It must come as no surprise to admit I’m a sniveling little know-it-all. I must confess however that I’m not quite the pedant I’d like to be. This is made even more obvious by Your Dictionary.com’s list of the 100 Most Often Mispronounced Words and Phrases in English. I do know how to properly say “respite”, “forte”, “zoology” (as shown in the list); but I have a nasty habit of sloppily pronouncing “prerogative”, “theater”, and even “take for granted” (as well as using “nother” and saying “drowned” when I mean “drown”).The careful pronunciation of “diphtheria” is new to me, but then again the word hasn’t come up much in conversation. And apparently I’ve been pronouncing “electoral” wrong, along with “lambaste” and “long-lived” — which I dispute — and “parliament”.
Speaking of disputes, I must point out, flexing my pedant muscles, that the list is incorrect when it comes to “duct tape”. It is called “duck tape”, and was given that name by the military with regard to its waterproof properties. Also differentiating “spitting image” from “spit and image”, as the list does, is pointless, since the phrase should really be “spirit and image”.
Hah!
(Link taken from #!/usr/bin/girl.)
