Not so long ago, a friend was shocked when she heard me pronounce Mxyptlk (“mix-yizz-pit-e-lick”), having only heard it as “mix-el-plick”, thanks to the Super Friends. I try not to be That Guy, especially given the overwhelming number of stereotypical nerd tendencies I already exhibit, but I am a believer in pronouncing things as close to correctly as possible. (Doubly so, if it’s someone’s actual name.) It’s a double-edged sword, though, as ‘Legends Of Tomorrow’ recently had an appearance by Matt Ryan’s Constantine, mispronounced with the “teen” rather than the creator’s intended “tine”, leading to today’s hard-to-parse query…
The MS-QOTD (pronounced, as always, “misquoted”) is endlessly annoyed by the kids a the local Gyroville pronouncing their signature pita sammich like Donald Duck’s inventor pal, asking: What commonly mispronounced word bothers you the most?
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“Cannon”, when people mean canon.
I’m not entirely sure which is the correct pronunciation, but every time I hear someone pronounce shaman as “shay-man” instead of “shah-man” I want to slap that person. And don’t get me started on the various wrong pronunciations of the word ‘melee’…
I’m hard of hearing, so little differences don’t bother me very much. What does bother me is when people regularly say a word in a COMPLETELY different manner than the actual pronunciation of the word.
For example, I have a neighbor who says candelabra as “candle bra”, and a relative who says ravioli as “raviolar” (where the heck is that extra R coming from?!?!).
Not a word but it’s not “haitch”, it’s “aitch”. Drives me effing mad.
If I hear one more person say they “could care less” when they mean they “couldn’t care less”….