The Snarky Editor has heard it said — with truth — that when someone mispronounces a word, it’s probably because they learned it by reading. And as far as the Snarky Editor is concerned, anything that builds a vocabulary is a good thing.
But when we learn words by listening to others, things can get really messed up. Unless the speaker has excellent diction, and the listener has excellent hearing, and then everybody stops to think about whether the word actually makes sense, things can get a little messy sometimes.
“I can’t believe the old bitty is dead.”
And that would be biddy — as in an old hen.
His voice was rich, like carmel melting in the pot…
The city in California is Carmel, with two syllables. Or to be technical — because the Snarky Editor prefers to be — it’s Carmel-by-the-Sea. But the candy is caramel, with three syllables — care-ah-mel — even though very few people say it that way.
… a speakeasy opening at the top behind a black rod iron grill.
Okay, this mishearing almost makes sense, because iron grillwork often is formed from rods, or pieces that look like rods. But it’s actually wrought-iron. It’s iron that isn’t just flat or plain, it’s been worked — wrought — into fancier shapes.
It was a give in that he’d have flocks of girls stampeding after him…
Oh my. In whose ears did this one sound right? No, it was a given — an accepted fact, a factor that’s presented as a truth which you can then base conclusions on. When you get a word problem in math where a train is traveling at 100 miles an hour, the train and the speed are givens — you know the problem isn’t going to end up being about a horse or a golf cart instead. And it is a given — an accepted fact — that the star of a TV reality show featuring bachelors is going to have girls falling all over him.
Amira followed Ally into the sunk-in living room.
Ah, shades of the sixties, when it was the cool thing to have a sunken living room — a step or two down from the hallway or foyer. But it was never a sunk-in living room, even if it was kinda sunk into the basement under it.
Causeway must spend more on wood furnisher polish than I do on office rent.
And that would be furniture polish. Furnisher polish makes no sense at all — but it does kinda sound the same. Sigh.
The Snarky Editor comes out of hiding occasionally to comment on the awkward, silly, and sometimes hilarious editing errors found in published books.
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Leigh Michaels is the award-winning author of more than 100 books, including historical and contemporary romance, non-fiction books about writing, and local history. More than 35 million copies of her books are in print in 27 languages and more than 120 countries. She is also a writing coach and book editor, though she promises to be snarky only in regard to published books.
To find out more, check out https://leighmichaels.com
enjoyable read.