I sincerely believe in the phrase “to err is human” and I also believe that it’s never too late to learn and correct yourself. So when I realised that I (and many others!) have been mispronouncing certain words, I decided to list them down.
Go ahead and see how many you get right!
- GIF
Although it is commonly pronounced as “JIF”, the sound is that of a ‘G’ as in ‘get’.
- ESPRESSO
I cringe every time I hear “one expresso please” and fail to understand where that ‘x’ came from. Always say espresso and NOT expresso!
- ESPECIALLY
Similar to expresso, there is no ‘x’ in especially, yet some people say expecially – I wonder why!
- JEWELLERY
It’s all about proper emphasis while pronouncing the word. It’s not JEWL-ree but JEW-el-ree.
- ET CETERA
To combine the two words, we tend to use an extra alphabet ‘x’ – avoid doing that. It’s et cetera and not exetra.
- OFTEN
The ‘t’ here is silent. Hence, it’s not of-TEN but of-en.
- DENGUE
Contrary to popular belief, it is pronounced as Den-GEE and not Den-GOO.
- BOWL
How many times have you heard people asking you to pass the Bau-hl? Pass on the link to this article instead, because the correct pronunciation is Bo-hl (as in roll)!
- PIZZA
If you go by spelling it should be called Pi-ZAA (which it usually is!) but the right way to pronounce it is Peet-zaa (peet pronounced as in seat).
- PLUMBER
The ‘b’ is silent and so it’s called Plum-mer and not Plum-ber.