Guest
James Harbeck of Sesquiotica talks about words that people often learn from books and go a long time without knowing the “right” (dictionary standard) pronunciation for. Most of you have probably run up against one or more of these, and there’s no shame in not having known how to say them at first, because English spelling and pronunciation are weird. Find out more details of how these words got this way in my article for The Week, Words covered: ennui, potpourri, façade, viscount, inchoate, caveat, segue, cache, calliope, Hermione, Penelope, Persephone, epitome, hyperbole, antithesis, Yosemite, draught, waistcoat, boatswain, victuals, Worcester, Greenwich, often, soften, askance, biopic, infrared, albeit, awry, misled
