# Words you've seen but rarely (or never) heard **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 5, 2018, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-seen-but-rarely-or-never-heard/820785 "2018-09-05T07:27:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Telperion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telperion/32/509_2.png) [@Telperion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperion)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2018, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-seen-but-rarely-or-never-heard/820785/41 "2018-09-06T16:35:00Z")
I’ve heard Worcestershire sauce pronounced half a dozen different ways. At this point I’m not even sure any of them are right. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2018, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-seen-but-rarely-or-never-heard/820785/42 "2018-09-06T16:55:29Z")
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#): > > Plus, I have minor… I forget the word for it, but I switch letters and syllables around. (Like most words with _lv_ in them- calvary instead of cavalry, salivitate instead of salivate). [Spoonerisms](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spoonerism)? ---
**Author:** ![RobDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f07891/32.png) [@RobDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobDog)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2018, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-seen-but-rarely-or-never-heard/820785/43 "2018-09-06T17:20:31Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > Elevenses. > It means late risers who missed breakfast and eat before lunch. Usually in an English manor house. I see it often in English novels. Never have had an occasion to use it. > > Ne’er-do-well. Love that phrase. Minor correction, **Becks** … Elevenses (pronounced Elevenziz) refers to the food, not the eaters. So, if you’d like occasion to use it, just wait until 11:01 and have a small snack, announcing to those present, “Dahlings, mama is partaking of elevenses, do go and see if you can find pater, I believe he’s flushing a badger out of the ha-ha”. Or similar. My elevenses today was a cup of tea and a piece of toast and marmalade… very English. I’m sorry to tell you that I don’t live in a manor house though. Had to sell that last year to pay for a new turret on the castle 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2018, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-seen-but-rarely-or-never-heard/820785/44 "2018-09-06T18:04:33Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > Priapism. That’s a hard one. A real mouth-full for some people. ---
**Author:** ![Jennshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Jennshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennshark)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2018, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-seen-but-rarely-or-never-heard/820785/45 "2018-09-06T18:35:24Z")
During my sojourn in Ohio I struggled mightily with the town name “Chillicothe.” One of our branch campuses was there and I embarrassed myself continually with funky pronunciations. I _think_ it’s Chill-uh-coth-ee. Maybe a true Ohioan can comment. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2018, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-seen-but-rarely-or-never-heard/820785/46 "2018-09-06T19:06:26Z")
> [@RobDog](#): > > So, if you’d like occasion to use it, just wait until 11:01 and have a small snack, announcing to those present, “Dahlings, mama is partaking of elevenses, do go and see if you can find pater, I believe he’s flushing a badger out of the ha-ha”. Or similar. I’ve read this about eight times now (in Dame Maggie’s voice) and each time I’ve had to stifle my guffaw by pretending to cough into a tissue 😛 What exactly is “the ha-ha”? My mispronounced words: “longlived” - I always thought the lived part rhymes with “shivved” but apparently it’s said with a long i (?) “outliers” - Can’t describe how I said it in my brain but it sounded vaguely French and not like " out liars" **xizor** , I’m right there with ya on “deus ex machina”, right down to the whacky mispronunciation. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2018, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-seen-but-rarely-or-never-heard/820785/47 "2018-09-06T19:24:26Z")
Speaking of Ohio and ha-has, a [Ha-ha](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ha-ha) is a landscape feature that forms a barrier that is not readily apparent from one direction but still presents a barrier to travel. I encountered something very much like a ha-ha when walking around the grounds of the Cleveland Museum of Art last weekend, trying to cut through a grass corner, what I thought was a simple stone edge to the sidewalk I was approaching turned out to be a 3-4 foot wall. ---
**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:** [September 6, 2018, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-seen-but-rarely-or-never-heard/820785/48 "2018-09-06T19:25:16Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUB](#): > > “longlived” - I always thought the lived part rhymes with “shivved” but apparently it’s said with a long i (?) [Merriam-Webster’s](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/long-lived) gives both pronunciations, but the short-i one first. (ETA: I say “long-livved” too. I can see the logic behind both pronunciations. People who are long-lived have lived a long time, and they have long lives.) ---
**Author:** ![RobDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f07891/32.png) [@RobDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobDog)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2018, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-seen-but-rarely-or-never-heard/820785/49 "2018-09-06T19:30:13Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUB](#): > > I’ve read this about eight times now (in Dame Maggie’s voice) and each time I’ve had to stifle my guffaw by pretending to cough into a tissue 😛 What exactly is “the ha-ha”? > > My mispronounced words: > > “longlived” - I always thought the lived part rhymes with “shivved” but apparently it’s said with a long i (?) > > “outliers” - Can’t describe how I said it in my brain but it sounded vaguely French and not like " out liars" > > **xizor** , I’m right there with ya on “deus ex machina”, right down to the whacky mispronunciation. 🙂 A ha-ha is essentially a ditch, but constructed in such a way as to be invisible when viewed from the windows of one’s stately home or palace. It allows uninterrupted views across the landscape whilst providing an effective barrier to the peasantry. An A-ha, on the other hand, is an 80’s Norwegian pop band. