Mine has to be “segue” which I even mispronounced as “seeg-ee” on the air back in my younger days when I had a jazz show on the FM radio station where I worked not long after college days.
It came up later in a context that let me realize the correct pronunciation. That was years later so you can imagine my ex-post-facto embarrassment when I remembered how I had never heard it pronounced by somebody else – just saw it in print!
I mean I just gave it my best shot which wasn’t good enough after reading the title on the album cover:
Duke Ellington meet Count Basie- Segue in C.wmv
There must be many other words I’ve botched by “giving it my best shot” when reading aloud something I’d never heard before. But “segue” is/was my Achilles Heel when it comes to things that don’t look like they ought to sound.
FWIW, this feels like deja vu since I remember (I think) posting something very similar to these same words – years ago – when the same topic came up before!
Like, how do YOU pronounce “segue”?