A strange-sounding word

I was just watching a video on YouTube, and the narrator used the word denouement, roughly pronounced day-new-maw.

But he pronounced it the way it looks: dee-noo-meant.

I know I've mispronounced words when I've read them and not heard them. I had trouble with the German word jawohl (yes) when I read it in a Sgt. Fury comic book ages ago. And hyperbole came out hyper-bowl when I was in middle school.

When I was in high school long ago, one of my teachers pronounced bourgeoisie burr-GET-see.

So I'm going to cut the narrator some slack. No one knows everything; I certainly don't.

I was just listening to a dog video, and the mechanical voice mentioned the bichon frise. "Her" voice said bis-con friz. The real pronunciation sounds French: bee-zhon free-zay.

EMAIL: tgilli52@gmail.com  TWITTER: EDITORatWORK

More EDITOR@WORK blog entries

• You really DO need an editor

• Reminders for would-be novelists

• What I do when I'm editing

• What I charge (it's a deal) and what I edit

• Slogging through the Internet

• J-school: More eyes on your stories

• J-school: Go out and learn

• Rookie mistakes for magazine writers

•  Editor with no experience

Blog entries by Tom Gillispie

• Resume for a writer and editor

• An editor's views on powerful writing

• Advice for be and would-be novelists

• Links to TG's stories online

• Favorite quotes

• What I do when I'm editing

Anecdotes by Tom Gillispie
• Good Samaritan

• The PRESS cap and my friend Mike

• Watching TV

• No luck with Billy Sims

• Wipeout at Death Valley

• Days with rainbows

• A desperate writer working in the dark

• Yer outta there!

Entries from The Dog Blog

• Katie cried

• Growl and pull

• ... said the spider to ...

• The Dog Diary (2015)

• The Dog Diary (2014)

• 13-plus years with my dog Lady

• OOH! OOH! The stereophonic huskies

• What Lady and Michael Jackson had in common