I know I mispronounced a lot of words, but I can't remember them now. I do have a friend who struggled with taffeta, which she pronounced taFETTa.
The book I'm reading right now, Being Wrong, talks about how there is no real state of being wrong, because when we're wrong, we are convinced we're right, and then when we transition to being right, we often manage to forget that we were ever wrong. Being wrong, in fact, feels the same as being right--the emotional damage is merely in that transition from one to the other, where we might be confused or defensive or embarrassed.
I had the hyperbowl one too! I remember being corrected about it at my hs graduation party in my parent's backyard! I wonder how I could have gone that long w/out saying it out loud.
The other word/phrase was per se which I pronounced per see once as a kid and my grandfather gave me hell about it.
inchoate Mamet(As in David) Talking about David Ma*may* was way more embarrassing cause I actually said it out loud and thought I was slick, besides.
I still don't know how to pronounce "inchoate"! Luckily, I don't know how to use it in a sentence, either. And I'm not sure about Mamet, but I've definitely done that kind of thing with other people/words.
It's totally in-KOH-ate in my head.
So, which words did you mispronounce and how embarrassing was it when you were corrected?
Schuykill, Conshohocken, Bala Cynwyd, Manayunk, Gladwyne... growing up in Philly will mess you up.
Fell's Point was hard too - Thames Street is pronounced with a "Th".
Yeah, I'm still 90% sure it will never be anything but like at the prep school in my head. In Choate!
Oh and "macabre." Ultimately you need to watch a lot of overblown horror parodies until you've heard "Master of the Macabre" to get it right.
In my head, it's still mahCAHbrah. Still.
I would probably have said "David Ma*may*" too, erika!
The book I'm reading right now, Being Wrong
Holy crap, I'm reading this: [link]
We should compare notes.
It struck me after watching Phil Plait's Don't Be a Dick talk, where he asks, "how many of you were ever convinced you that you were wrong about something by someone who called you a moron?"
And I thought, "I am guilty of this all day."
I keep trying, and failing, to be more like Jilli.
