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20 Embarrassing Mispronunciations

In a previous article I shared my Top 40 Pronunciation Pet Peeves. As an author of a reading intervention program and five grade-level spelling programs, I am constantly reminded about how inaccurate pronunciation contributes to inaccurate spelling. As Trump would say, “This article is just YUGE.”

See if you have mangled a “sill-ab-bull” or two, as George Bush used to say, on the ones that I have mispronounced. This list of 20 Embarrassing Mispronunciations is sure to bring snooty literary folks down to size

  1. Barbiturate is pronounced “bar-bich-ur-it,” not “bar-bit-u-et.” [When did they sneak that r in?]
  2. Barbed wire is pronounced “barbd wire,” not “bob wire.” [I thought Bob must have been a fencer.]
  3. Hierarchy is pronounced “hi-er-ark-ee,” not “hi-ark-ee.” [I’m used to the ie as one sound, I guess.]
  4. Jewelry is pronounced “jewl-ree,” not “jew-ler-ee.” [Obviously, my wife buys her own.]
  5. Liable is pronounced “lie-uh-bul,” not “lie-bul.” [One is liable for libel, however.]
  6. Nuptial is pronounced “nup-shul,” not “nup-chew-ul.” [I’ve never heard this pronounced correctly.]
  7. Ophthalmology is pronounced “off-thuh-maw-lah-ge,” not “op-tho-maw-lo-ge.” [Better clean your eyeglasses on this one.]
  8. Orient is pronounced “or-e-ent,” not “or-e-en-tate.” [No, it’s not interpretate either.]
  9. Ostensibly is pronounced “os-ten-si-blee,” not “ob-ten-sive-lee.” [I bet I’ve looked this one up 20 times.]
  10. Potable is pronounced “po-tuh-bul,” not “pot-uh-bul.” [And I am an avid backpacker with my own water filter]
  11. Prerogative is pronounced “pre-rog-uh-tive,” not “per-rog-uh-tiv.” [If you ask me to pronounce this one tomorrow, I might get it wrong.]
  12. Prescription is pronounced “pre-scrip-shun,” not “per-scrip-shun.” [Both would make sense in the Latin, I think.]
  13. Peremptory is pronounced “puh-rem-tor-ee,” not “pre-emt-or-ee.” [You don’t believe this one, do you? Bet you’ll look it up.]
  14. Prostate is pronounced “prah-state,” not “pros-strate.” [Unless you meaning lying down-guess you know my age now…]
  15. Realtor® is pronounced “reel-tor,” not “reel-uh-tor.” [It sounds horrible the right way.]
  16. Recur is pronounced “re-cur,” not “re-o-cur.” [Means to run again, not happen again]
  17. Supremacist is pronounced “su-prem-uh-sist,” not “su-prem-ist.” [Guess I just don’t want to give these folks another syllable]
  18. Verbiage is pronounced “ver-be-ij,” not “ver-bij.” [We never changed this one from our British cousins.]
  19. Voluptuous is pronounced “vo-lup-chew-us,” not “vo-lump-chew-us.” [The lump just sounds more full-figured.]
  20. Zoology is pronounced “zo-ah-lo-ge,” not “zoo-ah-lo-ge.” [Think I’ll just go on mispronouncing this one because it just makes better sense]

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Intervention Program Science of Reading

The Science of Reading Intervention Program

The Science of Reading Intervention Program: Word Recognition includes explicit, scripted, sounds to print instruction and practice with the 5 Daily Google Slide Activities every grades 4-adult reading intervention student needs: 1. Phonemic Awareness and Morphology 2. Blending, Segmenting, and Spelling 3. Sounds and Spellings (including handwriting) 4. Heart Words Practice 5. Sam and Friends Phonics Books (decodables). Plus, digital and printable sound wall cards, speech articulation songs, sounds to print games, and morphology walls. Print versions are available for all activities. First Half of the Year Program (55 minutes-per-day, 18 weeks)

