15 Words You Think You’re Pronouncing Correctly (But You’re Probably Not)

How do you pronounce the word mischievous? If you think it’s “miss-CHEE-vee-uss,” take another gander at the spelling: There’s no i after the v. It’s “MISS-chuh-vuss.” But “miss-CHEE-vee-uss” is such a widespread pronunciation that it’s listed in Merriam-Webster’s entry for the word—though it is labeled “nonstandard.”

Why it’s so widespread is a mystery; maybe people are influenced by devious, which does sort of evoke mischief. Or maybe they’re just … being mischievous.

There’s no shame in mispronouncing a word; it’s basically impossible to go through your whole life without doing it. And plenty of words get botched so often that the mistake—like “MISS-chee-vee-uss”—is eventually accepted as a valid variant. So on the latest episode of The List Show, Mental Floss editor-in-chief and host Erin McCarthy is covering some of the English language’s standout mispronunciations, from “VICK-shoo-uhls” to “BOAT-swain”—and in some cases, why we pronounce the words way.

Take February, for example. We say “FEB-yoo-air-ee,” not “FEB-roo-air-ee,” and we have some Latin superfans to thank for that. In the 16th and 17th centuries, scholars altered a bunch of words to look more like their Latin predecessors. English speakers first used feverere, or feverell (“fev-er-ELL”), from the French feverier (“fev-air-ee-AY”). But the original Latin was Februarius (“feb-roo-ARE-ee-us”). So another r got added, but we drew the line at actually saying it.

Watch the full episode above, and don’t forget to subscribe to Mental Floss for new videos every week.

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