my 5 words:

1. The Caucasus (i still don't understand...)

2. e'lectoral

3. herb (melting pot mistake; spanish, but only with this word!)

4. 'mischievous

5. nuptial

6. ofen [(often) i thought this was an old-fashion thing...)]

7. pronunciation

8. recur (makes sense...recurring dreams)

9. respite

10. stamp (your feet? had no idea...)

11. supremacist

okay...so my five words turned into eleven words when i went over the list a second time...

ana | March 10, 2004 1:14 AM

I have to say I was stunned to learn diphtheria is meant to be pronounced "diff-theria." I checked at merriam-webster and their pronunciation goes both ways:

http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?va=diphtheria

(To be honest, I never knew there was an "h" tucked between the "p" and "t")

I think a lot of these pronunciations are mean to be funny. I mean, I can't think of anyone who would honestly say "heineken remover" in place of "heimlich meneuver".

amy | March 10, 2004 8:21 AM

They left out safe deposit box. I'd say most of the population is wrong and believe that it is a "safety deposit box." I haven't had a chance to go over the entire list. I was impressed with Law and Order last night, because the correct term was used.

manda | March 10, 2004 3:14 PM

they also left out this one word. it's at the tip of my tongue. one of those words with an r in the first syllable and second syllable.

i couldn't believe that "across," "federal", "film," and others were among the list.
that "Laura Norder" is too funny to be true.

ana | March 10, 2004 5:23 PM

Perfect post, Ana!

I admit to being guilty of many more words than Ana, but I am dialect-challenged. I grew up in NJ with an accent (think Sopranos), moved to Chicago and worked hard to lose the accent because everyone made fun of me, then moved back to NJ in 2001 but work in NYC and am now acquiring an even wackier accent than I had before moving away.

Not to be pernickety (I had no idea persnickety was a colloquialism), but who pronounces mauve as [mowv]? It just feels wrong.

marydell | March 10, 2004 7:29 PM

ah, got it!
appropriate!

for some reason i thought that there was "appropiate" and "appropriate."
but i looked it up today and found no "appropiate."

so i realized that i've been using the word "appropriate", which i thought was "appropiate," incorrectly.

i mean, i know that "appropriate" means to take or to set apart, as in appropriating money or funds...
but what i thought was "appropiate," i thought it was like: please take appropiate action.

am i making sense?
according to www.hyperdictionary.com and merriam-webster online,
"appropiate" doesn't exist!

ana | March 11, 2004 12:04 AM