind of word that you write, you don’t speak.
Dachshund, but only because I worry that I’ll say it completely wrong. I think I’m far from alone, or else we wouldn’t have the label “weiner dog” too.
It’s not that common, except among pilots/aviation people, but I don’t know how to pronounce METARs and I worry that one day I’ll be forced to say it and I’ll embarrass myself.
When I read the thread title the word ‘fearful’ popped into my head. I’m fairly sure I’ve never said it aloud, as I would probably never say it unless that was how I felt, and I haven’t felt in a way I would describe as fearful.
I’m also quite sure I’ve never said ‘pugnacious’, ‘boyishness’, ‘quantitatively’, ‘wainscotting’, or ‘fledgling’ aloud, either.
Perspicacious.
I don’t even know what it means, so why would I say it?
is *lacuna *a common word? I just learned what it meant when I read the Kingsolver novel of the same name, and I’ve been waiting for an opportunity.
Maybe this says something about me, but I can’t think of a word I know, that I haven’t said aloud. I do tend to be overly verbose, or as my grandpa once said: “you’re throwin’ a lot of $10 words around at a nickel poker game, boy.”
Redacted. __ Such a strange word.
I don’t think you can go wrong with this.
The origin of the first syllable of the acronym is either English “meteorological” or French “météorologique”.
Take your pick. Pronunciation by those in the industry is fairly equally split between saying the first syllable as you would say either metro or meet.
Thanks, Critical Mass. For a while I wasn’t even sure if it was generally said or spelled out. 
I’ve heard it used (in the plural) in presentations at seminars…“one method of dealing with the lacunae in the data is to…”
By golly, I got to use the word “verisimilitude” in a conversation the other day, legitimately. Impressed the bystanders no end.
Cumbrous. I’ve read it a lot but I don’t think I’ve ever spoken it.
Until 2 seconds ago, anyway. Oops.
Generally speaking, if you don’t know how to pronounce it, your listeners don’t know what it means. Don’t say it.
http://www.onelook.com/ gives you free access to dozens of dictionaries, and several have “speaker” buttons to show you how a word sounds.
There are a number of terms I don’t know how to pronounce. I use a GUI all the time, but I still don’t know whether to say gee-you-eye or gooey. If I had to pronounce it, I’d probably give the full name, graphical user interface. Then there’s virgule. I suppose the g is probably hard as in good, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard it pronounced.
Then there are some legal terms that I see in print fairly often, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard pronounced: chattel, amicus curiae, voir dire.
I say it a lot because it always shows up when I try to think of the word for persistence.
Depends on your taste in music. If you have even a passing familiarity with goth metal, you know the word…but maybe not what it means.