‘What is a word you are brave enough to admit that you mispronounced for way too long?’ – 17 linguistic confessions

Did we ever decide if it is bio-pic, bi-opic?

I said bi-opic for a long time – like bi-ography. Instead of bio-graphy.

— Zego (@Zego67) October 30, 2026

Tanzania. I'm Australian, and grew up knowing how to pronounce Tasmania. Tas-MAY-nia. So, of course it must be Tan-ZAY-nia. Tasmania, Tanzania. They match. Right? RIGHT?!

Tan-za-NEE-ah? NOOOOOOOO

— no, not like that (@cerbia_otp) October 30, 2026

As a kid, I started off misreading 'gargantuan' as 'garangutan', and pronounced it to rhyme with 'orangutan' (for way too long)!

I imagined that orangutans were probably huge, hence the word garangutan🤣

The perils of learning a language by reading, rather than hearing!

— Neeran Karnik (@neeran) October 30, 2026

I pronounced “chic” like “chick” until maybe a year ago. I lie in bed at night and cringe at myself, still. Jfc. 🤦🏻‍♀️

— kmw ⌨️ (@KatieM606) October 30, 2026

‘Awry’ is a standout for me. Awe-ree is how I pronounced it for many years 🤣

— R. Mader (@valiqette) October 30, 2026

Feisty, pronounced “feasty” like digging in to a feast.

— swissteafarmer (@swissteafarmer) October 30, 2026

segue. read it as seg-yoo for years and never once connected it to the word everyone kept saying out loud

— Chain – Daily Word Game (@playchaingame) October 30, 2026

Malevolence. I was a young horror reader (still am) & had only ever read this word. In my head I would say "male violence" every time & for way too long in my life.

— Cindy 🇨🇦 (@cindy_1976) October 30, 2026