Quick Quiz: Identify the Mispronounced High-caliber Word

The short video clip below, an excerpt from the Bookshelf segment broadcast earlier this week on PBS “NewsHour” (my favorite news program), is intrinsically very interesting but it also contains a glaring mispronunciation. Can you identify it? Answer in my next post—tomorrow, Sunday evening. 

More about the clip: In it, you hear host Jeffrey Brown interview author and New York Times poetry columnist David Orr, whose book “The Road Not Taken” is an all-new point of view on Robert Frost’s most admired poem. [The full name of the book: “The Road Not Taken—Finding America in the Poem Everyone Loves and Almost Everyone Gets Wrong”]   

© Copyright 2015  V.J. Singal

 

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
 

 

Quick Quiz: Identify the Mispronounced Word

Click on the 26-second video clip below, which is an excerpt from the September 3, 2014, edition of PBS NewsHour. Can you identify the mispronunciation by Hari Sreenivasan?

Here's a transcript: “Hackers who self-organize under the collective name Anonymous have been involved in cyber-attacks on everything from corporations to intelligence agencies to local governments, even at one point the ‘NewsHour’ website. In this week’s issue of ‘The New Yorker,’ David Kushner takes a close look at Anonymous in an article, ‘How Anonymous Incited Online Vigilantism from Tunisia to Ferguson.’ He joins me now. So, Anonymous has a slogan--says ‘We are legion.’”

Answer in my next post. 

© Copyright 2014  V. J. Singal

Oscar-Nominated Film Director Alexander Payne’s Incorrect Use/ Mispronunciation of Highfalutin Words makes him look Bookish and Insular

First, my customary declaration for posts of this kind: The objective is NOT to denigrate or ridicule someone. Instead, I feature such posts in the belief that if a highly educated person 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.

Did you watch the “Charlie Rose” interview last week (February 20, to be precise) with famous movie director Alexander Payne? [As you may know, his latest film, “Nebraska,” has been nominated for the best picture Oscar. I’ve watched all nine movies nominated for that award and, in my opinion, “Nebraska” is the best.] Well, during the approximately 16-minute interview, Payne threw out a number of high-caliber words, including oneiric, verisimilitude, and foment. The trouble is that some of those words were mispronounced or misused!

Take a look at the first of the two video clips below. You hear Payne pronounce oneiric as [oh-near-ik] when the only acceptable pronunciation for the word is [oh-ny-rik].  In the second video clip, you hear him say "...I feel like I am directing the creativity of others--fomenting and conducting their creativity..." I hope one of my blog readers has a direct line to Payne and can convey to him the following: the meaning of foment is to incite, instigate, or stir up something (such as trouble, violence, rebellion…). It is never used in the sense Payne had in mind.

It would be worth your while to revisit the concluding paragraph (the one titled “A reminder why correct pronunciation matters”) in my blog post of last year triggered by Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor's pronunciation of chasm as [chaz-um] instead of [kaz-um]. As I said then, please do not ever use a high-caliber word unless you are absolutely sure about its pronunciation and usage. Otherwise, you’ll come across as being bookish and insular. And some in your audience might even think that you learned about those highfalutin terms while preparing for the interview or presentation. 

© Copyright 2014  V. J. Singal
 

  

 

Mispronunciation of “Imbroglio” by Leading Light of the Media David Brooks

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 is mispronouncing 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 alerts!” And the reason why I name the radio or TV program and identify the speaker is solely to make this feature credible.

This past weekend, while watching the Friday, September 20, 2013, edition of PBS’s “NewsHour,” I was disappointed to hear David Brooks of the New York Times--one of my favorite political commentators--pronounce imbroglio just as it is spelt, i.e., [im-brohg-lee-oh].  The correct pronunciation is [im-broh-lee-oh].  The g is silent.

David Brooks is a much respected columnist and a frequent guest on high-profile shows such as “Charlie Rose” and “Meet the Press.” You can bet he regularly hobnobs with America’s most articulate--has probably been doing so for decades!  And imbroglio is not one of those rarely encountered words. So, for Brooks to make this egregious pronunciation error suggests a certain laxity on his part…a measure of insouciance. Unacceptable!

The most lamentable aspect of the above is that David Brooks will probably continue to mispronounce imbroglio for years to come! Why? Because my research indicates that when someone utters a glaring mispronunciation, no friends or acquaintances will point out the error to him or her, fearing that the correction will be viewed as an unfriendly, an unwelcome, even a hostile act.

© Copyright 2013  V. J. Singal

Even You, the Princeton-and-Yale-Educated Sonia Sotomayor? A Most Glaring — and Unforgivable — Mispronunciation by a U.S. Supreme Court Justice

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 is mispronouncing a particular word, there is an extremely 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 alerts!”

