Category: Pronunciation
Posted on Tuesday, October 8, 2019, at 11:00 pm
It has been a while since our last pronunciation column, so here's another group of familiar words whose traditional pronunciations may surprise you. (Note: capital letters denote a stressed syllable.) Antarctica Like the elusive first r in February, the first c in this word is often carelessly dropped: it's ant-ARC-tica, not ant-AR-tica. Err Since to err is to make an error, …
Read MorePosted on Tuesday, July 16, 2019, at 11:00 pm
Last month we reran More Ear-itating Word Abuse by our late writer Tom Stern. The article first appeared in August 2013. We heard from many readers, and their comments were just about evenly split between: For years I've hated hearing people mispronounce these words. Thank you for shining a spotlight on this subject. and You …
Read MorePosted on Tuesday, June 4, 2019, at 11:00 pm
Although Arnold Schwarzenegger's star has faded, the erstwhile weight lifter-actor-governor hasn't quite left the building. Recently, a phonics teacher e-mailed her exasperation with broadcasters who mispronounce the first syllable in "Schwarzenegger," saying "swartz" instead of "shwartz." "There IS a difference!" she said. "It's gotten to the point that it's like nails on a chalkboard when …
Read MorePosted on Tuesday, January 29, 2019, at 11:00 pm
Up until the late eighteenth century, Brits spoke with an American accent. So says the noted language scholar Patricia T. O’Conner. The “English” accent as we know it didn’t develop until the late 1700s. That’s when British snobs started doing things like dropping r’s, adding and subtracting h’s, saying “pahst” instead of “past,” and “sec-ra-tree” and “mill-a-tree” …
Read MorePosted on Tuesday, July 10, 2018, at 11:00 pm
A few weeks back we explored words and phrases that can sabotage our communication—and our perceived persuasion—by being mispronounced or misspoken. The article inspired thoughtful feedback and additional entries from readers who likewise monitor the proper use of English. What follows are two items from our current list that were questioned, as well as more …
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