Saying it correctly, most of the time

› I love words. I especially love them in crossword puzzles and Scrabble games. I’ve spent many an hour playing› Words with Friends›on my phone. My mother’s mother was a word-lover as well. She called attention to mispronounced and misused words. She delighted in finding mistakes in printed material and often criticized television personalities for their “pure-d-ignorance.”›She always subscribed to›Reader’s Digest› and we’d do the› Word Power› vocabulary test in the back of the magazine together.›

Recently, a friend gave me a little booklet which contained thirty of these tests. It’s a great “bathroom” book. I’ve enjoyed doing the tests, especially during my busy season of tax preparation when few delightful words pop up during my days. It’s “number” season and that little book, treasured away in my bathroom, is like an oasis of relief.›

For one so proud of her vocabulary and ability to pronounce words correctly, I was shocked when I started the test titled, “Commonly Mispronounced Words.”›Although I was able to match the words to the definitions, I was shocked to find that many of these words were mispronounced — by me.

Although I’m embarrassed, I hope I’m not the only one. Misery loves company.

The first word was›cardsharp›which means a professional cheater at cards. I read it in a book a few months ago and thought the author had used the wrong word — or since it was a British mystery novel, maybe the British called them that, but in America we called them “card sharps.” Nay Nay. The word really is cardsharp. Agatha Christie was right.

Another word on the test was›pernickety,›which means fussy and hard to please. One should note that there is no “s” in the middle of the word. I’ve been saying, “persnickety” all my life —especially when I was being pernickety. As a matter of fact, when I say “persnickety,” my southern drawl emphasizes that “s” so much that those-in-the-know probably roll their eyes.

Likewise, a ship that sinks to the bottom or a person who stumbles around is› foundering.›There is no “l” in this word. So, although the flounder (fish) may founder, he probably will not sink to the bottom, but rise to the top. However, founders of fish markets who do badly may go bankrupt and founder if they can’t get enough flounder.› Hmmmm.

Two commonly mispronounced words were› recur›and›orient.›Most of us say “reoccur.” Although it does mean happening again, the proper way to refer to it is to say it is a recurring incident, not “reoccurring” incident.› I shudder to think how many times this has recurred in my life. I shudder in shame.› Furthermore, I’ve heard many people say they “orientated” something. No, nothing “ated” that word. We orient the oriental couch.

The doctor doesn’t “dialate” your eyes. However, she may› dilate› them when she examines them. I blame bad eyesight on my inability to see the proper spelling of that word — thus mispronouncing it.›So maybe she did “dialate” them instead of dilating them, thus leading to that “foot in my mouth — or eye.”

This booklet of vocabulary tests is challenging and fun. However, I’ve hidden it away and may have to shred it when I finish it.› Although only one of the tests had to do with mispronouncing words, I’ve found that I’m not as smart as I thought.›It’s really not› re-le-vant› (not reve-lant) to the situation and the› ex-cerpts› (not excerps), which can be found in the bathroom trash basket, should not prove me› li-a-ble› (not li-bel) for my mistakes.› Let’s blame my grandmother.