Ever caught yourself saying the word “pronunciation” and then realizing you can’t remember which is the correct way to pronounce it? English can be rather mischievous. Sometimes it tells you it’s GIF with a hard ‘G’ and then calls you up in the middle of the night saying, “Just kidding. It’s actually JIF.” Let’s have a little fun revealing the true pronunciations of just a few common words – some of which might just surprise you!
- Almond (AH-mund)
- Who knew that little ‘L’ was just there for decoration? It’s okay to pronounce it with a subtle ‘L’ sound, if you so choose. I’ve been emphasizing that ‘L’ as if it were the star of a daytime soap opera my entire life.
- Et cetera (et-SET-er-uh)
- This one comes out as ‘ek-cetera’ so often, sometimes I wonder if I’m the one pronouncing it wrong by saying ‘et-SET-er-uh.’
- February (FEB-roo-air-ee)
- It’s tempting to say ‘Feb-u-air-ee,’ but alas, we must embrace the ‘roo-air-ee.’
- Worcestershire (WOOS-ter-sheer or WOOS-ter-sher)
- Spelling this word is just as difficult as pronouncing it, at least for me.
- Ophthalmologist (off-THAL-muh-luh-jist)
- Not the most common word, but very commonly mispronounced. Rather than ‘op-thal-mol-o-gist,’ it’s actually ‘off-THAL-muh-luh-jist.’ To all the ophthalmologists out there, patiently holding back from correcting our pronunciations, we see you.
Isn’t language fun? We spend our lives mastering it only to find out we’ve been tripping over seemingly simple words along the way. Like ‘antidisestablishmentarianism.’ Now there’s a word that looks like a pronunciation nightmare, but it’s surprisingly straightforward. Such are the endlessly amusing quirks of the English language!
