Virtue Magazine

You Say To-Ma-To: An Amusing and Irreverent Guide to the Most Often Mispronounced Words in the English Language
by R.W. Jackson
Published in 2005 by Thunder’s Mouth Press
249 pages
$21.00

Many people have, at one time or another, experienced the embarrassment of mispronouncing a word in front of a friend or stranger—or even worse, an entire group of friends or strangers.

If you are one of these people, this is the book for you! Written by best-selling author R.W. Jackson, You Say To-Ma-To is a lighthearted and entertaining look at around 700 different words which many people frequently mispronounce when using.

In the interest of full disclosure, I have to admit that You Say To-Ma-To happens to be the perfect book for me as well. I have developed a reputation among various circles (i.e., my dad) for having mispronounced various words throughout my childhood. Among other blunders, I used to refer to “euthanasia” (YOO-thuh-NAY-zhuh) as “eth-ah-NAY-zhuh,” “psychiatrist” (suh-KIGH-uh-tryst) as “sike-ee-AT-tryst,” and “macabre” (muh-KAHB) as “muh-KAHB-er”—all words that R.W. Jackson has included in his delightful 249-page book.

But in case you think this is like your parents’ stuffy old dictionary that has sat in the bookshelf collecting dust for the past fifteen years, think again. While Jackson seems to be genuinely serious in the words he chooses to include in this book, he also provides a good dose of humor to make things more interesting. Sure, some of the humor is complex and hard to understand, but the average person who has a mild interest in this sort of thing still ought to be able to appreciate most of it.

For example, under the word “golf” (GAWLF), Jackson writes: “A recreational activity . . . Following a ‘round’ of golf, men sit in a ‘clubhouse’ revising their ‘scorecards’ while preparing for a ‘DWI,’ having left their equipment at the ‘bag drop’ to be cleaned and ‘filched’ by ‘caddies.’”

In another example, we learn that naïve (nah-EEV) means being “Confidant that the news story ‘coming up next’ will come up next or that the ‘4-Wheel Brake Special For $99!’ will cost $99.” And that “succinct” (suck-SINKT) means “Concise, clear, brief. The enemy of modern journalism or oratory.”

Some of the words Jackson clearly includes just for the opportunity to make more funny remarks. One such word is “mouth” (no pronunciation given), where we read: “mouth, n. A gaping hole in the defences of propriety.”

Most people will learn at least something new by browsing through this book. This author discovered that he had been mispronouncing, among other words, “succinct” (suck-SINKT) as “suh-SINKT” and “coupon” (KOO-pahn) as “KYOO-pahn.”

Certainly this is not a book that most people will want to read from cover-to-cover, but it is a book that is fun to browse through. Not to mention, it sure beats looking up the pronunciation of a word in a normal dictionary.

Some die-hard supporters of George W. Bush might throw out You Say To-Ma-To after reading the book’s foreword, which takes an unnecessary but all too true dig at our president: “The need for [this book] is obvious. Even now, our president’s emphasis is on education. And, as we all know, he could use a little. The man is not above slurring his words and unintentionally malaproping his way through press conferences to the chuckles of thousands, a la Dan Quayle.”

However, these people shouldn’t let political views interfere with their enjoyment of this book. Outside of the foreword, Jackson generally keeps any political statements to a minimum, and the occasional use of a vulgar word or two is likewise not enough to keep me from recommending this book to those interested.

While the 21 dollar price tag is a bit steep for a book like this, You Say To-Ma-To is definitely worth checking out at your local library and looking through for an hour or two—either to learn how to pronounce various words or to enjoy the humorous definitions of those words.

Rating: 3.5/5 stars