Pet Peeves- Word Crimes

*Disclaimer* This blog post is not intended to point fingers at any one person. It's meant to be funny! :)

Everyone has pet peeves, right? I have many, but word pronunciation and grammar happen to be way up there on my list. No, I don't mean typos, but blatant misspelling and mispronunciation. I know that I'm not perfect in those areas, but I strive daily toward perfection.

Have you ever heard someone talk about a mischievous child? The dictionary reminds us, "Mischievous is a three-syllable word. Take care not to use this incorrect four-syllable pronunciation: ‘mis-CHEE-vee-uhs.’" Contrary to popular usage it is actually pronounced, ˈmis ch ivəs.

Grievous is along the same lines. Again, the dictionary says, "Do not pronounce this word as though it had an extra syllable, as |ˈgrēvē-əs|." Don't add extra sounds or syllables where there aren't any! Say it, "ˈgrēvəs".

There's one word that almost everyone mispronounces, myself included (until I learned the correct way). "Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid." John 19:41 We all have read "sepulchre" in our Bible readings, right? Most people pronounce it sep-luh-ker, but really, it should be pronounced "ˈsepəlkər".

"That guy just lambasted me!" Have you ever been lambasted? Thankfully, you can pronounce it "lam-ˈbāst" and "lamˈbast". Both are correct, but don't, oh, please don't say lamblast or bamblast. :)

How about when you rendezvous with your friends? Are you going to a "rond-a-vous" or a "ˈrändiˌvoō"? 

With Thanksgiving right around the corner, one must know how to say "giblet" right so that one doesn't look ignorant. The in-the-know people say it the correct way, "ˈjiblit". Don't forget that!

"I escaped by the skin of my teeth!" When you are in the middle of telling how you escaped, please don't get the letters mixed up. It's iˈskāp not ec-scape.

A lot of people think it's pretty cool to use the word ain't. I have to heartily agree with the Apple dictionary,

Is this word used orally in most parts of the country by cultivated speakers? In 1961, Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language (W3) said it was, provoking a firestorm of protests from journalists and academics. W3's assessment was quite a change from that of W2 (the second edition, published in 1934), which had given it a tag: “Dialect or Illiterate” The editor of W3, Philip Gove, explained the change byconceding that he had no large files of empirical evidence: “Knowledge of some kind of language behavior comes through contact with its observers and is not always documented because there seems to be no reason to collect additional evidence.” If that's the method, then one can confidently say that W3's treatment was flawed in its incompleteness. In 1962, the year after W3 was published, an apt cartoon appeared inThe New Yorker. A man is standing in the reception area of G. & C. Merriam Co., Dictionary Division, as the receptionist says to him, “Sorry. Dr. Gove ain't in.” Yes, ain't is used by cultivated speakers, but almost always for either of two reasons: (1) to be tongue-in-cheek, or (2) to flaunt their reverse snobbery. For most people, it remains a shibboleth of poor usage.

I love espresso coffee! Did you know that there isn't an "x" in espresso? Here's what the dictionary says, "The often-occurring variant spelling expresso —and its pronunciation "ikˈspresō"—is incorrect and was probably formed by analogy with express." Now you know!

Most of you know that we have Irish blood in us. The Apple dictionary says this about the pronunciation, "Celt and Celtic can be pronounced either with an initial k- or s- sound. In standard English, the normal pronunciation is with a k- sound, except in the name of the Boston basketball team." So, there, all you that say it with an "S", the real way is with a "K"! :)

I saw a plaque once that said, "I am silently correcting your grammar." Quite often, and most of the time unconsciously, I do just that. Even after I say something, I reconstruct the sentence in my mind so that it makes more sense, flows better and is more lucid. Too bad I can't do that before I speak! I inherited the McWilliams' foot and mouth syndrome, "open mouth, insert foot." At least I can say I came by it honestly. :)

I think that's all for now folks! I know there's a great deal more, but as of right now, I can't think of any other words to add. I'd be happy to hear anybody else's pet peeves on words. I love them! 

Thanks for reading my rant! :) I hope that you were instructed and learned something new. As the saying goes, "Learn something new every day!"