# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2024, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/41 "2024-01-09T12:52:20Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > (FWIW I just confirmed that “antipode” is pronounced ANT-i-pode, so I would have been correct with the singular pronunciation) Weird, several pronunciation dictionaries I looked up claim it’s pronounced your way but the only way I’ve ever heard it said is the way the [Cambridge dictionary](https://dictionary.cambridge.org/pronunciation/english/antipodes) pronounces it. On a seperate note, I _do_ know the correct pronunciation of @Mangetout (the British word for snow pea, borrowed from French in case you were wondering) but I can’t help but read it as Man, get out!. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2024, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/42 "2024-01-09T13:17:22Z")
And I always thought it was a reference to them eating everything ( ie, not a picky eater) ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2024, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/43 "2024-01-09T13:44:10Z")
> [@Moonrise](#): > > While I’d seen the word “lilac” in print countless times, I’d never heard it in a conversation until fairly recently. So, for decades, I pronounced it _li-LAK_. How did you hear it? I’ve been working in landscape/horticulture for 35 years and never heard it pronounced differently from lye-LAK. Were you thinking lee-LAK? ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2024, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/44 "2024-01-09T15:02:43Z")
Poke, as in poke bowl (which I assume we got from the US). I bothered to look it up yesterday, and gather that it’s something like POW-kay. I any case, as it (I understand) includes raw fish, it’s not a word I’m likely to use in conversation. This may be specifically British: there is a clothing (footwear?) brand called Nike. An unusual move, naming your brand in such a way that nobody can confidently say it. There are only two ways I’ve heard it pronounced: “_Nike_ [rhymes with Mike] _or however you say it_”; and “_Nike_ [rhymes with Mikey] _or however you say it_” - which is not a criticism; I do it myself (usually the latter). j ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2024, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/45 "2024-01-09T15:18:47Z")
And a related story There is a brand of skin cleanser/make-up remover in the UK (can’t remember the name) which for an age heavily promoted on TV the fact that it was composed of micellar water (meaningless puffery, see below.) Except that in the commercials micellar (rhymes with my cellar) was mispronounced as (rhymes with Miss Ella). Now, I worked with micellar substances for much of my career, and this pissed me off immeasurably. I was more or less reconciled to the fact that the pronunciation of the word would change through a combination of ignorance and mass exposure when suddenly, one day, the pronunciation of the word was quietly corrected in the commercials. I’d like to think that someone in an ad agency was fired as well. j **Micellar** : composed of [micelles](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micelle). Soaps are surfactants - long molecules with a fatty end (which attracts grease etc) and a hydrophilic end (which dissolves in water). When the concentration of a surfactant in water is high enough, micelles form - spherical droplets with all the fatty bits (which don’t like water) on the inside and all the hydrophilic bits (which do like water) on the outside. Soapy solutions do this. Hell of a way to advertise your cleanser. ETA - and here is [the offending article](https://www.boots.com/garnier-micellar-cleansing-water-400ml-10169115) ---
**Author:** ![GESancMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gesancman/32/2923_2.png) [@GESancMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GESancMan)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2024, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/46 "2024-01-09T15:20:51Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > One of them is “rah,” usually clued as something like “stadium cheer.” Granted, I don’t spend a whole lot of time hanging around stadiums, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone say “rah.” Bric-a-brac-a firecracker sis boom bah! Bugs Bunny, Bugs Bunny! Rah! Rah! Rah! ---
**Author:** ![keeganst94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a6a055/32.png) [@keeganst94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/keeganst94)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2024, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/47 "2024-01-09T15:24:13Z")
Not sure where you are, but I think of it as British. I’ve heard it on British TV, never heard it in North America. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2024, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/48 "2024-01-09T15:31:26Z")
Panache was my bugaboo, as delineated in the thread from the late summer. The thread was already active, and I was watching either a F1 clip or an Olympics one or something, and heard an announcer say “Pan-nosh”, which amazed me to no end since I’ve always said it in my mind as “Pan-nock”-I mean, we don’t say “osh” for the word “ache”, do we? No, it’s a K sound, obviously. So dunno who decided panache would get an SH sound instead. :boggled: ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2024, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/49 "2024-01-09T15:43:24Z")
It was into adulthood until I learned that it’s alcove not aclove, as I had read it and been saying it for years. And I was one who mispronounced Hermione … reading it aloud to my kid. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2024, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/50 "2024-01-09T15:46:16Z")
In my Bible studies I’ve had trouble with pericope and diaspora. ---
**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:** [January 9, 2024, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/51 "2024-01-09T15:55:03Z")
> [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](#): > > pericope Without hearing it I’d think it was pronounced like ‘periscope’ without the ‘s’. Like spelling, I think words and their pronunciation are just made up. ---
**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:** [January 9, 2024, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/52 "2024-01-09T15:56:35Z")
You can also hear “Charybdis” sung, and as bonus can also learn the pronunciation of “Scylla”: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/svWINSRhQU0/maxresdefault.jpg "The Police - Wrapped Around Your Finger (Official Music Video)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svWINSRhQU0) ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2024, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/53 "2024-01-09T15:56:47Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > When I was studying in the States, the prof challenged the class to pronounce a certain French-derived word correctly. > > I put up my hand and pronounced it. > > He looked at me and said « That doesn’t count. You’re Canadian. Maybe this is cheating since it’s a proper name rather than an ordinary word, but the real trial by fire is the painter [Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Auguste-Dominique_Ingres). I had an art professor who assured us that no one who is not a native French speaker can pronounce his surname. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2024, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/54 "2024-01-09T15:57:28Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > I think words and their pronunciation are just made up. Sure, but the question is who called “dibs”? ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2024, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/55 "2024-01-09T15:58:50Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > > [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > > > Another is “nosh,” which apparently means “snack.” > > That may be regional - I hear it all the time. I even know a restaurant called “Knish Nosh” > [@keeganst94](#): > > Not sure where you are, but I think of it as British. I’ve heard it on British TV, never heard it in North America. You guys need more Jewish friends. It’s Yiddish. [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/nosh](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/nosh) ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2024, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/56 "2024-01-09T15:59:56Z")
> [@Treppenwitz](#): > > Poke, as in poke bowl (which I assume we got from the US). I bothered to look it up yesterday, and gather that it’s something like POW-kay. I any case, as it (I understand) includes raw fish, it’s not a word I’m likely to use in conversation. I believe it’s Hawaiian , which accounts for the way you say it. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2024, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/57 "2024-01-09T16:09:32Z")
That’s actually why I said it might be regional - I’m in NYC and although I know it’s Yiddish even the non-Jews here use Yiddish words. ---
**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:** [January 9, 2024, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/58 "2024-01-09T16:14:36Z")
“Pwn.” ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2024, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/59 "2024-01-09T16:19:04Z")
Yeah, after I posted I realized you probably knew its origin, but I wasn’t clear about your location. And apparently the Brits picked it up, too. Thanks, Disraeli! > [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > “Pwn.” Please tell me how this is pronounced. I’ve wondered ever since I first saw it. I’ve heard it’s the same as “own,” just spelled wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2024, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/60 "2024-01-09T16:23:01Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > You guys need more Jewish friends. It’s Yiddish. Surprisingly, it seems to have entered British slang (as you say, from Yiddish) quite recently. There’s a ngram usage graph here. > **[nosh | Etymology of nosh by etymonline](https://www.etymonline.com/word/nosh)** > > NOSH: "to snack, to eat between meals," 1957, from Yiddish nashn "nibble," from Middle High German naschen,… See origin and meaning of nosh. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769.md?page=4)