# 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:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2011, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-pronounced-wrong-because-you-only-read-them/575607/41 "2011-03-22T17:06:18Z")
“Schuyler”. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2011, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-pronounced-wrong-because-you-only-read-them/575607/42 "2011-03-22T17:08:19Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > I had a classics professor who pronounced the title and main character of the book Don Juan as Don Joo-an, because, as he put it “Byron was English, not Spanish.” If you’re referring to the work by Byron, the pronunciation is, indeed, “Don Joo-un”; this is the only pronunciation that makes the poem scan correctly. Given the work’s playful and comic tone, and its almost Ogden-Nashian approach to rhymes, I assume Byron did this deliberately rather than out of ignorance. [QUOTE=Lord Byron] I want a hero: an uncommon want, When every year and month sends forth a new one, Till, after cloying the gazettes with cant, The age discovers he is not the true one; Of such as these I should not care to vaunt, I 'll therefore take our ancient friend Don Juan— [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![Another\_Stranger\_Me](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dfb087/32.png) [@Another\_Stranger\_Me](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Another_Stranger_Me)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2011, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-pronounced-wrong-because-you-only-read-them/575607/43 "2011-03-22T17:08:24Z")
> [@Foxy40](#): > > Posthumously. Post-humously. I came in here to say this, but since it was mentioned, I’ll add one from when I was a little kid playing Zelda. I always read the game over options as Continue, Save, and “Ret-tree”. It wasn’t until I was a bit older that “re-try” finally clicked. ---
**Author:** ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2011, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-pronounced-wrong-because-you-only-read-them/575607/44 "2011-03-22T17:10:36Z")
I used to think “debacle” was pronounced DEB-uh-cul instead of dee-BAC-ul. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2011, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-pronounced-wrong-because-you-only-read-them/575607/45 "2011-03-22T17:11:00Z")
The first one I really remember was **Ingenue** Though my dad was always talking about the character Donkey Hotey, which I never connected with the book (pronounced **Don Quicksote** ) that he had in his den. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2011, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-pronounced-wrong-because-you-only-read-them/575607/46 "2011-03-22T17:22:14Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Epitome. I’d heard the word said aloud, but never associated the written word with that pronunciation. I always read it as “epi-tome”. :rolleyes: Exactly what I came in here to say. I was corrected rather embarrassingly in my freshman English class in high school. ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2011, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-pronounced-wrong-because-you-only-read-them/575607/47 "2011-03-22T17:26:47Z")
> [@Balthisar](#): > > Penelope. I have a friend who actually paid money to see _Captain Corelli’s Mandolin_ in the theater. Now he hates Penelope Cruz’s guts along with anyone else who he thinks is responsible for that movie being made. He knows how to pronounce Penelope, but as an expression of disdain he calls her “Pennuh-LOW-pay”. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2011, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-pronounced-wrong-because-you-only-read-them/575607/48 "2011-03-22T17:38:16Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > There’s a bunch of them, but I can’t think of a good example off the top of my head. I do remember one of my old roommate’s examples: For the longest time, as a kid, he would read the word “misled” as if it were the past tense of “misle,” rather than “mis-led.” I always found that amusing. I used to do that. My dad said one of his smartest lecturers at university used to use it all the time too. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2011, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-pronounced-wrong-because-you-only-read-them/575607/49 "2011-03-22T17:42:58Z")
Hermione. ---
**Author:** ![FordTaurusSHO94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f07891/32.png) [@FordTaurusSHO94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordTaurusSHO94)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2011, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-pronounced-wrong-because-you-only-read-them/575607/50 "2011-03-22T17:44:21Z")
In a group in 8th grade science, I was reading aloud something about “debris” and has no clue what it was. The next person started talking about “debree” and I probably turned red. ---
**Author:** ![Kolga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e56c9b/32.png) [@Kolga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolga)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2011, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-pronounced-wrong-because-you-only-read-them/575607/51 "2011-03-22T17:46:48Z")
Chaos (pronounced “chows”). Grotesque (pronounced “gro-tes-cue”). Elementary (pronounced “el-EM-en-tary” with the emphasis on the second syllable. My mom STILL deliberately mispronounces it this way to bug me). ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2011, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-pronounced-wrong-because-you-only-read-them/575607/52 "2011-03-22T17:48:55Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > “Imbecile”. > > I pronounced it “IM-buh-cymbal”. > > Which is ironic. Or is it **apropos**? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2011, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-pronounced-wrong-because-you-only-read-them/575607/53 "2011-03-22T17:50:17Z")
> [@FordTaurusSHO94](#): > > In a group in 8th grade science, I was reading aloud something about “debris” and has no clue what it was. The next person started talking about “debree” and I probably turned red. I used to mentally pronounce it “der-biss.” ---
**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:** [March 22, 2011, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-pronounced-wrong-because-you-only-read-them/575607/54 "2011-03-22T18:03:01Z")
_biopic_: I pronounced this like “bionic” (in my head. I don’t think I ever had reason to say it) until very recently. _segue_: Like “fugue” _quixotic_: I took Spanish in high school, and we _read_ Don Quixote, so clearly this is pronounced Key-hote-ic. No, I guess not ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2011, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-pronounced-wrong-because-you-only-read-them/575607/55 "2011-03-22T18:14:38Z")
I will never forget the humiliation I felt in 8th grade. I was to read the poem The Ancient Mariner out loud to the class. I pronounced it "ma-REEN-er.’ ---
**Author:** ![tumbleddown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tumbleddown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tumbleddown)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2011, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-pronounced-wrong-because-you-only-read-them/575607/56 "2011-03-22T18:30:45Z")
Aspartame, as in the sweetener (Nutrasweet). I pronounced it “as-par-ta-may” for the longest time. ---
**Author:** ![Invisible\_Chimp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f05b48/32.png) [@Invisible\_Chimp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Invisible_Chimp)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2011, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-pronounced-wrong-because-you-only-read-them/575607/57 "2011-03-22T18:50:26Z")
I pronounced invalid like it was two words “in valid.” ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2011, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-pronounced-wrong-because-you-only-read-them/575607/58 "2011-03-22T18:53:40Z")
When I was about middle-school age, my mom and I were going through old newspaper clippings which included Watergate-era editorial cartoons. I knew, in general terms, what had happened, but I’d never actually heard anyone pronounce the word ‘subpoena’. When I asked my mom what a ‘sub-poe-ee-na’ was, she just about lost it laughing. ---
**Author:** ![malkavia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malkavia/32/5621_2.png) [@malkavia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/malkavia)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2011, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-pronounced-wrong-because-you-only-read-them/575607/59 "2011-03-22T18:53:47Z")
My son corrected me about “HY-purr-bowl” earlier this week and I just now learned about ennui and quixotic. ☹ I’m never speaking aloud again. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2011, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-pronounced-wrong-because-you-only-read-them/575607/60 "2011-03-22T19:10:23Z")
My cow-orker loves to tell the story about how she and her husband went into KFC and how everyone at the counter, including her, were completely puzzled by his order for the Co-low-nell’s chicken special. . [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-pronounced-wrong-because-you-only-read-them/575607.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-you-pronounced-wrong-because-you-only-read-them/575607.md?page=4)