Words in podcasts

Ok, at the outset, I will admit that I am not perfect at pronunciation. However, I think that most of my issues are more due to one-off word combinations (hard to pronounced word N+1 right after pronouncing word N, at random) as opposed to my reach exceeding my grasp, as the saying goes. I am also unaware of grossly misusing words, though I guess that’s still a possibility for me… But in the end, I am not a professional podcaster, so my mispronunciations or misuses reach only a handful of people, as opposed to 100s or 1000s… Or maybe I’m just picky on this topic. Who’s to say? At any rate, here are some podcast occurrences that have caught my attention and (at least mildly) annoyed me:

• The word ‘iconic’ and ‘iconoclastic’ are not interchangeable.
• The words ‘remorselessly’ and ‘remorsefully’ are not interchangeable.
• The words ‘revealed’ and ‘reviled’ are not interchangeable.
• There is no expression “throw caution to the window”.
• The word ‘across’ does not have a ‘t’ sound at the end, and should be pronounced accordingly.
• Words like ‘printer’ *do* have a ‘t’ sound in the middle, and that sound *should* be pronounced.
• ‘Guarantee-or’ is not a word; ‘guarantor’ *is* a word.
• The ‘L’ in balk is silent — i.e., it is pronounced like the word ‘walk’ or ‘caulk’, not like the first syllable of ‘Balkans’.
• The ‘H’ in scheme is silent — i.e., it is not pronounced as ‘sheem’.
• If you cannot pronounce ‘archipeligo’, then just say ‘string of islands’ or some such. I’ve heard this recently as ‘r-ki-pell *AH* go’, though to his credit, the host immediately said, “and I probably butchered that word.”

To be continued, in all likelihood…