# 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:** 6
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2024, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/101 "2024-01-10T14:59:24Z")
Oh, and panache is French, so it’s a slightly lengthened “ash” at the end. And “nosh” is well established English slang for food hence the TV show [Posh Nosh](https://youtu.be/MWTy9fE48og?feature=shared) ---
**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 10, 2024, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/102 "2024-01-10T15:19:33Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > But “octopuses” follows regular English so that’s OK, but never “octopi” which is neither Greek nor Latin. People understand what ‘octopi’ means, which makes it a word in English. There’s a reason English is the universal language, and it’s not stodgy rigidity of form. ---
**Author:** ![Dogginit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dogginit/32/16920_2.png) [@Dogginit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogginit)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2024, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/103 "2024-01-10T16:25:43Z")
> [@Nyvaak](#): > > At some point I made reference to this character in conversation, and decades later my brother still won’t let me forget it. Don’t feel too bad, my daughter still gets a hard time about “Hercules Portrait” (Hercule Poirot) 🤣 ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2024, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/104 "2024-01-10T21:24:56Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I’ve also pronounced “chimera” as “CHIM-uh-ruh” not “ky-MEER-uh”. All Greek works have a hard C, not soft. > [@kambuckta](#): > > Another is ennui. Yeah, that one is not pronounced AT ALL the way it is written. “Onwee”. > [@PatrickLondon](#): > > If you’re a stickler, in the original Greek it’s octo(=eight)+podes(=feet), so I’ve always understood it as octo-PO-des. But “octopuses” follows regular English so that’s OK, but never “octopi” which is neither Greek nor Latin. Yeah, I can live with Octopodes, and that is how i would pronounce it. But octopi is right out. ---
**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 10, 2024, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/105 "2024-01-10T21:53:57Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > All Greek works have a hard C, not soft. I may be talking out of my ass here, not knowing any Greek and only knowing about Greek letters from math and physics, but wouldn’t the Greek first letter of the Greek word “chimera” be χ (chi), and wouldn’t it be pronounced as the letter combination “ch” in German, for example in “ich”? Because that’s a very different sound than a hard ‘c’ in English. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2024, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/106 "2024-01-11T00:00:06Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > I may be talking out of my ass here, not knowing any Greek and only knowing about Greek letters from math and physics, but wouldn’t the Greek first letter of the Greek word “chimera” be χ (chi), and wouldn’t it be pronounced as the letter combination “ch” in German, for example in “ich”? Because that’s a very different sound than a hard ‘c’ in English. [https://www.google.com/search?q=chimera+greek+pronunciation&sca\_esv=597319875&ei=RS-fZcWhIfjbkPIP\_MmLoA0&oq=chimera+greek+p&gs\_lp=Egxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAiD2NoaW1lcmEgZ3JlZWsgcCoCCAAyBRAAGIAEMgYQABgWGB4yBhAAGBYYHjIGEAAYFhgeMgYQABgWGB4yBhAAGBYYHjIGEAAYFhgeMgYQABgWGB4yBhAAGBYYHjIGEAAYFhgeSMIlULQHWLsWcAF4AZABAJgBe6AB9wSqAQM3LjG4AQHIAQD4AQHCAgoQABhHGNYEGLADwgINEAAYgAQYigUYQxiwA8ICHBAuGIAEGIoFGEMYxwEYrwEYyAMYsAMYjgXYAQHCAhYQLhiABBiKBRhDGNQCGMgDGLAD2AEBwgIOEAAY5AIY1gQYsAPYAQLCAhEQABiABBiKBRiRAhixAxiDAcICCxAAGIAEGIoFGJECwgILEAAYgAQYsQMYgwHCAggQABiABBixA8ICCxAuGK8BGMcBGIAE4gMEGAAgQYgGAZAGE7oGBggBEAEYCLoGBggCEAEYCQ&sclient=gws-wiz-serp#kpvalbx=\_TS-fZazvMP\_ekPIP38CQyAI\_29](https://www.google.com/search?q=chimera+greek+pronunciation&sca_esv=597319875&ei=RS-fZcWhIfjbkPIP_MmLoA0&oq=chimera+greek+p&gs_lp=Egxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAiD2NoaW1lcmEgZ3JlZWsgcCoCCAAyBRAAGIAEMgYQABgWGB4yBhAAGBYYHjIGEAAYFhgeMgYQABgWGB4yBhAAGBYYHjIGEAAYFhgeMgYQABgWGB4yBhAAGBYYHjIGEAAYFhgeSMIlULQHWLsWcAF4AZABAJgBe6AB9wSqAQM3LjG4AQHIAQD4AQHCAgoQABhHGNYEGLADwgINEAAYgAQYigUYQxiwA8ICHBAuGIAEGIoFGEMYxwEYrwEYyAMYsAMYjgXYAQHCAhYQLhiABBiKBRhDGNQCGMgDGLAD2AEBwgIOEAAY5AIY1gQYsAPYAQLCAhEQABiABBiKBRiRAhixAxiDAcICCxAAGIAEGIoFGJECwgILEAAYgAQYsQMYgwHCAggQABiABBixA8ICCxAuGK8BGMcBGIAE4gMEGAAgQYgGAZAGE7oGBggBEAEYCLoGBggCEAEYCQ&sclient=gws-wiz-serp#kpvalbx=_TS-fZazvMP_ekPIP38CQyAI_29) Kiy-mer-ah ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2024, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/107 "2024-01-11T01:14:46Z")
> [@romansperson](#): > > Also: Schuylkill. Depending on where you are from, it can vary. SKOOL-kill or SKOOkill. Only SKOOkill is correct. And I grew up just a couple miles from it. Between it and Cobb’s Creek (same vowel as in been) Park. One thing I have a problem getting my mind around is that Canadians pronounce been as bean and intestine so that the last syllable rhymes with line. ---
**Author:** ![EnolaStraight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/41988e/32.png) [@EnolaStraight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EnolaStraight)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2024, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/108 "2024-01-11T01:18:53Z")
Bon mot…pronounced “bun-moe”. Defined as a clever, witty remark. Never heard in conversation. ---
**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 11, 2024, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/109 "2024-01-11T04:39:57Z")
I think Diane used to say it that way on Cheers. Every other time I’ve heard it it was pronounced phonetically. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2024, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/110 "2024-01-11T05:14:47Z")
