# Words You've Read But Never Heard Said **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 8, 2024, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769 "2024-01-08T12:02:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2024, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/201 "2024-07-18T16:06:29Z")
Touché ! Except, if we are talking words only _read_, spelling is the one thing we _don’t_ have to guess or approximate. Like, how do you pronounce Szarzyński or Mařenka? Doesn’t matter, you already know how to spell it. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2024, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/202 "2024-07-18T16:12:06Z")
True, but I’m sitting in a farmhouse in Ukraine with spotty electricity and spottier internet. Looking up spelling on Google can be a 10 minute affair at times! ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2024, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/203 "2024-07-18T16:18:00Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > I’m sitting in a farmhouse in Ukraine Stay safe. ---
**Author:** ![john\_b\_2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a9a28c/32.png) [@john\_b\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/john_b_2)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2024, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/204 "2024-07-18T20:45:12Z")
Good ones.“Parlous” for perilous sounds about right. Ditto re the others. Also, as to American English, there are so many ways to state ordinary events and things. An Alfred Hitchcock half-hour, set in the early 20th century Ozarks, has one character say to another, regarding the likelihood of capturing an insane killer on a rainy afternoon “we ain’t gonna catch nothin’ but namoni in this weather” ( I loosely paraphrase this line of dialogue) is a rustic-border state reference to pneumonia, via diminutive, and quite clever, I thought). ---
**Author:** ![john\_b\_2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a9a28c/32.png) [@john\_b\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/john_b_2)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2024, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/205 "2024-07-18T20:55:11Z")
I’ve heard gibbet, like in a movie or TV show, set in a much earlier time, pre-1900, at least. It’s a word I learned from reading, then heard on television, or maybe radio; and it’s an easy word to learn, and a tough one to forget, for anyone familiar with Victorian literature. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2024, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/206 "2024-07-18T22:47:54Z")
I saw “gibbet” used in reference to the January 6 insurrection. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2024, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/207 "2024-07-18T22:53:34Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > Take the word rendezvous. > > The obvious way to figure out how to pronounce is by splitting it into three parts: > ren > dez > vous [note the same “ous” as in obvious.] > > Strangely enough my junior high school teacher said I was pronouncing it incorrectly! Yeah, I had never heard this word before age 15. I then said “rendezvous” out loud (Z pronounced, S pronounced) and people stared, then corrected me. Not my best moment. ---
**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:** [July 19, 2024, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/208 "2024-07-19T00:57:00Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > I then said “rendezvous” out loud (Z pronounced, S pronounced) and people stared, then corrected me. Not my best moment. It’s not your fault; it’s French’s fault. French is a silly language. If they didn’t want all those letters to be pronounced, why did they put them there? ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/209 "2024-07-19T11:13:43Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > If they didn’t want all those letters to be pronounced, why did they put them there? I kuh-now, rig-hit? ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/210 "2024-07-19T11:55:21Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > It’s not your fault; it’s French’s fault. French is a silly language. If they didn’t want all those letters to be pronounced, why did they put them there? French has nothing on Irish. I love how they say, ‘but it’s so easy, it’s so regular! _usiuslhg_ is always pronounced _see_, there’s nothing to understand!’ ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/211 "2024-07-19T12:52:26Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > > [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > > > It’s not your fault; it’s French’s fault. French is a silly language. If they didn’t want all those letters to be pronounced, why did they put them there? > > French has nothing on Irish. I love how they say, ‘but it’s so easy, it’s so regular! _usiuslhg_ is always pronounced _see_, there’s nothing to understand!’ For me as someone with English as his first and French as second foreign language, French pronunciation is much more consistent than English. Sure, French has a lot of silent letters, but if you know the rules around them, the rest is easy. ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/212 "2024-07-19T13:44:07Z")
From what I recall of high school French, words that end with a vowel sound informally have an “s” sound added if the next word begins with a vowel. It’s to make the language sound smoother and more refined. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/213 "2024-07-19T13:47:54Z")
Watching an episode of _Inspector Morse_ the other day and “Götterdämmerung” appeared in the subtitles labelling the music being played. But no one said it. I’m not sure if I’ve ever heard it pronounced. OTOH, I think I had first heard “Ragnarök” long ago and many times since (and not just in movie titles and such). ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/214 "2024-07-19T15:42:43Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > For me as someone with English as his first and French as second foreign language, French pronunciation is much more consistent than English. Sure, French has a lot of silent letters, but if you know the rules around them, the rest is easy. I agree, French is quite consistent. It’s just hard for a native English speaker to make sounds so far back in the throat, much less sound at all French. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/215 "2024-07-19T16:37:47Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > much less sound at all French. It iz e-see to zound like ze French. Moztly exchange ze ‘S’ and ‘Z’ sounds, say ‘ze’ instead of ‘the’, and sneer while you talk. ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/216 "2024-07-19T17:38:03Z")
One word I had trouble with was ‘clerestory’. This is the layer of windows in the nave of a church above the aisles. It also applies to any windows in a building in a similar location, and the small raised section of the roof of an old-time railway/railroad carriage inset with ventilators and little windows to let in light and air. I thought it was pronounced ‘kle-rest-ory’ but it is pronounced ‘kleerstory’. The architecture of churches is a fascinating subject, and now I need to find out how to say ‘presbytery’, and what the hell it means. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/217 "2024-07-19T17:55:11Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > French has nothing on Irish. I love how they say, ‘but it’s so easy, it’s so regular! _usiuslhg_ is always pronounced _see_, there’s nothing to understand!’ Absolutely, which is why the Scottish sneer at Irish Gaelic speakers with their stupid reformed phonetic baby spelling. What, they can’t spell “beirbhiughadh” like a normal person without learning disabilities? > [@Knowed\_Out](#): > > From what I recall of high school French, words that end with a vowel sound informally have an “s” sound added if the next word begins with a vowel. It’s to make the language sound smoother and more refined. Spoken French has liaison, but I don’t think it means what you think it means or seem to be describing. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/218 "2024-07-19T18:01:21Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > > [@Knowed\_Out](#): > > > > From what I recall of high school French, words that end with a vowel sound informally have an “s” sound added if the next word begins with a vowel. It’s to make the language sound smoother and more refined. > > Spoken French has liaison, but I don’t think it means what you think it means or seem to be describing. Right, a liaison means that a regularly silent consonant is spoken out when followed by a word beginning with a vowel. For example, in “vous avez”, the ‘s’ is spoken, while in “vous cherchez” it’s silent. But French doesn’t add an extra-‘s’ anywhere to construct a liaison. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/219 "2024-07-19T18:15:19Z")
We should note that French has liaisons like “_Parle-t-on encore français ici ?_” even though the verb is not spelled with a -t (in any remotely modern version of French). ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2024, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/220 "2024-07-19T18:19:23Z")
That’s right, I also thought about this kind of construction with a’t’, but I can’t remember any with an added ‘s’. Another form of liaison though is dropping a vowel when followed by a different vowel, like “les mois de hiver” becomes “les mois d’hiver” (note that the ‘h’ is silent.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769.md?page=10) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769.md?page=12)