Pronouncing Words

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I've had this problem my entire life of pronouncing words wrong. Even today I'm still getting corrected.

For example: The Greek goddess Hecate.
I pronounce it: Hek-ate-ee
It's supposed to be pronounced: He-COT-ee.

There are hundreds of examples like this. Anyone else?

If that's your worst crime: miss pronouncing the name of an obscure Greek goddess whom almost no one in the last 2000 years (save Mr. Bullfinch) has ever heard of then I wouldn't worry about it. Especially since its not even spelled the way that its "supposed" to be pronounced. And besides-who really knows how the ancient Greeks pronounced her name anyway?

Years ago, I was in a class where this smug, a-hole teacher told a long anecdote about a person who mispronounced the word "epitome". The woman pronounced it "epi-toam" instead of the correct "eh-pi-to-mee." Her point was that she had thought the person was smart UNTIL she mispronounced this word. That teacher was a terrible person and made everyone's school experience unnecessarily miserable.

So I make it a point to purposefully mispronounce words when I'm talking to someone who seems to think too much of themselves just to see their smug reaction as they correct me. I'll also go out of my way to make it appear as though I haven't heard of something simple that they're talking about. It flips the tables on the know it all and they end up looking stupid.

Like, just do your best. Don't go out of your way to impress someone who is trying to make you feel stupid. It's actually VERY impolite for an adult to correct another adults pronunciation or grammar, no matter how bad it is.

Yeah, I have noticed that pretentious people ( oops, am I one now? ) tend to make a big deal about pronunciation. Most people know what your trying to say and don't say anything. I myself mispronounce words all the time, partially because I read a lot and I don't talk to people much.

We pretty much have our own way of pronouncing stuff in Wisconsin.