# Words you pronounced wrong because you only read them **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 22, 2011, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-pronounced-wrong-because-you-only-read-them/575607 "2011-03-22T14:33:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2011, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-pronounced-wrong-because-you-only-read-them/575607/181 "2011-03-26T02:14:58Z")
I’ve heard it pronounced as “Ewan” (as in McGregor) but with an unvoiced “ng” at the start. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2011, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-pronounced-wrong-because-you-only-read-them/575607/182 "2011-03-26T02:35:11Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > I’ve heard it pronounced as “Ewan” (as in McGregor) but with an unvoiced “ng” at the start. I think that’s due to confusion over the U. “Ngwee-en” is how I usually hear Nguyen pronounced. ---
**Author:** ![A.Gwilliam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ea5d25/32.png) [@A.Gwilliam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A.Gwilliam)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2011, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-pronounced-wrong-because-you-only-read-them/575607/183 "2011-03-26T10:59:30Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > To get that “ng” sound at the beginning of a syllable, it’s good to practice saying the word “singing,” whittling it down to just the “-nging” part. “Singing, inging, nging, nging, ngi-.” Doesn’t work if you’re from places such as Birmingham (England)! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2011, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-pronounced-wrong-because-you-only-read-them/575607/184 "2011-03-26T11:31:12Z")
Probably not Alabama either, come to think of it. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2011, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-pronounced-wrong-because-you-only-read-them/575607/185 "2011-03-26T14:29:12Z")
> [@Heart\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Have we had “chimera” yet? I thought it was such a mellifluous name, perfect for a strange mythical beast: “SHIM-mer-ah”. I was so disappointed to learn the real pronunciation. Good one! My only exposure to that word was D&D and I said it like you did but with a hard CH like in the word Change. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2011, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-pronounced-wrong-because-you-only-read-them/575607/186 "2011-03-30T15:06:41Z")
> [@born\_too\_late](#): > > In high school I was asked to read something and I pronounced ‘fetish’ as feet-ish. Chuckles abounded. You’re just 80 years out of date - the 1929 BBC guide [_Broadcast English_](http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/.a/6a00d8341c464853ef0147e0a21ca8970b-pi) gives exactly that pronunciation. Even today my dictionary lists it as an acceptable alternative. On reading that same page I realise that I’ve been mispronouncing _inherent_ all my life, too (with a short first “e”). Unless that has changed too. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2011, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-pronounced-wrong-because-you-only-read-them/575607/187 "2011-03-30T15:44:14Z")
quay, as in a dock. I thought it was pronounced “kway”, as if it rhymed with “way” and “hay”. chaos. I thought it was pronounced “cha-ose”, as if it rhymed with morose, and started with “ch” as in “chair” ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2011, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-pronounced-wrong-because-you-only-read-them/575607/188 "2011-03-30T15:53:42Z")
> [@Brandus](#): > > I used to pronounce lbls as labels. Turns out it was pounds :-\< I pronounced lbs. as “libs”, to rhyme with “dibs” or “bibs”. I may also have thought that “draught” was pronounced “drought”, and didn’t realize that it was the British spelling of “draft”. ---
**Author:** ![Jman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jman/32/4416_2.png) [@Jman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jman)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2011, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-pronounced-wrong-because-you-only-read-them/575607/189 "2011-03-30T16:42:51Z")
> [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](#): > > That was like me and “segue”. I thought there were two different words that meant roughly the same thing: “segue” and “segway” (and this is long before the two-wheeled vehicle thing). My rational was that the was a word “segway” that some how came from “segment” and “way” while the other word meant the same thing but had different language origins. > > So “segway” and “segue” were kind of like “hors d’oeuvre” and “antipasto”. This. In fact, I still, at first blush, will read segue as ‘seeg’. I of course used the term correctly in speech, as I never connected them. In fact, I’m embarrassed to admi I didn’t connect them until about a year after I graduated college. ---
**Author:** ![A.Gwilliam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ea5d25/32.png) [@A.Gwilliam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A.Gwilliam)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2011, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-pronounced-wrong-because-you-only-read-them/575607/190 "2011-04-02T13:54:37Z")
Just been reminded of one I’d forgotten about: pronouncing “puisne” as something like “pyoon” or “pween”. I think this is pretty understandable if you’re not a member of the legal profession! 🆒 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-pronounced-wrong-because-you-only-read-them/575607.md?page=9)