Pronunciations

As I have said, I am not a linguist, English major, literature major, lexicographer, etc., so please forgive my lack of advanced knowledge in those areas.

Pronunciations have often befuddled me. For example, I've always had trouble with the pronunciation of "turret," and I found learning French very hard only because of the pronunciatons, while learning Spanish came easy for me. When teaching students about medications, I'd often see the drugs in print before I'd hear about them in the hospital, and sure enough, I'd always pronounce them wrong. And, for the record, I did take HS Latin. So I am hardly the person to discuss pronunications.

But how do you know how to pronounce a word that you've never heard used? I don't know that answer. Does anyone? Consequently, I am probably completely wrong about my pronunciation of "epicaricacy," but I say: ep-i-CARE-ick-uh-see. Yet, there are those on Wordcraft who say: ep-i-care-ICK-a-see. Those are very different. What do you think?

Cat, whose Blog is here: http://caterwauller.blogspot.com/ , reminds me that April is National Poetry Month. I hope to come up with a few more "epicaricacy" verses.

Bob Hale, whose Blog is here: http://thehittingtheroadagainblues.blogspot.com/ , thinks my Blog will fail. I take that as a challenge, and I'll talk more about that later.