# Written words you mispronounced until hearing them **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 1, 2016, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/written-words-you-mispronounced-until-hearing-them/770395 "2016-11-01T19:46:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![magnusblitz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@magnusblitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magnusblitz)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/written-words-you-mispronounced-until-hearing-them/770395/1 "2016-11-01T19:46:48Z")
(Mods, please move to IMHO or MPSIMS if better suited for there) If you’re like me, your vocabulary expanded through reading rather than listening. And if you’re like me, a lot of times you were unable to pick up the proper way to pronounce a word just from reading it. Feel free to share your own or just laugh at mine: Hyperbole: hyper-bowl Epitome: epp-ih-tome Acolyte: uh-cloyt Zealot: zeal-lot (because it’s someone with a lot of zeal, ya see…) ---
**Author:** ![Cartoonacy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/848f3c/32.png) [@Cartoonacy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartoonacy)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/written-words-you-mispronounced-until-hearing-them/770395/2 "2016-11-01T19:53:39Z")
Victuals (VICK-chu-ulz). Heinous (HINE-uss). ---
**Author:** ![Barrett\_Bonden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5e9695/32.png) [@Barrett\_Bonden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barrett_Bonden)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/written-words-you-mispronounced-until-hearing-them/770395/3 "2016-11-01T20:03:49Z")
hors d’oeuvres (I never even really tried to pronounce it in my head - it was just a mysterious symbol meaning finger food.) ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/written-words-you-mispronounced-until-hearing-them/770395/4 "2016-11-01T20:10:13Z")
> [@magnusblitz](#): > > Hyperbole: hyper-bowl I hear this jokingly mispronounced so often that I think it may become a valid alternate pronunciation soon. ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/written-words-you-mispronounced-until-hearing-them/770395/5 "2016-11-01T20:11:55Z")
From reading “Anne of Green Gables,” etc. when I was little: beau = boo beaux =boocks awry = AW-ree magenta = mag-NET-a (hard G, like “magnetic”) As an adult: archipelago = artch-ee-pel-LAH-go prothonotary = **pro** -tho-NOTE-ah-ree (like “notary” with “protho” in front of it) promontory = pro-MON-toe-ree ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/written-words-you-mispronounced-until-hearing-them/770395/6 "2016-11-01T20:15:03Z")
Respite - I am still not sure about this one. I say “ree-spite”, but I think it should have been “rez-pit”. Which is the most right? Shrilly - I say “shrillilly”. Drives my wife nuts. ---
**Author:** ![Totenfeier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@Totenfeier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Totenfeier)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/written-words-you-mispronounced-until-hearing-them/770395/7 "2016-11-01T20:28:39Z")
I am deeply ashamed to think about how long I thought of the liqueur as Grand “Mariner” (like the Ancient one). And Mrs. T will forever remain “fustrated” (usually with me). 😃 ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/written-words-you-mispronounced-until-hearing-them/770395/8 "2016-11-01T20:29:16Z")
Waistcoat. The names of most villages in Massachusetts. Raymond Luxury-Yacht. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/written-words-you-mispronounced-until-hearing-them/770395/9 "2016-11-01T20:42:34Z")
Cache: “catch” ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/written-words-you-mispronounced-until-hearing-them/770395/10 "2016-11-01T20:44:25Z")
> [@gallows\_fodder](#): > > prothonotary = **pro** -tho-NOTE-ah-ree (like “notary” with “protho” in front of it) I had never heard of this word before today, but for what it’s worth some sources give your “wrong” pronunciation rhythm as an alternate; and also proto- (without the h) as an alternate (the Latin word from which it’s derived lacks the h, it’s the standard proto- prefix that’s more common in other words). For example, if I read it right, M-W seems to suggest all 4 different permutations as alternate pronunciations. > **[Definition of PROTHONOTARY](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/prothonotary)** > > a chief clerk of any of various courts of law… See the full definition ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/written-words-you-mispronounced-until-hearing-them/770395/11 "2016-11-01T20:45:53Z")
