# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![Yodalicious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yodalicious/32/8195_2.png) [@Yodalicious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yodalicious)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/written-words-you-mispronounced-until-hearing-them/770395/21 "2016-11-01T21:27:17Z")
Posthumous still gets me. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/written-words-you-mispronounced-until-hearing-them/770395/22 "2016-11-01T21:28:07Z")
Forte. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/written-words-you-mispronounced-until-hearing-them/770395/23 "2016-11-01T21:29:05Z")
Not mine, but my roommate told me the story of how he thought for the longest time the word “misled” was pronounced like the past tense of the (non-existent) word “misle” instead of “miss led.” ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/written-words-you-mispronounced-until-hearing-them/770395/24 "2016-11-01T21:30:18Z")
Oh, I thought of one. I still pronounce the “l” in “yolk.” Apparently, it’s homophonous with “yoke.” ---
**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, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/written-words-you-mispronounced-until-hearing-them/770395/25 "2016-11-01T21:32:19Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > Supposedly, the Britishism sounds like “wes-cot”. As an American, I just pronounce it “vest”. I grew up just saying it the obvious way, fully articulated (London native). ---
**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, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/written-words-you-mispronounced-until-hearing-them/770395/26 "2016-11-01T21:35:29Z")
> [@yanceylebeef](#): > > Staccato. > > I put the long A sound on the second A. > > Sigh. Mispronounced it in front of the entire class. Ugh. Not sure what you mean - it does have a long second a, both in US and UK. I’ve never heard any other variant that the ones on this page: > **[How to pronounce STACCATO in English](https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/pronunciation/english/staccato)** > > How to pronounce STACCATO. How to say STACCATO. Listen to the audio pronunciation in the Cambridge English Dictionary. Learn more. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/written-words-you-mispronounced-until-hearing-them/770395/27 "2016-11-01T21:38:30Z")
Ascertain. I was corrected by my english teacher in 9th grade. I take a small amount of pleasure in noting that on the rare occasions I’ve heard someone say the word in the wild, it’s 50/50 which pronunciation they’ll use. Dystopian. I had it in my head that the ‘correct’ version was pronounced with the o sounding like in stop. Riemann, he’s saying that he pronounced it /stəketo/ rather than /stəkato/ ---
**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, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/written-words-you-mispronounced-until-hearing-them/770395/28 "2016-11-01T21:40:26Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > Not sure what you mean - it does have a long second a, both in US and UK. I’ve never heard any other variant that the ones on this page: > > [How to pronounce STACCATO in English](http://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/pronunciation/english/staccato) Instead of Staccato, I pronounced it Stacaytto. Long A. ---
**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, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/written-words-you-mispronounced-until-hearing-them/770395/29 "2016-11-01T21:47:53Z")
> [@yanceylebeef](#): > > Instead of Staccato, I pronounced it Stacaytto. Long A. Ok, I get what you did now - but I wouldn’t call that error short vs long. ---
**Author:** ![Cayuga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Cayuga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cayuga)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/written-words-you-mispronounced-until-hearing-them/770395/30 "2016-11-01T21:48:36Z")
> [@Cartoonacy](#): > > Victuals (VICK-chu-ulz). So what is the correct pronunciation? “Vittles”? ---
**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, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/written-words-you-mispronounced-until-hearing-them/770395/31 "2016-11-01T21:53:26Z")
> [@Cayuga](#): > > So what is the correct pronunciation? “Vittles”? Yes. ---
**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, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/written-words-you-mispronounced-until-hearing-them/770395/32 "2016-11-01T21:55:11Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > Ok, I get what you did now - but I wouldn’t call that error short vs long. [Why not?](https://macmillanmh.com/ccssreading/imagineit/grade2/ccslh_g2_fs_3_1a_l1.html) ---
**Author:** ![Cayuga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Cayuga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cayuga)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/written-words-you-mispronounced-until-hearing-them/770395/33 "2016-11-01T21:55:17Z")
For several years, I thought Superman lived in met-ru-POH-lis. In front of my entire 2nd grade Social Studies class, I read the label on one of the diagrams as “pah-li-TICK-ul map.” ---
**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, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/written-words-you-mispronounced-until-hearing-them/770395/34 "2016-11-01T21:56:11Z")
Not mine, but I knew of someone who thought “biped” was pronounced as one syllable, like “bipped.” ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/written-words-you-mispronounced-until-hearing-them/770395/35 "2016-11-01T21:59:19Z")
As a kid, when I read “capacity” and “incapacitate”, my brain seemed to replace the second “a” with an “i”. Growing up near the Mexican border, I knew how “Quixote” is supposed to be pronounced. The anglicized pronunciation of “quixotic” grates on my nerves. ---
**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, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/written-words-you-mispronounced-until-hearing-them/770395/36 "2016-11-01T21:59:44Z")
> [@Cartoonacy](#): > > Not mine, but I knew of someone who thought “biped” was pronounced as one syllable, like “bipped.” That’s reminiscent of the archaic verb “to misle”, meaning to deceive, retained in modern English only in its past tense, as in “he misled me”. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/written-words-you-mispronounced-until-hearing-them/770395/37 "2016-11-01T22:00:59Z")
A friend of mine told a story of visiting Paris, meeting a fellow Yank, and being asked directions to the Champ de Sleazy. ---
**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, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/written-words-you-mispronounced-until-hearing-them/770395/38 "2016-11-01T22:06:16Z")
> [@Cayuga](#): > > For several years, I thought Superman lived in met-ru-POH-lis. And when I was little, I thought “Kryptonian” was pronounced “KRIP-to-non.” ---
**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, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/written-words-you-mispronounced-until-hearing-them/770395/39 "2016-11-01T22:07:55Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > That’s reminiscent of the archaic verb “to misle”, meaning to deceive, retained in modern English only in its past tense, as in “he misled me”. [I’ve heard that.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=19745311&postcount=23) 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/written-words-you-mispronounced-until-hearing-them/770395/40 "2016-11-01T22:08:24Z")
> [@gallows\_fodder](#): > > awry = AW-ree As a kid, for a long time I harboured that misapprehension – having read the word, but either not heard it said, or failed to make the connection. > [@jtur88](#): > > Quixoic. I always said kee-HOT-ic, as in Don kee-HO-tee. Long-ago thread about this one – seeing points in favour of both English-type, and Spanish-type, pronunciation. > **[Pronunciation of "Quixotic"](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=389077)** > > I just saw Wicker Man (it might be the worst movie I’ve ever seen, but that’s a topic for another thread) and the word “Quixotic” was used by one of the characters. It was pronounced, “Quick-sotic.” How can this be correct? We say “Don Kee-hotay”... I’ve always been firmly with “kwik-SOT-ic”: read of, and heard named, Cervantes’s hero, before I had any notions of Spanish: where I was, he was Don Kwik-soat, “end-of”. ( **mbh** , missed your #35 – posted while I was typing.) A woman with whom I once worked, who claimed to be an ex-nun, told of how as a novice, she (not a particularly fast learner, and sometimes “challenged” on the spelling / pronunciation front) had trouble with the word “episcopal” – of-or-pertaining-to bishops. She related how she was the recipient of gentle mockery from her fellow-sisters, for intitially pronouncing it “ep-i-SCOP-ple”. This lady did tell very many tales supposedly about her past life, some of them extremely improbable; one ended up feeling unsure of the truthfulness of any of her recountings. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/written-words-you-mispronounced-until-hearing-them/770395.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/written-words-you-mispronounced-until-hearing-them/770395.md?page=3)