51吃瓜

Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong famously sang about the controversial pronunciations of words like tomato (to-mah-to?), potato (po-tah-to?), either, neither, pajamas,听and others in the song 鈥淟et鈥檚 Call the Whole Thing Off.鈥� They settled nothing, and people have been debating the right way to say these words ever since.听

And those aren鈥檛 the only words that send people to opposing corners, either. There are a host of words that, for whatever reason, people just can鈥檛 reach a conclusion as to which way they should be pronounced.

If you want to get people all fired up, just mention one of these words and watch the orthoepy fires ignite. Even dictionaries dive into the fray on occasion.听

So how do you pronounce these words?

caramel

For such a sweet word, caramel can cause some pretty sticky conversations. Some people choose to skip a syllable and pronounce it like car听摆听kahr-muhl ], while others pronounce it as a three-syllable word beginning with care: [听kar–uh-muhl ]. There’s also [听kar–uh-mel ], because why have two pronunciations when three is even more confusing?

First evidence of the word in English dates back to 1715鈥�25. It stems from the French caramel (“burnt sugar”) and听Spanish caramelo.听It’s likely derived from the Latin word cannamella, meaning 鈥渟ugar cane,鈥� which is equivalent to the Latin words canna听(鈥渃ane”) and mel (鈥渉辞苍别测”).

GIF

Talk about a word that gets people riled up. GIF or gif stands for “graphics interchange format,” that much is fact. The way it鈥檚 pronounced, however, is the subject of much debate since the word was introduced into our language around 1985鈥�90.听

At Dictionary.com, we stand by the pronunciation as [ jif ]听(as in the peanut butter brand or a giraffe) as that鈥檚 how the inventor of the format, Steve Wilhite, says it should be pronounced. Plenty of others though say it should be pronounced [ gif ] with a hard G as in golf. That leads some people to opt for a version along the lines of 鈥淭here鈥檚 this jif or gif鈥攈owever you say it …”

vase

When it comes to these vessels that typically hold flowers, there are a variety of ways people pronounce vase. There鈥檚 [ veys ] (rhymes with case), [听veyz听] (rhymes with daze), and [听vahz听闭听(rhymes with cause). Which one is right? Take your pick. Most people in the United States pronounce it [听veys ], but if you want to be fancy, go ahead and say [听vahz听].

First evidence of the word dates back to 1555鈥�65 French. It is derived from the Latin word 惫腻蝉, meaning 鈥�惫别蝉蝉别濒.鈥� 听

mauve

Color most people confused when it comes to this pale shade of bluish purple. Many people pronounce mauve with a short A sound like听father [ ah ], but the correct pronunciation actually rhymes with stove: [听mohv ]. (Yeah, that blew our minds, too!)

The purple dye used to make the color was discovered in 1856, obtained from aniline. Its name stems from the French word mallow, itself derived from the Latin word malva meaning 鈥渕allow,鈥� which refers to the mallow plant that has purple markings on its petals.听

jewelry

You can never have too many baubles or too much bling, which may help you remember that the word jewelry can be pronounced multiple ways: with three syllables听[ joo–uhl-ree ] and two [听jool-ree ]. The pretty word dates back to 1300鈥�50, stemming from the Anglo-French word juelerie, which is equivalent to juel, meaning 鈥�jewel,鈥� and the suffix -erie.

often

Talk about an oft-mispronounced word. To include the T sound, or not include the T sound鈥攖hat is the question. There are four pronunciations for often included in this dictionary: [听aw-fuhn ], [听of–uhn ]; [听awf-tuhn ], and [听of-tuhn ].

The T can be silent [听aw-fuhn ], though it听used to be pronounced early on,听when the word was a variant of听oft (think oft-quoted).听First evidence of the word dates back to 1300鈥�50 when it was spelled oftin. But around the 1600s, the educated classes in North America and Great Britain deemed the T sound unfavorable, and for some, that鈥檚 still the case today.听

almond

You just may surprise your friends when you tell them that it’s perfectly acceptable to pronounce the L in almond鈥攐r not!听There are three pronunciations for almond:听摆听ah-muhnd ], [听am–uhnd ], and [听al-muhnd ]. ‘Cause sometimes you feel like an L, and sometimes you don’t.听

In California, where more than 80 percent of the world’s almonds are grown, the debate over pronunciation splits along age and region. tend to omit the L. (And even have a rhyme for it: “It’s an almond when it’s in the tree and an amond听when it’s on the ground because the L gets shaken out of it!”)

First evidence of the word in English dates back to 1250鈥�1300 when it was spelled almande. It stems from the Old French word alemande.听

sherbet 听

Here鈥檚 another one most people have been pronouncing wrong their entire lives: sherbet. Nope, there鈥檚 no R in the second syllable, and you don’t need to put one in when you鈥檙e pronouncing the name of this yummy frozen fruit-flavored concoction either.听

This word dates back to 1595鈥�1605, stemming from the Turkish and Persian word sharbat, which comes from the Arabic word sharbah, meaning 鈥渁 drink.鈥� As you can see, neither of these words includes an R. The sound鈥攌nown as an intrusive R鈥攚as added when the word was imported into English. (An intrusive R also appears when听tuna听is pronounced by some as听tuner.)

acai

Speaking of fruity things, let鈥檚 talk acai. This vibrant purple berry comes from a palm tree found in Central and South America called the Euterpe oleracea. The health benefits of acai as well as the pretty acai bowls peppering social media accounts have led to the fruit鈥檚 recent popularity.听

But how to pronounce the superfood? It should be [听ah-sah-ee听] or [ ah-sahy-ee ]. There鈥檚 no hard C nor does it rhyme with bye. The word dates back to 1850鈥�60 to the Portuguese word 补莽补铆,听which stems from the听Tupi-Guarani word asa铆.听

foyer

How fancy you are will probably determine how you pronounce foyer. Saying [ foi-er ] is just fine, as is [听foi-ey ], or if you want to add a little French to your lingo, you might say [ fwa-yey ]. Take your pick.听听

The word, which means 鈥渢he lobby of a theater, hotel, or apartment house鈥� or 鈥渁 vestibule or entrance hall in a house or apartment鈥� comes from French, where it meant 鈥渇ireplace or hearth鈥� as it was originally used to describe the room where theatre patrons went between acts to get warm.

With these pronunciation guidelines, you’ll be able to settle a few debates鈥攐r astound your friends with your newfound knowledge. And as far as tomato goes, why don’t we call the whole thing off? Both pronunciations are in the dictionary, after all!

 

And while we’re talking about pronunciation, can we have a