Words you've used incorrectiably

[aronnax]

Thanks Flying Pig. I have coffee in my nose.

Due to my lack of ability to roll my 'r's, I often cannot pronounce certain French origin words in the English language. To annoy my slightly Francophone boyfriend, I would just purposely Americanise any French word in a most exaggerated fashion. Even if I can pronounce it.

France - (Normal, Fer-run-ce) (Americanise, Fra-ants)

 

[Arakhor]

Well, I pronounce it "Frahnse" (or "those bloody frogs").

 

[rugbyLEAGUEfan]

Does pronouncing words wrong count?

Because I had to learn from experience that it is not pronounced "Hyperbowl."

Yeah, I made that mistake millions of times too

 

[Hygro]

He did too.

I've been there.

 

[LucyDuke]

So it is everyone else's fault and not yours.

No, just the person that fails to understand.

 

[Rashiminos]

One of my favorite mispronunciations is frequently heard on the Hitler Channels during the Iraq War and Afghan War coverage. They frequently confuse cache ("cash") with cachet ("ca-shay").

I think this might be a case of preferred pronunciation. How often do English speakers use cachet?

Spoiler :

Yo dawg, I heard you like cash, so I put some cash in your cache so you can...

 

[Perfection]

I've been there.

Thanks bro, I know I'm not incorrect in applying the term to you.

 

[Formaldehyde]

I think this might be a case of preferred pronunciation. How often do English speakers use cachet?

Spoiler :

Yo dawg, I heard you like cash, so I put some cash in your cache so you can...

There is only one pronunciation for cache as well as cachet. It is a common mistake.

http://www.redbullrising.com/2011_01_01_archive.html

My all-time favorite government-issued mispronunciation, however, is the word "cache." It means a collection of provisions stored in a hidden location: "Upon searching the house, we found a large cache of weapons."

Unfortunately, the word "cache" isn't pronounced the way it looks--it's pronounced "kash." Soldiers nearly always pronounce it like the word "cachet" ("kashay"), which means "a mark or quality of distinction and individuality."

Pronounce "cache" correctly in your next military briefing, and you'll generate a certain cachet yourself. You can bet cash-money on it.

 

[Rashiminos]

I bet heteronyms excite you in all sorts of ways.

 

[cardgame]

You have cachet

Thank you.

 

[kochman]

There is only one pronunciation for cache as well as cachet. It is a common mistake.

Wrong.
Cachet = \ka-ˈshā\
Cache = \ˈkash\
http://www.merriam-webster.com

 

[Formaldehyde]

Um. That is actually my point. "Cache" is only pronounced one way, and so is "cachet". And I'm obviously not claiming they are pronounced the same. The article I posted above makes this quite clear, as well as confirming it is a very frequent mistake in the military.

Soldiers nearly always pronounce it like the word "cachet" ("kashay"), which means "a mark or quality of distinction and individuality."

Pronounce "cache" correctly in your next military briefing, and you'll generate a certain cachet yourself. You can bet cash-money on it.

 

[kochman]

Ah, I see, your wording was poor, but I get your point now.

Thinking about this, in America, you don't hear or see "cachet" used very often at all (at least I haven't).

 

[Formaldehyde]

After all, the same "wording was poor" issue has been clarified 3 times so far in this thread already, including quoting an article which makes it painstakingly clear what the issue really is.

And I see and hear both words being used properly all the time. This is particularly true with "cache" since personal computers have all had memory and disk caches for a number of years now.

 

[kochman]

Good for you form.
You didn't do a good job of clarifying, your word order was poor. It's not a huge criticism, relax.

 

[LucyDuke]

It can be a lot of fun to call out someone's mistake, but it kind of loses a lot of the oomph when it turns out you just didn't finish reading their post.

 

[madviking]

It took me 18 years to figure out 'hitherto' wasn't pronounced 'hit-her-to'.

 

[Akka]

I recently had a suspicion I needed to look up "attenuate" which I thought was a sort of gentle matching of one signal to another signal. Turns out that's not the definition at all. Now I have to find a totally different word because I have no word to fill that connotation.

p.s. if someone has a replacement word for me, let me know.

"atune" is probably the one you were looking for (or "attune", I don't remember the spelling).

Lots of people have a word or few they've been using incorrectly. I know a girl who misused pedantic in a most ironic manner.

What words have you misused regularly? What stories of others do you have?

The worst offenders about it are "false friends", words that means something in a language and something either very different or, even worse, subtly different (which means you don't realize easily you're misusing it).

I have a hard time using correctly the word "argue", I think, because I can never remember when it's used to mean "reasoning" and when it's used to mean "fighting".

 

[cardgame]

Good for you form.
You didn't do a good job of clarifying, your word order was poor. It's not a huge criticism, relax.

I'm going to chime in here and say his wording was perfectly adequate and back up that opinion with the highest possible score in English rhetoric/usage on the ACT.

@Akka

The good thing is there are many synonyms to clarify or avoid misinterpretations, such as debate, or you can change it from just 'argue' to 'argue the point' or something similar.

 

[kochman]

I'm going to chime in here and say his wording was perfectly adequate and back up that opinion with the highest possible score in English rhetoric/usage on the ACT.

I see you've decided to hunt after me in multiple threads now too... another fan.