Now, click on the 30-second video clip below and note how U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor mispronounces the word chasm [as chaz-um] even though, just seconds earlier, PBS interviewer Gwen Ifill has pronounced it correctly [as kaz-um]. This is egregious! It is unforgivable, considering that chasm is far removed from the category of highfalutin, arcane, or grandiloquent words that were known to and used by only the late William F. Buckley. [Lest you think I am disparaging Mr. Buckley, please know that in my book “The Articulate Professional” I describe him as “a cerebral Olympian” and “a man of Olympian intellect.”]

A reminder why correct pronunciation matters: In the case of Supreme Court justices, you can automatically assume that they are highly educated, else they wouldn’t have made it to the nation’s highest court. [According to Wikipedia, Sonia Sotomayor graduated summa cum laude from Princeton and has a J.D. from Yale Law School.] But, if you were to hear such a glaring mispronunciation from, say, a new acquaintance whose background you know not, you wouldn’t be faulted for assuming that the person is not very well educated or that he or she leads an insular life.

© Copyright 2013  V. J. Singal

Quick Quiz: Identify the Mispronounced Word

This is an easy one. Click on the 19-second video clip below, which is an excerpt from a recent (January 3) reading of that day's news headlines by PBS NewsHour regular Hari Sreenivasan. Can you identify the mispronounced word? And why do you think it occurred?

Answer in my next post.

© Copyright 2013  V. J. Singal

Mitt, the Correct Pronunciation of “Tumult” is NOT "TUM-ult"

First, my customary declaration for posts on “mispronounced words”: The objective is NOT to denigrate or ridicule someone. Instead, I feature such posts on the theory that if a highly educated person is mispronouncing a particular word, there is an extremely high probability that at least a few of my blog readers are making the same error.

Now, click on the 15-second video clip below, excerpted from a broadcast of the third and final presidential debate, during which Mitt Romney used the word "tumult" several times when referring to the situation in the Middle East. Each time, he pronounced it as [TUM-ult], meaning that his first syllable seemed to rhyme either with “sum”/ “hum”/ “bum” etc. or with the first syllable in the word “tumultuous.” Wrong!

The two correct pronunciations of tumult are: [TYOO-mult] and [TOO-mult], with the "OO" pronouned as in "boot" and not as in "book."

© Copyright 2012  V. J. Singal

One More Time, How Do You Pronounce the First Name of Ayn Rand?

Ever since Mitt Romney named Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan as his running mate, Ayn Rand’s name has once again been in the ascendant, thanks to Ryan’s idolatry of the late Russian-born American writer and philosopher whose novels are polemics in favor of “rational self-interest,” individualism, and unfettered laissez-faire capitalism, among other things.

Well, attendant with the frequent mention of Ayn Rand’s name in the media is the almost equally frequent mispronunciation of her first name. For instance, just the other day (August 13), Craig Gilbert, who should know better since he is the Washington Bureau chief of a prominent Milwaukee paper, pronounced it as “Ann.” So, what is the correct pronunciation? It is exactly the way it is spelled, thus rhyming with such words as "line," "fine," "mine"….

© Copyright 2012 V. J. Singal

Glaring Mispronunciations by Leading Lights

First, let me remind you of the purpose behind this periodic feature on glaring mispronunciations: It stems from my belief that if someone who is well placed or who moves in “articulate circles” is mispronouncing a word, chances are that a few of my blog readers are also making the same pronunciation error. In other words, this feature is not at all meant to denigrate or ridicule any particular person. And the reason why I name the program and identify the speaker is solely to make this feature credible.

Two notable cases of mispronunciation by high profile people caught my ear in recent weeks:

(i) Albeit being pronounced as [awl-by-it] instead of [awl-bee-it] by Wharton Professor Susan Wachter during the January 19 edition of Marketplace. Hear it for yourself by clicking here—she begins speaking at about 2.0 minutes into the clip. BTW, Ms. Wachter has a very mellifluous voice and great diction.

(ii) Artifice being pronounced as [ahr-tuh-fys] instead of [ahr-tuh-fis] by filmmaker Kevin Smith during a March 20 interview on NPR’s “Morning Edition.” The mispronunciation of artifice occurs at 6.0 minutes into the interview. Here is the link.

© Copyright 2012 V. J. Singal

Glaring Mispronunciation of "Contretemps" by Leading Light of the Media Doris Kearns Goodwin

Earlier this week, while reviewing the Sept. 4, 2011, edition of “Meet the Press,” I was stupefied to see best selling author and highly regarded presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin mispronounce the word contretemps as [kon-truh-temps]. (The correct pronunciation is kon-truh-tahN , meaning that the N does not represent a consonant, and the ah is nasalized. Thus, the last syllable here rhymes with the last syllable in words such as bon vivant and rapprochement.) What particularly contributed to my astonishment is the fact that, over the last two or three decades, Ms. Goodwin has been a member of countless radio/television panels, hobnobbing with America’s most articulate.

