21 words gaining notoriety under the #mispronounced hashtag
Perhaps you’ve done it yourself, saying ‘mizzled’ when reading ‘misled.’ To help you avoid a verbal fracas, we offer a cache of common linguistic foie gras. Oops—that should be ‘faux pas.’
Under the #mispronounced hashtag, Twitter users are sharing words they’ve hilariously misspoken.
The tweets are spectacular.
The English language—with its silent letters, odd accent placement, and words borrowed from other languages—can be a pronunciation minefield. Below are some of the most common mispronounced words Twitter users are sharing. Click on the word to hear the sometimes-surprising and sometimes-controversial pronunciations.
(Definitions and pronunciations are from Merriam-Webster and Dictionary.com.)
1. Açai—a small, purple berrylike fruit that comes from palm trees found in Central and South America.
2. Anemone—a plant related to the buttercup family; a sea anemone is a sedentary, tubular marine animal.
3. Banal—boring, hackneyed or trite.
Become a Ragan Insider member to read this article and all other archived content.
Sign up today
Already a member? Log in here.
Learn more about Ragan Insider.