Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1890-09-03
MISPRONOUNCED WORDS.
Between Three or Four Thousand of Them
in the English Language.

quently m1sprOnOuced. Some OF these
are the following:
Ab-a-tis. Not a-ba-tis That has been
done for this word that should be done
as soon as possible for all foreign words
that we use. 1t has been fully Angli-
cized. The more English we make our
English the better English it is.
Abdomen. There is no authority,
except popular usage, for accenting the
first syllable of this word.
Abdominal. The short, as in don
Ab-er-crom-hy. The of this proper
name is not the of con, but the 0 of
come.
object. Not ab.ject.
Ab-ject-ness.
Ab-ject-ly.
absolute. Not absoloot, as is often
pronounced by the careless.
Ab-s0l- u-to-ry The dictionaries say
that the penultimate in such words as
declamatory, migratory, inventory,
matrimony, dedicatory, derogatory, ma
tatory, category, parsimony, piscatory,
PREDATORY, territory, ETC., is or should
be pronounced like shortW; that is, like
in major, actor, factor, etc. Is this
true? The penultimate of these
words fails, without an exception, I'M
der rhythmical accent, which natural
ly does and should bring out in no small
degree the quality Of the vowel though
not in the same degree that it is brought
out when standing under a preliminary
accent. 1t is safe to assert that it is on
ly those specially schooled to slur this 0
that pronounce it according to the die
tiOnary marking. There are many that
pronounce matrlmony and a few that
pronounce inventory with the 0
very short, or obscure as Worcester has
it; but there are probably none, in this
country at least, that are consistent and
uniformly suppress this o in the whole
long list of words in which it occurs.
To do so is to take something from
whatever of sonorousness the language
naturally has, as all languages are
sonorous in proportion to their wealth
in vowel sounds,
Absolve. There is good authority for
sounding the of this word like z, but
this is hardly in accordance with the
best usage.
Absorb: The S-sound of in this
word should be carefully avoided.
4b-stract-ly. Not ab-stroct-ly.
Ab-stralse. The Of this word has the
sound of long co. This is the rule. Z
preceded by n or the sound of sh or zh,
in the same syllable, often is sounded
like long 90, as in rude, rumor, rule,
sure, issue.
A-by-dos Not Ab-y-dos.
Ac-a-de-mian.
Accent. When a noun, the first,
when verb, the second, is the accent
ed SYLLABLE We accent a syllable with
an accent.
Acceptable. In Walkers time this
word was accented on the first svlla-
BILE by the majority of the better speak
ers.
Access. is more in accordance with
the best current usage to accent the first
rather than the second SYLLABLE of this
word, Webster to the contrary notwith-
standing
Accessory Ease of utterance
has shifted the accent from the first
to the second syllable, where it will re-
main.
Ac-cIi-mate. For the pronunciation
authority.
Accrue. Here is another word
in which the has the sound of long
90.
Acetate The long as in fate.
Acoustics. All our dictionaries pro-
nounce the on of this word or, while
nearly the whole English-speaking
world, SO far as the writer's observation
goes, pronounce it like long 90. Many
persons thus pronounced knowing that
the authorities are against them
Saualor is another word treated in like
manner. A kows-tics is certainly not
pleasing to the ear.
Act-or. Not the of nor, but the of
Major.
A-cu-men Not ak-u-men.
Adaptation.
Address. Both noun and verb are
now commonly accented on the second
sy liable.
Adduce When, in the same syllable,
long is preceded by one Of the conso-
nants d, t, !, n, s, or tn, it is not easy to
introduce the sound of q; hence care
less speakers omit 1T, pronouncing duty,
dooty; tune, toon; lutte, loot; nuisance,
noosance, etc. And yet to make the u
in these words as clear and perfect as in
mute, cute, ETC., is overnice and conse
quently smacks of pedantry. The two
extremes should be avoided with equal
care.
Adept Not adept.
Adhesive Do not pronounce the s
like z.
Adipose. Do not pronounce the $
like Z.
AO-l0C-tt-Ndl. 1uCIC 10 dUuuQdIIt
authority for accenting the first syllable,
but it is to be hoped that no one
will be inclined to follow it.
Ad-jec-tive-iy.
Ad-mi- ra-ble; admirably.
Admiralty. The first and not the
third is the accented syllable.
A-do-nis.
Adobe. Three syllabies-ah-do-b be.
Adult. There is no authority for ad-
ult.
Advance. The second of this word
should De sounded broader than the q
in man, van, fat, ETC., and not SO broad
as IN father.
At the beginning of this century
words in which this so-called intermedi-
ate occurs were generally pronounced
with the full, broad italian a, as in
father, which by the exquisites was not
infrequently exaggerated. This Walker
undertook to change, and to that end
marked the a of this class of words
short, like the in and, man, at, ETC.
That innovation met with only partial
success. Now there is a general dispo-
sition to unite in some intermediate
sound between the broad in father.
which is very rarely, and the short IL.