These are interesting to me. I had a couple wrong. We all need a reminder now and then.
Here are just a few:
| affidavit (not affidavid) | | Even if your lawyer's name is ''David,'' he issues affidavits | barbiturate (not barbituate)
| Don't forget this word contains three others: bar+bit+u+rate | | clothes (not close) | | The [th] is a very soft sound likely to be overlooked. Show your linguistic sensitivity and always pronounce it. | | duct tape (not duck tape) | | Ducks very rarely need taping though you may not know that ducts always do—to keep air from escaping through the cracks in them. | | foliage (not foilage) | | Here is another case of metathesis, place-switching of sounds. Remember, the [i] comes after the [l], as in related "folio." liable (not libel) | | You are liable for the damages if you are successfully sued for libel. But don't confuse these discrete words. | | mischievous (not mischevious) | | It would be mischievous of me not to point out the frequent misplacement of the accent on this word. Remember, it is accented the same as mischief. Look out for the order of the [i] and [e] in the spelling, too—and don't add another [i] in the ending (not mischievious). prostate (not prostrate) Though a pain in the prostate may leave a man prostrate, the gland contains no [r]. | | sneaked (not snuck) | | I doubt we will get "snuck" out of the language any time soon but here is a reminder that it really isn't a word. | | Tijuana (not Tiajuana) | | Why make Spanish words more difficult than they already are? Just three syllables here, thank you. The complete list via |
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