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2018, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-seen-but-rarely-or-never-heard/820785/50 "2018-09-06T19:37:50Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > Speaking of Ohio and ha-has, a [Ha-ha](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ha-ha) is a landscape feature that forms a barrier that is not readily apparent from one direction but still presents a barrier to travel. > > I encountered something very much like a ha-ha when walking around the grounds of the Cleveland Museum of Art last weekend, trying to cut through a grass corner, what I thought was a simple stone edge to the sidewalk I was approaching turned out to be a 3-4 foot wall. Thanks,\*\* Lud\*\*.It’s a perfectly reasonable explanation and yet I’m still having giggling fits (maybe _that’s_ why they call it a ha-ha!) ---
**Author:** ![RobDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f07891/32.png) [@RobDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobDog)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2018, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-seen-but-rarely-or-never-heard/820785/51 "2018-09-06T19:38:27Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > … I encountered something very much like a ha-ha when walking around the grounds of the Cleveland Museum of Art last weekend, trying to cut through a grass corner, what I thought was a simple stone edge to the sidewalk I was approaching turned out to be a 3-4 foot wall. > [@RobDog](#): > > … It allows uninterrupted views across the landscape whilst providing an effective barrier to the peasantry. See? Told you. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2018, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-seen-but-rarely-or-never-heard/820785/52 "2018-09-06T19:43:07Z")
“Wieldy” - easy to handle. I hear it’s opposite, “unwieldy”, fairly often. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2018, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-seen-but-rarely-or-never-heard/820785/53 "2018-09-06T19:45:28Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > [Merriam-Webster’s](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/long-lived) gives both pronunciations, but the short-i one first. . . . Possibly worth noting that the editors at M-W say that the order of the listed pronunciations do not indicate a preferential order. If they consider something non-standard, or the recognize that a pronunciation is considered non-standard, they mark it with an obelus. ---
**Author:** ![G0sp3l](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c68b51/32.png) [@G0sp3l](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G0sp3l)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2018, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-seen-but-rarely-or-never-heard/820785/54 "2018-09-06T20:34:44Z")
Surreptitious I sometimes sneak it into conversations, but I’ve yet to hear some other person utter it. ---
**Author:** ![Jennshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Jennshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennshark)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2018, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-seen-but-rarely-or-never-heard/820785/55 "2018-09-06T21:05:27Z")
I’d bet “hyperbole” and “syncope” are high on the list for most people. I said “sin-cope” instead of “sin-coe-pay” for 43 years (then I met paramedic SharkWife). Damn sneaky Latin! ---
**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:** [September 7, 2018, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-seen-but-rarely-or-never-heard/820785/56 "2018-09-07T00:21:37Z")
> [@RobDog](#): > > 🙂 > > A ha-ha is essentially a ditch, but constructed in such a way as to be invisible when viewed from the windows of one’s stately home or palace. It allows uninterrupted views across the landscape whilst providing an effective barrier to the peasantry. > > An A-ha, on the other hand, is an 80’s Norwegian pop band. Cows, dear. One says it’s to prevent the entry of cows or other grazing animals. And if you rule a city and have a deep one, you can call it a ho-ho. ---
**Author:** ![ioioio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ioioio/32/316_2.png) [@ioioio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ioioio)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2018, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-seen-but-rarely-or-never-heard/820785/57 "2018-09-07T02:16:18Z")
> [@Jennshark](#): > > During my sojourn in Ohio I struggled mightily with the town name “Chillicothe.” One of our branch campuses was there and I embarrassed myself continually with funky pronunciations. > > I _think_ it’s Chill-uh-coth-ee. Maybe a true Ohioan can comment. There is a Chillicothe, Missouri, with which I am familiar. It’s pronounced as you suggested. ---
**Author:** ![ioioio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ioioio/32/316_2.png) [@ioioio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ioioio)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2018, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-seen-but-rarely-or-never-heard/820785/58 "2018-09-07T02:22:18Z")
There’s a fairly major street in Memphis named “Tchulahoma”. I’ve lived in the area for 20 years and have no idea how to pronounce it. I’m not sure anyone else does either, as I’ve never heard it pronounced. If I need to speak its name, I just go another way. ---
**Author:** ![Map\_Ylow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/map_ylow/32/85_2.png) [@Map\_Ylow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Map_Ylow)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2018, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-seen-but-rarely-or-never-heard/820785/59 "2018-09-07T03:49:59Z")
If we’re starting in on city names… Maquoketa. (Pronounced muh-COKE-eh-tuh, as far as I am aware.) Our GPS unit keeps trying to pronounce it as “mah-kwoh-KEY-tuh”…endless amusement, there. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2018, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-seen-but-rarely-or-never-heard/820785/60 "2018-09-07T03:54:24Z")
I finally noticed that a word exists, that I have been ignoring for years. Hurst. There are Oakhursts, Elmhursts, Maplehursts, Hazelhursts and other occasional hursts. I walk by many streets with names like those, just kind of categorizing them as a “name” and analyzing no further. But for whatever reason earlier this week my brain gave it a second though, hmm… Tree-hurst. Hurst might be a word relating to trees. There is also that word I remember for no good reason at all from German classes so long ago, Horst, meaning grove or stand of trees. I wonder if they are related. A quick check and Mr. Internet tells me my hunch is correct. So while I have still never heard the word used in a natural conversational sense(and doubt I ever will) ie. “Drive for two miles then turn when you see the hurst of pine” FYI Mr. Spellcheck is also not aware that hurst is a word. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-seen-but-rarely-or-never-heard/820785.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-seen-but-rarely-or-never-heard/820785.md?page=4)