This post reminded me of a few words that have cropped up in recent weeks that most folks seem hell-bent on mispronouncing. (As in the post, it’s easy to understand how a word like “epitome” can be mispronounced. It looks like it should be “EH-pi-tome” when it’s really “eh-PI-tuh-me.”)
“Comparable” is one of my pet peeves. I know that it’s now “accepted” to pronounce it by saying the word “compare” with an “able” at the end. But for years and years (before people got lazy), the accent was only on the first syllable: “COM-perable.” It’s likely we’ll never get the correct pronunciation back, which is sad, because it sounds so much better.
The one that’s driving me crazy these days is how people — especially sportscasters, it seems — are saying the word “verbiage”. Verbiage is an “overabundance of words,” essentially, but it’s been used in the sports setting to describe the “language” of the team, especially with respect to an NFL play book, which can be very complicated. But complicated or not, the book contains “verbiage,” not verbage. Yet, over and over again, I hear references to a quarterback having to learn the team’s “verbage.” I mean, it’s not a hard word, is it? Ver-bee-ij. Rolls trippingly off the tongue, doesn’t it? Honestly, I don’t say “I think I’ll go to the country and look at the folage,” do I? (Actually, some do, but don’t get me started.)
Finally, I’ve got to ring this bell one more time: there is no such word as “supposably.” Stop saying it, I’m begging you. The word you want is “supposedly.”
Along those lines, I was devastated when Quantum of Solace came out and I discovered I’ve been saying it wrong my entire life.
(I still think “soul-ace” sounds better. but that comes with x-number of years saying it in my head.)
There’s a really good episode of This American Life called A Little Bit of Knowledge. Act One is about the misconceptions that make it into adulthood unchallenged. And Act Two is about Dan Savage trying to determine why his six-year-old son didn’t want Dan to marry Terry, his partner and the kid’s other father. Acts Three and Four made me sad, but they’re still good stories. But Act One is definitely worth a listen!
