“Sacroiliac.” I had to look that one up to learn that it’s pronounced “sack-row-ill-ee-ack” and not “su-croi-lee-ack.”
Ok, the ‘croil’ part can be confusing. How did you get ‘su’ from ‘sac’?
ETA: Luckily i heard the word before ever reading it.
I collected knives for several decades, so tang (the hidden end of a knife blade) is a word I knew. It’s also used to great effect in the lyrics of I Believe In You.“You’ve got that slam-bang tang reminiscent of gin and vermouth.”
Chutzpah. Thought it was pronounced in the “obvious” way. But it’s apparently either hutzpah or kutzpah.
Heard that word a lot, but
yes, or close
not this; never heard anyone say that, and how would they arrive at it?
AFAIK, it’s a sort of throat-clearing sound like the end of loch. “x” in IPA. Presumably this is the actual Yiddish pronunciation and either “h” or “k” is an approximant. Probably “h” is more popular.
I believe it is a 100% Aramaic word; no idea how it would be pronounced in Yiddish (but we are talking about English; anyway if it’s “x” as in “loch”, to me that sounds nothing like “k”)
Doesn’t sound anything like an “h”, either. But loch at least is usually approximated as lock in American English, not loh.
I talked to Poul Anderson , and he said most Americans cant get his name right- I tried “pool” and he said 'close". He said- just dont say “Paul”.
Today I learned a new word- “golliwog.” Not a very nice word in many contexts.
I learned (I think this was right) from an aunt of mine a long, long time ago, while doing a crossword puzzle) that ecru was a kind of almost but not quite synonym for white,–maybe off-white or very light tan, near manila colored, but not really–and mainly used to describe or define paper products. Thus far, I’ve never much spoken or even written that word, but that’s my understanding of its meaning,
Like this?
Same with ochre-I’ve read it used as a color description but no one’s said it.
Ecru is specifically the colour of unbleached linen – light beige with a hint of yellow.
Wotnot said it better than I did.
I first heard it in a Cat Stevens song.
Thank you,–re ecru–and it’s close to what I guessed.
Interesting, Balthisar.
When I was younger. including young adult, I had trouble pronouncing any word that came from French, which I could read but never speak, due to something of an aversion to the way it sounds.
Italian is easy for me, and due to coming from a somewhat musical family, plus having gone to junior high in a heavily Italo-American neighborhood, it became easy for me to understand.
Also, whenever I’ve used Italian words or described something Italian (wine, food, music) around real born and bred Italians they immediately ask me if I’m one of them, or have some Italian ancestry, I have to truthfully say no, and then they’ve often praised my apparently natural way of using Italian words. Rather OT here , not intended as a thread hijack.
You then never played the Board game Civilization! (lowest trading item)