# Words that you mispronounce while reading. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 4, 2003, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-you-mispronounce-while-reading/152727 "2003-02-04T17:34:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Amok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f17d59/32.png) [@Amok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amok)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2003, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-you-mispronounce-while-reading/152727/41 "2003-02-06T19:46:46Z")
When I was a kid I used to pronouce “chaos” with a “ch” sound (rhyming with “laos”) whenever I saw it in print. I had heard the word pronounced, and I had seen the word in print, it just didn’t occur to me that they were the same word. ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2003, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-you-mispronounce-while-reading/152727/42 "2003-02-06T19:53:24Z")
another “ennui” victim ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2003, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-you-mispronounce-while-reading/152727/43 "2003-02-06T20:03:06Z")
Resign vs. Re-sign. Always gets me reading a Sports article: “Tony LaRussa resigned? Oh crap!! Oh wait…GRR!!!” ---
**Author:** ![Ara-Alon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4af34b/32.png) [@Ara-Alon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ara-Alon)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2003, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-you-mispronounce-while-reading/152727/44 "2003-02-06T20:21:14Z")
Verbatim. I always read it as “ver-ba-tim”, with the accent on the first syllable. I knew that the written word “hors d’oeuvre” meant a little appetizer, but it took me a long time to associate it with the spoken pronuciation of “orderve”. ---
**Author:** ![digitalskeeza](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@digitalskeeza](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digitalskeeza)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-you-mispronounce-while-reading/152727/45 "2003-02-14T08:10:59Z")
egregious=eh-GREG-rious (I always confuse it with gregarious). imply = imp-LEE (It was out of context, on a vocab test in elem. school) I also have a friend (you know who you are!) who said fictitious as fic-TITTY-ous…lol ---
**Author:** ![II\_Gyan\_II](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bbe5ce/32.png) [@II\_Gyan\_II](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/II_Gyan_II)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-you-mispronounce-while-reading/152727/46 "2003-02-14T10:29:29Z")
What about the rank of **lieutenant**? (placeholder ?) British : \* lef te nant\* American : \* loo te nant \* Any one more accepted ? ---
**Author:** ![plain\_jane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@plain\_jane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plain_jane)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2003, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-you-mispronounce-while-reading/152727/47 "2003-02-15T04:00:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by essvee \* > \*\*I actually said miz-uld to a class i was dictating to at 200 words a minute once. \*\* What do you teach? ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2003, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-you-mispronounce-while-reading/152727/48 "2003-02-15T04:24:25Z")
I always read “retired” as “retarded” There are more like that that I will think of the minute I submit this… Oh, and photography. You know, Photo-Graffy. ---
**Author:** ![ninevah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/46a35a/32.png) [@ninevah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ninevah)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2003, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-you-mispronounce-while-reading/152727/49 "2003-02-15T06:25:00Z")
I’m always doing this when I’m reading - I read things phonetically. Read them out as how they’re spelt. It’s worse when it’s a word that you haven’t heard said aloud before, only read. Names are always a problem, especially foreign ones. Like Siobhan. And Hermione… in my head, it was “Her-me-own” when it should have been “Her-my-oh-nee”. I do remember feeling quite embarassed once when discussing with a teacher her comments on one of my assignments. She’d written that something I’d written was superflous. I asked her what “super-flu-us” meant. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![BrattiAtti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c57346/32.png) [@BrattiAtti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrattiAtti)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2003, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-you-mispronounce-while-reading/152727/50 "2003-02-15T08:08:25Z")
I almost always read “strategically” as “stragetically”. Since I’ve noticed this, I make myself reread the word, pronouncing it correctly. ---
