12mo ago

Can you say shibboleth

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I was 17 when my friend pointed out to me that epitome is pronounced epi-tome-ey
Rather than how I was saying it Epi-Tome.
- Congrats, I was first corrected while meeting new people in college 😔
  I even had it in a song I wrote and the whole thing was ruined because it didn't rhyme anymore. Also it was ruined by my songwriting skills.
- Same here, but I knew the correct pronunciation of the word when spoken, I just didn't know they were the same damn word. When it finally clicked in my head, I about slapped myself.
  
  Same here for "pique".
  
  I learned "piqued" when I was reading as a kid but I pronounced it "pee-khwhy". So very wrong haha
  
  ..I don't know how to pronounce that word either
  
  Like peak . " My curiosity was piqued." In my example technically like peaked.
  
  Dude, that's how I was with dachshund. I heard it spoken and assumed it was spelled something like "doxen", and then in my head I pronounced dachshund as "dash-hund"
  
  TIL...
  
  Gabriel Wyner talks about this phenomenon in the first chapter or two of Fluent Forever. Can't remember what he called it but rest assured that you are not alone in experiencing this :)
- I went to a restaurant called Penelope's... I thought it was pene-lopes. 🤦
  
  Ha, I remember reading Greek mythology when I was young and getting thrown off by Persephone. Seemed like it should rhyme with telephone...
  
  That would be telephony, which I didn't know was even a word until I was in my 30s.
- I'm having an anaphylactic shock, give me the Epi-Tome™! 😄
  Don't mean to make fun of you, just thought of a coincidentally similar sounding word
- Epitome was one of mine too. Also inventory, i thought emphasis was on the vent syllable not the in syllable
  
  I used to do that, too. inVENTory
- This unlocked the epitomous memory of me and my mom in the car and the radio show host trying to bust out his best vocab with epi-TOme. She bust out laughing. I feel like something similar is coming back 'round to me, just found out it's epitomic. Not even sure how to pronounce
- I know that, but I intentionally pronounce it epi-tome because it sounds better emphasized, it really bothers my mom
- That one used to trip me up. It still "feels" wrong to me even today.

306 comments