I avoid correcting people over trivial things. If something would make me sound like a teacher or tour guide, I usually just don’t say it.
When I do decide to speak up (mispronunciations are a big thing for me), I either try to emphasize that I’m doing it out of concern (“I don’t want you to sound silly if you say it in front of others”, which is an honest concern) or I try to sound casual and not act like an absolute authority (“Really? I’ve always heard it pronounced like ______”) That last one has the added benefit of covering my butt if I’m wrong.
I once saw some great advice saying we should celebrate when someone mispronounces a word: it means they learned it from reading.
It reminded me of a time when my uncle was barely literate and pronounced the word ‘esoteric’ as ‘ee-SOTTER-ick’. I realised what had happened, but didn’t really know how to correct him, then found a way to say the word myself in the flow of the conversation.
He never mispronounced it again, and there was no uppity nephew embarrassing his uncle. In the years since he’s published a number of books, so couldn’t be happier for him.
I avoid correcting people over trivial things. If something would make me sound like a teacher or tour guide, I usually just don’t say it.
When I do decide to speak up (mispronunciations are a big thing for me), I either try to emphasize that I’m doing it out of concern (“I don’t want you to sound silly if you say it in front of others”, which is an honest concern) or I try to sound casual and not act like an absolute authority (“Really? I’ve always heard it pronounced like ______”) That last one has the added benefit of covering my butt if I’m wrong.
I once saw some great advice saying we should celebrate when someone mispronounces a word: it means they learned it from reading.
It reminded me of a time when my uncle was barely literate and pronounced the word ‘esoteric’ as ‘ee-SOTTER-ick’. I realised what had happened, but didn’t really know how to correct him, then found a way to say the word myself in the flow of the conversation.
He never mispronounced it again, and there was no uppity nephew embarrassing his uncle. In the years since he’s published a number of books, so couldn’t be happier for him.
I’m happy for him too