**Author:** ![Juniper200](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@Juniper200](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Juniper200)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2003, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-you-mispronounce-while-reading/152727/51 "2003-02-15T08:42:22Z")
**receipt** =REE-cept **celtic** =SELL-tick “Celtic” is especially annoying, because I know damn well how it’s really pronounced and I pronounce it properly in conversation all the time. I guess my internal monologue doesn’t know how a hard C sounds. When I was about 8, I embarassed myself the first time I tried to use “ettiquite” in conversation. I’d only seen it in books. Turns out it’s not pronounced “eck-wa-TEEK.” God only knows how I transposed sounds and letters to come up with that. ---
**Author:** ![Michele\_in\_SoCal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Michele\_in\_SoCal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michele_in_SoCal)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2003, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-you-mispronounce-while-reading/152727/52 "2003-02-15T18:00:05Z")
I always pronounced enmity en-NIM-ity. I didn’t know I was wrong until I saw it here! Also didn’t know how to pronounce Deus ex machina until just now. I went to [refdesk.com](http://refdesk.com) to hear it before posting this reply. I am so glad I opened this thread. It will save me future embarassment. Here is my most recent mispronunciation discovery: Victuals = Vittles! (not vick-SHU-uhls). I thought vittles was just a countrified way to say victuals! DUH! ---
**Author:** ![Azure\_Eternity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f05b48/32.png) [@Azure\_Eternity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Azure_Eternity)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2003, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-you-mispronounce-while-reading/152727/53 "2003-02-15T21:31:51Z")
**Juniper200** , according to [Merriam Webster](http://www.m-w.com/home.htm), it is acceptable to pronounce “Celtic” as “SELL-tick”. ---
**Author:** ![Rubystreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Rubystreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rubystreak)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2003, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-you-mispronounce-while-reading/152727/54 "2003-02-16T00:21:01Z")
Dave, I too had the emnity/enmity problem. and notcynical, I second the DEbacle/deBACle. I always want to say AUTOmaton instead of auTOMaton. And for the longest time I used to think concupiscence was concuspience. I don’t know why. Resume and resume (the one with the accents on the "e"s)–I want to pronounce both as the verb resume. ---
**Author:** ![grettle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/aeb1de/32.png) [@grettle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grettle)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2003, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-you-mispronounce-while-reading/152727/55 "2003-02-16T02:17:07Z")
\*\* colonel \*\* I pronounce it phonetically, it bothers me that it is pronounced “KER - nal” \*\* Socrates \*\* think: Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure. No joke, EVERYTIME I see this word I say it like that in my head. “SO-krates” ---
**Author:** ![Spiratu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@Spiratu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiratu)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2003, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-you-mispronounce-while-reading/152727/56 "2003-02-16T05:42:34Z")
Despite seeing one every Sunday, my mind somehow still manages to pronounce priest to rhyme with heist or iced. I’ve managed to cut down on it in the last few years, but I still catch myself thinking it fairly often. ---
**Author:** ![NajaNivea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/22d042/32.png) [@NajaNivea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NajaNivea)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2003, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-you-mispronounce-while-reading/152727/57 "2003-02-16T06:00:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Skammer \* > \*\*Biopic, as in a movie about someone’s life. Always read it as bi-opic, or (I guess) something similar to myopic. > \*\* _looks around to make sure no one is looking_ _consults Meriam Webster_… Peace, ~mixie (who has been saying “bi-opic” for all her twenty-one years) ---
**Author:** ![Teebone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Teebone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teebone)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2003, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-you-mispronounce-while-reading/152727/58 "2003-02-16T07:34:35Z")
duh. Bio-pic. Makes total sense now. I was saying bi-opic and I couldn’t figure out how it would be different. I have trouble with: Data Chaos Colonel Balogna ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2003, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-you-mispronounce-while-reading/152727/59 "2003-02-16T12:40:26Z")
I only recently became aware of how “segue” was spelled. I’d used the word before, but always read it (in my head) as rhyming with “fugue.” Luckily, I was properly informed in the presence of friends who will, I expect, stop teasing me any day now. ---
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2003, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-you-mispronounce-while-reading/152727/60 "2003-02-16T14:19:13Z")
heinous = hay-nee-us segue = rhymes with vague I excuse myself on segue as I know no other word ending in vowel-gue where the ue is pronounced as a separate syllable. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-you-mispronounce-while-reading/152727.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-that-you-mispronounce-while-reading/152727.md?page=4)