# 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:** 7
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2024, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/121 "2024-01-13T17:41:46Z")
Found a new example: diaresis. I have always pronounced it die-uh-REE-siss in my head, but apparently it’s it’s die-ER-ruh-siss. * * * > [@Smudge777](#): > > 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? As far as I know, rhotic accents (which pronounce the R in car) tend to put the R in the previous syllable (and repeat it in the next syllable), while non-rhotic accents tend to put the R in the next syllable. Though there are exceptions for the former in compound words or if the word is just difficult to say that way. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2024, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/122 "2024-01-13T21:07:28Z")
Not me but I’ve seen “Walla!” written for A Reveal and probably not always intentionally. ---
**Author:** ![UDS1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e47774/32.png) [@UDS1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS1)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2024, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/123 "2024-01-14T06:45:47Z")
> [@Smudge777](#): > > 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? I think what’s being signalled here is not the placement of the -r- but the vowel sound in the second syllable. If the second syllable is rendered as “DEER” that suggests to me that the vowel sound is the same as in the English word _deer_, the animal. That is close to or the same as the same vowel sound in _kit_, _bin_, etc. But if the second syllable is rendered as “DEE”, that suggests the same vowel sound as in _flee_, _wee_, _see_. ---
**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 17, 2024, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/124 "2024-01-17T21:57:50Z")
I listen to a history podcast which is very good except that the host’s … eccentric … pronunciation of some words gets to me. For instance he says scheme as shh-keem. Ideological as ida-logical. Pursue as per-sooo. Deterioration as de-teary-ashun, culmination as culti-mation. I can only assume he’s never heard anyone else say these words! ---
**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 17, 2024, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/125 "2024-01-17T23:14:10Z")
> [@Askance](#): > > Pursue as per-sooo. How do you pronounce this? ---
**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 17, 2024, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/126 "2024-01-17T23:16:33Z")
Per-Sue? ---
**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 17, 2024, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/127 "2024-01-17T23:18:00Z")
How is Sue pronounced differently from sooo? Is it the length of the oooo? Or are people pronouncing it sway, as in segue? ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2024, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/128 "2024-01-17T23:18:35Z")
Chi was pronounced differently indifferent parts of ancient Greece. In the east it was more like “ch” in the west it was more like “ks”. Latin tended to follow the eastern Greek dialect so Χριστός became Christus in Latin and Christ in English. But everyone I know (not Greek) pronounces the name of the letter Chi as Kai ---
**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 17, 2024, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/129 "2024-01-17T23:33:14Z")
Per-syoo , or perhaps purse-yoo. The second U is a sounded one, not the germanic ooo one. ---
**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:** [January 18, 2024, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/130 "2024-01-18T03:00:16Z")
> [@Askance](#): > > Per-syoo Looks like [Merriam-Webster](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pursue) (US dictionary) gives both pronunciations, with the one you don’t like first. ---
**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 18, 2024, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/131 "2024-01-18T04:17:38Z")
I would guess then that per-soo is used in the US and Europe (where that germanic ooo is more common, eg due said as doo); in Australia (where I and the podcaster are from) you only ever hear per-syoo. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2024, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/132 "2024-01-18T04:22:07Z")
Have you cleared the orts from the tablecloth? ---
**Author:** ![Author\_Balk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Author\_Balk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Author_Balk)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2024, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/133 "2024-01-19T20:31:59Z")
Sort of the reverse of the topic… I read the word “minutiae” and it took a second or two to figure out what the word was. I don’t think I have ever seen it written. ---
**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:** [February 25, 2024, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/134 "2024-02-25T07:56:20Z")
> [@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. Was he speaking in Seurat or in Ingres? [I’ll fetch me coat] ---
**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:** [February 25, 2024, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/135 "2024-02-25T10:25:10Z")
> [@Author\_Balk](#): > > Sort of the reverse of the topic… I read the word “minutiae” and it took a second or two to figure out what the word was. I don’t think I have ever seen it written. In the UK, [according to YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Poy4aFkzAk) we are supposed to say this word ‘Min-nyou-shai’, although I like to put a little ‘shwa’ in there somewhere: ‘min-nyou-shi-ai’. My wife, with her Greek and Latin training, likes to say ‘min-nyou-ti-ai’, but this is not the usual way to say it. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2024, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/136 "2024-02-25T13:54:48Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > > [@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? The way you’re transcribing it makes me think you put the stress on the second syllable; I’ve always understood it to be on the first, like so: _LYE-lack_. And while I _accept_ as received wisdom that the correct pronunciation of “pwn” is “pone,” my brain always wants to insist on pronouncing it as though it’s Welsh-inspired spelling; thus, “poon.” ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2024, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/137 "2024-02-25T14:08:51Z")
> [@Nyvaak](#): > > Here we venture into the unsavory territory of Doctor-Speak, where any and all mispronunciations are accorded equal validity. How many SONT-i-meters is their doo-oh-DEE-num from their um-bi-LYE-cus ? Never heard the nurses attending **kaylasmom** in the delivery room try getting away with um-bi-LYE-cus, but I bit my tongue a LOT when they kept talking about SONT-I-meters. Seriously, wtf _is_ that? ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2024, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/138 "2024-02-25T14:26:41Z")
This ties into one of my literary peeves. Characters in books (usually older novels) are said to fall silent “for some _minutes_” while whoever was conversing with them waits patiently for a response. In reality of course, the other person would get impatient after 20 seconds or so and say “_Well?_ How about it?”. I never understood why the author didn’t have the character remain silent “for some _moments_”. Another vintage phrase not encountered in the wild is “brown study”, as in someone who “fell into a brown study”, meaning that they were lost in their thoughts and not paying attention. These days, you might assume the person had overindulged in Mexican food. ---
**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:** [February 25, 2024, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/139 "2024-02-25T19:17:18Z")
Yes, that was a phrase I never quite understood, but it seems to have quite a history: > **[Golden Brown](https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2015/02/03/golden-brown/)** > > Here’s a phrase you don’t read much nowadays: brown study. First cited in the sixteenth century (specifically in a book called Dice-Play), the expression—which describes a state of intense, sometimes melancholy reverie—really seems to have hit its... ---
**Author:** ![Wallaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/dc4da7/32.png) [@Wallaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallaby)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2024, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/140 "2024-02-25T22:21:20Z")
They also used the word ‘hippotama’ (to describe a female hippo), with the accent on the third syllable (to rhyme with ‘She hadn’t got a ma’). And in the next verse, ‘hippotami’ was used to describe multiple hippos, with the accent on the fourth syllable (to rhyme with ‘army’). I wonder if the song was created as a challenge, to see if they could write a song with the most difficult base rhyme. It’s a lot of fun. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769.md?page=8)