Pronunciation gone awry

Here are some of the words you and I are likely to use on a regular basis. We probably didn’t even realize that we were pronouncing them incorrectly all along. Have you ever heard someone say ‘aks’ instead of ‘ask’? I reckon that’s a ‘yes’. Go on and correct yourselves if you’re fumbling up with these words too.

Correct word	Mis-pronounced version	Brief
Hierarchy	Hi-archy	Remember, hierarchies go higher than you might think. This one is pronounced ‘higher archy’ and not ‘high archy’.
Espresso	Expresso	While I can't express my love for espresso enough, this word was borrowed from Italian well after the Latin prefix ex- had developed into es-.
February	Febyuary	We don't like two syllables in succession with an [r] so some of us dump the first one in this word. Most dictionaries now accept the single [r] pronunciation but, if you have an agile tongue, you may want to shoot for the original.
et cetera	excetera	Latin for 'and' (et) 'the rest' (cetera) are actually two words that probably should be written separately.
Probably	Probly/ prolly	Haplology is the dropping of one of two identical syllables such as the [ob] and [ab] in this word, usually the result of fast speech. Slow down and pronounce the whole word for maximum clarity and to reduce your chances of misspelling the word.
our	are	It is common to hear the pronou ‘our’ incorrectly pronounced like the verb ‘are’ or the letter r. The correct pronunciation is the same as hour. They have different spellings and meanings, but different pronunciations as well. Remember never to confuse the pronunciation of ‘our’ with ‘are’. As a reminder, think of our as being the same as hour, but without the h.

So, go on and pronounce them right!