Katy Perry mispronounced “hyperbole” her entire life

[gypsy101 5,453]

i recently learned that segue is pronounced like “segway” … i thought those were two different words lmao

[Linus Gaga 8,214]

i used to think obese and obsess is the same word. 

so i always say I'm obese with…

[Bling 31,438]

1 hour ago, Linus Gaga said:

i used to think obese and obsess is the same word. 

so i always say I'm obese with…

Gurlll!!!!! 

"I'm so obese with Gaga"

[Ronk 14,762]

3 hours ago, sarahb said:

Can't blame her, I only found out how to pronounce it in high school. I was also pronouncing words like 'epitome', 'debris' and 'Yosemite' wrong for a while

Same

[StrawberryBlond 14,874]

Guilty of this too. I hadn't heard the word said, how was I to know? And if I had heard it, it sounds different to how its written, so what gives? Whenever anyone corrects me when I mispronounce a rarely used/complicated word, I usually find a side-eye with "I've only ever seen this word written, never spoken" is quite effective. Honestly, I don't get why some people find it funny when they hear a mispronunciation of a word that you won't come across every day. Hyperbole doesn't have a little flick over the e and its spelling isn't even in line with how the average English speaker would pronounce it. If it was written as "hyperboly" there would be less of a problem. We're also not even aware if every word we encounter is even English, so we don't know if we're saying it right upon first encountering it. In my mind, every word's English unless otherwise stated, so unless I get told, I'm pronouncing it the way it looks to me. I generally find correcting people's pronunciation and grammar to come off rather smug, to be honest, even if it's not intended that way. That's just the working class roots in me that I can't shake off. If you must correct someone, have the good grace not to laugh while you do it.

[TheSlash 14,539]

[Oriane 21,116]

I've also been pronouncing these words wrong but I have the excuse that I'm not a native speaker

Some of these though, like "hyperbole" and "epitome", are etymologically Greek but as we have the exact same words in French, I'm wondering whether they first existed in French and were directly transmitted to the English language, and they kept the spelling like this? Unlike "metaphor" for example, where they removed the final "e" that we have in French. So it makes sense that the pronunciation is original, as it would have been more logical that these words would be spelled "hyperbol" and "epitom" in English.

I'm confused that some native speakers have never heard "hyperbole" though? Don't you learn this in high school in literature class?

[PartySick 160,515]

8 hours ago, Glamourpuss said:

I get that. Some people read a word and don't know how it's pronounced. I only recently learned that segue is pronounced like Segway. 

But this is worse...

 

7 hours ago, sarahb said:

Can't blame her, I only found out how to pronounce it in high school. I was also pronouncing words like 'epitome', 'debris' and 'Yosemite' wrong for a while

 

7 hours ago, littlepotter said:

Omg because of your comment I looked up how to pronounce epitome and found out I've been pronouncing it wrong  and I have an english degree 

Judging you all

My pronunciation is perfect 'cause I've spent my entire life correcting my hillbilly family

[rinasawachanta 3,076]

not every pop star was able to study at NYU and write essays on psychoanalysis and nude art 

[Killa 17,486]

14 hours ago, littlepotter said:

Omg because of your comment I looked up how to pronounce epitome and found out I've been pronouncing it wrong  and I have an english degree 

Epeetomee??

[littlepotter 75,147]

5 minutes ago, Killa said:

Epeetomee??

No like epi-tom, that's the french pronunciation. Same for hyperbole.

[Killa 17,486]

13 minutes ago, littlepotter said:

No like epi-tom, that's the french pronunciation. Same for hyperbole.

Argh that didnt clear my doubt

but was funny fing shia  belouf or wtv you pronounce his name

but Google translate does real it like

tee mo (uh) tee 

you mean it taimout( small e not very pronounced lol)

sorry i think as a roman language 

mess i was think timotee lolll

epaitoum(e)

[bionic 50,107]

7 hours ago, PartySick said:

 

 

Judging you all

My pronunciation is perfect 'cause I've spent my entire life correcting my hillbilly family

exclusive footage of me the moment you make a single small mistake

[TheSlash 14,539]

I looked up how to pronounce epitome and I refuse to change it now, bc I like my pronunciation better

[StrawberryBlond 14,874]

13 hours ago, Oriane said:

I'm confused that some native speakers have never heard "hyperbole" though? Don't you learn this in high school in literature class?

No, most of us don't get words that complicated at high school level. Shakespeare is as difficult as it gets and you won't find words like that in his works. It's a very niche word, there's a reason why I was well into my 20's by the time I even heard it spoken and realised I was saying it wrong. I'm more shocked when people mispronounce words that are in everyday use. I've heard "duvet" and "mega" being mispronounced even when there's not the issue of 2 different pronunciations (my mum and I have a constant battle over how "adorable" is pronounced because I insist there's 2 correct ways of saying it and say the 'ador' bit like French but she insists you say it like there's an e at the end). My Belgian uncle who's been living here since the 70's occasionally sees a word that he's never before yet knowingly mispronounces "quiche" and bizarrely had never heard the word "circuit" before (he pronounced it like "cirkwee") despite working with computers for years. The only time that I think it's ok to laugh is when it's literally a case of how this person could've never possibly known this word or clearly knows how it's said but is for some reason, choosing to say it their own way.