Quixoic. I always said kee-HOT-ic, as in Don kee-HO-tee. I just looked up a couple of other words I thought of, and discovered that I was right and most people are wrong about them. Quay is best avoided, nobody will know what you’re talking about unless they use the word first then just say what they say. There are no “correct” pronunciations anymore. Dictionaries are no longer prescriptive, because it is more important to simper over the self-esteem issues of children whose ethnic or parochial parents said things incorrectly. Now dictionaries just validate every pronunciation that illiterate people think they can get away with. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/written-words-you-mispronounced-until-hearing-them/770395/12 "2016-11-01T20:49:59Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > There are no “correct” pronunciations anymore. Dictionaries are no longer prescriptive, because it is more important to simper over the self-esteem issues of children whose ethnic parents said things incorrectly. Now dictionaries just validate every pronunciation that illiterate people think they can get away with. Do we really want this thread to go there? If you want a response to this tediously persistent and often willfully ignorant trope that descriptivist linguistics = “anything goes”, I’ll be happy to give it, but perhaps a different thread would be better so as not to distract from the rather interesting topic the OP has raised? ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/written-words-you-mispronounced-until-hearing-them/770395/13 "2016-11-01T20:50:27Z")
I thought “thorough” and “thruff” were two different words until one day I mentioned how I was going to clean something “thruffly” and my mom said “don’t you mean ‘thoroughly’?”. ---
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/written-words-you-mispronounced-until-hearing-them/770395/14 "2016-11-01T21:00:04Z")
When I was younger I would pronounce municipal as “munincipal”… ---
**Author:** ![Stephe96](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/written-words-you-mispronounced-until-hearing-them/770395/15 "2016-11-01T21:03:48Z")
> [@gnoitall](#): > > Raymond Luxury-Yacht. Yeah, it took me a while to figure out it was pronounced ‘Throat-Warbler Mangrove’ ---
**Author:** ![Cartoonacy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/848f3c/32.png) [@Cartoonacy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartoonacy)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/written-words-you-mispronounced-until-hearing-them/770395/16 "2016-11-01T21:18:21Z")
> [@gnoitall](#): > > Waistcoat. I always assumed that this was pronounced exactly as it’s spelled. Concerned that I’ve been saying it the wrong way, I just [looked it up](http://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/pronunciation/english/waistcoat). It IS pronounced just like it’s spelled. Waist. Coat. How have you been pronouncing it? ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/written-words-you-mispronounced-until-hearing-them/770395/17 "2016-11-01T21:21:22Z")
For over a year I thought there was this singer named Fiancée that I kept hearing about and a different singer named BEE-younce that I kept reading about. It was only when I notice the little accent in Beyoncé’s name that I put 1 + 1 together and got one. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/written-words-you-mispronounced-until-hearing-them/770395/18 "2016-11-01T21:22:19Z")
> [@Cartoonacy](#): > > I always assumed that this was pronounced exactly as it’s spelled. Concerned that I’ve been saying it the wrong way, I just [looked it up](http://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/pronunciation/english/waistcoat). > > It IS pronounced just like it’s spelled. Waist. Coat. How have you been pronouncing it? Supposedly, the Britishism sounds like “wes-cot”. As an American, I just pronounce it “vest”. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/written-words-you-mispronounced-until-hearing-them/770395/19 "2016-11-01T21:23:14Z")
> [@Cartoonacy](#): > > I always assumed that this was pronounced exactly as it’s spelled. Concerned that I’ve been saying it the wrong way, I just [looked it up](http://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/pronunciation/english/waistcoat). > > It IS pronounced just like it’s spelled. Waist. Coat. How have you been pronouncing it? that is a curious one, I know that in certain dialects of the UK (Yorkshire in particular) it would be pronounced “wesskit” but “waist - coat” is perfectly standard. ---
**Author:** ![yanceylebeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yanceylebeef/32/12290_2.png) [@yanceylebeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yanceylebeef)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/written-words-you-mispronounced-until-hearing-them/770395/20 "2016-11-01T21:25:40Z")
Staccato. I put the long A sound on the second A. Sigh. Mispronounced it in front of the entire class. Ugh. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/written-words-you-mispronounced-until-hearing-them/770395.md?page=2)