[BTW, if you wish to check out that Sept. 4 edition of “Meet the Press” to see Ms. Goodwin’s blunder for yourself, click here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/44391623#44391623
Her use of the word contretemps occurs just after 21 minutes into the clip.]

The most lamentable aspect of the above is the Ms. Goodwin will probably keep mispronouncing this word for years to come: My research indicates that when someone utters a glaring mispronunciation, no friends or acquaintances will point it out to him or her, fearing that the correction will be viewed as an unfriendly, even a hostile act.

Over the past couple of decades, there have been countless occasions when, as a sincere, well-meaning, and helpful gesture, I have informed a stranger--say a host or guest featured on NPR or some other news channel--of their mispronunciation. (Incidentally, I perform this “public service” by means of an extremely polite email or voice mail.) Never have I received so much as an acknowledgment. Weird.

© Copyright 2011 V. J. Singal

Glaring Mispronunciations by Top Media Personalities

Two glaring cases of mispronunciation by leading lights in the media this month, one involving a relatively common word “harbinger.”

1. In his fascinating piece about New York’s Archbishop Timothy Dolan on “60 Minutes” Sunday before last, Morly Safer described the corpulent personage as “this burly, overweight, cherubic Irish American charges through life like a holy bulldozer…” It was the word cherubic where Safer slipped up, pronouncing it as [che-RUB-ik] instead of [chuh-ROOB-ik.] Apparently, he thought the pronunciation of cherubic is a direct extension of the word “cherub” which is pronounced [cher-ub.]

2. The second instance involved American Enterprise Institute’s Norm Ornstein—a guest on all manner of radio and TV channels because of his unmatched knowledge and understanding of what’s going on in Congress. About five minutes into the August 10 edition of “The Diane Rehm Show,” while using the word harbinger, he made the fairly common error of pronouncing it as [hahr-bin-ger] instead of [hahr-bin-jur]. This one left me stupefied, considering that because of his decades-long career and popularity, Ornstein has appeared on countless panels, often surrounded by America’s most articulate.

© Copyright 2011 V. J. Singal

The Consequences of Grossly Abusing Grammar During a Job interview or While Talking to a Client or Customer

This morning, I was interviewed by award-winning journalist David Solano for his upcoming story on how extremely poor language skills can sharply diminish one’s chances of success during a jon interview or sales call. [The story is to be aired early next week on Solana’s station KIAH-TV -- Houston’s Channel 39.]

Here is what I said with regard to the severe consequences stemming from egregious grammar errors:

During a job interview or while making a sales call, murdering grammar can be lethal! [Some examples of outrageous grammatical errors: subject-verb disagreement; using first person subject pronoun “I” when it should be object pronoun “me” and the vice versa; wrong tense or wrong verb form; uttering "aks" instead of "ask."] Among the many reasons why such gross abuses of grammar can sharply diminish your prospects of being hired or of consummating a sale:

1. Unless the listener is intimately familiar with your educational background and the many college degrees you have amassed, he or she will conclude that you are poorly educated.

2. You will give the impression of being a slow, unenthusiastic learner--someone who will have difficulty quickly adapting to a potential employer's workplace culture or way of doing things.

3. As a potential employee, you will be viewed as more of a liability than an asset because:
(i) Your conspicuous grammar missteps are likely to be such a serious distraction--even an annoyance--that listeners will be unable to stay focused on your message, and
(ii) You could even end up becoming a laughing stock among not only your would-be peers but also among clients, thus severely tarnishing the company's image.

© Copyright 2011 V. J. Singal

So, How Do You Pronounce “Jekyll” When Referring to “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”?

Until now, when talking about Robert Louis Stevenson’s famous novel “Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,” or when referring to someone with an apparently split personality, I had always pronounced Jekyll as [JEK-il]. Nor can I recall anyone else pronouncing it differently.

Well, the day before yesterday, I happened to watch the best known film version of Stevenson’s classic novel, the one produced in 1932 and starring Fredric March, who won the Oscar for best actor for playing the dual title roles. I was mighty surprised to hear Jekyll pronounced as [JEE-kul] throughout the movie. Subsequent Googling seems to confirm that [JEE-kul] is indeed the correct pronunciation!

© Copyright 2011  V. J. Singal

Heinous – the “Mispronounced Word of the Week”

This past week, while speaking about the tragedy in Tucson, numerous Americans have used the word “heinous” [pronounced HAY-nus] to describe Jared Loughner’s crime. No surprise there. What has amazed me is the number of prominent and well-educated people who have mispronounced that word, including University of Arizona President Robert Shelton. In his opening remarks at the nationally broadcast memorial service on Wednesday night (the one attended by President Obama), Shelton pronounced heinous as “highness.” Unbelievable!

© Copyright 2011 V. J. Singal