New York, New York

[venta]

So, today I was reminded that I don't know what the word "synedoche" means (yes, since you ask, I was reading XKCD). I've looked up synedoche many times, yet can never remember what the wretched thing means.

So, over I go Wikipedia. A dictionary would probably have been better, but my fingers automatically go to Wikipedia for virtually any answer these days.

In the little search box, I type "synedoche".

Back come the results... "Did you mean: synecdoche".

Did I mean synecdoche? No, of course I didn't, that's not a word.

Except a little further searching suggests it really is a word. And, what's more, it's the one I was looking for. I am 100% confident that the first 'c' has never been there before. I've certainly never known it was there, and - as we've already established - I've looked this word up a lot of times.

I can only assume that some foul-tempered script kiddie has carefully replaced all instances of the word on the internet with this new misspelled version. If I get home and find that my trusty hard-backed Oxford dictionary has the rogue extra 'c' in the word too, I shall know that goblins have been employed.

Comments

[venta.livejournal.com]

I've never rhymed it with coach, always with cosh. Historically I pronounced it sine-dosh, but having heard someone say it (probably on Front Row reviewing the film) I switched to sinner-dosh.

Then again, I read sinecure as sine-cure for years, too.

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

Ah, like "fine cloche", mm, that works. (FSVO...)

I think there's an interesting study to be made (or probably it already has been made) of how people construct internal pronunciations for words that they've only ever read. There might be people who pronounce sinecure as "sin-ECK-uh-ry" by analogy with synecdoche, if they happened to have heard that one first. Or who pronounce it like cynosure.

I thought for ages that ichor was pronounced "EYE-CORE"; until I met verlaine, who persuaded me it should be "ICKer". Now, howevermany years further on, I'm just not sure at all.