The 10 words below are commonly mispronounced in English. The first five are the top results from Google\u2019s auto-fill for the phrase \u201cHow do I pronounce\u2026\u201d The rest are words that people often don\u2019t know they\u2019re messing up, so would be unlikely to search up on the web.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m no prescriptivist\u2014words are yours to do with as you will, so pronounce \u2018em however you like. \u201cCorrect\u201d pronunciations are just what we call the way words are usually spoken according to the general consensus of English speakers. But there\u2019s no governing body\u2014if enough people pronounce a word \u201cwrong\u201d it stops being wrong, so keep saying \u201cfried skrimp\u201d or \u201cAnartica\u201d like I do. <\/p>\n
I\u2019m starting with a tricky one. \u201cGyro\u201d is either a shortened form of \u201cgyroscope\u201d or the name of a Greek lamb sandwich. <\/p>\n
In the unlikely event that you\u2019re talking about gyroscopes enough to need to shorten the word, it\u2019s pronounced \u201cjeye<\/strong>-roh.\u201d The greek sandwich, according to Websters<\/a>, is called a \u201cyee-roh<\/strong><\/a>\u201d or a \u201czhir<\/strong>-roh.\u201d It\u2019s rhymes with \u201chero.\u201d<\/p>\n Interestingly, the Greek word for \u201cto turn\u201d is the root of the word for both the sandwich and the machine, but the terms came into the language at different times, so we don\u2019t say them the say way. <\/p>\n The berries from the A\u00e7a\u00ed palm tree that grows in South America have become popular enough that you may be called upon to say their name at brunch. If so, it\u2019s pronounced aa-saa-ee<\/strong><\/a>. It doesn\u2019t seem to make sense based on the spelling, but those accents over the \u201cc\u201d and the \u201cI\u201d tell the story: The word\u2019s root is from Portuguese, and the accent over the \u201cc\u201d means \u201csoft s sound,\u201d and the mark over the \u201ci\u201d means \u201clong e.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNguyen\u201d is a common last name in Vietnam, and Vietnamese is a little tricky for English speakers. We aren\u2019t used to starting words with an \u201cng\u201d sound. To add complexity: \u201cNguyen\u201d is pronounced differently in different parts of Vietnam. In south Vietnam<\/a>, it\u2019s pronounced close to \u201cwin\u201d or \u201cwen.\u201d In the north, they\u2019re more likely to say something like \u201cnuh-win,\u201d but as close to one syllable as possible.<\/p>\n It\u2019s pronounced \u201cJif\u201d like the peanut butter, according to Steve Wilhite<\/a>, the creator of the Graphics Interchange Format. <\/strong>Or it\u2019s pronounced with the hard \u201cg\u201d sound because that makes more sense to you. There is no right answer.<\/p>\n Worcestershire is a county in England where they invented a delicious condiment in the 1830s. It\u2019s pronounced wu<\/strong>-stuh-shr. It\u2019s not pronounced \u201cWor-chest<\/strong>-tir-shire.\u201d<\/p>\n This Vietnamese noodle soup is pronounced \u201cfuuh<\/a>,\u201d according to Websters, but \u201cfoe\u201d seems to be catching on fast, at least if you\u2019re an English speaker. Neither is exactly how Vietnamese people pronounce it, because \u201cph\u1edf\u201d contains a sound English doesn\u2019t include.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not \u201clie-berry\u201d or \u201clie-bear-y\u201d It\u2019s \u201cllai<\/strong>-breh-ree.\u201d But if you say it quickly without careful enunciation, it will sound like \u201clie-bree\u201d anyway. It\u2019s just an awkward word because of that middle syllable. <\/p>\n That \u201ct\u201d in \u201coften\u201d should not be there. It\u2019s not in the word when you say it, because it\u2019s pronounced \u201caa<\/strong>-fn.\u201d See also: \u201ccastle,\u201d \u201cmortgage,\u201d \u201clisten,\u201d \u201csoften,\u201d and a slew of other words with silent t\u2019s. <\/p>\n \u201cNiche\u201d can be pronounced \u201cneesh\u201d (rhymes with \u201csheesh\u201d) or it can be pronounced \u201cnich\u201d (rhymes with \u201cpitch.\u201d), \u201cNeesh\u201d is a newer pronunciation<\/a>. \u201cnich\u201d is the classic. But both are fine. <\/p>\n It\u2019s annoying, but \u201cthey\u201d say you\u2019re supposed to pronounce the hard \u201cc\u201d: So it\u2019s \u201caark<\/strong>-tuhk,\u201d not \u201car<\/strong>-tuhk.\u201d The same rule applies to \u201cAntarctic,\u201d which also has an inconvenient \u201ct\u201d sound you\u2019re supposed to pronounce too. <\/p>\n This wasn\u2019t always the case. The word used to be spelled \u201cartic\u201d and pronounced \u201car<\/strong>-tik\u201d but it was changed in the 17th century to match the Latin spelling. It\u2019s all a mess<\/a>.<\/p>\n This is an easy one! A \u201ccache\u201d is a group of hidden things. It\u2019s pronounced \u201ckash.\u201d Some people say \u201ckaysh,\u201d probably because of the ending \u201ce.\u201d Some people say \u201ckash-ay<\/strong>,\u201d but. if you do that, you\u2019re using the word \u201ccachet,\u201d which means \u201cprestige.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cForte\u201d (a person\u2019s strong suit) has no agreed-upon pronunciation<\/a>. You can say \u201cfort.\u201d Or you can say \u201cfor<\/strong>-tay,\u201d or \u201cfor-tay<\/strong>.\u201d No matter how you say it, someone will think you\u2019re wrong. <\/p>\n But if you\u2019re using \u201cforte\u201d to talk about the musical notation for \u201cplay loudly,\u201d it\u2019s always \u201cfor-tay<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n
The 10 words below are commonly mispronounced in English. The first five are the top results from Google\u2019s auto-fill for the phrase \u201cHow do I pronounce\u2026\u201d The rest are words that people often don\u2019t know they\u2019re messing up, so would … Continue reading A\u00e7a\u00ed<\/h2>\n
Nguyen<\/h2>\n
Gif<\/h2>\n
Worcestershire<\/h2>\n
Ph\u1edf<\/h2>\n
Library<\/h2>\n
Often<\/h2>\n
Niche<\/h2>\n
Arctic<\/h2>\n
Cache<\/h2>\n
Forte<\/h2>\n
\n
\nSource: LifeHacker – How to Actually Pronounce ‘Worcestershire,’ ‘A\u00e7a\u00ed,’ and Other Commonly Mispronounced Words<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"