I read a lot, so my visual vocabulary is a good deal larger than my spoken vocabulary. (I’m sorry – I don’t find a lot of cause to use “crepuscule” in everyday speech.) (Also, what an ugly word for a lovely definition.)
Most frequently, I only have the chance to use these words during Jeopardy. (“Antediluvian” would have won me $4,000 in a Daily Double yesterday… And “caduceus” would have won me the whole thing – woot woot!)
But once in a while, a word I know – a word I’ve read a billion times, but never said aloud – pops out as the absolutely perfect term for something I’m discussing.
And that can cause some issues, Internet.
I was talking with a friend – H – the other day. She mentioned that she has a lot of friends who are pregnant, and she’d noticed that pregnancy made them very open about body talk. And H isn’t all that comfortable with discussions of fluids and noises and other bodily functions.
She and I had a mutual friend in college – B – who was all about the body talk. In fact, we’d had many a dinner-table conversation that most people would find absolutely disgusting. So I said something like, “Didn’t all those years of dining with B inure you to the body talk?”
I used the word “inure” correctly – at least, I’m pretty sure I had…
But I’d never said it out loud before. So, I admit, I wasn’t 100% sure that I’d pronounced it correctly. And apparently, H either didn’t hear me or I didn’t pronounce it right… So I had to repeat my sentence… And she gave me a kind of odd look and I had to say it again… And finally, H – who is both gracious and sweet beyond words – agreed with me and we moved on.
I spent the rest of the meal wondering if I’d made some kind of lexical faux pas…
I have basis for this (silly) fear, Internet.
You see, for many years I read the word “ravine” without ever hearing it spoken. (Or, at least, if I heard it spoken, I never associated the pronunciation with the word itself.)
So one day I said that word out loud in front of my now-husband:
Raah-VINE.
And he laughed at me.
Because, of course, it’s pronounced “ruh-VEEN.”
You might have said it right (I’ve never said it aloud either!), but maybe she didn’t know the word. I’m thinking of my ex-boyfriend: I often needed to restate something because of a vocabulary gap between us.
This is a problem I also experience. Also, I still can’t say the word “vehement.”
Yeah, that happens to me more often than I would like. English isn’t my first language but I read a lot and so I think I know how to say it… but I don’t.
Also, I’ve been reading through your archives (wow that might sound a bit stalkerish…) and I love your blog! Your writing is awesome. Just wanted to let you know. 😀
That happened to me with copse (small thicket of trees). It has an e on the end, which generally in the English language makes the preceding vowel long (think glad and glade). Except for this word. Its pronounced kops, not copes.
In law school, I used “imprimatur” in a writing assignment. I was told to stick to words that I would say in conversation.
1. No WAY. I always thought “copse” was “copes”! ARG!
2. I hate it when people call you out for using interesting vocabulary. That’s the great thing about English – there are so many words, and some of them mean EXACTLY what you’re trying to say while a more common synonym might mean something a shade different. Why not use the best word rather than the easiest one? Yes, even if you are talking to a five year old.
Guilty as charged for this one. I can often be found looking up the pronunciation guide online 🙂
I mispronounce things all the time; I hate feeling dumb. Usually when I say a word and OccDoc has no clue what I’m talking about I’ll spell it and he’ll gently correct me. My all time favorite word that I try to slip in whenever possible: borborygmus.
Don’t get me started on medical terms… I feel like they don’t obey normal laws of pronunciation.
I do the same thing, I feel like I know many a word I don’t use in every day converstation. I feel really embarrassed if I pronounce something wrong. It’s normally in front of my husband though!
Dictionary.com tells me the pronounceation is [in-yoor] or [ih-noor]. So… did you say it wrong? lol. Maybe the problem was the way you said it, but that H didn’t know the word?
Kyle tried to answer “antediluvian” to every single question in that category last night, and so I told him it didn’t count when he finally got the last one right.
Well, I do agree, bodily function freedom seems to come with pregnancy and breast feeding. Oh and labor. Apparently because you BRAVED and BARED it ALL you have earned a license to shut off all bodily filters. It’s annoying.
i have the same problem – Jessica’s suggestion was spot on – dictionary.com has a little button that actually says the word for you. it’s a little computer generated voice so sometimes you have to listen a few times, but it usually helps.
i also have the opposite issue – i hear words that i don’t know (often related to my field – too many acronyms and tech terms) so i have a page in my notebook where i write the word down and look it up later.
i am a geek
This happens to me all the time, too! I just recently found out that the word “meme” (a word seen frequently ’round the internet) rhymes with cream. It is not pronounced “may-may” like I originally thought.
