President George Bush, well known for his pronunciation gaffes, once said, "I have been known to mangle a syllable or two myself." Despite laughing at the plethora of Bushisms over the last eight years, even the best American wordsmiths do mispronounce their fair share of words.

Americans are somewhat tolerant regarding pronunciation errors when the mistakes involve infrequently used foreign phrases, place names, technical terms, dialectical differences, or idiomatic expressions. However, for various reasons, we do demand uniform pronunciation of some words. Following are our Top 40 Pronunciation Pet Peeves in no particular order.

1. Library is said "lie-brair-ee," not "lie-bear-ee." [No, it's not libarian either]

2. Nuclear is pronounced "nook-lee-er," not "nUke-U-ler." [Ode to Bush]

3. February is said "Feb-roo-air-ee," not "Feb-U-aire-ee." [Frequently misspelled, as well]

4. Orange is pronounced "or-anj," not "are-anj." [Orange you glad you know this?]

5. Prostate is said "praw-state," not "praw-straight." [Unless you are lying down]

6. Height is pronounced "hite," not "hite with a 'th'." [That "e-i" or "width" must confuse us]

7. Probably is said "praw-bab-lee," not "prob-lee." [Or some say "praw-lee"]

8. Ask is pronounced "ask," not " ax." [Please tell me before you ax me.]

9. Pronunciation is pronounced "pro-nun-see-a-tion," not " pro-noun-see-a-tion." [But pronounce]

10. Athlete is pronounced "ath-lete," not "ath-ah-leet." [Despite the ath-ah-leets foot commercials]

11. Strategy is said "strat-uh-gee," not "stra-ji-dee." [Though we never say "stra-ji-jick"]

12. Aluminum is pronounced "uh-loo-mi-num," not "al-U-min-um." [Brits have their own version]

13. Et cetera (etc.) is said "et-set-er-ah," not "ek- set-er-ah." [Not "ek-spe-shul-lee" either]

14. Supposedly is pronounced "suh-po-zed-lee," not "su-pose-ub-lee." [Or "su-pose-eh-blee"]

15. Difference is said "di-fer-ence," not "dif-rence." [Often misspelled due to this error]

16. Mischievous is pronounced "mis-chuh-vus," not "mis-chee-vee-us." [You'll look this one up]

17. Mayonnaise is said "may-un-naze," not "man-aise." ["Ketchup-catsup" is another matter]

18. Miniature is pronounced "mi-ne-uh-ture," not "min-ah-ture." [Who drives an Austin "min-uh"?]

19. Definite is said "de-fuh-nit," not " def-ah-nut." [For define, it's "di-fine" not "dah-fine"]

20. Often is pronounced "off-ten," not "off-en." [Probably just sloppy pronunciation]

21. Internet is said "In-ter-net," not "In-nur-net." [Not "in-ner-rest-ing either]

22. Groceries is pronounced "grow-sir-ees," not "grow-sure-ees." [It's not "grow-sure" either]

23. Similar is said "sim-ah-ler," not "sim-U-lar." [But Websters says "sim-ler" is fine]

24. Escape is pronounced "es-cape," not "ex-cape." [It's not "ex-pres-so" either]

25. Lose is said "luze," not "loose." [Think "choose," not "moose"]

26. Temperature is pronounced "tem-per-ah-ture," not "tem-prah-chur." [Cute when kids say it]

27. Jewelry is said "jewl-ree" or "jew-ul-ree," not "jew-ler-ree." [More syllables won't get you more carats]

28. Sandwich is pronounced "sand-which," not "sam-which." [Or "sam-mitch" either]

29. Realtor is said "real-tor," not "real-ah-tor." [Similarly, it's "di-late," not "di-ah-late"]

30. Asterisk is pronounced "ass-tur-risk," not "ass-trik." [It's not called astar, by the way]

31. Federal is said "fed-ur-ul," not "fed-rul." [Use all syllables to ensure all federal holidays]

32. Candidate is pronounced "can-di-date," not "can-uh-date." [It's not "can-nuh-date" or "can-di-dit"]

33. Hierarchy is said "hi-ur-ar-kee," not "hi-ar-kee." [It's not "arch-type"; it's "ar-ki-type"]

34. Niche is pronounced "nich" or "neesh," not "neech." [This one drives some people crazy]

35. Sherbet is said "sher-bet," not "sher-bert." [I'm sure, Burt]

36. Prescription is pronounced "pre-scrip-tion," not "per-scrip-tion." [andprerogative, not "per"]

37. Arctic is said "ark-tik," not "ar-tik." [Not "ant-ar-tik-ah either]

38. Cabinet is pronounced "cab-uh-net," not "cab-net." [Likewise, it's "cor-uh-net," not "cor-net"]

39. Triathlon is said "tri-ath-lon," not "tri-ath-uh-lon." [Not "bi-ath-uh-lon" either]

40. Forte is pronounced "fort," not "for-tay." [But Porsche does have a slight "uh" at the end]

And for the culinary snobs among us... It's "bru-chet-tah" or "bru-sket-tah," but definitely not "bru-shet-tah." And it's "hear-row," not "gear-row" or "ji-roh."

Many of the pronunciation errors described above are made by people with poor decoding and syllabication skills.

Mark Pennington's comprehensive curricula: Teaching Reading Strategies and Teaching Spelling and Vocabulary are wonderful resources to teach reading, spelling, vocabulary, and proper pronunciation.

Mark Pennington is an educational author, presenter, reading specialist, and middle school teacher. Mark is committed to differentiated instruction for the diverse needs of today's remedial reading students. Visit Mark's website at http://www.penningtonpublishing.com to check out his free teacher resources and books: Teaching Reading Strategies, Teaching Essay Strategies, Teaching Grammar and Mechanics, and Teaching Spelling and Vocabulary.