Commonly Mispronounced Words - On the News and Everywhere

While watching some news clips today, I found several instances of the newscasters mispronouncing words. The words were all among the most commonly mispronounced words in America. These words and phrases also show up in writing.

In the case of some phrases or words, it is easy to understand the mistake. One commonly mispronounced phrase is 'Card Sharks' which is incorrect. The correct phrase is 'Card Sharp', which is a phrase I have never heard. I have always heard this phrase incorrectly used with the word 'shark' instead of 'sharp'. Wordorigins.org has some interesting history on this conflict.

As I reviewed the lists today to check my own speaking and writing, I found one in particular of which I am guilty:

'Chomp at the bit' is WRONG. The phrase in its correct form is 'champ at the bit'. However, with how commonly this phrase is misspoken, the incorrect version is becoming more commonly accepted and does appear in some dictionaries.

One that I hear constantly that is like nails on a chalkboard to me is "Old-timers Disease". There is no such thing. The correct name of the disease is "Alzheimer's Disease".

Want to check yourself? The following links will give you more information regarding proper pronunciation and proper phrases for better speaking and writing, along with the history of my troublesome phrases. Though some of the words make all the lists below, there are some words unique to each list, too.

100 Most Often Mispronounced Words and Phrases in English from YourDictionary.Com

Fun with Words: Commonly Mispronounced Words by Rinkworks (includes pronunciation guide)

Do You Speak American? Beastly Mispronunciations from PBS.ORG website

Commonly Mispronounced Words at Infoplease.com

Card Sharp vs. Card Shark at Wordorigins.org

Champ at the bit vs. Chomp at the bit on The Grammarphobia blog

Want to brush up your skills? Get free email lessons on various aspects of the English language and Grammar:

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Though set up as an "English as a Second Language" aid, the esl section of About.com is very helpful to anyone wishing to improve their language and grammar skills. For the emailed lessons, click HERE to choose your choice of lesson area(s).


If you don't want email, there are still resources out there you can use to improve your skills:

30+ Online Resources to Expand Your English Vocabulary from MakeUseOf.com

How's Your Vocabulary?

Photo by Chance Agrella














Over on one of my favorite blogs (Freelancewritinggigs.com by Deborah Ng) she took a humor break and listed a few fun sites. One was this quick vocabulary quiz. Results are given by letter grade - just like in school.

To Take the quiz: How's Your Vocabulary? (Quiz)

My Results:

***Your Vocabulary Score: A***
Congratulations on your multifarious vocabulary!
You must be quite an erudite person.

Actually, it would have been terribly embarrassing if I had scored anything less as I have a Master's Certification in English Vocabulary!

Please take the quiz and leave your input about it here. How did you do? Were you surprised by the results?

Happy quizzing!