The Science of Reading Intervention Program: Language Comprehension resources are designed for students who have completed the word recognition program or have demonstrated basic mastery of the alphabetic code and can read with some degree of fluency. The program features the 5 Weekly Language Comprehension Activities: 1. Background Knowledge Mentor Texts 2. Academic Language, Greek and Latin Morphology, Figures of Speech, Connotations, Multiple Meaning Words 3. Syntax in Reading 4. Reading Comprehension Strategies 5. Literacy Knowledge (Narrative and Expository). Second Half of the Year Program (30 minutes-per-day, 18 weeks)

The Science of Reading Intervention Program: Assessment-based Instruction provides diagnostically-based “second chance” instructional resources. The program includes 13 comprehensive assessments and matching instructional resources to fill in the yet-to-be-mastered gaps in phonemic awareness, alphabetic awareness, phonics, fluency (with YouTube modeled readings), Heart Words and Phonics Games, spelling patterns, grammar, usage, and mechanics, syllabication and morphology, executive function shills. Second Half of the Year Program (25 minutes-per-day, 18 weeks)

The Science of Reading Intervention Program BUNDLE  includes all 3 program components for the comprehensive, state-of-the-art (and science) grades 4-adult full-year program. Scripted, easy-to-teach, no prep, no need for time-consuming (albeit valuable) LETRS training or O-G certification… Learn as you teach and get results NOW for your students. Print to speech with plenty of speech to print instructional components.

Click the SCIENCE OF READING INTERVENTION PROGRAM RESOURCES for detailed program description, sample lessons, and video overviews. Click the links to get these ready-to-use resources, developed by a teacher (Mark Pennington, MA reading specialist) for teachers and their students.

Get the SCRIP Comprehension Cues FREE Resource:

Get the Diagnostic ELA and Reading Assessments FREE Resource:

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Reading, Spelling/Vocabulary , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Top 40 Pronunciation Pet Peeves

Pronunciation Pet Peeves

Top 40 Pronunciation Pet Peeves

We all know about President Trump’s mispronunciation of “Ji-nah” and his major oops referring to “Be-YONS-ee.” So as not to be partisan, Hillary Clinton had her problems saying the pop icon’s name as well. She called her BAY-on-say once on the campaign trail in Iowa. Former President George Bush, well known for his pronunciation gaffes, said it best, “I have been known to mangle a syllable or two myself.” He’s not alone; even the best American wordsmiths do mispronounce their fair share of words.

Americans are somewhat tolerant regarding pronunciation errors when the mistakes involve infrequently used foreign phrases, place names, technical terms, dialectical differences, or idiomatic expressions. However, for various reasons, we do demand uniform pronunciation of some words. Following are our Top 40 Pronunciation Pet Peeves in no particular order. Also, make sure to check out the Top 40 Grammar Pet Peeves and the Top 40 Vocabulary Pet Peeves. Find out all of your grammatical mistakes and the words you misuse before “You-Know-Who” points them out to you.

