Thursday, January 12, 2012

If I sound dumb on paper, just wait to hear me talk

I was talking with someone about aquathlon the other day and how I thought it would really suit an athlete like Amber. A strong swimmer and runner should do pretty well in that event. I never got to find out whether the person agreed or disagreed with me however because we ended up discussing pronunciation of the word aquathlon. Apparently you're supposed to pronounce aquathlon aqua-thon not a-quath- alon as I had been. This quickly lead me to think about other words that I have been notorious for mis-pronouncing. Here's just a smattering:

Pronunciation (pruh-nuhn-see-ey-shuhn) noun- I'll quote the dictionary for this one: the act or result of producing the sounds of speech, including articulation, stress and intonation, often with reference to some standard of correctness or acceptability.

      Danny's pronunciation: proh-noun-see-ey-shuhn. It's not a good thing when you can't pronounce pronunciation. If that's the case you may be putting the wrong  emphasis on the wrong syllable.

Expedite-(ek-spi-dahyt) verb- to speed up or hasten.
       Danny's pronunciation: ek-speed-iate- Apparently I was trying to put the emphasis on speed.
Self-deprecating-(self- dep-ri-key-ting) verb- to belittle oneself.
      Danny's pronunciation: self- dih-pree-shee-eyt-ing - actually a very similiar meaning if you use depreciating instead of deprecating but no less not the word I was meaning to use.

Surreptitious(sur-uhp-tish-uhs) adj- acting in a stealth way.
    Danny's pronunciation: sur-rip-it-tus)
Latin(lat-n) noun- a language not spoken except in some churches

     Danny's pronunciation: lad-in. Apparently it should have stayed unspoken.

Epoch-(ep-uhk) noun- a memorable date or period of time
   Danny's pronunciation: Ee-pok- I didn't even realize I was mispronouncing this one until yesterday.  

Fun run(fuhn ruhn)- noun- a mythical "easy" run where people just apparently frolick over hill-side and glen.
   Danny's pronunciation: peyn.

Amber(am-ber) noun- a professional triathlete married to Danny. Also a color and a fossil resin that can house DNA to create jurassic park.
  Danny's pronunciation: uhn-stop-uh-buhl

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