#GrammarGuide: Commonly Mispronounced Words (Part II)
Our #GrammarGuide mission is to save the English language! Alright (informal of all right), perhaps that’s a bit overzealous, but at the very least we can help you avoid some VERY common mistakes.
While we’ll usually focus on the written word, conversation is an equally important tool in public speaking, PR, media and business relations… but also in everyday life! That’s why we wanted to take a look at some commonly mispronounced terms.
People generally spell these words properly, they often speak them incorrectly for a variety reasons—admittedly, I'm one of those people.
Besides mischievous, in my opinion, the following are the most mispronounced words in American English—create a quiz and see how many of your employees/friends get these words correct (and if they do, they deserve a raise!).
Shocking, but true...
SHERBET - commonly used, sherbert. Correct pronunciation, SHER-bet
GIF - I hear this one daily pronounced like it's spelled. Incorrect. It's JIF - like the peanut butter (ask the founder)
FEBRUARY - Don't drop the R. Correct: FEB-ru-ar-eee
VALET - This one should be on every trivia game known to man (and woman). If you're British it's okay if you say val-ay. In the U.S., it's pronounced VAL-it. Let's all use British English! Brilliant.
GYRO - I wish all my friends from NYC would stop saying this incorrectly. My ancestors are upset with you. If you're from the East Coast... it's not GY-ROH. Say after me, YEE-ROH is the correct pronunciation.
She is a person with high STATUS. Your whole life you likely have been saying this incorrectly. Surprisingly, it is not pronounced, STAH-tus. Correct pronunciation is STAY-tus.
APPLICABLE - You want to say ap-PLICK-able don't you? Well, the correct pronunciation is, APP-lic-able (think of all the APPs on your phone).
I'm already on to Part III of the Frankly #GrammarGuide, stay tuned! What words do you think are most commonly mispronounced?