In many dialects of Internetese, it’s pronounced “no u”.
“Pluvial” is a good word to drop into conversations. Especially ones about New Zealand. It leaves the listener quite flummoxed about what it means. Most think it’s a political term.
Eighter from Decatur.
I tried to post the name of the protein “titin” (C[sub]169723[/sub]H[sub]270464[/sub]N[sub]45688[/sub]O[sub]52243[/sub]S[sub]912[/sub]) but the forum would not let me make a post that long (it would take at least 8 posts, which would have been pointless and too much work). There is a video of a guy uttering the name, but I have better ways to use 3 hours.
Dudgeon.
Calumny.
I may have heard *atavistic *occasionally spoken, but I can’t think of when.
Erstwhile
Inasmuch as
Fecund
Moribund
Jovial
defenestrate
Ok, so I try and work them into conversation, because I’m a geek that way
Limnology. Spell check even hates it.
Merganser. No idea how to pronounce that bird.
Most pasta shapes, like farfalle and tagliatella.
Many Latin-derived terms seldom used in the singular form, such as flagellum and datum.
You probably overheard me talking, somewhere.
I have used erstwhile in speech, usually in the sense of alter-ego type thing. An inasmuch, when it is appropriate (it sounds no different from “in as much”, so it is not awkward or confusing). And “defenestrate”, that word is so cool, “Fail to defenestrate your wrappers! I don’t wanna get a ticket.”
It was a very long time before I heard “synecdoche” pronounced, although I’d read it tons of times. When the movie Synecdoche, New York came out, and some reviewers were flummoxed* by the word and its pronounciation, I was all on my high horse because I knew about it. Well, it turned out that I was pronouncing it wrong. Oops. :smack:
And don’t ask me to spell it, I’ll probably screw it up.
On the other hand, I have been known to drop “metonymy” into casual conversation ever so often. Surprisingly useful, really. I’m no big fan of “synecdoche”, to be honest, it’s a bit too over-specific. “Metonymy” has you covered.
*BTW, I guess “flummoxed” is another one. Who ever says that out loud?
My 10 year old granddaughter and I had the following conversation a few weeks ago after she pointed out a certain house that had a “face”:
Me: well, the human brain has an amazing capacity to recognize patterns and see faces…
Granddaughter: Yeah, that’s an example of pareidolia.
Me. Yes, dear, yes, it is.
For me: the name Persephone, divergence, debacle, winsome
I actually have had a conversation along the lines of
“Did you visit the defenestration of Prague?”
“Actually both the first and second defenestration”
I rarely, if ever, hear penultimate used in speech. Most people would just say something like next-to-last.
Fetid
Noisome
Tenebrous
(Gotta go check “'Salem’s Lot.”)
Saw “assiduously” in a crossword recently. Not at all common in itself, but just plain “assiduous” pops up now and then in print but I don’t think it gets spoken much, especially among people under 50.
It is now my Word of the Week. I use it assiduously.
Albeit.
I don’t think I’ve ever heard it spoken. I’m not sure I know how to pronounce it…
You probably have heard it and just didn’t realize it. It is used but it sounds like three small words spoken quickly together when pronounced so your brain probably just skips over it. It is pronounced al (like short for Albert) - be - it.
Yeah, I always figured it was pronounced like that (thanks for the confirmation, though!) - it was either going to be that or al-bait or awl-bait (English is a funny old language sometimes!).
I’m pretty sure I’ve never heard it spoken though; I’ve been actively listening out for it for years now, but if I have heard it I’ve not noticed. IME, in spoken language people tend to use ‘though’ or ‘although’ instead.
Maybe it’s more of a US thing (I’m from the UK)?