Did you ever say something wrong for a really, really long time before you found out the correct phrase or word? No? Liar!
I'm not sure how many years I said "intensive purposes" before I actually saw it in print. hmmmm "Intents and purposes." Did not know that.
There was a little camp fire sing in one of the dorm rooms during my one and only year at Stephens. I was belting out a favorite that I learned at Camp Katanawa ("a camp on a lake guaranteed to see a snake") as a young girl.
At the top of my voice - "ee saw fa dilly" lalalala - can't remember the rest.
When I finished, my fellow camp fire roomies looked at me with that "what the hell" look on their faces.
I'm like "what?"
"What was that one line you just sang?"
"Which one?"
"That 'ee saw fa dilly' line."
We dissected the little ditty and realized it was about a frog.
We dissected further - lyric by lyric - and since we were all brilliant freshman at Stephens College for Women, we finally came up with the correct phrase.
Are you ready or did you guess?
Remember, it's about a frog. hint, hint
"Leaps off a lily."
Personally, I like the way I sang it; it made me sway and smile.
The real lyrics don't do that so much.
Ah, well.
So - have you ever mispronounced something incorrectly for an embarrassingly long time?
Come on - fess up.
I would like the dilly version too! I have been blessed to not screw up a lot! I am gifted in medical jargon, must be the phonetic training! But, yes, aspartame got me for many years. There have been a few others but the gift of being old means I can't remember which ones! LOL
ReplyDeleteDill - since Petey worked in the R&D tablet dept. for Perrigo, I was will acquainted with aspertame.
DeleteBeen there, done that. Called cupola "cup-oh'-la" well into my adult years - having read it but never heard it pronounced. Didn't understand what someone was talking about when I hear "coop'-o-la! I remember others from time to time, but like Dilly, have that "oldness" excuse and can't think of them tonight.
ReplyDeleteGood thing we can laugh at ourselves, eh?
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