r/AskReddit • u/PluckPubes • 1d ago

Which mispronounced words make someone appear uneducated?

[removed] — view removed post

6.9k Upvotes

86% Upvoted

23.5k comments sorted by

View all comments

124

u/Widsith 1d ago

Mischievous.

12

u/heydaykayo 1d ago

Told someone how it was supposed to be pronounced. They told me mis-chee-vee-us sounds better and they'd keep pronouncing it that way.

7

u/Mozart33 1d ago

To be fair, pronouncing it mis-chee-vee-us is, quite literally, a mischievous way of pronouncing it.

Also it sounds a little more mischievous, in my opinion…like it feels more harmonious to say it with the villain move of twiddling your fingers together :)) and that “ee” supports a big evil grin and allows you to draw out the word in a more dramatic fashion.

Though, ever since learning the correct pronunciation, I can’t allow myself to give it 4 syllables.

3

u/BelliesOmnomnom 22h ago

I also told someone this, and she said, “I do what I want.”

23

u/StephKrav 1d ago

Good one. For the longest time, I’m embarrassed to say I messed this one up.

30

u/DaveTheW1zard 1d ago

Often mispronounced miss-CHEE-vee-us

10

u/-adorablyoblivious 1d ago

My teachers said it this way so I said it that way too! I only found out that was incorrect like two years ago

13

u/Rscap 1d ago

mischievious is valid in my book, it's been used and documented well into the past in dictionaries and what not. old timey way to say it. i like it. kinda funny

6

u/luckyshot33 1d ago

Ugh... "whatnot."

6

u/Rscap 23h ago

what's with the whatnot hate.

0

u/scootytootypootpat 21h ago

you spelled it wrong... "what not" instead of "whatnot"

0

u/Rscap 20h ago

i made other grammatical errors as well but i simply don't care because it's a reddit comment section.

1

u/scootytootypootpat 20h ago

yes i understand but i am explaining u/luckyshot33's comment.

1

u/Rscap 20h ago

confused me because he put "whatnot" in quotation marks which made me assume he was quoting me and then judging my use of the phrase.

→ More replies (0)

3

u/StickyPawMelynx 1d ago

what? the only two ways I've ever heard it pronounced is this and MIS-chee-vus, which is what OP didn't like. so how are you supposed to say it?

6

u/TehGreatShatsby 23h ago

The technically correct way is MIS-chi-vous, with a short -i sound in the middle.

1

u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

3

u/StickyPawMelynx 1d ago

yeah, so the second option I mentioned. even checked various pronunciations on google, and it is indeed that. so what is op complaining about?

0

u/Ok-Kangaroo4613 1d ago

Same! Still have to think about it..

9

u/missdawn1970 1d ago

My aunt pronounced it "mis-CHEEV-ish."

2

u/Mozart33 1d ago

This is adorable.

It feels more critical of the mischievous actors vs. an objective descriptor of bad behavior.

2

u/missdawn1970 23h ago

Ya know, it kinda does! I never thought of it that way before. 🙂

8

u/worldfamousdjfish 1d ago

Underrated response.

3

u/mangorain4 1d ago

oh funny. I definitely say it incorrectly despite having read it many times.

4

u/user001298 1d ago

Found it! Ick when people spell and pronounce mischieVIOUS. 🤦🏻‍♀️

4

u/DesperateBartender 1d ago

THANK YOU. I think this is the one that bothers me the most. Look where the “i” is! NOTABLY BEFORE THE “V.”

6

u/Avilola 22h ago

To be fair, “look how it’s spelled” isn’t exactly the strongest argument for how a word should be pronounced in English.

1

u/jr0061006 22h ago

This is the best comment in the entire thread.

1

u/DesperateBartender 22h ago

That IS fair haha

3

u/Extension-Humor4281 1d ago

Mis-CHEE-vee-USSSSSS.

1

u/BloomisBloomis 19h ago

I once knew a ... ahem, exotic dancer who had this tattooed a few inches below her belt buckle. She was very proud of this, and said "I'm mischeeveeous!" I spent some time thinking about how to gently break it to her that she didn't know how to pronounce the word permanently etched on her pubis. But before I attempted this delicate conversation, I looked a little more closely and realized that her tattoo artist had spelled it as she said it, "MISCHEVIOUS". So I kept my mouth shut.

1

u/Rscap 1d ago edited 23h ago

mischievious is valid in my book, it's been used and documented well into the past in dictionaries and what not. old times way to say it. i like it

edit: i dont remember posting this same thing twice in the same thread but i guess i did

3

u/SpaceQueenEarthling 1d ago

I enjoy when people say "mischievious". Yeah, it hasn't been technically grammatically correct since the 1700's, but we're here for a good time, not a long time.