Hi, I'm John Green. Welcome to Mental Floss on YouTube, and welcome to my salon. Oh, everything here has to do with the Nerdfighter community, including this picture of Benedict Cumberbatch, who is apparently a nerdfighter. You say that 'Ben-e-dict Cum-ber-batch' by the way, NOT 'Ban-dee-coot Cum-ber-bund'. And that is the first of many mispronunciations we're going to learn about today.

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1. You know those weird looks you get when you play Clue with your friends and you accuse 'Call-in-null' Mustard with the candlestick in the hall? That's because it's 'Kern-el' Mustard (Colonel). Also, it was probably Professor Plum.

2. You're going to be astonished how many of these you hopefully already know, but I'm sharing them because many millions of people don't. It's not Aw-ree, for instance, it's ah-wry (awry).

3. 'Ep-it-tome' is the 'ep-it-tom-ee' of mispronunciation.

4. You don't go to 'Ed-in-burg', you go to 'Ed-in-bur-ah.'

5. It's not 'e-ther-real', it's 'eth-eer-ee-ul'.

6. This is not a 'me-may', or a 'mee-mee', it's a 'meem' (meme) (at least we're trying to make it one.

7. That should not be confused with the cast member of The Real Housewives of Atlanta who pronounces her name (Nene) 'Nay-nay' - Meredith tells me.

8. And speaking of memes, it's 'Gang-nam Style' by (Psy) 'Sigh'. Which Meredith will now demonstrate.

Meredith mouths 'no'.

9. The creator of the Graphical Interchange Format calls it 'Jif'. According to the dictionary, which is all that matters, both pronunciations are correct!

11. Acronyms belong to their readers. I'm sorry, Steve Wilhite, but you've just been 'powned' (pwned). Not 'pawned' or 'pweened'.

12. 'Fay-tious?' No, 'fa-see-tious' (facetious).

13. Also, I swear if people keep on pronouncing 'hi-per-bo-lee' (hyperbole) 'hy-per-bowl,' the universe is going to implode upon itself.

14. Mental Floss producer Mark, because he is Canadian, or possible because he is eccentric, says 'la-va'

15. and 'past-ah,' but in fact, 'law-va' and 'paw-sta' (lava and pasta).

16. 'New-clear?' 'New-cue-lar?' No, 'new-clear' (nuclear).

17. This an 'uh-ficially' (officially) licensed NBC product, not an 'oh-ficially' licensed one. 

18. And we're going to stay on the wall of magic to discuss Harry Potter's best friend, 'Her-my-oh-nee' (Hermione). They should have been a couple, but life is full of injustice and Weasley's.

19. Speaking of Harry Potter, Voldemort is played by 'Rayf Fines' (Ralph Fiennes),

20. Taylor 'Lout-ner' (Lautner), not 'Lot-ner' is Jacob Black in Twilight,

21. Jake 'Gill-in-hall' (Gyllenhaal) was the prince of Persia in one of the greatest films ever made.

22. So if you're wondering why Taylor Swift never mentions her ex-boyfriends by name in her songs, it's because their names are so hard to pronounce. 'Got-ee-ay' (Gotye) sings that song that's always stuck in your head. Here's hoping they're a one-hit wonder.

23. 'Ree-ann-na' (Rihanna),

24. Zooey 'Day-sha-nel' (Deschanel),

25. and Martin 'Score-se-zee' (Scorsese).

26. One time, when I was speaking in front of a large group of high school students and wanted to seem relatable, I referred to the music of 'Kee-sha.' It turns out I was mispronouncing the dollar sign. It's 'Ke-sha' (Ke$ha).

27. It's 'Ny-al How-ren' (Niall Horan), not 'Neil,' and for those of you who don't know who I'm talking about, congratulations. Just kidding, One Direction fans, please don't kill me!

28. And speaking of celebrities, Anderson Cooper really embarrassed all of us when he didn't know how to pronounce 'Ma-NO-low Bla-nick' (Manolo Blahnik),

29. which is an 'ak-sess-oh-ree' (accessory) by the way, not an 'a-sess-oh-ree.'

30. It's 'Ver-sigh' (Versailles), unless you're in Kentucky or Indiana, in which case you are in 'Ver-sales.'

31. And speaking of the Great American Midwest, it's 'Ill-i-noy' (Illinois).

32. 'Arc-tic,' not 'Ar-tic' (arctic). There are two c's in there.

33. 'Alls-high-merz' (Alzheimer's) disease, not 'old-timers' disease, which I learned when I was in my 20's,

34. and its 'Ass-per-gers' (Asperger's). There is no b in there.

35. 'Et cetera,' not 'Eck cetera'

36. and 'ask,' not 'aks.'