This made me chuckle because yesterday I was trying to write a blog post and totally misused a word that would have made me look like an absolute fool!! haha… good thing I did the good ol’ dictionary.com check 🙂
You’re not alone my friend!
OK, you need to know how smart you are, lady. I was an actual, legitimate writer with a job and everything and all and I just had to look up what “crepuscule” meant! Lol!
You may not be able to pronounce the words, but at least you know what they mean, OK?
Also, people definitely use “inure” in conversation, so you did use it correctly and it wasn’t too much to have done so. I do the same thing as you, though. Occasionally I will use a word in conversation and then think, “Wait…was that right?”
You’re preaching to the choir, here!
Since I could read at the age of 3, I’ve had these issues.
Pronouncing “unique” as uni-Q in first grade.
Butchering nonchalance in third grade.
And on and on and on all the way through college.
Luckily, we’re writers, right?
I do this all the time. I have a fairly good vocabulary from books. But Matt has a good vocabulary from television and movies, so he is ALWAYS correcting my pronunciation. I still like him though.
Yes, I feel the same way! I often look online for pronounciation guides 😉
This is actually a problem with very basic words for me. I’m an expat living in Australia and they sometimes pronounce words totally differently – and it has nothing to do with their accent!
Eg we say schedule as ‘sked-Jule’, they add an sh sound ‘SHed-ool’. Or we say memo (‘MEM-o), sometimes they say ”MEeee-Mo’. Urgh.
I think there’s a little extra sting when you’re the writer/reader/english major-type of the relationship, and your spouse (who is none of the above) corrects your pronunciation. And he turns out to be right.
Not that that’s ever happened to me. I’m just sayin’.
I totally understand your predicament! English is such a weird language and pronunciations can be really strange. All you can do is ask if you’re saying it the right way, right?
Favorite post of the day. Thanks 🙂
oxoxo
Denalee
I saw that Jeopardy episode. 🙂
One day at work I mispronounced “Salk” (as in Jonas Salk) and said “Sock” but I didn’t know I was mispronouncing it! Everyone had a good laugh, until I backed myself up: “chalk” is pronounced like “chock” and “balk” is pronounced like “bock” and “talk” is pronounced like “tock”. Can you blame me?
After that I was instructed to say it like “salt”. Saaaaaalllllllk.
This happens to me a lot with my husband but it’s usually becase he doesn’t know the word I’m saying. He’s crazy smart but for some reason he has the vocabulary of an eight year old. Although he’s not the only one. Until recently I thought that “tape measure” was “tape measurer” and “parting gift” was “party gift”. And one time when I was little I had to do a report on a state and I was assigned Wisconsin. I did all my research and wrote my whole report and when I stood up in front of the class to present it stood there and talked for three minutes about “win-sec-ken” and no one corrected me. The shame!
Impotent. Intestate. Villa. Bona fide, although I will argue THAT one until the end of time.
Okay, I am very curious… How do YOU pronounce “bona fide”?
I always thought it was pronounced bona (rhymes with mona) FIED, rhymes with “fried”. But several NPR announcers have recently said bona fee-day, which leads me to wonder if I’ve been mispronouncing it my ENTIRE LIFE.
Well, if you have been mispronouncing it, so have I. And so has Merriam Webster online’s pronunciation tool.
(Although they give an alternate pronunciation of “BONNA” – rhymes with Donna – fide. So I am a leeeetle suspicious.)
Maybe we need to call up that guy who reads the words at the Scripps National Spelling Bee? I’d trust him above Merriam Webster and NPR any day.
Heck, you and Merriam Webster are good enough for me. Screw that “bonna” crap.
VENGEANCE IS MINE.
This happens to me all the time! Like you, I’m a prolific reader and have far more words in my head than in my actual vocabulary. Dr. J is not a reader (how he made it through med school I still don’t know) and gets his vocabulary from pop culture (movies, music, video games, etc…). Guess who always gets corrected on her pronunciation? Yup, I do.
I adore the online dictionaries where you can hear the word pronounced. Best addition to the internet ever! I just wish they’d been around as a kid so I didn’t have to go through the experience of mispronouncing words in front of the class!
This is me, times a thousand. I actually have a best friend, boss, and husband who have been ordered to help and correct me after some huge mistakes like talking about the anals of neurology instead of annals for instance.
i totally do this too!!!! i always dumb down my speech because i’m not sure that i know how to say the words i know!
I so know what you’re talking about… Not being a native makes it even more difficult. I read lots of English books, but I don’t have the chance to talk that often, so I know the words, but have no idea how to pronounce them. You don’t want to know how I said Yosemite once…
Looking up unique words is a guilty pleasure of mind. Loved this post!