Quick Quiz: Identify the Mispronounced Words in the Three Clips Below

Lately, I’ve come across an unacceptably high incidence of mispronunciations by media personalities. Here are a few from just the past three days.

But first, my customary declaration for posts on “mispronounced words”: The objective is NOT to denigrate or ridicule someone. Instead, I feature such posts in the belief that if a highly educated person, especially a well-known media personality, is mispronouncing or misusing a particular word, there is a high probability that at least a few of my blog readers are making the same error. In other words, these posts are meant to serve as “pronunciation/ usage alerts!” And the reason why I name the radio or TV program and identify the speaker is solely to make this feature credible.

Each of the three video clips below contains a mispronounced word. Can you identify it? Note that in clip #1, i.e., first clip from the top, the error is by interviewer William Brangham—the fellow in a tie.  And in case you are interested, here is the context for each:

Clip #1, from “PBS NewsHour” of Friday, June 26, 2015--the discussion is about ISIS (or Islamic State) which, supposedly, was responsible for three terrorist acts earlier that day--one in Tunisia, one in France, and one in Kuwait.

Clip #2, also from the same edition of “PBS NewsHour,” features Michael Gerson, a speech writer for President George W. Bush and now a Washington Post columnist, discussing the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark ruling on gay marriage earlier that day.

Clip #3 is from yesterday’s edition of “Meet the Press.” Here, host Chuck Todd is referring to the many notable political events of last week—a week which several Washington watchers have described as Barack Obama’s most successful since he became president.

Answers in my next post--tomorrow (Tuesday) evening!

© Copyright 2015  V. J. Singal