Nettie Hartsock

Copywriting and Talking

Here's a list of the 100 most often mispronounced words. I love this list! Here are a few of the sample words from the list and I encourage you to hit the full link as well.

perogative	prerogative	Even in dialects where [r] does not always trade places with the preceding vowel (as the Texan pronunciations "differnce," "vetern," etc.), the [r] in this prefix often gets switched.
perscription	prescription	Same as above. It is possible that we simply confuse "pre-" and "per-" since both are legitimate prefixes.
persnickety	pernickety	You may think us too pernickety to even mention this one. It is a Scottish nonce word to which U.S. speakers have added a spurious [s].
preemptory	peremptory	The old pre-/per- problem. Do not confuse this word with "preemptive;" the prefix here is per-.
prespire	perspire	"Per-" has become such a regular mispronunciation of "pre-," many people now correct themselves where they don't need to.
plute	pollute	This one, like "plice" [police], spose [suppose], and others, commonly result from rapid speech syncope, the loss of unaccented vowels. Just be sure you pronounce the vowel when you are speaking slowly. Read here for more on the problem.
(probly, prolly)	probably	Haplology is the dropping of one of two identical syllables such as the [ob] and [ab] in this word, usually the result of fast speech. Slow down and pronounce the whole word for maximum clarity and to reduce your chances of misspelling the word.
pronounciation	pronunciation	Just as "misspelling" is among the most commonly misspelled words, "pronunciation" is among the most commonly mispronounced words. Fitting, no?

I Call Bullshit

Where I live, in the Texas Hill Country, we're often tired, hot, bedraggled and trying to make certain our prickly pear wine doesn't turn into vinegar, all the while avoiding any angry rattlesnakes on our front porch.

And one thing we absolutely hate is jargon. Ok, some folks out here like jargon, but they're usually the folks too afraid to sip prickly pear wine so can you really trust em?

So today I'm calling bullshit on jargon. Let's just use good ol' plain English. Not rap, not slang, not witticisms and for gosh sakes not "we're the leaders" or "what we bring to the table" or "think outside the box."

Let's say what we do and do what we say. And to take it a step further, let's generate content that engages readers easily and puts them at ease in the full knowledge that we won't be preaching to them or making everything so god-awful technical that they don't understand one word we've written in a seven page white paper.

And since I've called bullshit on tech jargon, I also urge all of you to check out this site - www.buzzwhack.com which boasts The Buzzword Compliant Dictionary and make certain you're not filling your newsletter, case studies, white papers, sales brochures or anything else with jargon and meaningless buzzwords.

And while you're at it - the dictionary might make the perfect gift for all those non-sipping, tech-laden, prickly pear wine haters!