Oh Say Can You Say...?

Updated: Feb 15, 2020

Can you pronounce pronunciation?

Ok Kids,

You did not know I had so many pet peeves, did you?

Another one is the pronunciation of “pronunciation”.

But you’re clever, and you’ll pronounce it properly. And spell it properly.

Here we go:

I pronounce

You pronounce

He/she/it pronounces

Blah blah blah

Straightforward? Of course!

Then we get into words like “pronouncement” which does not mean the way you pronounce things but rather some weighty words you say about something.

Say what?

It’s not used so much anymore. But that’s no reason not to keep using it. Add it to your vocabulary. See if you can use it in your writing this week.

A judge might make a pronouncement about a sentence in court.

A government might make a pronouncement about some issue – say, global warming.

Do you get it? It’s some big potato saying big words about something big. Pronouncement is big!

You wouldn’t say “My mother’s pronouncement was that I would no longer have access to the TV.”

It’s gotta be bigger than that.

And we haven’t even got to my pet peeve.

Here it comes:

Even though we say “pronounce”, we do not say or write “pronounciation”!!!! We say “pronunciation” and spell it “pronunciation”.

Say it now, 10 times.

Pronunciation

There, now you’ll remember it forever.

And not only that, but you’ll be in a position to correct others who insist on saying “pronounciation”. Shudder.

Now it’ll be your pet peeve too.

Write me in the comments and tell me how many times you caught someone mispronouncing “pronunciation” this week.

I bet it’ll make your day.

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