look up "Pygmalion," or if heavy reading's not your thing, at least go rent Rex Harrison's "My Fair Lady," wherein you will hear the immortal truth "With every word you utter, you condemn yourself to the gutter." True dat. Doug on February 1, 2011 5:25 am "Niche" is pronounced "neesh" because it's a French word. "Nitch" sounds like something you need foot powder to cure. Pet peeves: Nuclear pronounced "nook-you-lerr" instead of "nook-lee-err." "Chaise lounge" instead of chaise longue. Brett FARVE???? NO! It's not FARVE it's FAVRE!!!!!! Sheesh! Using "fillet" (an aerodynamic fairing) to denote a boneless cut of meat when in fact the word is "filet." Pronouncing "palette" (an array of colors) as "PAL-utt" the same as pallet and palate when it should be pronounced "puh-LETT." Referring to "many mediums" to denote radio, TV, newsprint, etc. when in fact the plural of "medium" is "media." Conversely, I've also cringed at "my favorite media is TV" when the singular form of "media" is (ta-daaa!) "medium." Transmogrifying "undoubtedly" into "undoubtably" for no apparent reason. Saying "If only I WOULD HAVE KNOWN then what I know now" instead of "If only I HAD KNOWN then what I know now." Where does this widespread garbage-speak come from??? Seeing people write "Wa-La" when they mean "Voil" Hearing redundant and inane verbal contrivances such as "The reason being is that it's raining" when the correct usage for "reason being" is "The reason being that it's raining." ("Is" and "being" are different forms of the SAME