You know what I think immediately upon hearing of a three-year-old who correctly uses the word clambered? Now *there* is a child that has been read to 🫡
I love the words hullabaloo and kerfuffle, I just love the representation of chaos and cuteness. I don't like words I can't say correctly despite being an adult and knowing how to say them like anonymity...I don't know why but when I try to say it out loud it's closer to anemone. The human brain is a puzzle.
I remember when I learned the word kerfuffle! I worked at a summer camp and some of the counselors were Canadian and I always associated it as a “Canadian” word after that since I learned it from them!! But is it? Now I am doubting the validity of that. Hullabaloo is right there with hootenanny! Let’s have one!
Pronunciation of wriggly words can be so wild! I’ll find myself using those moments as an excuse to consult and exercise my inner thesaurus…mostly so I don’t have to try to figure out how to say it right (whatever it may be!)
Thank you!!! Ooo roar! That is so fascinating to me. I’ve had a particularly hard time recently with “flurry” for some reason - I find myself over doing it so it sort of sounds like I’m saying “floor-e” and it’s weird.
Sconces! Is a legit word that I kind of love now that I see it and say it right now but I get why it would be hated.
This was such a fun read! Not necessarily my favorite word but one with fond memories: I remember learning the hard way that the words I read (and pronounced in my head) were actually pronounced very differently aloud. I think I mispronounced "epitome" for a solid year before someone kindly corrected me. To this day, I hesitate before saying the word out loud.
You know I read this comment and immediately wondered, “wait, how does one say epitome?” My husband is an English teacher and did a word of the day for a really long time so he would get to say fun things to me like “how do you think you pronounce this word?” and reveal we’ve all been saying it wrong. Sometimes, because he is my husband, I get to deny the correct pronunciation and just carry on. 😂
(My favorite word is serendipity -- because when I was little, before I knew what it looked like or how to spell it, I was convinced it had something to do with my name. A whole, complicated, five-syllable word with some delightful sounds -- that puff of that p! the "tuh" of that t! -- all for me! I was deeply flattered, and the feeling has never worn off 😆)
What an absolutely marvelous word to take ownership of! Methinks it does belong to you! We had the entire Serendipity books collection on books on tape and loved listening to them so I will always think of the pink sea dragon and captain sludge when I hear that word!
Hard to believe! They may have been regional to seattle area, I think the creators were from there. Very didactic in a way that feels very late 80’s but I didn’t realize it as a child.
You know what I think immediately upon hearing of a three-year-old who correctly uses the word clambered? Now *there* is a child that has been read to 🫡
It’s trueeeee! I was trying to think of which book it came from but I couldn’t place it
Favorite word: HOOTENANNY! 🤎
Ahhh! What fun! Let’s have one!
Yes!! 🎉🎉🎉
I love the words hullabaloo and kerfuffle, I just love the representation of chaos and cuteness. I don't like words I can't say correctly despite being an adult and knowing how to say them like anonymity...I don't know why but when I try to say it out loud it's closer to anemone. The human brain is a puzzle.
I remember when I learned the word kerfuffle! I worked at a summer camp and some of the counselors were Canadian and I always associated it as a “Canadian” word after that since I learned it from them!! But is it? Now I am doubting the validity of that. Hullabaloo is right there with hootenanny! Let’s have one!
Pronunciation of wriggly words can be so wild! I’ll find myself using those moments as an excuse to consult and exercise my inner thesaurus…mostly so I don’t have to try to figure out how to say it right (whatever it may be!)
I love all your newsletters but this one was especially awesome! A word I hate to read aloud is “roar”
It doesn’t bother me to look at it, but my tongue hates to speak it 🤣
My 13 year old told me tonight that he hates the words “sconces” and “linoleum” 🤣🤣
Thank you!!! Ooo roar! That is so fascinating to me. I’ve had a particularly hard time recently with “flurry” for some reason - I find myself over doing it so it sort of sounds like I’m saying “floor-e” and it’s weird.
Sconces! Is a legit word that I kind of love now that I see it and say it right now but I get why it would be hated.
This was such a fun read! Not necessarily my favorite word but one with fond memories: I remember learning the hard way that the words I read (and pronounced in my head) were actually pronounced very differently aloud. I think I mispronounced "epitome" for a solid year before someone kindly corrected me. To this day, I hesitate before saying the word out loud.
You know I read this comment and immediately wondered, “wait, how does one say epitome?” My husband is an English teacher and did a word of the day for a really long time so he would get to say fun things to me like “how do you think you pronounce this word?” and reveal we’ve all been saying it wrong. Sometimes, because he is my husband, I get to deny the correct pronunciation and just carry on. 😂
(My favorite word is serendipity -- because when I was little, before I knew what it looked like or how to spell it, I was convinced it had something to do with my name. A whole, complicated, five-syllable word with some delightful sounds -- that puff of that p! the "tuh" of that t! -- all for me! I was deeply flattered, and the feeling has never worn off 😆)
What an absolutely marvelous word to take ownership of! Methinks it does belong to you! We had the entire Serendipity books collection on books on tape and loved listening to them so I will always think of the pink sea dragon and captain sludge when I hear that word!
I just had to look that up -- never heard of them!
Hard to believe! They may have been regional to seattle area, I think the creators were from there. Very didactic in a way that feels very late 80’s but I didn’t realize it as a child.