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Today we are repeating an article from January 2016 as we mourn the demise of the traditional pronunciation of the word electoral. Like many of you, we word nerds at GrammarBook.com have been surfing the TV news networks as we follow pre- and post-election coverage. We can't count the number of times we’ve heard the news anchors, reporters, and pundits, mentioning the electoral college. Unfortunately, we’ve noted about a ten to one trend favoring the pronunciation ee-lec-TOR-ul. But those of us who care have the option to follow our 2016 advice below: "don’t be like them."
Pronunciation changes gradually through the years—that's evolution, and nothing could be more natural.
But nowadays, if an influential public figure goes on TV or the internet and says a word wrong, millions of people hear it, and the mispronunciation may gain an undeserved legitimacy. That isn't evolution, it's weeds taking over a rose garden. Virtually overnight, a word's long-established pronunciation can be upended because some big shot misspoke. Examples of widespread mispronunciations for which we blame the media include alleged, camaraderie, controversial, divisive, homage … we could go on.
We recognize that with language the majority rules, but it's frustrating to realize that those who don't know or care much about words ultimately decide how they're spoken.
So here is another installment in our series of pronunciation columns. (Note: capital letters denote a stressed syllable.)
News Don't say nooze; in many regions of the U.S., it's nyooz (rhymes with fuse).
Era The er should sound like ear. Say EAR-a, not AIR-a.
Dais It's a raised platform for speakers (the human kind). The right way to say it is DAY-iss, but you often hear DYE-iss.
Dalai Lama DAH-lye LA-ma is the pronunciation unanimously accepted by our office dictionaries, which span the last seventy-five years. The ai in Dalai is pronounced like the first syllable in aisle or the last syllable in samurai. Avoid “Dolly Lama”—that second a in Dalai was not just thrown in arbitrarily.
Daiquiri More trouble with ai. In the 1959 British film Our Man in Havana a character orders a DYKE-er-ee, and our 1966 Random House dictionary prefers that pronunciation. But for years now, Americans have said DACK-a-ree. Even so, the American Heritage online dictionary still lists DYKE-er-ee. Maybe the best bet is to order a mai tai.
Guillotine Despite the oft-heard GEE-uh-teen, this word is traditionally pronounced GILL-uh-teen. In the early 19th century, Noah Webster's American Dictionary of the English Language called for the l's to be pronounced. Our 1941 Webster's New International Dictionary also insists on saying the l's. GEE-uh-teen as an alternative is a relatively recent trend.
Electoral We're right in the middle of an important election season, and soon we'll be hearing semiliterate media types saying ee-lec-TOR-ul. Well, don't be like them. The word is properly pronounced with the emphasis on the second syllable. The 1999 Webster's New World and the 2006 American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language list only ee-LEC-ter-ul. However, it is our sad duty to report that the latest edition of each now lists ee-lec-TOR-ul as an alternative. Why is something acceptable now if it wasn't all right ten years ago?
The moral: When it comes to correct pronunciation, a new dictionary might not be the first place you want to look.
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