Some Final Pronouncements
Let’s finish off the program with a final farrago of fulminations on pronunciation.
I must issue a special reminder here to be on the qui vive regarding the word nuclear. Don’t say NOO-kyuh-lur, as if the word were spelled nucular. I can’t tell you how often I hear people vilify this pronunciation (which does not reflect well on the people who use it). It is probably the most recognized and abominated beastly mispronunciation in the language. Don’t undermine your newly acquired verbal advantage by mispronouncing nuclear. To get it right, think of nuclear as a combination of new and clear: NOO-klee-ur (NYOO- for the first syllable is even more cultivated).
I’m going to run through the rest of the list quickly, so keep your eyes open and prepare your memory banks for rapid assimilation.
Schizophrenia is properly pronounced SKIT-suh-FREE-nee-uh, not SKIT-suh-FREN-ee-uh.
The accent properly should be on the first syllable in the words exquisite (EK-skwi-zit) and hospitable (HAHS-pit-uh-buul).
Weather prognosticators who tell us about the atmos-FEER-ic conditions properly should tell us about the atmos-FER-ic conditions. The accented syllable should sound like fer- in ferry, not like fear.
How do you pronounce prelude? Don’t say PRAY-lood; that’s a vogue pronunciation. The preferred pronunciation is PREL-yood.
For envelope and envoy the pronunciations AHN-vuh-lohp and AHN-voy are pseudo-French; these words are thoroughly English and should be pronounced EN-vuh-lohp and EN-voy.
Don’t pronounce the h in vehicle and herb, and don’t put a zooin the beginning of zoology and zoologist, as so many speakers erroneously do. For these zoo- pronunciations to make sense, the words would have to have three o’s: zoo-ology, zoo-ologist. The prefix, however, is zo-, pronounced zoh- to rhyme with go. Say zoh-AHL-uh-jee and zoh-AHL-uh-jist.
Also, don’t pronounce the extra in extraordinary; the word has five syllables, not six: ek-STROR-di-ner-ee.
Be sure to clearly pronounce the h in huge and human. Say HYOOJ and HYOO-mun, not YOOJ and YOO-mun.
For the abbreviation etc., take your time and say et-SET-uh-ruh (four clear syllables). It’s uncultivated to say et-SE-truh, and it’s downright beastly to pronounce et like ek and say ek-SET-uh-ruh or ek-SE-truh.
You know the eating disorder many people call buh-LEE-meeuh? Well, guess what? The proper pronunciation of bulimia is byoo-LIM-ee-uh. This medical term entered the language in the fourteenth century, and until the 1980s byoo-LIM-ee-uh was the only pronunciation recognized by dictionaries. It may be disconcerting at first to be the only one in the neighborhood who says byoo-LIM-ee-uh, but you’ll get used to it. You will also be right.
What you probably have heard called a SKIZ-’m (for schism) is in fact a SIZ-’m. Believe it or not, since the 1700s authorities have preferred SIZ-’m, and it is the first and sometimes the only pronunciation listed in current dictionaries.
Last but not least, how do you pronounce the name of the Visa credit card? Do you say VEE-zuh or VEE-suh? The latter pronunciation, with a hard s as in vista, is incorrect. Visa comes directly from French, where a single s between vowels is soft, as in rose. Traditionally and properly, the s in visa is soft as in visor, visit, and visible. Say VEE-zuh.
