Proper Pronounciation

We all have those moments in which, no matter how much education we've received or how much culture we imagine we have, we embarrass ourselves by incorrectly pronouncing a word. If you have friends like mine, they will NEVER let you forget this and take pleasure in lording it over you as if superior semantic skills (hello my dear friend alliteration! okay I know semantics isn't really what i'm talking about but for the sake of the alliteration...I do love alliteration) equals superior intelligence. This is not the case. It is possible that in making an error in pronounciation you are just following society's accepted way of saying something - this is the argument I will use in defending my slip up with crêpe (pronounced krep, apparently). I obviously prounounced it krape, as does most of the English-speaking population, but of course Ivana had to correct me. Other times misprononounciation can be caused be caused by the foreign root of the word, such as Hyundai, which I understandably prounced as High-un-dye. The correct pronounciation is, I believe, Hunday, but don't quote me because I am only as smart as yahoo answers,

If you are from Korea it is pronounced he-oon day....Koreans from here pronounce
it hy-oon-day....Americans should pronounce it hunday(like sunday) You can
call the headquarters in Fountain valley Cali. and they all answer the phone
"Hunday usa"...how can I direct your call

I think I'm going to start going by the Korean pronounciation just to piss Ivana off =D

Other misteps are wholly unforgiveable - like say when you fumble a national music icon's name, ahem. Calling dear Leonard Cohen - Lee-o-NARD Co-HEN is dreadful. It is important to know what is an acceptable error and what is offensive ... take note - you know who you are.

(note: I took the pictures for this post last week while chilling in my backyard - they obviously have no relation whatsoever with the subject of the post but I thought they were pretty so deal)