  1. Library is pronounced “lie-brair-ee,” not “lie-bear-ee.” [No, it’s not libarian either]
  2. Nuclear is pronounced “nook-lee-er,” not “nUke-U-ler.” [Ode to Bush]
  3. February is pronounced “Feb-roo-air-ee,” not “Feb-U-aire-ee.” [Frequently misspelled, as well]
  4. Orange is pronounced “or-anj,” not “are-anj.” [Orange you glad you know this?]
  5. Prostate is pronounced “praw-state,” not “praw-straight.” [Unless you are lying down]
  6. Height is pronounced “hite,” not “hite with a ‘th’.” [That “e-i” or “width” must confuse us]
  7. Probably is pronounced “praw-bab-lee,” not “prob-lee.” [Or some say “praw-lee”]
  8. Ask is pronounced “ask,” not ” ax.” [Please tell me before you ax me.]
  9. Pronunciation is pronounced “pro-nun-see-a-tion,” not ” pro-noun-see-a-tion.” [But pronounce]
  10. Athlete is pronounced “ath-lete,” not “ath-ah-leet.” [Despite the ath-ah-leets foot commercials]
  11. Strategy is pronounced “strat-uh-gee,” not “stra-ji-dee.” [Though we never say “stra-ji-jick”]
  12. Aluminum is pronounced “uh-loo-mi-num,” not “al-U-min-um.” [Brits have their own version]
  13. Et cetera (etc.) is pronounced “et-set-er-ah,” not “ek- set-er-ah.” [Not “ek-spe-shul-lee” either]
  14. Supposedly is pronounced “suh-po-zed-lee,” not “su-pose-ub-lee.” [Or “su-pose-eh-blee”]
  15. Difference is pronounced “di-fer-ence,” not “dif-rence.” [Often misspelled due to this error]
  16. Mischievous is pronounced “mis-chuh-vus,” not “mis-chee-vee-us.” [You’ll look this one up]
  17. Mayonnaise is pronounced “may-un-naze,” not “man-aise.” [“Ketchup-catsup” is another matter]
  18. Miniature is pronounced “mi-ne-uh-ture,” not “min-ah-ture.” [Who drives an Austin “min-uh”?]
  19. Definite is pronounced “de-fuh-nit,” not ” def-ah-nut.” [For define, it’s “di-fine” not “dah-fine”]
  20. Often is pronounced “off-ten,” not “off-en.” [Probably just sloppy pronunciation]
  21. Internet is pronounced “In-ter-net,” not “In-nur-net.” [Not “in-ner-rest-ing either]
  22. Groceries is pronounced “grow-sir-ees,” not “grow-sure-ees.” [It’s not “grow-sure” either]
  23. Similar is pronounced “sim-ah-ler,” not “sim-U-lar.” [But Websters says “sim-ler” is fine]
  24. Escape is pronounced “es-cape,” not “ex-cape.” [It’s not “ex-pres-so” either]
  25. Lose is pronounced “luze,” not “loose.” [Think “choose,” not “moose”]
  26. Temperature is pronounced “tem-per-ah-ture,” not “tem-prah-chur.” [Cute when kids say it]
  27. Jewelry is pronounced “jewl-ree” or “jew-ul-ree,” not “jew-ler-ree.” [More syllables won’t get you more carats]
  28. Sandwich is pronounced “sand-which,” not “sam-which.” [Or “sam-mitch” either]
  29. Realtor is pronounced “real-tor,” not “real-ah-tor.” [Similarly, it’s “di-late,” not “di-ah-late”]
  30. Asterisk is pronounced “ass-tur-risk,” not “ass-trik.” [It’s not called a star, by the way]
  31. Federal is pronounced “fed-ur-ul,” not “fed-rul.” [Use all syllables to ensure all federal holidays]
  32. Candidate is pronounced “can-di-date,” not “can-uh-date.” [It’s not “can-nuh-date” or “can-di-dit”]
  33. Hierarchy is pronounced “hi-ur-ar-kee,” not “hi-ar-kee.” [It’s not “arch-type”; it’s “ar-ki-type”]
  34. Niche is pronounced “nich” or “neesh,” not “neech.” [This one drives some people crazy]
  35. Sherbet is pronounced “sher-bet,” not “sher-bert.” [I’m sure, Burt]
  36. Prescription is pronounced “pre-scrip-tion,” not “per-scrip-tion.” [and prerogative, not “per”]
  37. Arctic is pronounced “ark-tik,” not “ar-tik.” [Not “ant-ar-tik-ah either]
  38. Cabinet is pronounced “cab-uh-net,” not “cab-net.” [Likewise, it’s “cor-uh-net,” not “cor-net”]
  39. Triathlon is pronounced “tri-ath-lon,” not “tri-ath-uh-lon.” [Not “bi-ath-uh-lon” either]
  40. Forte is pronounced “fort,” not “for-tay.” [But Porsche does have a slight “uh” at the end]

The author, Mark Pennington has never mispronounced a word in his life 🙂

Reading, Spelling/Vocabulary , , , , , , , , ,