# 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:** 10\ **Page:** 4
**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 7, 2018, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-seen-but-rarely-or-never-heard/820785/61 "2018-09-07T04:25:19Z")
There is an ubiquitous word for this thread, but I can’t put my finger on it. ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2018, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-seen-but-rarely-or-never-heard/820785/62 "2018-09-07T08:28:28Z")
(WOOKINPANUB first mentions “long-lived”.) > [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > [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.) Here in the UK, to the best of my knowledge this one is always pronounced “livved”, never to rhyme with “hived”. “Long” (or “short-”)=“lyved” sound not-quite-sane to me; though I also can see the logic behind both pronunciations, and recognise that my reaction is just based on what I’m used to. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2018, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-seen-but-rarely-or-never-heard/820785/63 "2018-09-07T08:41:47Z")
> [@RobDog](#): > > Minor correction, **Becks** … Elevenses (pronounced Elevenziz) refers to the food, not the eaters. I want to thank **Beckdawreck** and you for finally giving me an English word for “a mid-morning meal”. Calling it “that small meal many Spaniards have between breakfast and lunch but not too close to lunch, and which for some reason confuses the heck out of foreigners” was a bit of a mouthful. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2018, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-seen-but-rarely-or-never-heard/820785/64 "2018-09-07T14:10:34Z")
> [@Jennshark](#): > > I _think_ it’s Chill-uh-coth-ee. Maybe a true Ohioan can comment. Yup, accented on the first syllable. And speaking of Ohio, how would you pronounce “Cuyahoga”? Ky-a-HO-ga or Ky-a-HAW-ga? Even the local residents are in disagreement. And there’s one word that, though I totally know how it’s pronounced, always get tripped up when encountering it in print: AWRY. I read AW-ree, followed by :smack:. ---
**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, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-seen-but-rarely-or-never-heard/820785/65 "2018-09-07T16:13:49Z")
The Missouri Chillicothe is pronounced with the accent on “coth”: chill-uh-COTH-ee. More problem words: panache (pan ache?), apropos. ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2018, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-seen-but-rarely-or-never-heard/820785/66 "2018-09-07T16:15:59Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > I want to thank **Beckdawreck** and you for finally giving me an English word for “a mid-morning meal”. Calling it “that small meal many Spaniards have between breakfast and lunch but not too close to lunch, and which for some reason confuses the heck out of foreigners” was a bit of a mouthful. Has the minds of some of us going (not meaning to equate with any particular human nation) to “the habits of hobbits” – breakfast, second breakfast, elevenses, lunch, afternoon tea, supper, last-thing-at-night snack… ---
**Author:** ![erysichthon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@erysichthon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erysichthon)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2018, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-seen-but-rarely-or-never-heard/820785/67 "2018-09-08T19:36:21Z")
“Eatery.” The pronunciation is non-problematic, but I’ve only seen the word used in newspapers (or on newspaper websites)—usually in articles about local restaurants opening or closing (“Local Eatery Closes After 30 Years,” etc.). I vaguely recall seeing it in restaurant reviews, but I can’t recall the last time I saw a restaurant review in a newspaper. I can’t remember reading the word “eatery” outside of a newspaper, and I’m sure I’ve never heard anyone actually say it. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2018, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-seen-but-rarely-or-never-heard/820785/68 "2018-09-08T22:24:51Z")
> [@erysichthon](#): > > “Eatery.” The pronunciation is non-problematic, but I’ve only seen the word used in newspapers (or on newspaper websites)—usually in articles about local restaurants opening or closing (“Local Eatery Closes After 30 Years,” etc.). I vaguely recall seeing it in restaurant reviews, but I can’t recall the last time I saw a restaurant review in a newspaper. > > I can’t remember reading the word “eatery” outside of a newspaper, and I’m sure I’ve never heard anyone actually say it. There are a whole bunch of words that only seem to appear in newspapers. “Fracas” is another famous one. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2018, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-seen-but-rarely-or-never-heard/820785/69 "2018-09-08T22:39:59Z")
All my life, I’d heard people exclaim “Wah-lah!” to add a dramatic flair when revealing something. I’d also seen the word _voila_ in print from time to time. It wasn’t until embarrassingly late in life that I realized those were the same thing. I had never noticed the relative positions of the _o_ and _i_, and always pronounced the print version in my head as “viola,” like the stringed instrument. ---
**Author:** ![BrickBat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac91a4/32.png) [@BrickBat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrickBat)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2018, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-seen-but-rarely-or-never-heard/820785/70 "2018-09-08T22:47:09Z")
Some of those cliche’ words you only see in print media: As in “GOP _blasts_ senator Schneckelworth’s appropriations bill…” or “New middle school construction plan _slated_ for Bluffinbliff county…” or something like “_but critics say_”. I’ve yet to hear a solitary person use those terms in conversation, because if they did, they’d sounds like first class tools. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-youve-seen-but-rarely-or-never-heard/820785.md?page=3)