37. 'Pee-nuck-l' (pinochle), which is so irrelevant, that even How J Say, our source for all pronunciation matters here at Mental Floss, didn't even bother saying it.

38. 'Four-tay' is an Italian word that means loud. Your 'fort' (forte) is something that you're good at, or the strongest part of a sword. Like, one of my fortes is reviewing novels about conjoined twins, but this mispronunciation is so common and you will seem so pedantic if you correct anyone, that you just shouldn't. That said, we're going to continue being pedantic for the rest of the video.

39. Unless you're referring to a single parenthesis, use 'pa-ren-tha-sees' (parentheses).

40. Irregardless is not a word. You mean regardless.

41. Anyways, always say 'anyway' because 'anyways' is not a word.

42. 'Reoccur' if something is occurring again. 'Recur' if something happens again and again.

43. It's 'mawv' (mauve), not 'mowv',

44. and 'coo clucks clan' (Ku Klux Klan). There's no l in that first word.

45. And now let us talk about food because we were supposed to break for lunch about 30 minutes ago. It's 'nee-oh-kee' (gnocchi),

46. 'krep' (crepe), not 'krayp.'

47. Then we have a couple of things that everyone pretends to like: 'keen-wa' (quinoa) and

48. 'keesh' (quiche).

49. 'Or dirves' (hors d' oeuvres), not 'hoars doov-rez' and

50. 'penn-nay' (penne), not 'pen.'

51. Then you've got 'mer-low' (Merlot), keep that t silent, and

52.'care-a-mel (caramel), three syllables, 'care-a-mil' is also acceptable.

53. You get 'gwac-a-moli' (guacamole), or 'gwac-a-mo-lay' at

54. 'chee-powt-lay' (chipotle). That's right: chee. powt. lay.

55. Speaking of e's and i's, it's 'wee-kee-pee-dee-a' (Wikipedia).

56. Then you've got 'time' (thyme), like a clock,

57. 'pro-shoot-oh' (prosciutto),

58. and Doug's friend is Patty 'May-oh-nayz' (mayonnaise).

59. It's 'pre-scrip-shun' (prescription), not 'pur-scrip-shun',

60. and realtor is only two syllables, not three.

61. Same with 'joolree' (jewelry), by the way, and

62. 'ath-leet' (athlete).

63. 'Ass-fault' (asphalt), not 'ash-fault,'

64. 'tall-a-mee' (Ptolemy), and

65. 'back-us' (Bacchus). Off topic, but a party with Ptolemy and Bacchus would be super fun.

66. Napoleon was a 'veh-teh-run' (veteran), three syllables, not two, of the Napoleonic wars,

67. and Chewbacca resents having to go to the 'vet-er-in-air-ee-an' (veterinarian).

68. Definitely can be hard to pronounce, which is why I always go with 'most' def,

69. and it's 'sa-poze-id-lee' (supposedly), not 'sa-poze-ib-lee.'

70. And 'es-pesh-il-lee' (especially), not 'ex-pesh-il-lee.'

71. 'Kun-fur-ta-bul' (comfortable) has four syllables,

72. and it's 'lar-vee' or 'lar-vai' (larvae), not 'lar-vay.'

73. 'Lie-brayr-ee' (library), not 'lie-bar-ree,'

74. and it's a 'tri-ath-lon' (triathlon), not a 'tri-ath-a-lon.'

75. 'Ass-tir-isk' (asterisk), not 'aks-tir-isk', and

76. 'aff-i-day-vit' (affidavit). There's a t at the end, not a d. 

77. If you're chuckling that people actually mispronounce some of these words, then you're experiencing 'shaw-din-froy-da' (schadenfreude). A couple other German words worth knowing: 'vom-doo-sha,' which means a man who take warm showers and 'sitz-pink-ler,' a man who sits to pee.

78. Both of which are 'show-va-nist' (chauvinist), not 'cho-va-nist,' but if you know anything about the German language, trying to get the sexism out of it is like trying to get the white out of rice.

79. And finally, we return to the salon to discuss 'lay miz-er-ahb-la' (Les Miserables), not 'less miz-er-a-bles.'

Thanks for watching Mental Floss here on YouTube, which is made with the help of all of these nice people. Every week, we answer a mind-blowing question. This week's comes from Martsigras, who asks "why is y only sometimes a vowel?" So, when you speak a vowel, it involves an unrestricted flow of air and when you say words like beyond, you actually use your tongue up there at the roof of the mouth for the y, so that is not a vowel, it's a consonant in that situation. Yes! I just touched the roof of my mouth. Sky! I didn't. So that's the difference. Thanks again for watching and, as we say in my hometown, don't forget to be awesome.

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