# 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:** 8
**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:** [February 25, 2024, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/141 "2024-02-25T22:36:22Z")
> [@Wallaby](#): > > with the accent on the fourth syllable (to rhyme with ‘army’) Where you are, perhaps. Here in the States, we pronounce our Rs. For (most of) us 'Murricans, it would rhyme with “mommy.” > [@Wallaby](#): > > I wonder if the song was created as a challenge, to see if they could write a song with the most difficult base rhyme. Michael Flanders was one of the cleverest lyricists ever. All of his songs, and his introductions to them, are laden with clever wordplay. I gave just one example here: > [@What's your favorite example of zeugma?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-favorite-example-of-zeugma/984471/1): > > [“Madeira, m’dear,” by Flanders and Swann](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=%23&ved=2ahUKEwim9M-OxIv_AhUnFlkFHQ5BD-4Q8TV6BAgPEAI&usg=AOvVaw0VTJzWxrN8ZFOD4xbU2nov) > Each of the song’s three verses contains a line that features a three- or four-way zeugma. > > > And he said as he hastened to put out the cat, > > The wine, his cigar, and the lamps: > > > She lowered her standards by raising her glass, > > Her courage, her eyes, and his hopes. > > > When he asked, “What in heaven?” she made no reply, > > Up her mind and a dash for the door. My father had the “At the Drop of a Hat” records when we were kids, and growing up with them, I took them completely for granted. It was only decades later, when I had become a writer and editor, that I became fully aware just how sophisticated Flanders and Swann’s silly little songs were. ---
**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:** [February 25, 2024, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/142 "2024-02-25T22:54:13Z")
I just saw “inchoate” pop up in another thread. Don’t think I’ve ever heard it spoken. Don’t even care how it’s spoken. ---
**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:** [February 26, 2024, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/143 "2024-02-26T00:56:12Z")
in-KO-ate ---
**Author:** ![Wallaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/dc4da7/32.png) [@Wallaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallaby)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2024, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/144 "2024-02-26T01:33:10Z")
I have both the ‘Drop of a Hat’ records and also their ‘Bestiary’. I think the Whale song is great - it includes rhymes for such words as ‘Equatorial’, ‘Antarctical’, and ‘Porpoises’. They obviously loved using _language_ as a musical effect. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2024, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/145 "2024-02-26T02:41:36Z")
Inchoate is a good one. I don’t think I’ve ever heard it spoken. The OED gives two pronunciations, either with the accent on the second syllable (in-KOH-uht) or on the first (IN-kuh-wayt). In reading it I had assumed the accent was on the second syllable. For some reason that word makes me think of one of the Childe cycle books by Gordon Dickson. I guess that must be where I first encountered it. ---
**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:** [February 26, 2024, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/146 "2024-02-26T03:55:37Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > The OED gives two pronunciations, either with the accent on the second syllable (in-KOH-uht) or on the first (IN-kuh-wayt). In reading it I had assumed the accent was on the second syllable. Yeah, I guess I shouldn’t have made the third syllable a long A. Thanks. But. I’ve never heard that alternate pronunciation. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2024, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/147 "2024-02-26T20:04:48Z")
Idiosyncrasy/idiosyncratic - - although I’ve made a stab at saying it a couple of times in high school and was tittered at. I think I could make a better stab at it today, but I don’t remember ever hearing it. I’ve heard idiolect on a podcast. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanubv.2/32/3260_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUBv.2)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2024, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/148 "2024-02-29T21:34:42Z")
I was fairly shocked and humbled when I learned that Poe’s **Annabel Lee** ’s final resting place is a "SEP pull ker by the sea and not a Se PUL cher. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2024, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/149 "2024-02-29T22:35:35Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > Yes, that was a phrase I never quite understood, but it seems to have quite a history > > [The Paris Review - Why Did the Phrase “Brown Study” Fall Out of Fashion?](https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2015/02/03/golden-brown/) I encountered “brown study” once, in a Sherlock Holmes story. Watson falls into one, and Holmes, watching his eyes and expressions, infers his train of thought. Mine is “inchoate”. Seen it in print, often enough, but never encountered it in the wild. ---
**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:** [March 1, 2024, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/150 "2024-03-01T07:20:47Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > Mine is “inchoate”. Seen it in print, often enough, but never encountered it in the wild. Too close to “incoherent”, perhaps. ---
**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:** [March 1, 2024, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/151 "2024-03-01T10:23:41Z")
It sounds very Lovecraft-y, and he’s a great one for words I’ve never heard said. Like “rugose.” ---
**Author:** ![Kimble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kimble/32/19185_2.png) [@Kimble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimble)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2024, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/152 "2024-03-01T11:00:43Z")
I read a bunch of chess books in my youth and had a subscription to Chess Life magazine, but didn’t really play much outside of the school cafeteria and on my computer. This was all before I could sort of guess how to pronounce German and Russian. One word I don’t think I’ve heard pronounced: _zwischenzug_, which IIRC is an in-between move (and probably literally means that in German, which I don’t know): something like “I play bishop takes knight, then queen takes knight, queen takes queen, bishop takes queen – but if I play knight-g6-check before I take their queen, then bishop takes queen will be a check that skewers their rook and I’ll be up an exchange after king takes knight, bishop takes rook.” Words that stunned me when I heard them pronounced correctly: _zugzwang_, which doesn’t rhyme with “bug sang” and (Alexander) Alekhine, which isn’t pronounced like Alex Hines with the /s/ and /z/ sounds removed (sorry for the IPA usage!). ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2024, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/153 "2024-03-05T02:00:33Z")
> [@GESancMan](#): > > > [@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! I’ve heard “rah” many times, it’s right in the Michigan State fight song. “Sis boom bah”, as Carnac the Magnificent explained it, is the answer to the request “describe the sound of an exploding sheep.” ---
**Author:** ![fedman1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e495f1/32.png) [@fedman1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fedman1)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2024, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/154 "2024-03-05T07:41:18Z")
and for those of us of certain age, instant orange juice 😁 ---
**Author:** ![Kron](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kron/32/12444_2.png) [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2024, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/155 "2024-03-22T18:46:17Z")
For those mentioning “inchoate”: I just recently listened to the audiobook for “The Greater Good” by Sandy Mitchell (a Ciaphas Cain novel); apparently the author just learned the word or something, because I felt like it was used at least one time in every chapter. As one of those words you see but not hear, usually, it really stood out. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2024, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/156 "2024-03-22T21:22:45Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > 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?”. It is a good interviewing/interrogation technique. Some suspect says something that doesnt gibe. The interviewer just stays silent, staring at them, maybe with a doubtful expression. The suspect often quickly supplies more info. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2024, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/157 "2024-07-12T03:41:07Z")
Fecund or fecundity. Apparently it’s a hard C, like fekund or fekundity. In my head it was always a soft C, like fesund or fesundity, which of course, now sounds wrong too. ---
**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:** [July 12, 2024, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/158 "2024-07-12T21:06:07Z")
In yesterday’s Spelling Bee puzzle, the pangram was frontman which I had always said as two words front man, with the second pronounced exactly as man. But they didn’t accept motorman, which I always pronounced with the last vowel a schwa. ---
**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:** [July 12, 2024, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/159 "2024-07-12T21:50:52Z")
When I was little I said “mosquito” as “moss-quit.” I don’t know why I thought the O was silent. ---
**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 12, 2024, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769/160 "2024-07-12T23:04:48Z")
Ecru is a hue name used in textiles, in fact I first read the word on a packet of embroidery thread. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-read-but-never-heard-said/995769.md?page=9)