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! ---
**Author:** ![Smudge777](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee59a6/32.png) [@Smudge777](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smudge777)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2024, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/111 "2024-01-11T06:15:23Z")
I don’t really have any words like this, because I tend to look up the pronunciation whenever I read a word I don’t know. There are quite useful resources for this, including forvo, howjsay, and wiktionary (sometimes). But I’ve had several fun situations with friends: antelope pronounced with 4 syllables hippopotamus pronounced with the emphasis on the second last syllable epitome pronounced with 3 syllables hyperbole pronounced with 3 syllables vague pronounced to rhyme with bag (sorry, all the comments made me forget that the point of this thread was about words unused in conversation, rather than words pronounced incorrectly because you’ve only seen them written) ---
**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 11, 2024, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/112 "2024-01-11T12:54:59Z")
> [@Smudge777](#): > > hippopotamus pronounced with the emphasis on the second last syllable Flanders and Swann did this in [The Hippopotamus Song](https://youtu.be/AjnOj9O16_I?si=JUWstvAy-M-iA7kn), making the A long, and rhyming it with ignoramus. ---
**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:** [January 11, 2024, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/113 "2024-01-11T13:55:23Z")
> [@Knowed\_Out](#): > > Several words from Lovecraft come to mind, such as “Oleaginous,” “Eldritch,” and “Cthonian.” > Antediluvian, Atavistic, Bachtrachian, Cacodaemoniacal, Effulgence, Gibbous, Gloaming, Ichthyic, Lucubration, Obdurate, Piliferous, Proboscidian, Rugose… The only ones I have trouble with are Bachtrachian, Cacodaemoniacal, Ichthyic and Lucubration, although I generally have some clue how to say them. A bit of ancient Greek and Latin goes a long way. My favourite word in Lovecraft is ‘congeries’, which he uses to mean ‘a mass of bubbles’. Actually it means ‘a disorderly mass of anything’, and comes from Latin, so I’m guessing it is pronounced ‘Kon-ger-is’, but I might be wrong. ---
**Author:** ![dirtball](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dirtball/32/18772_2.png) [@dirtball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dirtball)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2024, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/114 "2024-01-11T13:55:30Z")
> [@Smudge777](#): > > (sorry, all the comments made me forget that the point of this thread was about words unused in conversation, rather than words pronounced incorrectly because you’ve only seen them written) Well, yeah, but if you’ve only seen a word written, then in your experience, it’s not used in conversation. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2024, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/115 "2024-01-11T23:41:11Z")
> [@Smudge777](#): > > antelope pronounced with 4 syllables In an apocryphal signal between them (they served together in WWII in the Med I think), HMS Penelope was “Pennyloap”, and HMS Antelope was “Antellopee”. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2024, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/116 "2024-01-12T04:54:40Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > > [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > > > I’ve always pronounced it LYE-Lock > > Ok, that I’ve heard as well. Lack is apparectly correct but I wouldn’t pause (or correct) someone saying “Lock” I believe the “huh” is because you put the emPHAsis on the wrong syLABle. 😉 One word I had read but rarely ever heard spoken actually came up on Jeopardy today. Sidereal is not pronounced as “side-real” but “sai-dee-ree-al.” ---
**Author:** ![UDS1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e47774/32.png) [@UDS1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS1)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2024, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/117 "2024-01-12T06:47:12Z")
Nitpick: sigh-DEER-ee-uhl ---
**Author:** ![Smudge777](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee59a6/32.png) [@Smudge777](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smudge777)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2024, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/118 "2024-01-12T11:20:15Z")
I’ve never understood how anyone tells the difference between sigh-DEER-ee-uhl and sigh-DEE-ree-uhl. What indicates whether the consonant sound (R, in this case) is in the 2nd or 3rd syllable? ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2024, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/119 "2024-01-12T15:02:48Z")
I saw another one last night in _The Road_ (a book for masochists.) Bivouacked. It came up a lot in the Everest books too. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2024, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/120 "2024-01-12T17:14:25Z")
> [@MrAtoz](#): > > 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. C’est vrai, bébé … because the French swallow so many sounds (most notably, the last letter of almost every word). I believe that everyone should learn to pronounce words that English stole (or is it… an _homage?)_ from French. And nothing beats hearing them said in French. We can’t even transliterate them into English, because we can’t write those wonderful sounds that resonate in the back of the mouth… > Bon mot…pronounced “bun-moe”. But if you were to say that like a hot dog bun, you’d sound like an Ugly American. It’s really more like “bohhh…(with the merest hint of a throaty _ **n** _ in there)-moh”. . eta: “Hot dog” in French? Le _hot dog!_ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769.md?page=7)